Shoemoney - Skills To Pay The Bills

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Mike Jeffries Is a Jerk & Other Things That Don’t Matter Posted: 22 May 2013 05:00 AM PDT In case you haven't heard, Mike Jeffries is a jerk. A big one. Robin Lewis was recently quoted claiming Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, "doesn't want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people. He doesn't want his core customers to see people who aren't as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they're one of the 'cool kids'." So, Jeffries basically wants to hang a sign in front of every Abercrombie & Fitch store that reads: "No Fat Chicks". Twitter is still aflutter with girls and guys claiming they'll never, ever, ever shop there. Here's the thing though: Jeffries is a jerk, but it doesn't matter. Like, at all. In fact, here are some things that matter more than the fact that Jeffries is a jerk: 1. What you ate for breakfast this morning. 2. How long it will be before Lindsay Lohan gets locked up again. 3. Your high score on Fruit Ninja. If anything, the fact that Jeffries is a jerk is going to do wonders for the brand. Do I think what Jeffries has said in the past about plus size women is offensive? Yes. Do I think he's overcompensating for some deep-seated high school insecurities? Definitely. Do I think he's a fantastic marketer? Hell yes. How to Make Sales & Alienate People Here's a universal truth: As a marketer, you need to know your audience. And Jeffries definitely knows his audience. He wants good looking, skinny, popular people wearing his clothes (in case you missed that the first time). "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids. Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive, all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don't belong, and they can't belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely." ~Mike Jeffries Tell me something I don't know, Internet. Here are some equally shocking revelations: 1. Chanel is a fashion brand for rich people. 2. Addition Elle is for plus size women. 3. Axe markets primarily to men. The only difference is Chanel, Addition Elle, and Axe don't come right out and say it. Or, at least not in the polarizing way Jeffries has. What matters is that Jeffries has an opinion. It's not an opinion everyone agrees with, but it's one those popular, attractive, skinny teenagers agree with. And that's his audience. Wake up! He doesn't care that people who have never shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch are vowing to never, ever, ever shop there. He cares that he's empowering those popular, attractive, skinny teenagers. He's focused on the people who belong (and the people who want to belong). Everything else is just free press. Not Everyone Is Going to Like You. Get Over It. This is what all marketers need to be doing. We need to have real opinions (and we can't apologize for them like Groupon). We need to make statements that will resonate with our audiences… even if they will alienate others (ahem, Chick-Fil-A). Don't be afraid of the controversy that will arise from having an opinion – it’s worth it. It's hard to make a brand relatable. Big executives invest millions in marketing teams that can help make their brands relatable to as many audiences as possible. Jeffries is pulling us in a different direction, a better direction. We need to be more like Mike Jeffries (Yeah, I said it). Stop trying to be relatable to everyone. Focus! Work on being relatable to one audience. Skinny people, overweight people, men, women, rich people, poor people, smart people, dumb people, black people, white people – whatever. "Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don't alienate anybody, but you don't excite anybody, either." ~Mike Jeffries If you do it right, you'll create some controversy. You'll alienate people. You'll even piss some people off. You might be slammed by Kirstie Alley. And that's ok. In fact, it's a good thing. Because if you're alienating someone, you're simultaneously telling someone else that they belong. You have to alienate to create a sense of belonging. You have to alienate to excite your customers. It's only when you risk being polarizing that you can be truly relatable. "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." ~Bill Cosby Looking for an SEO service that won’t get you banned?

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Do You Use The “30 Days to a Habit” Strategy? - DailyBlogTips

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Do You Use The “30 Days to a Habit” Strategy? Posted: 22 May 2013 06:33 AM PDT The premise: many studies and researches found that successful people tend to have more habits (positive habits, mind you) when compared to average people. That’s because habits add consistency and discipline to your professional and personal life, traits that are essential to reaching your goals. Examples of positive habits one can have: Exercising for 30 minutes every morning Meditating before going to sleep Remembering and using the first name of everyone, on every interaction Learning a new foreign language every couple of years Settings goals for the day every morning Reading a technical book for 30 minutes every morning Cool, but how do we go about developing those habits? The best strategy I have seen so far is this one: at the beginning of every month you will sit down and decide on which habit you want to develop over the next 30 days. It can also be a bad habit that you want to get rid of (e.g., smoking or eating junk food). After that you commit yourself to stick to the habits for those 30 days. Once the month is over you may decide to halt it, but most people find that 30 days is enough to get the habit rooted inside you, so most of them will stay. For some habits I find that 30 days is not enough, so in those cases I commit to sticking to the play for 60 days at least, which seems to do the trick. Matt Cutts, head of web spam at Google, is a big fan of this strategy. In fact if you visit his blog you’ll notice a category titled “30 days”. There you’ll find all his posts about the different habits he pursued in the past. The month is almost over, so which habit will you develop over the next 30 days? Original Post: Do You Use The “30 Days to a Habit” Strategy?

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