So in the process of relaunching the casa del Toothless Tiger on the web, I have written an manifesto that I believe I work and live by. Anyway before implementing it to the new webpage, I would like you guys to give me some input. (you can get a sneak preview of the new toothless tiger if you ask me nicely)

I really hope that you’ll be able to recognize all of Toothless Tiger in the manifesto, and I hope you will give me feedback if there is something I’m missing.

so here goes :

Toothless Tiger: marketing school of Rock, web and communities

We are firm believers that the business of business is not business anymore.

We believe that the nature of the web is anarchistic, and the company needs to embrace this nature and live by the premises of the web. The web in essence is rebellic and a huge playground of undiscovered potential for businesses that dare to embrace it and enjoy the chaos.

what do you think ? - is it “Toothless”?

Huge thank to everyone ( especially Mark Wubben) who has helped me come to this short manifesto…

Seth Godin wrote a blogpost the other day about getting closer to the pain of the customer.

Meaning that if something is scarce - people will pay more for the product.

John backs it up by saying:

The customer who has a scarcity of time will value convenience.

The customer who has a scarcity of contacts will value network effects.

I don’t know where my scarcity lies right now, what I am searching for at this point of my life is “substance”…

I am so sick and tired of people and businesses who doesn’t have substance and who are just living day by day without any greater vision. They don’t contribute to a better cause, and when they do, it’s to take advantage of it… these companies are sleek and smiley, probably really good business people, but - when you get to be in their presence for a while, you can see it’s a fad….

My problem is… that they are not in business because of the better of the world or the better of their co-worker or employees or anybody.. they are in business because they are all about business…

Business + personality+ attitude + loving thy neighbour = a business full of substance and meaning

Business without the above is just “business emptyness” - nothing except a product and a framework to make money… gah…

In the movie “almost famous” ( one of my absolute favorite movies) the leadguitarist with mystique is looking for something “real” and decided to go to a party with a bunch of teenagers on acid. He’s tired of the “industry of cool” - so he goes somewhere completely different - to people who admire and love him for who he is.

I love some parts of the “industry of cool” - and there’s a lot of really good companies in business everywhere - but I have to add something to Johns list:

A business ( or a Toothless Tiger if you please) who has a scarcity of substance, will value authenticity and opinions

And I think this is one very important key for the future of business. We need real and we need it to work with the industry of cool.

When the designers did the new design for Toothless Tiger a while ago ( I know it’s not up yet - but it’s coming.) they asked me how I wanted it communicate. I found out that I am probably 70 % personality and 30 % business. Maybe even closer to 80 % personality and 20 % business.

Anyway when you get people who says that they are more than 40 % business ( I know some people who I would say was 95 % business) you really have a problem…

Ever since I first heard the term ” return on involvement” I have been wanting to investigate it further… I love that some smart people (who I have no idea who is - sorry) says that the future of business is going to be more about return on involvement than return on investment.

Return on investment to me is something lucrative that you put into a company with the purpose of getting more value back, than the money you put in.

Return on involvement is some engagement that you put into a company and you get more value back, because you engaged in the company.

wheres return on investment binds itself to a company or to investments, return on involvement can be added to everything. The action you need for this to work is actually just to show up and participate, whether it’s on the internet, at conferences, at events, in projects, in interesting subjects you like. as long as you are involved in something - if you follow good’old networking practice, you will have a return on that involvement - excellent.

So how do you measure it ? - I have been thinking a while about this, and to me it’s quite simple.

1. if you are at a conference. Talk to people. Be prepared. Get cards. Use cards as leads to find them elsewhere online. Make a deal with yourself that you will get at least 30 leads after a conference.

30 leads is a very good return on involvement that you get just by being present.

2. if you are on facebook or in other communities ( big timeconsumer of employed people - and heck, also freelancers). be proactive. make listings for your company. Have an official page. Bring in your blog. Make a strategy what the facebook group is for ( very important)… talk to your fans. send them updates =)

with a clear focus on the group on facebook, your return on creating these events/groups/gatherings of people could be quite large… You just have to be proactive about it.

So if you get a functional group with 100 + members that you can talk to and tell about your process and ideas - i would say that’s a very good return on involvement…

3. if you are on a mailinglist or you read a blog - Contribute ! Comment ! - the return on involvement here is traffic back to your own site… everytime you leave a link somewhere, and if you leave it frequently - people will find out who you are etc etc.

the return on involvement here can be pretty high - as long as you keep out the commercial messages and focus on the conversation in itself (subject, opinions etc)…

so go out there and involve yourself =) - it’s gonna be worth it… and if somebody want you to measure involvement - just do it.. track it in every way. Have a pen and paper and write down how involved you are and how much time you use on it.

This is inspired by Seth Godin’s book “meatball sunday” (I have only read 10 pages yet and look what he’s doing to me allready - I think it’s allready safe to say it’s a must read)

There has been a joke in the “internet business” for a while about “old men in new media” - Meaning people trying to grasp the internet as it looks these days -but are frankly making the wrong conclusions and asking the wrong questions.

I have a feeling that when the relationships-conversation-community marketing is really hitting the business world ( as I assume it will - otherwise Toothless Tiger wouldn’t be around) there’s gonna be a clash of dimensions (like when advertisement was first introduced).

This will mean that “old companies” will have to adjust their business model to embrace new marketing - and not the other way around. All these new types of marketing will have a less chance of succes if they are implemented in the wrong type of organisation.

So how do you make your company ready for chaotic and uncontrollable scene of relationships and conversation focused marketing ?

In the danish newspapers today it said that “young people want to work with people in the future”. I would claim that you cant get a job today without working with people.

But I think that what’s we all are gonna be working with in the future: networks, people and relations. Basically I can’t get my hands down because it’s gonna be massive fun, anarchistic and chaotic…

are you ready for this ? - is your company ? and your business model? how do you plan to adapt to it ?