Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 338

What Will Future Marketers Think Of Us?

That is the question that consumes me.

I not only see the new forms of Digital Marketing as an opportunity that no Marketing Professional should waste, I often wonder if I am doing everything I can (and - in the process - encouraging the clients we connect with at Twist Image) to ensure that the future generations of Marketers will look back on this very unique moment in time and be proud of the work that we all, collectively, did to help people connect in much more efficient and human ways with the brands that they care the most about.

It's a tall order.

Holding ourselves to a higher standard is the only option. If Social Media has done anything, it has proven that brands are now naked (more than they ever were). Brands are no longer just accountable to their corporate shareholders, because the shareholders are now each and every person who touches the brand (mostly because every one of those individuals can now broadcast their loves, fears, passions and concerns for the world to see in text, images, audio and video). For decades, governments have put laws into place that keep Marketers (and many other professions) in check - this happened because we stepped over the line on more than a few occasions. Public outcry because of abuse and other stupidities have not helped our profession. Yes, we still have many people who call themselves "marketers", but they're ultimately trying to defraud the public rather than add any semblance of economic value to a brand or the overall economy. We need to not only rise above, but really take hold of the work that we do. Our very future depends on it.

Thinking about the future.

Odds are that future marketers will look back on these past few decades of marketing with a mixture of shame, envy and disgust (sorry to burst your bubble). We have to remember that as generations turn, new standards, ethics and beliefs come into play that will take the place for our shortcomings and short-sightedness. Just as some of the advertising from our past seems implausible now (for more on that: Top 48 Ads That Would Never Be Allowed Today), the work we're doing in the here and now will probably shock the marketers of the future who will look back on us (just as we are shocked by the ads in the link above) with an air of contempt. Remember, it wasn't too long ago that we thought dumping our raw sewage into the rivers surrounding our homes and cities was the right/best way to do things. This doesn't mean that we're hopeless. It does mean that we have to be cognizant of this reality. We should spend some extra time doing our best to not only push these new platforms forward, but to change the face of Marketing as we know it. I see this more as an opportunity than a threat or something to fear. One of the easier ways to do this is to add a layer into our work that forces us to think about what the future marketers will think of us.

It's not just about our own, personal, legacy, but the way our profession is respected within our society. 

Tags:

advertising

brand

broadcasting

digital marketing

digital marketing agency

economic value

future generations of marketers

future marketers

marketing

marketing ethics

marketing law

marketing platform

marketing professional

shareholder

social media

twist image

The Value Of Focus

"When do you have time for all of the things that you do?"

How often do you get asked this, exact, question? People who seem to be doing a lot of things often get asked this question. It is the kind of question that makes me laugh (mostly because there is a misconception that I am busy doing a lot of things). The truth of the matter is that I'm not doing a lot of things, but there is a good chance that the things that I am doing are the types of things that others wish they could be spending their time on?

Make time for the things that are important to you.

I don't care if it's loosing weight, doing community service, getting a promotion, Blogging more often or starting that business that you have been dreaming about. You will always have (and make) time for the things that are important to you. The output of that means that you won't see them as something you have to add into your schedule or routine, because it's the work you were meant to do. While it may be challenging and extremely difficult work, even the toughest of moments will give you both joy and satisfaction. That's the truly amazing thing about doing the work that you were meant to do: it doesn't feel like work and you rarely feel like you need to take a vacation from it. Why? Because a vacation is break... and who needs to take a break from doing something that they love? In fact, isn't the ideal vacation one where all you're doing are the things that bring you joy and fulfillment?

Enough of this, what does it take to make this all become a reality? 

In a word: focus. You can read every best-selling business book ever published, then move on to every motivational book ever published and from there start reading every diet book ever published and you will net out with the same, exact, one word, at the end of every book: focus. You (and no one else) must make a decision about what, exactly, you are going to spend the very few days you have on this pebble we call Earth focusing on. If you read the biographies of the world's biggest brains and artists - across a myriad of disciplines - you will also uncover that each and every one of them was obsessively focused on their area of interest. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Three ways to re-think about focus:

Urgent. Focus is not about dragging your feet and staring out of the window pondering about your area of interest. True focus happens when you create a sense of urgency about your work. Things must get done. It's the type of focus and sense of urgency that says, "if I don't get this done right now... in this very moment, there may not be another chance." While you don't want to take this sense of urgency to an unhealthy state of compulsion, you do need to have it to not only succeed, but stay the course. Being and staying focused needs to feel like you're constantly on deadline.

Empathy. This one may surprise you. I believe that people who are extremely focused on what they're trying to accomplish often have a lack of empathy. It doesn't mean that they lack empathy as people, but simply that they're so focused on what they're doing that anything else is both a distraction to them (and often an annoyance). It's important to frame this concept in the right context: think about a pit crew during a grand prix car race. Each member has their task and is focused like a laser to get it done. While the race car pulls into the pit, each crew member must lack empathy to get their jobs done. They must be solely focused on their task. This doesn't mean that they're not working as a team or thinking/supporting their other pit crew members (they are), but they don't have time - at that moment of focus - for empathy. It's the "getting things done" moment compressed.

Future. In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, there is a section about the time that Apple started making serious money. Steve Jobs laments about some of his peers at Apple for becoming virtually unrecognizable to him. He talks about how some of his co-worker's wives suddenly had breast implants and how some of the guys suddenly had hair. HIs overarching comment on all of that was: "there is no yacht in my future." In order to be focused on his passions, Jobs constantly reminded himself about why he was doing his work in the first place. For him (and for most of the successful people that I see), it's the focus on the work that matters most and not the nice things (like money) that comes from doing it well.

I realize that this list is both small and may seem counterintuitive to others who discuss focus, so what's your take?

Tags:

apple

artist

biography

business

business book

diet book

empathy

focus

getting things done

motivational book

steve jobs

steve jobs biography

vacation

walter isaacson

work

Where The Consumers Are

Consumers are not just people who see media and advertising.

In my first business book, Six Pixels of Separation, I recount the story of a friend who was looking to launch a retail endeavor. They were spending countless hours scoping out locations, speaking to interior designers, looking into leaseholds and more. While the product line was (somewhat) unique, something was bothering me. When they met with me to discuss their website, all I could think to myself is, "why limit yourself? Why stock a physical store on one random street in one random city, when you can really push online and truly define your market?" At bare minimum, a website, some search engine marketing and rudimentary email marketing can take a brand very far. It's a true petri dish. The risk associated with a retail location - where you're beholden to issues like foot traffic and weather - seems so unpredictable when compared to the online world.

It's a story that keeps getting told.

Yesterday, Forbes published the article, College Football's Biggest Entrepreneur. The story is about Jared Loftus: a guy who dreamed of opening up a t-shirt shop next to Louisiana State University's Tiger Stadium in hopes of selling swag to the LSU crowd. "Today, Loftus sits at the helm of College District, an online college football merchandise company that fills 1,500-2,000 orders a week from across the nation. The former one-man operation is now up to a staff of twelve and has raked in nearly $1 million dollars this season. Loftus says that all profits are being reinvested into company growth."

Consumers are everywhere... but they're all online.

Loftus doesn't need to worry about LSU making the finals anymore. He doesn't have stress over union strikes and other anomalies that can impact a retail store (like construction or even if the stadium decides to move). Loftus can also sell anything and everything to LSU fans the world over, but the true brunt of the story is how Loftus is expanding... handling orders for over fifteen other school-specific websites from all over the United States.

It seems so obvious, doesn't it?

We're into the twentieth year of the Internet's commercialization. Social Media is over a decade old. Usage has not declined. The Web is not a fad. Now, with mobile and touch coming on strong, connectivity and technology is becoming core to our daily lives - much in the same way as water, electricity and heating. It's not a fad. It's not a service. It's a utility. Why so many brands still keep it locked up as if it's one, tiny, advertising channel is beyond me... and - if we're going to chat amongst friends here - it's disgraceful.

I'm out of the convincing business.

If a brand doesn't understand Digital Marketing as core to business success (both today and going forward) and they need convincing, they're simply not going to evolve. They may be able to maintain their little piece of geographic heaven, but true expansion (be it from B2B or B2C) without any real time and dedication to Digital Marketing is going to cause them long term pain. They may even find themselves in the middle of severe disruption when a more able-minded group comes together to create the future of the industry that they serve. Are the online channels for everybody (including the plumber at the corner of your street)? Why not? Since when was a business not about being a true value to the community that it serves? If that community is now anywhere and everywhere (including online, where consumers are looking for ratings and reviews or more in-depth information), what does it say about a brand that is completely ignoring the situation (and opportunity).

What's your side? I'm willing to take on any and every detractor...

Tags:

advertising

brand

business book

college district

community

connectivity

consumer

digital marketing

disruption

email marketing

entrepreneur

forbes

jared loftus

louisiana state university

media

mobile

online channel

online football merchandise company

online ratings

online reviews

retail

search engine marketing

social media

technology

touch

utility

website

A Different (Unique And Perfect) Gift-Giving Guide

Chances are that you're still scrambling for some of your last minute gifts this holiday season.

I usually leave the hardest to shop for last (plus, I'm a firm believer that were it not for the last minute, nothing would get done). I'm not sure why we cause ourselves so much emotional turmoil, but we do tend to leave the heavy lifting of gift choices down to the wire. Family and friends have accused me of being very difficult to shop for. As someone who likes all of the latest and greatest gadgets, I can understand why (if it has lights and buttons on it, I've got one). Over the past few months, I've watched the slew of gift-giving guides come out. From traditional print media to Blogs and Facebook postings, it's been a very generic lot of boring recommendations (from iPads, Kindles and iPods to fancy cases for iPads, Kindles and iPods). Instead of those standard/expected gifts, I thought it would be fun to make some gift recommendations for the business professional in your life that are not only unique, but the type of gifts that can also be conversation starters...

PlugBug . This nifty little power charger is for Apple computer users. You add this on to your Apple power supply and it enables you to charge your iPad or iPhone simultaneously with your computer. For those who travel or want to take up less plugs in the walls, this is one of those useful electronic gizmos that makes you wonder why Apple doesn't make this standard on their own power supplies (about $35).

Mighty Wallet . "What is that?" is the usual reaction I get when I take out my Mighty Wallet. It's a standard wallet but it's made of - what looks like - paper and it comes in hundreds of designs (mine is a Star Trek comic book that looks like it's been origami-folded into a wallet). These durable and waterproof wallets are eco-friendly and made out of Tyvek (not paper) - which is a similar material to that of a FedEx envelope. You can find them in many interesting designs (I love the one that looks like an envelope almost as much as the one that is a map of the New York City subway system). Guaranteed to be a conversation piece, I have friends who have had the same Mighty Wallet for over five years (and it's still holding up). They are not only super slim but will allow the business exec in your life to show a little character and cool even when it's stuffed into the Hugo Boss suit that every other executive wears (about $15).

Eagle Creek Traverse Pro 22 . For the frequent flier on your list, nothing will help them make the road (and air) more tolerable than an Eagle Creek Traverse Pro 22. While most business professionals settle for Tumi, Travelpro or Briggs & Riley, this Eagle Creek is not only a much lighter solution (it weights 6 pounds empty while the others typically clock in at 9-12 lbs), but it also features a very practical detachable backpack (which doubles as my daypack/briefcase). The other part that I love about the Eagle Creek Traverse Pro 22, is that when flying on smaller planes that force passengers to gate-check their carry-on, the bag actually fits in the overhead bin of these smaller planes (once you have removed the backpack). On top of that Eagle Creek offers their incredible "No Matter What" warranty (about $250).

TextExpander . A wonderful piece of Apple-only software that is a typing shortcut utility. Instead of always re-typing content, you create customized abbreviations for your frequently-used text strings. The trick with TextExpander is to start every shortcut with a semi-colon and then one word that fits the longer copy (an example is ";HR"). So, when I type, ";HR" on my computer (in any piece of software - from word processing to email) it expands into a pre-written form letter. I can't tell you how many hours of productivity TextExpander has saved. Use TextExpander to thank people for a meeting to requesting more information for a product or service, etc... It gets better when you use the iPhone app as well (about $35).

App gift card. When people give gift cards for iTunes, the obvious choice is to then buy some music and/or movies. There's nothing wrong with that, but you can also use those same gift cards for apps (and I'm talking about productive apps like TextExpander above... not just games). Along with apps, feel free to nudge the person to use the gift cards for books in Apple's iBooks store as well. This season saw the release of some amazing reads (like Jim Collins' Great By Choice or the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson) (available in many denominations where gift cards are sold).

The gift that keeps on giving. If the business person in your life really does have just about everything, please consider making a donation to the charity that they care most about (or introduce them to a new one). People who actually do have everything don't typically need much, and we all know how many people on this globe really need the bare essentials just to get by. If you're looking for something a little bit more interesting, check out what groups like Kiva, Acumen Fund, Room To Read or the local Children's Hospital are doing to change the world. These gifts are not only gratifying to the person who receives them, but they're actually going to make a difference to the greater good.

Happy shopping... Happy Holidays... Happy New Year...

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 - Beyond the humdrum: Nifty gift ideas for the business executive in your life .

Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

Tags:

acumen fund

amazon kindle

app store

apple

apple aoftware

backpack

blog

briefcase

briggs and riley

business column

business exec

business professional

charity

childrens hospital

comic book

donation

eagle creek

eagle creek traverse pro 22

facebook

fedex

frequent flier

gadget

gate check

gift card

gift guide

great by choice

holiday season

hugo boss

ibooks

ipad

iphone app

ipod

itunes

jim collins

kiva

mighty wallet

montreal gazette

newspaper column

overhead bin

plugbug

power supply

print media

prodcutivity

road warrior

room to read

shortcut utility

star trek

steve jobs

steve jobs biography

textexpander

travelpro

tumi

tyvek

vancouver sun

walter isaacson

Brand Against The Machine

Episode #284 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

Brands act like machines because brands are not people. That seems obvious enough, but John Morgan is here to explain how brands are still made up of people and how we all interact can change not only the face of marketing, but the business landscape. His first business book, Brand Against The Machine - How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise and Stand Out from the Competition, was recently released and he's here to discuss the new brand blueprint that he thinks will make brands a little less like machines... and more like us. 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 #284.

Tags:

advertising

bite size edits

blog

blogging

blue sky factory

book oven

brand against the machine

business book

cast of dads

cc chapman

chris brogan

christopher s penn

digital dads

digital marketing

facebook

facebook group

hugh mcguire

in over your head

itunes

john morgan

julien smith

librivox

managing the gray

marketing

marketing over coffee

media hacks

new marketing labs

online social network

podcast

podcasting

pressbooks

six pixels of separation

social media 101

social media marketing

strategy

trust agents

twitter

Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #78

Is 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:

Scarlet Road - Trailer - YouTube . "This is sure to polarize people. Documentary about a sex worker? Fair enough. What if that sex worker specializes in helping people with disabilities? Here's the trailer for a movie that makes you think, no matter where you stand on the issue." (Alistair for Hugh).

What tricks do you use to get customers to spend more money? - Reddit . "Here's a Reddit thread that exposes all of the dirty secrets retailers play to influence buyers. From TV tuning, to bar tab minimums, to changing floor tile sizes, to item placement, it's all here -- the anonymity of Reddit's posters and the general distaste many workers feel for underhanded trickery makes this a treasure-trove of cheap (and effective) manipulations, although you may have to wade through a few side-rants to get to the good stuff." (Alistair for Mitch).

The Rise of Developeronomics - Forbes . "A compelling argument that good developers are becoming the most important 'commodity' in the world. Forget gold, Treasury Bills, and the equity market: you should invest in good developers if you want to get rich, says Venkatesh Rao." (Hugh for Alistair).

Barbarians on the Thames - City Journal . "As a lefty, my tendency is to agree that 'the state should do more,' but as with everything important, when tendencies become assumptions become fundamental principles - with no testing - there's a big big problem. This is a provocative article about the 'causes' of London riots, and makes a strong (if uncomfortable, for me) case that much of the grievances of the rioters can be traced back to an overabundance of housing subsidies, overgenerous welfare payments, and general leniency on crime. And it's worth considering as we think about tackling the big problems we have to face in the next decade (a broken economic system, climate change to name two): do we have evidence that this policy actually benefits society and provides the outcomes we want? It would be nice to see the Lean Startup model implemented in how we make social and economic policy - test, learn, test, learn, test... *before* you launch something big. So, often we do things because we 'think they are right,' but have no real sense of the actual consequences, and our political systems are not built for Lean. Maybe they should be." (Hugh for Mitch).

The 50 funniest tweets of 2011 - HappyPlace . "In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I figured I'd shoot you a link that isn't so big-brained. There are some real gems in here and it made me discover Joe Mande with his brilliant tweet, 'Please tell me those aren't dog names. RT @MikeVick: Who do y'all think gonna win the fight tonight Zab Judah or Zhan?' Not to get too deep here, but Twitter really is creating a new form of entertainment. I love watching comedians (like Mande) work Twitter down to 140 characters of humor. I also appreciate his ability to take something that a celebrity says on Twitter, retweet and add his own comical spin that also turns it into an awkward confrontation - that in and of itself is an even newer form of comedy." (Mitch for Alistair).

Malcolm Gladwell Has No Idea Why "The Tipping Point" Was A Hit - Fast Company . "When asked why The Tipping Point was such a successful business book, Malcolm Gladwell responds: 'my only real hope was that my mother would like it! I've considered all my books to be very private, idiosyncratic projects designed to make me happy. And I'm forever surprised when they make other people happy too.' It's amazing to me that the most popular content (be it a business book or hit song) are never produced with a mass audience in mind, but because it's someone's art and it makes them happy just to be making it. While that may seem obvious to some, I wish more brands would think this way and do things that would make the keepers of the brand happy about the brand instead of worrying what every customer might think." (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

bitcurrent

business book

city journal

complete web monitoring

developernomics

fast company

forbes

gigaom

happyplace

hugh mcguire

human 20

iambik

joe mande

lean startup

librivox

link

link exchange

linkbait

malcolm gladwell

managing bandwidth

media hacks

pressbooks

reddit

scarlet road

story

the book over

the tipping point

twitter

venkatesh rao

year one labs

youtube

We The Media

Everything you say (and do) is being recorded and will be judged in the court of public opinion.

Put aside how you feel both politically and philosophically about the Occupy Wall Street movement and take a few minutes to watch this video (please note: there is some language, so this may not be safe for work)...

Did you notice:

Everyone is recording everything - in images, audio and video.

The cameras are everywhere.

The cameras are not just filming the protest, they are filming the police too.

The reporter who winds up getting physical with the police officer has his credentials out in plain sight.

The reporter then leverages the social media channels to tell his story.

Who is right? Who is wrong?

This isn't a question of ethics, legalities or scruples. What you are seeing is not only the power of New Media and Social Media, but the power of the platform. This recording was posted just a few moments after it occurred. How long do you think it will be until we're able to stream this (in HD and without buffering issues) live and in real time? We're close. Almost there. Personally, all I could think about when seeing this video for the first time was George Orwell's infamous book, 1984 (as a side note: do you notice how militarized the law enforcement officers look?). The only difference between this and 1984 is that the public has the cameras... we're the ones recording everything.  

We the people? How about we the media.

Tags:

1984

camera

george orwell

law enforcement

media

new media

occupy wall street

social media

streaming

video recording

we the media

youtube

Expand Your Marketing Horizons

The Art of Marketing is coming to Toronto on March 5th, 2012.

I'm very excited to announce that The Art of Marketing full-day leadership summit is happening in Toronto on March 5th, 2012. As you can see by this year's agenda, the line-up is stellar. I'll be sharing the stage (and kicking off the day) with Facebook's former head of Marketing, Randi Zuckerberg (I believe you know her brother ;), branding and consumer behaviorist, Martin Lindsrom, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, Youngme Moon, the Co-Founder and Chief Brand Architect at Method, Eric Ryan, President and CEO and Loyalty One, Bryan Pearson, and I'll also be taking part in a very cool segment during the day where I will be having a live conversation on stage with Scooter Braun (he discovered and currently manages Justin Bieber). I'm hopeful that the folks at The Art of Marketing and Scooter will allow me to record this session to release it as an episode of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast (finger's crossed).

You can buy a ticket or you can win a ticket.

If you would like a chance to win one of two pairs of VIP tickets to The Art of Marketing in Toronto (which means two winners - each winner gets two tickets), all you have to do is leave a comment below about your one prediction for Marketing in 2012 (deadline for entries will be January 16th, 2012 at 5 pm EST and the winners will be announced on January 20th, 2012). If you win, you have to cover everything else (travel, accommodations, etc... are not included... it's just the tickets). A VIP ticket gives you:

Express VIP entrance.

Reserved premier seating in the first five rows

Exclusive VIP three course Lunch.

An eco-friendly tote bag and personal spiral bound notebook.

Copies of featured bestselling business books:    


Martin Lindstom - Brandwashed.

Bryan Pearson - The Loyalty Leap.

Signed copy of my first book, Six Pixels of Separation.

If you don't want to risk, buy your tickets now (with this special promo code)...

These events always sell-out, so if you don't want to risk the contest, the kind folks at The Art of Marketing have a special offer for the Six Pixels of Separation community:

Early Bird promo. If you register before December 31st, 2011 and use promo code EB23 you will save $100.00 off the regular price ($399 for a general pass or $599 for a VIP pass). 

Six Pixels promo. If you register after December 31st, 2011 and use promo code TWIST you will save $50.00 off the regular price ($399 for a general pass or $599 for a VIP pass). If you prefer, you can also register by phone: 1 (866) 992-7863 (just be sure to mention your promo code).

I hope to see you there.

I spend the entire day at these events hanging out, meeting people but more importantly, listening and learning from the other speakers. Next to the TED conference, these are the events that I attend to learn, grow and expand my marketing horizons. I not only hope to see you there (and please come over to say "hi" if you do), but I hope that you take this opportunity to learn and grow right along with me.

I'll see you at The Art of Marketing!

Tags:

brand architect

branding

brandwashed

bryan pearson

business book

consumer behavior

eric ryan

facebook

harvard business school

justin bieber

leadership summit

loyalty one

mark zuckerberg

marketing education

marketing event

marketing prediction

martin lindstrom

method

podcast

randi zuckerberg

scooter braun

ted conference

the art of marketing

the art of marketing promo code

the loyalty leap

toronto

toronto marketing event

vip tickets

youngme moon

Getting Over The Lazy

How will brands and agencies adapt?

You wind up seeing/reading a lot of content online around this time year that speaks to the coming years and what brands and agencies should expect in terms of disruptions, predications, new channels and shinier and brighter objects. Media has fundamentally changed. We all know this (and if you're reading this, you're smack dab in the middle of it). The true adaption for brands and agencies will not be about how smart they are with their creative or whether or not they're doing clever things in spaces like Twitter or Facebook. True adaptation will come from how well they get over the lazy.

Getting over the lazy.

Marketers on the brand side either manage (and involve) themselves in an agency relationship or they manage and involve themselves with an internal marketing team. Most see Digital Marketing and Social Media as a new channel to integrate versus a new layer that lies at the foundation of all marketing initiatives. While there are some marketing professionals who truly are pushing into this brave new world and doing what they can to build platforms for the one screen world and work with utilitarianism marketing opportunities, there is still a mass majority who are lazy. Maybe "lazy" is a bad choice of words (it is an attention getter), but a majority of marketers are simply doing everything that they have always done. Primarily, they're relying on people who make very traditional media decisions and then execute it - uniformly - across all media platforms... because all media platforms are the same... right?

It's a big mistake... and it's going to cost us... all of us.

We're not talking about imploding everything. There is no doubt that certain strategies and tactics work, but it's the lazy mentality that has got me down these days. I get that most marketers don't keep their jobs for more than twenty months. I get that most agencies are dropped, changed or sent back to re-pitch the business every eighteen months or so, but this should not be an excuse to just let the media direct how and where to spend the marketing money. Is there ROI in Digital Marketing? Is there ROI in Social Media? The answer is yes... but marketing professionals are asking the wrong question and getting a bad outcome because of it.

What is the right question?

Are you willing to do the long, hard and disruptive work or creating a brand ecosystem that you can truly measure? You see, the tools, technology and strategies exist. You can measure every link, image or channel that you're thinking about engaging with, the challenge is that you need to create a formal framework (which will detail what you're trying to accomplish, how you're going to measure it and the economic value that it will bring). From that framework comes the even harder work of deploying it throughout the organization (getting everyone from the c-suite down) to agree and to be apart of this new marketing movement towards optimization and efficacy. And, if that wasn't hard enough, once you overcome those hurdles, you have to actually do the work. Not just once. But constantly and consistently. You have to wake up in the morning - each and every day - with a smile on your face and say to yourself (and your team), "today is a great day! We're going to destroy what doesn't work, test more things, tweak others, build newer metrics and keep at it."

In short...

You are no longer managing a budget and an agency relationship. You are an architect.  You are planning, building and working on a building, but it never end. There is no penthouse... there is no top floor. It's not for the faint of heart. It's not for the weak. It's not for the lazy. Is it easy to tweak and add components to your overall marketing mix based on trends and what the analysts are telling you? Yes. Is it easy to say that such and such doesn't work or that's there's no marketing ROI in it when it falls by the wayside? Yes. Is it hard to really do the work and to look into the mirror and admit that the majority of what you're currently doing is lazy? Yes.

It's time to stop asking others to convince us about the new opportunities (because they're not all that new anymore), and it's time to start doing the hard work or getting things right.

Tags:

agency relationship

brand

brand ecosystem

content

creative

digital marketing

digital marketing roi

economic value

facebook

internal marketing team

lazy marketer

lazy marketing

marketer

marketing agency

marketing architect

marketing framework

marketing initiative

marketing mix

marketing movement

marketing optimization

marketing professional

measurement framework

media

media platform

one screen

predictions

social media

social media roi

technology

traditional media

twitter

utilitarianism marketing

How to Recover From Social Media Blunders

Brands and popular individuals have done a great job of mucking up their reputation via Social Media.

It's something that is not going to end anytime soon, either (sadly). Whether it's a Weinergate or Kenneth Cole choosing a bad time to promote a new line of clothing, this has less to do with people and their unfamiliarity with Social Media as it does with understanding media in its entirety. The traditional process of formulating a message for the world to see used to involve layers of involvement from different divisions within an organization and then a conversation with the gatekeepers (traditional media) to get that message published for the world to see. Sadly, 2012 won't see any fewer mishaps, blunders and public embarrassments because human beings are emotional and irrational (when they're acting emotionally) and now anyone with a basic smartphone or Internet connectivity can publish their impulses live and in real-time.

There are not enough NDAs and Social Media guidelines to stop this.

In the pre-Social Media world - one controlled by a handful of media outlets - it would have been harder to have these kind of foibles and mishaps. We have to remember that media has become a lot more like conversational talking than in the past, when media was mostly a pre-recorded platform (or - at the very least - one with a ten second delay). If you have ever spoken publicly, think about those moments when something pops into your brain and you know you should not say it aloud, but it still comes out and all you're trying to do is reach out into the air to grab those words and shove them right back down your own throat from whence they came. It's easy to delete a tweet or a Blog post, but sometimes (and thanks to Google cache), it only makes the matter worse.

The age of the apology.

Tom Peters (leadership expert and best-selling business book author of In Search Of Excellence, Re-Imagine!, etc...) talks about the power of apologizing in his last book, The Little Big Things. He writes about this powerful quote from Marshall Goldsmith (leadership thinker and the executive coach of executive coaches): "I regard apologizing as the most magical, healing, restorative gesture human beings can make. It is the centerpiece of my work with executives who want to do better." We live in a world where people post things on Facebook or tweet about their thoughts on Twitter and bounce back with a quick apology when they find their digital feet planted firmly in their literal mouths. The truth is that for as much publicity as these missives get, there are now so many of them that it's not only hard to keep track of, but it's hard to quantify if these mistakes actually cause any real long-term damage (politicians notwithstanding). Apologies can not only save a Social Media blunder, but they're good to repair everything from your personal relationships to your inter-office communications.

There's a mess in the mass.

For politicians, it has certainly become something that makes it harder for a comeback, but when it comes to brands, a heartfelt and sincere apology goes a long way. It's strange how something so simple (and human) often gets overlooked and how many brands get caught up in the follow-up post apology that winds up tainting the sincerity of the initial apology. It's even more fascinating to see that the majority of these mishaps could be completely avoided if they simply took a moment to let that initial impulse pass and then look back to see if it's worth publishing at all. This is what draft versions were created for. Imagine the level of credibility and integrity that Facebook, YouTube and Google+ could have if brands would create content in draft form, step away from the screen, take a breather and then come back to see if what they're about to publish is in-line with the brand narrative. It's amazing to see how all of the technological advances that foster a world where everyone of us is a media channel could best be optimized if we all acted with a little more humanity. Imagine that. Think before publishing, save it as a draft, apologize (and mean it) if you screw up. Learn from your mistakes. There's no tricks to avoiding public shame and social media blunders, you just have to remember the golden rules of life that your parents (and grandparents) tried to instill in you from a very young age. In the end, we should all strive for this basic level of good, kind and smart behavior.

If that's not a noble wish for this holiday season, I'm not sure what is.

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 - How to Recover From Social Media Blunders .

Tags:

apology

blog

brand

brand narrative

business book

business column

executive coach

facebook

google

google plus

in search of excellence

internet connectivity

kenneth cole

leadership expert

marshall goldsmith

media

media channel

media hacker

media outlet

online conversation

public speaking

publishing

reimagine

reputation management

smartphone

social media

social media blunders

social media guidelines

the huffington post

the little big things

tom peters

traditional media

twitter

weinergate

youtube