James Altucher writes:

If you, the entrepreneur, self-publish a book you will stand out, you will make more money, you will kick your competitors right in the XX, and you will look amazingly cool at cocktail parties.

The area near Minneapolis seems to be an incubator for creativity in ICT. As it allways has been. The twin cities allmost became Silicon valley after the second world war. Minneapolis has a thriving blogging community, as Arik Hanson writes:

Yes, in Minnesota we have one of the most vibrant, creative and underrated blogging communities in the country.

It sounds quite convincing considering bloggers like Arik Hanson Lee Odden and Adam Singer all are from Minnesota. This blogging and social media avant-garde also seems to have spread across the region to places like Milwaukee and beyond. With AJbombers who used internet to build his restaurant. He  gave a presentation based on his experience with social media.   Could such a culture also spring in Brussels?

Hein Bijlmakers has collected a valuable collection of fruit proverbs from across the globe. Content creation is an art and proverbs should certainly be part of your arsenal.

Lee Odden gives his view on GOOGLE PLUs and SEO

Reading the tweet by Jean-Yves Huwart, take a look at his smart website, about the google event on how Small Businesses contribute to economic growth in the European union made me decide to attend the event january 24th. Google’s Matt Brittin compared the internet revolution to the electricity revolution. At the time companies had a “head of electricity” because electricity could kill. Nowadays companies have a “head ICT” because it’s perceived as scarry.  This time is over, ICT has become like electricity!

When Antonio Tajani ended his speech he left with an army of European Commission officials. His rather long speech made ICT seem really complicated, exactedly the opposite of what Matt Brittin had in mind. Google’s Antoine Aubert did a great job summarizing the different segments of the conference at the end. Those who left right after Tajani’s speech would have made a better impression if they had followed his example.

Alberto Cappellini of PiaginneGialle explained how his advertising business has transitioned towards the internet. His business focused on creating webpages for 200.000 small businesses in Italy, offering SEO help and video creating services. Frank Jahn of Belgian Post, focused on the rise of parcel delivery. There was a little discussion on crossboarder parcel delivery. A lot of focus on e-business.  There could have been more emphasis in this exchange on the importance of  online presence for the offline sales.  Obviously EU officials and some lobbyists focused a lot on streamlining crossboarder business activity iwithin a single market. Ann Mettler dropped the Lisbonne council.

At that point I drifted of into the mystic and a seemingly unrelated idea popped up in my head: engage and being the best. Writing blogposts in the context of a story which would be reinforcing the narrative.

The panel by three representatives of small businesses gave insight in how they used the internet to get more clients.talked about a company that sells beach chairs across Europe. He emphasized the importance of building trust with clients through the net, diversivying for different clients. Using online labels helped in encouraging clients to buy. Importance of marketing. Since 2001 sales went up from annual turn over of 1 million to several millions now (6 if I remember correct). One chair costs from 1000 to 2000 euro’s. See pictures for  examples.

Nathalie Manon founded Les Grandes, a webshop that sells shoes for women with large feet. Smart idea because it focuses the large group of women that have gone online massively and the niche of women who can’t easily find shoes. A topic she herself was passionate about! Lukasz Prokopowicz explained how he helped the butchery Befsztyk of his family to grow it’s clients since 2009 when he started to work on the website. The total number of clients increased 30 percent, 10 percent of which are deliveries.

Later on Pierre Delsaux (from Liege), the Deputy director of DG Markt made a good remark on the importance of trust for the increased impact of the internet on sales.  There is a long list of problems, not one problem. There is too little trust. Bart Combee, President of the Dutch consumer body, pointed to the importance of reliability in delivery, safety and security of payment systems. Building confidence seems the most important issue in e-commerce.

It was valuable to talk to a Swedish sweet shop owner, a Dutch clog seller and Greek (from Cyprus) travel agent. All power their businesses by leveraging the Internet.  Google PR sent press releases out in all European countries including the name of the business that was selected from that country.

@Steffenmoller has a realistic blog from Brussels on PR. He also links to lobbyplanet that seems to have gone dead. a lobby blog that does still work is the lobby . The most active blog seems to be Public Affairs 2.0 with a discussion and promotion of ethno marketing by a company from Austria. It says something that possibly applies to everyone in the longtail of the internet:

You see, for the first time, firms are looking beyond ‘Joe public’ and towards smaller market segments, like immigrant communities, to keep up-and-running. Now, taking their unique needs and interests into account when devising products and services is no longer just about doing what’s ethically right, it’s absolutely vital for economic survival. And that’s what’s making the difference.

What this means in practice is that all over Europe, big companies, banks, insurance companies, retailers, telcos and car manufacturers – among others – are sitting up and taking notice of how immigrant communities consume, earn and play. What they want and need is to tap into what these groups want ― and communicate with them in the most targeted way possible.

Jeff Bullas writes on 6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012 . Not sure these networks are that important. But anyway a good post.

Adam Singer has collected advice by 12 leaders in  the field. The most succinct advice that I like the most is by Valerie Maltoni who says:

1. Focus on writing copy that is specific, fresh, and uses clear language to convey messages in many kinds of media and is appropriate to the audience and circumstance it addresses.
2. Learn to listen actively and aggressively and from the point of view of the many (more) audiences you need to serve.
3. Understand how to analyze data to spot trends, find opportunities for your clients, and ask better questions.

Read this blogpost and the links to the blogs he links to.