Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 322

Every Little Detail

"I'm not a very detail-oriented person."

I find myself saying this to many people all too often. The funny thing is, that I have been lying. Yesterday, at the C2 MTL event being held in Montreal, Ian Schrager (world famous for Studio 54 and the boutique hotel movement) said this (and I'm paraphrasing here):

"You never know which little detail is going to be important, so they all have to be great."

It's beautiful and true... isn't it? I typically think of myself as not being detail-oriented when it comes to things like project management and human resources (both of which are not my forte). If I shift that thinking to my unique abilities (or my core duties at Twist Image), it turns out that I fall into the Schrager camp of being detail oriented (to the point of fanaticism). Take for instance, this blog. I look at every word and grapple with finding a better one. I look at the overall flow to ensure that there is some semblance of cohesion in terms of content flow and how the headlines within each blog post will, hopefully, keep a reader engaged and moving forward. I lament over headlines (choosing a touch of vagueness over a ball-peen hammer to the face). At the end of the post I ensure that every key word is both linked to and tagged appropriately (one of the things I love most about digital content).

God is in the details.

As I sit here typing this on my MacBook Air, I'm thinking about how this computer (and the operating system) pushes a user to create with it. It's not the amazingly small and light shape and body, it's all of the little things: the backlit keyboard, the multi-gestures and the visual flow. It's all of the tiny little details that create a complete picture. It forces us to stop, think and appreciate how everything comes together to make it one great product.

Anyone can focus on all of the details.

When I go out for a fancy meal, I am constantly reminded of the one time that I went to an expensive steakhouse. The ambiance, food and decor were pristine, but do you want to know what I remember most about the experience? It was the fact that my water was constantly refilled throughout the evening. Not only did I never have to ask, but I never even noticed the wait team refilling my glass. That one small detail of training the wait staff to be invisible is a remarkable detail that most restaurants don't do... and they don't even think about it. It's a grand example of details. Most restaurants will train their team by saying: "always make sure that the customer's water is refilled." This wait staff was probably told: "always make sure that the customer's water is refilled, and do this as discreetly as possible... let me show you how."

There's a mile of difference between those two sentiments.

Here's the beauty of stressing over the details: anybody can do it. You can do it. You can start doing this now. You probably did it when you first started your business or started working for a company. Then, we all get lazy. We experience a modicum of success and those little details slip and slide away. For the majority of us, we don't even notice how that focus on detail has disappeared. It's a crying shame.

Don't sweat the small stuff? Dumb. Sweat the small stuff... sweat the teeny tiny details.

Tags:

blog

boutique hotel

c2 mtl

c2mtl

computer

content

customer satisfaction

details

digital content

employee training

human resources

ian schrager

macbook air

operating system

project management

studio 54

unique abilities

visual flow

Building Loyalty Beyond Reason

It seemed like everything changed in business overnight.

At one, unique moment in time, we shifted from a world where we dreamed about being able to collect data and information about our customers, to a world where personal computing was a reality. Not only was this a world where there was a computer on every desktop, but Moore's Law (the notion that computation power doubles every two years) started kicking in, and we were able to capture, slice and dice larger and more powerful data sets and output them into offers for customers that were more personalized and relevant.

The truth is that business technology actually got too good at capturing customer information.

We went from a dry and desolate data desert to drowning in a sea of data. Marketers spent decades trying to crack the code and come up with cost-effective and timely ways to capture, slice and dice this endless depth of customer information gold. Few companies had the financial wherewithal, human capital and marketing resources to harness this information fully. With the onslaught of social technologies and mobility we have arrived at a moment in time where the technology is both cost effective and consumers are sharing more and more in public forums. This combination of customer data captured at the business level and people self-identifying themselves in spaces like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest creates the perfect storm for brands to leverage the power of social commerce and the value of a strong loyalty program.

Imagine a world...

Imagine a world where you swipe your Air Miles card at your local supermarket and you're suddenly getting coupons, discounts and offers that are one hundred percent personalized and customized to the brands you like. Imagine a world where companies (like that supermarket) are sending out unique offers to each and every one of their customers. Hundreds of thousand of different coupon books. Does it sound like something we might see in the near future? It's happening today. Right now. And, it's the work of Bryan Pearson and his two thousand-plus employees at LoyaltyOne where he is President and CEO. Pearson heads six global enterprises (including Air Miles - which seventy percent of Canadians use) that connects to a knowledge base of more than one hundred and twenty million customer relationships. In short, Pearson not only knows why you buy, but when, how much and how often you'll come back. With a passion for enhancing shopper experiences and over twenty years under his marketing belt, Pearson just released his first business book, The Loyalty Leap - Turning customer information into customer intimacy (Portfolio - 2012).

Making The Loyalty Leap .

"Inside of me, I always felt that there was a book that was screaming to get out," Pearson said during a conversation held last week in Toronto at the Canadian Marketing Association's 2012 CMA Summit. "What I saw in the marketplace was that all of the concepts we bring forward in the loyalty game... and have been talking about for over fifteen years... have come to the point where we are truly enabled to capitalize on all of this potential. I felt that there was this opportunity  - a moment in time - to publish a book and see if this can create a sea change of movement. Despite everything we hear about digital media, the vast majority of companies are very much stuck in an old paradigm."

What is this old paradigm?

Pearson thinks that it begins when companies spend way too much time being, what he calls, "product obsessed" while the customer becomes this thing on the side (the group of people that we sell our stuff to). "It starts in the infancy of the business," says Pearson on the genesis of this traditional paradigm. "They know who they're trying to serve, because they grow, develop and expand the product line but then they start to lose track of that customer. The idea of the leap is an attempt to shake the organization up from being product obsessed and focused on operation efficiencies, to shift the corporate conversation to start thinking about what they would do differently if they really became customer committed. I want businesses to take advantage and use this data analytics and technology that the world has to deliver what is possible: which is a true one to one and unique experience. Businesses need to start thinking about how that would change who they are, and how much more loyal it would make their consumers."

This is less about manipulating consumers and much more about creating a better marketing experience.

The challenge with data is always around the social contract between the consumer and the brand. Without trust and a candid understanding about how all of this data gets captured and used, consumers have a low-level of trust. When done well, the relationship can be magical for businesses. Pearson acknowledges that consumers should, rightfully, be skeptical, but he still believes that we're in the very nascent days of having a consumer that is truly social and engaged with a social business that delivers a much more relevant experience. Consumers are demanding it and now, businesses of all shapes and sizes are capable of delivering on it. This is less about "if" loyalty will continue on with its massive growth and potential to do that much more at creating better consumer experiences, and more of a question of "when." For Pearson and many others, that "when" is now (and that's why businesses need to make this loyalty leap). Technology is no longer the roadblock.

The roadblock has become our traditional and non-consumer centric ways of thinking.

The above post is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - Focus back on the consumer, loyalty lord says .

Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

You can listen to my conversation with Bryan Pearson in its entirety in an upcoming episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast (which will be published in the coming weeks).

Tags:

2012 cma summit

air miles

brand

bryan pearson

business

business book

business column

business technology

canadian marketing association

cma

coupon

customer data

customer information

customer insights

customer intimacy

customer relationship

data analytics

digital media

facebook

loyalty

loyalty marketing

loyalty program

loyatlyone

marketer

marketing

marketing resources

montreal gazette

moores law

newspaper column

personal computing

pinterest

portfolio

privacy

product obsessed

shopper experiences

social business

social commerce

social contract

social technology

the loyalty leap

trust

twitter

vancouver sun

youtube

The Lying Game

Distrust in a world of trust agents is problematic.

On May 18th, The New York Times ran a fascinating news story titled, In the Undoing of a C.E.O., a Puzzle. The article is all about former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson and the recent unraveling of his short tenure as head of the beleaguered digital media company. At one point in the debacle (which started because Thompson falsified his resume by claiming to have had a computer science degree), this happened: "The board's initial hopes that it was all an easily explained mistake were quickly dashed. Instead of offering Mr. Bostock an explanation, Mr. Thompson fumed at Mr. Loeb and his tactics. Mr. Bostock stressed that the only way to deal with the situation was to 'immediately tell the absolute and total truth, whatever it is' and make it public, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation. Unspoken but implicit was the understanding that if he'd ever misstated his credentials, Mr. Thompson should publicly admit it, apologize and offer to resign. In that case, the board would have assessed the situation, but might well have stood behind him. Mr. Thompson seemed to get the message, but said nothing more to clear up the matter."

The absolute and total truth.

I was once speaking to a headhunter who told me that they estimated that lying (or severe embellishments) happens in about seventy percent of resumes. Imagine that. Seven out of ten resumes that you look at include either outright lies or severe embellishments ("most likely both," laughed the headhunter). I've seen it happen on countless occasions here at Twist Image too. It's especially prevalent when people leave the organization. It always makes me laugh that the reasons someone left are usually highlighted, exaggerated or claimed as their own personal accomplishments on their LinkedIn profile. Hard to believe isn't it? Once they leave, all of the work that they accomplished with a full team is claimed as a personal victory and spun (regardless or real world results).

The need to look good.

What would you rather buy: something that looks pristine but once you purchase it, it fails to deliver or something that looks the way that it does (no lipstick on the pig) but it does what it says it does? Pushing that further... imagine buying something that looks the way that it does, but it completely over-delivers on what it says it can do. What would be the ultimate customer experience? I'm guessing you're with me in thinking that the last two examples are, obviously, the recommended marketing strategy. If we want to work for companies that can deliver a solid product that surprises and delights consumers, why do we all lie so much and oversell ourselves on resumes and on LinkedIn profiles so desperately?

No lying.

I tell the truth because it's the easiest thing to remember. I'm not perfect (white lies get us by, sometimes), but when it comes to the big stuff, I often ask myself this one simple question: "at what cost?" Is life merely about how much money can be extracted from another person or how others perceive me? My personal philosophy is this: I would rather have less money but be a person of ethics and morals. I would rather have people find me not all that interesting instead of having to lie just to become the circle of attention.

Laugh all that you want.

I don't have a university degree. I simply wasn't good at school or motivated to attend. That being said, I never let my lack of degrees get in the way of my education. I read a book a week, consume as much information as possible (I'm an infovore), attend conferences and events and spend the bulk of my time learning, reading, writing, growing and critical thinking. If a company doesn't hire me because I don't have a university degree, it's their loss. If the only way that I can get a company to look at my resume is to lie, then what does that say about the integrity of the company, myself and the entire human resources process?

It's simple...

Don't lie. Don't over-embellish. If you feel like you're drowning, ask for help before spiraling down into a world of lies. I promise you, it's not worth it. Don't believe me? Ask Scott Thompson. 

Tags:

business book

computer science degree

conference

critical thinking

customer experience

digital media company

education

event

headhunter

hr

human resources

infovore

linkedin

marketing strategy

reading

resume

school

scott thompson

the new york times

trust

trust agents

university degree

writing

yahoo

Truth In Marketing

Episode #306 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Jonathan Salem Baskin is becoming a marketing book juggernaut. In fact, there are few global branding strategist who are like Baskin. He's had a career that any Marketer would be jealous of. Having spent close to three decades in the branding and advertising world, Jonathan's resume is a who's who of the top brands in the world. Along with that, he is a prolific writer and thinker. We first connected in 2008 when his book, Branding Only Works On Cattle, came out because we share the same editor and publisher (Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group). He then went on to write the book, Bright Lights & Dim Bulbs and then Histories Of Social Media. He's back with another book titled, Tell The Truth - Honesty is Your Most Powerful Marketing Tool (which he co-authored along with Sue Unerman - Chief Strategy Officer of MediaCom, a WPP agency). Along with that, Jonathan is a Blogger over at Dim Bulb and a bi-weekly columnist for Advertising Age. His opinions on Marketing, Social Media and the new world of branding will get you thinking and it's a pleasure to have him back on the show. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #306.

Tags:

advertising

advertising age

advertising podcast

blog

blogging

branding

branding strategist

bright lights and dim bulbs

david usher

digital marketing

dm bulb

facebook

grand central publishing

hachette book group

histories of social media

itunes

jonathan salem baskin

marketer

marketing

marketing book

marketing podcast

mediacom

online social network

podcast

podcasting

social media

sue unerman

tell the truth

twitter

wpp

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #100

93Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Year One Labs, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, PressBooks, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for one another (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

How to Spot the Future - Wired . "On their 20th anniversary, Wired is spending a bunch of time with people who've shaped the face of technology. In this piece, they look at the seven lenses through which they try to guess the future. Several of them were set out by Wired's first editor at large, the extraordinary Kevin Kelly (whose Next five thousand days of the Internet is brilliant, and makes us realize how nascent this world in which we surf really is). They still hold true today, and author Thomas Goetz gives them a great update." (Alistair for Hugh).

The frequent fliers who flew too much - Los Angeles Times . "Oh, how times change. American Airlines once offered an unlimited, lifetime first class seat for a paltry half-million or so. Turns out that's not a great bargain when a fervent few decide they prefer life in the air to life on the ground. Faced with bankruptcy--and realizing this deal costs the company a million or more a year--American decided to try and shut them down. A fascinating look at what happens when promotions have unintended consequences." (Alistair for Mitch).

World's Subways Converging on Ideal Form - Wired . "You would think that the subway systems in the world would end up with different geometries, since they exist in very different cities, with different geographies, different planning approaches, different cultures. But it turns out that subway systems tend organically towards certain characteristics: 50% of stations are outside of the core; the distance from a city's center to its farthest subway terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system's core. These patterns and ratios appear again and again, suggesting that organization of urban systems follows set patterns, rather than set planning." (Hugh for Alistair).

How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet - Gizmodo . "Perhaps a bit over the top in its anti-Yahoo slant, but this is a brilliant piece of anthropological history of the social web, and decline of one of the very first 'social networks.' When I first rediscovered the Web in 2004, it was WordPress, Wikipedia, Flickr and Delicious that revealed to me a new future... Both Flickr and Delicious were bought by Yahoo!, and both, it could be argued, became irrelevant soon after." (Hugh for Mitch).

Come the Revolution - The New York Times . "Several years ago, I read a feature in Fast Company magazine on the future of education. It made me stop and say to myself, 'it's true! Why can't you buy your education like iTunes ?' Why not be able to take a marketing class at Stanford , a strategy course from Harvard and then a physics class from MIT all from the comforts of your computer?' It seems to not only be logical, but a great new business model for education. Well, it turns out that others are starting to catch up. In this wonderful op-ed piece, Thomas L. Friedman is starting to feel it too. These new 'revolutions' are still nascent, but they are profound and powerful. Welcome to the iTunes-ization of every business." (Mitch for Alistair).

In Defense of the New York Public Library - The New York Review Of Books . "When I moved homes several years ago, the bane of the entire process was the packing, moving and unpacking of my book collection. As someone who reads about a book a week and a passionate believer in paying for all of that content, you can imagine the haul. When I first discovered e-readers and reading apps (thank you Amazon   Kindle !), it - literally - changed my life. I carry a library worth of books with me in the palm of my hand at all times. I read more books than I ever have. Do I miss the feel and smell of books? Nope. I don't. Do I love wandering through book stores and libraries? Absolutely. Is there a massive paradox and enigma in those statements. There sure is. What is the role of the library? Should it be just about books? Is that really a reason for people to go to them? Who knows?" (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

Tags:

alistair croll

amazon

american airlines

bitcurrent

complete web monitoring

delicious

fast company

flickr

gigaom

gizmodo

harvard university

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

itunes

kevin kelly

kindle

librivox

link exchange

linkbait

los angeles times

managing bandwidth

media hacks

mit

new york public library.

pressbooks

stanford university

story

the book oven

the new york review of books

the new york times

thomas goetz

thomas l friedman

wikipedia

wired

wordpress

yahoo

year one labs

Learning About Creativity By Watching Creative Types

Observing creative types is an amazing way to think more creatively.

Next week, I'll be spending the majority of my days attending a global conference called, C2 MTL (our agency, Twist Image, also handled some of the social media marketing). Along with hosting a very special lunch event with musician, David Usher, I'll also be sharing the stage with Arianna Huffington. Beyond those more formal activities, I'll be sitting in the crowd soaking in the content as the conference focuses on the collision between creativity and commerce. It should be quite the event (and it's probably not too late if you want to attend). There must be something in the air, because there's an amazing new presentation by Clay Shirky (Here Comes Everybody and Cognitive Surplus) from the PSFK Conference NYC. Shirky (a professor from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University) walks through five fascinating student projects that will truly get you thinking about the level of creativity that you bring to work each and every day...

Tags:

arianna huffington

c2mtl

clay shirky

cognitive surplus

commerce

conference

content

creative type

creativity

david usher

here comes everybody

interactive telecommunications program

new york university

psfk conference

social media marketing

tisch school of arts

The Public Speaker's Master Toolkit

What are the tools that can help you give an unforgettable presentation?

After several years of speaking in public, I've had to develop my own system to ensure that each and every presentation goes off without a hitch. And yes, there are some great tools and tips to ensure that this happens. This blog post is not about your content. I'm going to assume that the content rocks and that you know what you're going to talk about.

The Public Speaker's Master Toolkit:

The Rider. If you want to ensure that you have a great event, you have to ensure that all of your audio and visual requirements are met (long before you show up at the venue). I send along with all speaking contracts a rider of my audio and visual needs:


Projector and screen for laptop.

3.5mm (1/8") plug for audio to run out of the laptop.

Lapel wireless microphone for voice.

Depending on venue - confidence monitor for Keynote slides.

Speaker does not require an Internet connection.

Laptop must be located on the stage and near the Speaker.

Speaker's computer must be within 20 feet of the most distant point where the speaker will be presenting.

All podiums must be moved to either side of the stage. Speaker does not use a podium during presentation.

Podiums cannot remain in the middle of the stage during Speaker's presentation.

Speaker will be using his own wireless remote presenter and will advance his own slides.

Speaker will be using his own, personal, laptop with the presentation pre-loaded on it.

Speaker's computer is an Apple MacBook Air running Keynote software.

Speaker has both VGA and DVI dongle adapters for projector.

Speaker will not provide a digital version of the presentation in advance.

AC power must be within 6 feet of speaker's computer.

If your event is using iMag, you must have two screens (one which always displays the speaker's slides to the audience without interruption).

Computer stays in the speaker's possession at all times. It will not be given the night prior for setup and it will not be surrendered on the day of the event. It stays in the speaker's possession.

Speaker is more than willing to work with your team on a tech/sound check, preferably thirty minutes before the speaker presents.

Why is this so complicated?

It seems like a lot and very detail oriented, but here's the thing: they're paying me to give a great presentation and this is what it takes - from my experience - for me to deliver that. It also takes away a lot of the stress and anxiety that comes along with speaking when you know that things are set-up in a way that you're comfortable with. I hate being in a venue where I can't see the slides that audience is seeing (hence the confidence monitor), I like being in control of my laptop in case I have to skip a section or want to tinker with something at the last moment, and I hate showing up to an event and the entire stage is just a podium (I like to walk, engage and connect with the audience). In other instances, the AV team wants to control the cue remote (which is always slower than when I do it) or they have a video camera capturing the presenter on screen, and can't move between the slides and the presenter fast enough, so you wind up not speaking to an important point, but everyone is just staring at you mug on a screen.

The computer.


I run a MacBook Air with both Keynote and PowerPoint on it. I always have versions of my presentation on both software platforms in case one crashes.

Caffeine is a great little app that sits in the menu bar and when it's clicked, your computer will never go to sleep, screen saver or anything (just make sure to turn it off once you're done). Caffeine makes it "always on."

I love the presenter's view in both Keynote and PowerPoint, but you have to ensure that the output resolution to the projector can handle it, so test it by lowering (or raising) your screen resolution.

Apple also allows you to have the display information from your screen as an icon in the menu bar. This makes it very easy to toggle through different resolutions. Look for it in your display preferences.

e.ggtimer is a great little tool if you take breaks in your presentation. You can set the timer and show it on the screen, so that everyone in the audience knows when to be expected back in their seats.


The hardware.


Logitech Professional Presenter R800 is the best remote presenter out there. It not only has a hundred foot range, but it has a built-in timer that counts down and gives off a silent vibration when you have five minutes left and another one when you're done with your presentation. In case you're wondering, I've tried all of the remote presenters out there... this is the one.

Dongles. Make sure to have both VGA and DVI dongles on you. Don't trust the venue and I've seen variances where new Macs don't work with older dongles, etc... Have your own, so you never have to worry.

USB stick. Always have your presentations backed up on a USB stick and - when possible - ensure that the AV team has a copy too and can switch to their computer should you have a crash.

USB hub. If you're plugging in multiple remotes and dongles, etc... it's always good to have a thin and small USB hub (just in case).

Rocket stick. I don't trust hotel and conference center Internet connections (wired or wireless), and when I do need to present something online, I much prefer to be doing so with my own access point. Mobile Internet is great to have in case you are relying on their connectivity and it goes down (which it does).

Extra power supply. Most laptops suck a lot of power and fast - especially when they're plugged into a projector> Always bring your own power supply and plug your computer in. Do not trust the battery.


Extra goodies.


Podium Timer app. This is a paid app, but it allows you to set-up your own timer (with messages too) that you can either use on your iPhone so you can tell where you're at, or you can daisy chain it to the HD version which is a more robust iPad timer.

Breathing Zone app. Whether you get nervous before speaking or not, this app is a great tool to get your breathing and heart rate into the right zone. If that doesn't work for you, try this technique: Take A Breather.

HT Professional Recorder. This iPhone app is an amazing audio recorder. If you want to improve as a speaker, use this app to record all of your presentations, you can go back and listen to how you did.

Download videos. Don't rely on a solid internet connection to show online videos. Here's a simple way to download online videos (just be sure to embed them within your presentation and give credit where credit is due). If you add the word "sing" in front of "youtube" in the URL for a video that you like, you get redirected to a site where you can download the audio of that video.

Did I miss anything? What would you add to this list of master tools?

Tags:

apple

breathing zone app

caffeine

eggtimer

ht professional recorder

ipad

iphone

iphone app

keynote

lapel wireless microphone

logitech

macbook air

podium timer app

powerpoint

presentation

presentation skills

presenters view

public speaker

public speaking

public speaking master toolkit

remote presenter

speaking

usb hub

usb stick

Leaving Facebook

Should you pull all of your advertising dollars out of Facebook?

On the eve of Facebook's historical initial public offering, automotive manufacturer, GM, made a big public stink about pulling ten million dollars of media spend out of Facebook because they felt that Facebook advertising doesn't work (more on that here: Advertising Age - GM Cuts Facebook Ad Spending, But Ford Steps on the Gas). The subtext to this move is not about one brand leaving Facebook advertising, but a sentiment that Facebook advertising doesn't work.

It's all very silly, isn't it?

This morning at the Canadian Marketing Association's Annual Summit 2012, Jordan Banks (head of Facebook in Canada) started off his presentation by saying that Facebook has accomplished only one percent of what it has set out to do, and that because of its massive user base close (900 million connected consumers strong), it will do some things right and some things wrong moving forward. His point being, that advertising on Facebook works when done in tandem with other activities, and even the advertising platform as we currently see it to date could very well morph, change and adapt.

Media is just media.

I don't know the innards of GM and their media planning or strategy, but this decision does require some context. While Facebook loves to trot out the nine hundred million users, it's important to note that the average user only has about one hundred and twenty connections. So, while Facebook cumulatively is massive, it's really millions of very little connections that are primarily there to share personal and social information. Is that type of user ready to engage with a small little banner box in the same fashion that they would on a news site or a blog page? It's doubtful. The role of the advertiser is to make that little box of advertising as compelling to the user as the social content that they're really there for. In short: that's a tall and hard order to deliver.

Where else to put your money.

If GM realized that they are severely under-indexed on search engines or that they have a massive opportunity with email marketing, and that those strategies are both proven and can earn them more with an acquisition model than Facebook advertising, than this news announcement was nothing more than some kind of political press release to question Facebook's viability. If GM has the perfect media mix and they're struggling to find advertising return on investment with their Facebook ads, it would be interesting to know how often they tested, iterated and played with the format before deciding that it was simply not an effective ad platform them.

Facebook is not (just) an advertising platform. 

If the media game is to simply blast a message in front of someone who is on their Facebook page, all is lost. There are probably much better places to advertise. If the game is to create a better marketing story and to leverage the power of Facebook (human beings who have self-identified themselves and are connecting in a sincere way with people they either know or want to know better), then the opportunity is not only massive, but it is still very nascent.

Your Facebook marketing is probably at 1%.

If Facebook feels like they've only accomplished one percent of their goal in helping the world to connect, rest assured: your marketing is at about the same percentage level. What does this mean? It is still early days. Facebook is about to get a major cash injection, and while they say that it's business as usual, we'll see if being public changes their need to adopt faster and more efficiently to a mobile world, and one where the public will demand cash profitability driven by our collective investments in the company. The most exciting brands on Facebook are doing much more than advertising. They are marketing in the channel and leveraging the social graph to connect outside. They're driving content, contests, apps, connectivity and more within Facebook's walled garden and pushing consumers over to microsites, websites and other media channels. These brands are connecting through valuable content that people will not only care about, but share within their own, personal, networks... and that's a powerful place to be. If a brand thinks that Facebook is just about advertising, they are (without question) not understanding Facebook (and the potential of it). At all. And, these same brands are completely missing the point. If all they want is a page to splatter an ad across and those Facebook pages don't do the trick, then by all means, they're making the strategic decision to not advertise on Facebook.

Ask yourself this: is your brand looking for a place to advertise or a place to connect, share and grow?

Tags:

advertising

advertising dollars

advertising platform

banner advertising

blog

brand

canadian marketing association

cma

cma annual summit

email marketing

facebook

facebook advertising

facebook app

facebook canada

facebook ipo

facebook marketing

gm

jordan banks

media

media channel

media mix

media planning

media strategy

mobile

online advertising

online media

presentation

search engine marketing

social content

social media

Find Your One Thing

Can you sum up your professional you in one or two words?

I was very touched watching the documentary, Being Elmo, on PBS' Independent Lens. The movie is about Kevin Clash (the puppeteer behind Sesame Street's Elmo). From a very young age, Clash demonstrated a strong desire to be a puppeteer. While that seems quaint and points to someone who was focused on what they wanted to do in life from a very young age, you can imagine the struggles he faced growing up in Baltimore. While all of the other kids were out playing baseball or causing mischief, Clash was at home sewing puppets together and entertaining the local toddlers.

Becoming Elmo.

One of the highlight in the documentary comes when Clash explains how he was able to take the character of Elmo and turn him into such a beloved character. He says that each and every muppet needs to have its own, one unique thing. For Miss Piggy, her one thing is a truck driver who wants to be a movie starlet. For Fozzie Bear, it's being a Vaudeville performer. For Elmo, it is love. Elmo loves everyone. Elmo loves love. He loves to hug and he loves to kiss and everything that Elmo does is an expression of his love for others. As basic and as simple as that sounds, kids know it and they feel it... and that's why he is the most beloved muppet of them all.

What's your one thing?

I often think about why one blog is that much more popular than another. My friend, Chris Brogan, has one of the top-ranked marketing blogs in the world. Why? I think Chris' one thing is: making business human. It's who he is. He genuinely wants to meet and help everyone he sees. While we're on the road together, I'm busy trying to get to my hotel room and get some sleep, while Chris is busy trying to connect and meet up with more people. It's not wonder he has an audience that is ten times the size of mine. He is deeply in touch with his one thing. Not only that, everyone who connects with him believes it to be true. This is the interesting part: you may not like him, his content or what he stands for, but you can't deny that it is who he is. That one thing has be believable... not just a platitude.

Being in touch with your one thing.

If you do a quick survey of the most successful people you know, it's clear how direct and in-touch they are with their own thing. It's no different for brands. You can have all of the values and brand expressions in the world, but if you can't sum it up into one, unique, thing, it's going to be hard to truly do groundbreaking things. While this may seem like a simplistic concept and one that has been bandied around when it comes to branding for years, it was enlightening to see Clash capture that concept, transpose it to muppets and be able to see how those characters connect with the human emotion. Too many individuals and brands are clamoring for attention, while those same brands and individuals probably grapple to define that one great thing. 

We could all use a little more Elmo in our lives.

Tags:

being elmo

blog

brand expression

character

chris brogan

documentary

elmo

fozzie bear

independant lens

kevin clash

love

marketing blog

miss piggy

muppet

one thing

pbs

professional career

puppet

puppeteer

sesame street

success

Can Breastfeeding Save Time Magazine?

When was the last time you discussed Time Magazine around the dinner table?

I found myself giving a dissertation on mass media at dinner the other night. It all started when one friend leaned into the table and spoke (in an almost embarrassed whisper), "Did any of you see the cover of Time Magazine? The one with the mother and her older child... breastfeeding?" I knew that they were talking about the issue dated May 21st, 2012 titled, Are You Mom Enough? by Kate Pickert. The article about Dr. Sears and the attachment parenting movement has created quite a stir, but I wanted to tease my friends, so I asked, "Does it offend you?" As is always the case, everybody clamed up hoping that someone else would fall on a sword (and we would either save that person and defend them or watch them squirm and then make fun of them on Facebook).

The real question is this: why did Time Magazine run with that cover story?

The answer to that question comes in the first line of this blog post: seriously, when was the last time you talked about Time Magazine? While the magazine continues to publish, it feels like it has been on some kind of paper diet for a while now. Thin, without much content, Time Magazine (once the weekly magazine that every smart person - or wanna be - had to have) has now become somewhat dated and tried. Without blaming the Internet, for their current state of affairs, it's apparent that magazines like The Economist, The New Yorker, Fast Company and The Atlantic are transcending the whole, "the Internet is killing the magazine business" discourse that is both unfounded and untrue. The Internet simply brought more choice. More choice does not create business challenges, so long as the quality and value is perceived by an audience. In fact, as those other magazines mentioned above prove, the Internet is finally starting to create new and interesting business models for these publications.

It's all about the PR.

The real reason that Time Magazine ran that cover is publicity. They need to sell magazines. The only way to sell magazines (if people aren't hooked on specific writers or stories that they can't find anywhere else) is to create controversy. The challenge with this publishing tactic is that it firmly places Time Magazine into the tabloid marketing camp: where it becomes a game of diminishing returns. Time Magazine will have to keep on being controversial (in fact, increasingly more controversial) to keep people coming back (and talking about them). Has Time Magazine lost its way?

The mass market is a tough market.

In creating a news magazine geared towards everyone, Time Magazine is quickly learning the same lessons that the Web portals had to learn: in an Internet world where people can grab content that is very niche oriented, the general (more mass) content needs to have particular angle. Time Magazine wins awards. Don't kid yourself. They have legitimate and great writers. They understand the magazine business. That all being said, don't kid yourself. That magazine cover was published for one reason... and one reason only: to sell more magazines. It shouldn't offend you. That's not true. They're actually hoping to offend you because the more people talk about it (like this article), the more likelihood it will have for commercial success. 

Doesn't it feel like too much of chasing the mass media dragon in a very different world?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for The Huffington Post called, Media Hacker . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here:

The Huffington Post - Can Breastfeeding Save Time Magazine?

Tags:

are you mom enough

attachment parenting

blo

business column

current affaires

dr sears

facebook

fast company

kate pickert

magazine publishing

marketing

mass media

media hacker

news magazine

pr

public relations

publishing

the atlantic

the economist

the huffington post

the new yorker

time magazine