This is part of the PNI Q&A series where I share responses to common questions about the book. Got a question? Share it in a comment and I might answer it in an upcoming post!

The one that stands out for me simply because I travel a lot and live in a major hub is United Airlines. The amount of money they waste on “brand campaigns” is just staggering. Who in America hasn’t heard of United Airlines? No one. So why spend all this money to tell them who you are? They have so much potential to reinvent the way that they train their employees and that they use social media to allow people to have a more direct relationship with them. Sometimes I dream about getting them as a client because there are so many solutions that could make such a big impact on their brand. It’s uncommon to have a brand with that much untapped potential.

Several months ago, I had the chance to go into the studios at the CNet offices in San Francisco to record a session for something called a “Business Book Brief” that runs on cNet’s companion site for business called BNet. The video has been produced, professionally edited and is now online on the BNet site. Check out the video below for a brief introduction to Personality Not Included and let me know what you think.

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This is part of the PNI Q&A series where I share responses to common questions about the book. Got a question? Share it in a comment and I might answer it in an upcoming post!

The whole process of writing to publication for me was just under a year. I got my book deal in June of 2007 and published in May of 2008. It’s a pretty fast turnaround for a full length business book, but both myself and the publisher were keen to get the book out sooner rather than later so we worked hard to finish it and still have something we’d be proud of. One thing I was surprised at was that I thought I would be able to reuse more of my blog content for the book, and I really didn’t use much. Luckily the blogging kept my writing skills current and probably helped me to write much faster than I could otherwise have.

I recently launched a photo collection of all the places that I have managed to find Personality Not Included or promoted it. It’s a fun gallery of the book in lots of bookstores, at parties and a few other locations. Check it out and if you have any photos of the book in your local bookstore, please do share them with me so I can add them to the gallery! You can send them to me at pnibook@gmail.com or tag them on Flickr with “pnisighting.”

I love books. Not just for the power of conveying an idea through a printed form, but also for the emotional significance of actually holding a book in your hands. More and more recently I have been books become a brilliant marketing tool for everyone, from political candidates to technology companies. Along the way, there are several ideas that I have collected for how using a book could be an effective part of a marketing strategy. Here are a few:

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It’s shaping up to be a busy Tuesday, so today’s post is a guest contribution of sorts from an interview I recently gave to my friend and fellow marketing blogger Mack Collier in advance of the highly anticipated MarketingProfs Digital Mixer that I’ll be speaking at in October. Enjoy!

Q: You’re a very popular speaker and have a constant list of conferences to which you’ve been invited to speak. But it seems there’s a new marketing/social media conference popping up every day,
and for potential attendees it can seem a bit overwhelming. What are a few things that attendees should look for from an event to ensure that they will get their money’s worth.

A: You’re right, there are a ton of events coming up, and it’s tough to choose which ones to spend time at. The most obvious way most people probably evaluate events is by the quality of the speakers who will be there. That’s a measure I use to decide where to speak as well. The quality of the programming is also important in terms of what the session topics are and how the event is organized in relation to what you are most interested in learning about.

The other thing I would pay attention to is the companies who will be exhibiting or sponsoring the event. They have had to do the work to determine if the conference is worth spending money to sponsor, so any
event that can bring in a good assortment of sponsors is obviously doing something right.

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In this month’s Fast Company, there is an interesting profile of a law firm from LA called Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges which is making waves in the legal industry for being less formal and actually having a personality. Unlike other firms, they focus only on business litigation, take some cases on contingency, and have an on-staff barista. The photos in the article show a business that looks a lot like a Silicon Valley startup environment where all the lawyers are wearing (gasp!) jeans. A part of their story is a decentralized structure and far fewer management layers … but I suspect an even greater element is the fact that they have a powerful recruiting story to tell.

What lawyer stuck in a stiff and formal environment wouldn’t dream of working at a firm like Quinn Emanuel? When you are the envy of your industry, recruiting the best people is far easier. If you can get the best people and let them do what they do best, you can have the best company. It’s not a difficult formula, and it all starts with personality for this law firm shaking up their industry and making millions along the way. And it just might inspire you to think differently about what you do everyday as well. After all, if a law firm can understand and use the power of personality, what’s holding you back?

* The photo above is used without permission from the Fast Company article online. If they sue me, maybe I’ll try to hire Quinn Emanuel to represent me …

This is part of the PNI Q&A series where I share responses to common questions about the book.

I would sum up the difference between my book and others in two words: entertaining and useful. As I wrote the book, I focused on living up to these two themes. I wanted to write a book that was actually fun to read (I know, it’s an odd way to describe a marketing book, but stay with me). To do that, I have more than a hundred stories in the book, from how a small restaurant in DC with just 8 seats creates one of the most unique dining experiences in the world to the story of LiveVault made the intensely technical subject of data storage approachable, fun and viral. The useful part comes from the structure of the book which has two main parts. The first part is the theory of personality in business and has six chapters with lots of stories that you could probably finish in a few hours on a quick plane flight. Along with all the stories are links to guides, tools, checklists and other resources in the second part of the book. That part is all about action and helping you to put the theory of the book to work for your business. This isn’t meant to be just a big “theory” book, it’s all about applying the lessons to your business.