In July of 2009, I announced the Netweb Event for that month with a video give away sponsored by Missing Link. Little did we know that the prize would go to an amazing project I had been following for a while.

One Matchstick, a concept where the founder is trading a single matchstick till she gets to offices through a series of trades, is a lesson in innovation.

It was simple for us – start a competition that benefits small business and give it to the most deserving company after our delegates have voted. From that simple definition came being an MC at the premiere in Johannesburg, being in Cape Town for another and making interesting contacts along the way.

The lessons

- You are as big or small as you think you are.

It ’s because one matchstick that I went over 1000 kilometers away and made contacts I wouldn’t thought of on my own.

- Small has to do with efficiency than size.

The size of this project meant all we needed was a notebook, a DVD Player and a room of 30 people for it to be successful.

- Naming is very significant

We called the prize a corporate video when we gave it away, but Telana referred to it as the “One Matchstick Movie”.

You are invited to the “One Matchstick Movie Premiere” sounds better than being invited to the “Launch Of The One Matchstick Corporate Video” any Sunday afternoon. Yes, the Johannesburg premiere was packed on a Sunday afternoon.

If a single matchstick can make it happen, that changes the whole game.

Please view the One Matchstick Movie below.

When Telana called me last week about Ruan a cyclist who aimed to explore South Africa for 60 days. I thought it was an interesting story to follow and bring to you, along with the lessons it would come with.

Little did I know that the lessons would start sooner than he’d leave. I then had a meeting with the guys from Hotel Formula1, who later expressed some interest on following Ruan’s story. Before the week was over we had negotiated sponsorship for free accommodation for 10 days in 7 cities around South Africa.

Some lessons I got during the 5 days:

• Connect people who want to meet.
• Follow-through on an opportunity.
• Help someone without expecting anything in return; it gives you a great feeling.
• Build your reputation as a person of value.
• Have genuine interest in other people than you want them to have in you.
• A connection goes farther than a sale.

On Friday the 13^th, without even realizing it was Friday the 13^th, we met with the senior management team of Hotel Formula1. They all wanted to participate in the handover and you could see the genuine interest in them as well.

Ummm, what does that have to do with anything?

Under normal circumstances I would have been to a series of meetings offering a product and much later got a moment with the CEO, if ever.

Being a connector and finding opportunities to do it places you in a different position. You are no longer a company that is selling to a possible client, but a friend giving your client an opportunity further themselves.

Ruan will be travelling approximately 8 600 kilometers at 25 kilometers per hour over next 54 days. He’ll meet interesting people and along the way and there’ll surely be some more lessons over the next few days. I will be documenting some of the developments for you in the next few days.

Photo by: Ruan on Picassa

Ishita Gupta – Head Of Hoopla for Seth Godin sent a reply to an email I had sent about interviewing Seth Godin. To my astonishment, she requested me to send them my mailing address. “But I thought post died long before the archaic dialup connection, I mean this is Seth we’re talking about. He doesn’t write letters.” At least that’s the first thing I said to one of the guys at the office.

The mailman to much delight; delivered Seth Godin’s latest hardcover. And glossy offering called Linchpin – Are You Indespensable? It became a New York Times bestseller within it’s first 10 days of release.

We had an exclusive interview with him some weeks ago, where he spoke about the fundamental change in work and what the world has become. Basically, he writes about the choice to be indispensable at what you do. A choice to contribute where you are, to create art that is a gift to others in itself.

So every other appointment has been put hold, well sort of been slightly deferred, till I have completed this much coveted read.

Aside; there’s already a long queue of people waiting to lend it once I’m done. But they’ve been referred here, since it shouldn’t leave my sight. Not for a split second!

Thanks to Ishita Gupta and Seth Godin.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, a book that delves into niches and what makes them, is an interesting read. I still haven’t finished yet. This post isn’t about my opinion on the book, but something it inspired.

Starting at 10pm till 1am in 2001, I would listen to a rock show on 5FM by Barney Simon. He played both local small bands and some criticized international artists. The ‘Night Zoo’, as the show was called, was only the place you could hear Marilyn Manson during the same week he released an album.

With the world calmly snoring away, on weekdays from Monday to Thursday, Barney was building a community, a niche and a following.

Create a community, not just numbers

Chris Anderson writes about how the internet creates small audiences that become even smaller but create markets in themselves. These smaller niches within others, he refers to as “The Long Tail”. In a nutshell! What caught my attention is how Barney built his following among bands and fans through content, not hits.

Knowing your audience and becoming a sought-after name creates a niche for you, where there wasn’t one before. To keep people awake, especially after 10pm and grow your listenership, this had to be an exceptional show. And it was!

It was content that kept me going back week after week after week, till Barney left the station in 2002.

As the conversation develops around your idea, your name grows an even larger following. Communities take ownership of your cause and take it upon themselves to spread it.

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as you please. – Mark Twain

Barney knew the rules of radio, had applied them for 20 years and broke almost every single one.

Trying to appeal to a large audience, among other things, chokes the essence of your message.  Barney knew what his audience required and never played pop as part of his show. In fact, he was one of the few radio personalities who candidly criticized pop music.

It’s not a popularity contest but the ability to find a balance between making profits (selling ads on radio) and maintaining influence as a credible source.

What do you think causes ideas to ripple in time and gets people talking?

Photo by Amped Photography on Flickr

Image by: Clarky The Lion

Being an influential entrepreneur has been a target of mine for a while. When you are an influencer; people listen to what you have to say, act on it and that changes your company’s profitably.

What makes you influential? What makes 4000 people retweet your posts? Why would people knock down your down because you are selling a product? Not the next guy.

At first I thought it was:

-         Money

-         Friends in high places

-         That huge contract

All of them are misconceptions. These guys make money because they influencers, which spills over to the contracts and other benefits.

I have been fortunate enough to meet quite a few agents of change, through NetwebTv and the NetWeb Event. The common things among most of them are:

• · They share freely – lessons, experiences and contacts
• · They focus their attention on you and drive conversation toward you not themselves.
• They always leave you with a new lesson.
• · They never talk about their accomplishments unless asked.
• · They are connectors – most contacts I got, were through them.
• · They want to build you.
• They get more business because they are influential, not the other way.

This is the brief list of attributes that connect the non-conformist agents of change. The ones I’ve been following at least.

What makes you influential? Add to the list.

“Good enough” – will no longer get you through the door when your most remarkable work is what matters.

Seth Godin a marketing guru, international author and well sought after speaker wrote yet another thought-provoking book. The difference now is; we were one of the first shows he spoke to about his latest offering.

Linchpin is a book that questions what your best is and how you as an artist, an agent of change can get it out there without leaving your job. The times of work, get a paycheck, retire or even worse get retrenched are gone. Now the world is looking for you, for your work and we are listening to what you have to say.

In this episode Seth tells us how we can take advantage of change and even better be the cause. I also asked him about the concept of giving things free yet still being able to make a living.

There is also an audio version for you below. Feel free to share the interviews.

Since the South African Tobacco Products Control Act in 1993, that was amended till 2009, prohibiting all advertising and sponsorship by tobacco companies. The cigarette companies have to be even more innovative than everyone else to make a sale.

Over the December holidays at the normal price, you could buy Camels in a steel box that fits your pack inside.

The novelty of a steel box makes the smoker want to show it off to their friends. And ensuring only a few of these boxes were available they kept more people hooked for longer.  What are the chances of you having your last smoke the same day you get this pack? This got me thinking of how packaging can be used to increased sales.
If you went to the same store a week before or after this package was available your friend would have started a conversation about it. The same product you offer can be packaged in a way that makes it more special and coveted by customers.
Short of advertising and marketing this company makes themselves worth talking and remembering.  Are you?

Mongezi Mtati is the founder at NetWeb Event, a vodcaster and an opinionated geek on a bad hair day. Follow me on twitter.

Photo by: leahwithaspoon

Okay! So 2010 is here at last and no longer will I say – 2010 – whenever someone speaks of a seemingly impossible feat.

We have been working on a few things over the holidays, which will be unveiled in the next few weeks.

A sneak preview

• The NetWeb Event website goes live on the 11th of January.
• NetWebTV launches on the 26th.
• We are doing a startup of the year contest.

Happy landings.

Image by: Isayx3 on Flickr

When the Wu Tang Clan first released their debut album ‘Enter The Wu Tang (36 Chambers)’ everyone was talking about them. They set out to build a trend with their music, which wasn’t difficult being the only group who had the sound of killer bees and Kung Fu skits.

Most of us developing new products, marketing ourselves and even branding our companies tend to overlook what we truly sell. Developing a clan and creating a culture are some of the many things that worked for the Wu Tang, with some lessons that can be adapted.

What you sell

More often than not, we sell the product without realizing what it is linked with. Many companies instead of selling a lifestyle, experience or hope, they sell a pair of jeans or a computer.

I went to the D.O.P.E Store in the Johannesburg CBD recently, a clothing store,  part of whose concept includes a basement where they host parties. Their venue is mostly booked by people who would wear clothing that is sold in the shop. It gives them greater access to their market and gets people talking within a context that surrounds them by reference.

Organize a culture

The Wu Tang Clan found people already listening to Hip Hop music, but separated their audience from the norm. Their debut reinvented the possibility of what can go into an album and directed the masses to listen in a certain way thereafter.

Clans make closed exclusive communities that everyone else wants to belong to. Distinguishing yourselves by how you sell your product alone doesn’t get your message out distinctively and make you memorable.

What is your Kung Fu Skit?

The Kung Fu skits made it obvious whose song was about to play and the everyone sang along. If a song was new we all listened  and tried to find out what it was.

Find the distinct things about your service that can make you a market leader, things can become your own Kung Fu skit. Your killer bee sound. That one thing that turns conversation around when you are mentioned.

How can you reorganize your target audience and direct the course of things from where you began?

When developing a business model, we often overlook implementing marketing tools to spread our concepts virally. Unleashing the Ideavirus, a book that I think requires a sequel, transformed the view I have of my current business model.

While there many concepts covered in the book, for the purpose of this post, only 3 significant highlights will suffice.

Loosely referencing The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell on how some ideas turn into social epidemics and others don’t. Seth takes us through the process of how companies such as Hotmail and Vindigo spread as viruses and the Toyota Prius, while an award winning vehicle, didn’t.

The second mind altering concept, though disputing all known marketing ethic, is focusing on a smaller target audience (called ‘a hive’) instead of setting out for large numbers. This makes sense if you view your client base as a community that can reach friends and recommend your product or service better than adverts and large marketing budgets ever can.

The steps below, a very short summary, are how you develop an Ideavirus.

Step By Step, Ideavirus tactics (summarized from the book)

• Make it virusworthy – If it’s not worth talking about, no one will talk it.

• Identify the hive.

You won’t get the full benefit of the ideavirus until you dominate your hive.

• Expose your idea

Expose it to the right people, get them into the experience as quickly as possible and pay them if necessary. But never charge if possible.

• Once attention has been volunteered request permission.

• Amaze your audience.

• Some viruses don’t forever, embrace the lifecycle of yours.

Any business model that has a viral marketing method built into it has a better chance at longevity, besides why not make it easy for your clients and customers to spread the idea? If there’s one thing I would recommend, it would be read it with an open mind and download the ebook or get the shiny collector’s version here.