Do Random Acts of Kindness Need to Be Anonymous?

We have been having a debate in our household this week.

The debate centers around the 26 Acts of Kindness movement started by the tweet of news correspondent Ann Curry.  I suspect most of you have heard of it by now.  I hope many of you have participated in your own way.  If you don't know about this, check out #26Acts on Twitter.

The debate we have been having is not anything about the value of doing random acts or paying it forward.  We are all in favor of that.  We have practiced it from time to time.

Rather, some in my family feel that by tweeting or blogging about the random acts you do, you take away the randomness of the act.  By publicly declaring that you did an anonymous good deed, some of my family members feel, it is no longer anonymous and is no longer just about the good deed.

Does publicly announcing that you have done a philanthropic deed diminish the value of that deed?  Or does it help to magnify it by inspiring others?  Does it make an act of kindness smaller or larger?

I prefer to believe in the altruism of people and the value of publicity.  I prefer to think that by sharing the random acts you have done or you have experienced, you help get others thinking about how they could do the same.  You show, by example, the awesome impact even the smallest random act of kindness can have.

That is how I prefer to think of it.  What do you think?

Blurring the Lines

Reposted:  This blog first ran on 12/18/12
I read an article in my local newspaper last week that breathlessly reported about a recent study indicating that a huge percentage of employees (60%) check personal social media sites more than once a day while at work.  The article goes on to calculate the lost productivity and the unfairness of this to employers.

I think the reporter is looking at this issue too narrowly.  The issue, as I see it, is more about the blurring of the lines between home and work.  I acknowledge that many people access personal social media sites at work.  I acknowledge that when you are updating your Facebook account you can't be balancing the ledgers or helping customers.  But what the reporter didn't explore was how often employers do the same thing to employees traditionally non-work hours. 

With the prevelence of smartphones, tablets and laptop computers, employees can access their work email accounts, if not the entirity of their computer files, from the comfort of the kitchen table.  Furthermore, as this access has become more prevalent, access beyond the work day is not considered going above and beyond the call of duty, it is expected.  How many of you have had someone ask you on Monday morning why you hadn't yet responded to the email that they sent you on Saturday?

Working at home has always happened.  My Dad's had his briefcase and "paperwork" that needed to be worked on.  I have replaced his briefcase with a laptop and a cellphone.  What is different now is that with cellphones, tablets and laptops many of us are expected to be on call 24/7.  Even vacations aren't sacrosanct.

Understand, I am not complaining about this.  I have chosen to work in the field of marketing communications.  As a media spokesperson, I have usually have had to be on call.  Before cellphones, I often wore a pager.  Likewise, I have also almost always brought work home.  Some of that is because I sometimes find it easier to write away from the office. 

But if we are going to have a conversation about how mobile technology has allowed more people to access personal social media during work hours, I think it is important to also acknowledge that the same media has also made it possible to access work from home.  More and more, defining "work hours" has become difficult.

in Memorium

This is not the blog post that I had intended to write for today.  My original plan got upended by the tragic events last Friday in Newtown, CT and Sandy Hook Elementary School.  I wish my blog had been the only victim.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a resident of Newtown.  The grief, sorrow and sense of loss for everyone in that town must be overwhelming.  My heart and thoughts go out to them.

I do not want to be political with this post.  I do, however, want to shine the spotlight on a couple perspectives which seem to resonate with truth and honesty to me.

The first centers around comments that were originally attributed to Morgan Freeman regarding the role of the media in perpetrating massacres such as this.  That now appears to be a hoax.  Regardless, the sentiments expressed in the statement warrant some consideration.  One of the things that the now mysterious author of this statement says is that the media deserve some of the causal blame for tragedies like this.  Too rarely do we hear the stories of the heroes of these events, of which there are many.  Heroes like Victoria Soto, the 27 year old teacher who protected her students and paid with her life.  Heroes like Principal Dawn Hochsprung, and school psychologist Mary Sherlach, who allegedly rushed the perpetrator when he broke into the school.  They were killed valiantly trying to protect others.  There are, I am sure, dozens of other heroic acts, large and small.  It seems to me that this should be the focus of media attention.  Focus on the heroes and the victims of each tragedy.

Instead, the media tends to focus their attention, their pages and their airwaves on the perpetrators of these crimes, building them up in a way that many of them cannot dream of achieving in life without taking extraordinary measures.  To a person who is struggling with their grasp on reality, watching coverage like this can arouse thoughts of a copycat crime and copycat fame.  It is for this very reason that many newspapers and media outlets often do not report on teen suicides, or at least do not discuss the details.  I think this is a wise policy.

Which raises another issue that too often goes under discussed in the wake of these tragedies.  100% of the people who perpetrate these tragedies are mentally ill.  I don't care what their official diagnosis is, they are mentally ill.  As a nation, we need to figure out a better way to identify, treat and care for those who are wrestling with inner demons.  We cannot continue to hide from this issue or ignore these people who deserve our care and attention.

Mental health care has always taken a back seat to physical health care in our country.  I don't know why that is, but it has to change.  For an exceptionally personal perspective on what these issues look like from inside the family, please read an unbelievable blog by The Anarchist Soccer Mom here.  I thank her for her frank and heartfelt revelation.

I don't have any answers regarding what has happened in Connecticut and too many other places around the world.  I think we need to do something, and I always prefer taking positive, preventative action over negaitve, reactive action.  I don't think the answer is turning our schools into prisons or locking away anyone who shows signs of mental instability.  I do think there are answers and solutions out there.  I know that for me, the first step was and is hugging my family.

Peace.

Please.

My Blog is 100: Celebrating Milestones

In this blog, I have frequently written about the importance of celebration and recognizing milestones.   It seems appropriate then that I practice what I preach.  This is my 100th published post to my blog "Everything is Marketing."  Yeah me!

It seems remarkable (and a bit humbling) that it took me this long to hit this milestone.  My first post was in August 2009. I have had many fits and starts, a barren gap of a year and a half and other gaps of a month or more. I have stepped away from writing this blog many times and I have always failed to contribute to it in anything resembling a regular schedule. But I keep coming back to it and I keep getting indicators that a few brave souls are actually reading what I write. That is the humbling part.

This blog has been surprisingly rewarding in many ways.  Creating a space where I can think and write about marketing in a non-job specific way helps to give me some perspective and balance.  Having a venue to write and think creatively is very precious to me.  Having an audience is even more precious.  I treasure those of you who comment about what I write, either online or to me in person. 

I fully intend to keep at this.  After all, I have been picking up steam a bit...two thirds of my posts were written this year.  My goal...and I am actually foolishly stating it on here...is to hit 200 posts in 2013. 

So welcome to the party!  Have a slice of cake (guaranteed to have no calories!) and sit back and have fun.  I plan to!



Expectations

“High expectations are the key to everything.”

~ Sam Walton

I recently got an iPad.  I had very high expectations for it.  EVERYTHING I had heard or read about iPads, led me to believe that I was now holding in my hands a true marvel of modern engineering.  My new work tool (I am trying really hard not to call it my new toy) has a lot of wonderful features.  I can access the Internet with lightning fast speed; I can read and respond to email and manage my calendar and To Do lists without fumbling with scraps of paper and pens that are out of ink.   My iPad is a wonderful thing...except.... 

Except I am a writer.  I spend a good part of my work day and even a fair amount of my personal time writing.  If you are writing anything more an a brief response to an email, iPads ARE NOT an ideal tool!  

I am writing this blog on my iPad and the amount of time that I have to spend checking spelling, formats, rechecking spelling, correcting auto correct, and the rest really has me distracted.  When I write, I prefer to let the words flow and then go back to edit what I have written.  I cannot do that on this device.

Part of it stems from the fact that iPads don't have real keypads.  Part of it stems from the fact that this tool isn't designed as a computer but as something between.  Between a smart phone and a laptop.  Between an Internet portal and a productivity tool.  Between.

Ultimately, this comes down to high expectations.  I expected my new iPad to be the next best thing since, well, the iPhone (which actually came out AFTER the iPad, but never mind...). I expected a solution to ALL my mobile computing needs.  What I got was a solution to some of my mobile computing needs.  And no keyboard.

Counter-intuitive in the counter business

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart did away with their people greeters, a hallmark of the stores for more than 30 years.  A Wal-Mart spokesperson said that the move was a way to rein in costs and prices.  While the company has said that the greeters have been reassigned to other roles, including serving people in high traffic areas within the stores, many analysts and former greeters seem skeptical that the jobs will remain for long. 

It is conventional wisdom that the key to success in retail is to work to keep your costs as low as possible and your revenues as high as possible.  The manifestation of that conventional wisdom is that many retail stores are populated with fewer and fewer poorly paid part time employees.  As Zeynep Ton states in her recent Harvard Business Review article, "The conventional wisdom is that many companies have no choice but to offer bad jobs—especially retailers whose business models entail competing on low prices. If retailers invest more in employees, customers will have to pay more, the assumption goes."

But in her research, Ton shows evidence that the truth is counter-intuitive.  In her study, she profiles four retailers that operate in the low-price arena.  Trader Joe's, QuikTrip, Costco, and Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona buck the trend.  All four companies pay their employees higher wages, provide them better training and have more of staff on the floor.  All four of these companies have higher labor costs than their competitors.  They also have higher employee loyalty.  That is to be expected.  What goes against the grain of conventional wisdom is that all four of these retail organizations is also more profitable than their competitors.  They enjoy more sales per employee and per equivalent store.

The advantage is pretty straight forward.  First, the profiled companies tended to keep employees longer.  So, in the long run, they spend less per employee hour on recruitment and training costs. 

On average, their employees were more knowledgeable and more experienced than the staff of competitors who focused on minimizing HR costs.  That means that there is more experienced help on the floor for customers.  The chances of a customer getting assistance that really helps answer their question or solve their problem goes way up.

Which leads to the second tangible benefit.  It is cheaper to get existing customers to make additional purchases than it is to attract new customers to make first time purchases.  By having experienced, knowledgeable staff on the floor, helping customers, Trader Joe's, QuikTrip, CostCo and Mercadona help customers find, and purchase, what they are looking for.  Customers actually end up purchasing more because the knowledgeable staff helps them find answers to their problems, helps them find what they are looking for, and makes recommendations for additional purchases.

Zeynep Ton's research seems to bear this out.  I am including a link to her recent blog about her research if you want to read more.    http://blog.zeynepton.com/

Ultimately, there are many ways to run a retail business, some of which are actually profitable.  It seems to me that striving to be the lowest cost provider is a tough position to sustain.  There is always a company around the corner that will figure out how to lower their costs a bit more so that they can lower their prices a bit more.  

Better, it seems to me, to be a lower cost, high value retailer.  Add a little value to the customer experience and you most likely see sales and customer loyalty increase.  Customer loyalty is harder for a competitor to beat you on, because all of the sudden you are not selling commodities but unique experiences.  In order to provide high value, you need a knowledgeable, experienced work force that can successfully and efficiently address customers' needs and concerns.  Experienced and knowledgeable staff do not tend to congregate to the low pay employer.

Imagine (with apologies to John Lennon)

The Presidential election is now a couple of days past, and regardless of what you feel about the results, I suspect you feel a sense of relief.  A brief respite from political ads and sound bites is very welcome!

By some accounts, this most costly of elections cost the participants in the Presidential race over $1 billion. Overall, in all races, approximately $2.5 billion was spent.  All for thirty second snippets to tell us how bad their opponent is.

Imagine what that $2.5 million could have done.  I have this fantasy of the candidates using their campaign war chests to actually solve problems on the ground in the areas they are campaigning in.

Imagine if a senatorial candidate bankrolled a road project or a job fair.  Think about someone running for representative paying the mortgage for an underfunded social service agency or hiring a couple of teachers for a struggling school district.

Imagine presidential candidates personnally investing in projects they believe in.  I think that we would all start to look forward to campaign season as a time when things really happened as opposed to a time filled with too much rhetoric and too little action.

Imagine how this election season would have changed if we had candidates who decided to show rather than say.

The only losers would be the television networks.  I'm OK with that.

Quality vs. Control

In today's marketplace, a communicator needs to focus on clarity of message and connecting with key audiences more than controlling the message.

Occassionally a communicator may have the illusion that she can control the message.  It is only an illusion.

Today's marketplace provides us with an opportunity to have a dialog WITH our key audiences (new media) versus a lecture AT our key audiences (old media).  Everyone knows that in a dialog, you can only realistically control no more than one half of the conversation.

So what are we professional communicators to do if we can no longer realistically claim the super-secret ability to control the message?

The answer is something we should have been focusing on all along.  We need to refocus on the clarity and the quality of our messages.  We need to sharpen our pencils (most likely metaphorically) and pay attention to creating carefully crafted, concise messages that clearly communicate one or two key messages.  (For the mathematically inclined reader, or those of you who are aspiring marketing consultants, you would state this as 6C=Q.)

When you can only control your half of the dialog, you need to make sure that is a high quality half!

We need to focus on making sure we are delivering messages that communicate our key message as clearly and engagingly as possible.  THEN, we need to listen for feedback that will tell us if our messages are as clear and engaging as we anticipated.  If they aren't, you adjust and start over again.

If your quality is good, I guess you don't need to worry about control.

It IS the Message that Counts

If you've worked in public relations, marketing or communications for any time, I am pretty sure you've had an experience similar to one I had recently.  A local reporter expressed interest in covering a project I was involved in.  I gave the reporter some background and a framework for the project and connected him to some of the principals of the project.  The reporter talked with some of those principals and wrote his story.

The story, upon reading it in the newspaper, was not what I had hoped it would be.  Some key facts were misstated or left out, pretty much everyone thought they were misquoted, and while generally positive in tone, the article did not portray the project in the way I would have preferred.  I was disappointed.

But then I started talking to people.  Several people told me that they had read the article.  What amazed me is that every single person I talked with recited back to me the key message we were trying to get out.  I thought the key message had been obscured in the article.  Others involved in the project had trouble seeing past the minor factual errors that were in the article. We couldn't see the forest for the trees.

The casual reader, however, got the key message.  Loud and clear.

I guess it was a pretty good article!

The Marketing Bible

Today's marketing musings are prompted by an atypical source, the Book of James from the Bible.  In the third chapter of James, is the following passage:

"From the same mouth come blessings and cursing.  ...[T]his ought not to be so.  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?  Can a fig tree...yield olives, or a grapevine figs?  No more can salt water yield fresh."  James 3: 10-12

I am not sure that religious leaders or Biblical scholars will agree with me, but when I read that, I get a very clear marketing message.

What James was saying was you have to speak with one consistent voice.  In theological terms, that means issue blessings or curses, but not both.  In marketing terms, that means you cannot be the low cost provider to one market segment but a value added provider to another.  In the 80's, Peters and Waterman referred to this phenomenon as "sticking to the knitting" in their book, In Search of Excellence.  A few hundred years earlier, Shakespeare indicated the same thing when he wrote "to thine own self be true."

Especially in today's marketplace where organizations and marketers can't control the message as much as manage it, it is important to have a consistency of message.  Furthermore, in this cynical age, if your consistent message isn't based on reality, consumers WILL see through the charade.  The challenge for the business communicator these days isn't to "spin" the message (a term that I think all reputable communicators should eschew) but to craft a truthful and sustainable message.

James continues his writings saying primarily the same thing.

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you?  Let him shew out of a good conversations his works with meekness of wisdom.  But if ye have bitter envying and strive in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."     James 3:13-14

Good marketing, it turns out, is common sense.  You can find marketing inspiration in many places, even a good book!

Helping Others

"We are here on Earth to help others.  What the others are here for I have no idea."   W. H. Auden

When I have the opportunity, I make time for students who are interested in pursuing my particular line of work.  I do the same with colleagues who are in-between jobs or looking for new marketing adventures.  When I talk with students and job seekers, I talk with them about their dreams, reveal some of the practical realities of the marketing world as I understand it, share what knowledge I might have in their hoped for specialty, and encourage their pursuits.

I also always get much more out of the conversation than they do.  Here are some of the reasons why:

• Enthusiasm is contagious.  Those of you who have been kicking around in your chosen field for 25+ years, as I have, understand how valuable a shot of enthusiasm can be to how you approach your day.  I am inspired by the excitement that many of the young people I talk with have at the prospect of actually working in marketing and communications.  The same is true for someone who is working hard to find an opportunity in the field.  There is often some ideal or dream that is driving them to seek this line of work.  I find that rejuvenating and renewing.
• I usually learn more from the conversation than the person I am talking with does.  If I am talking with someone who has recently been in college, I learn what issues are being emphasized in academia, what ideas are sparking the imagination of those coming into the marketplace, and which of my dusty, stodgy marketing concepts still have resonance in the emerging marketing landscape.
• When I talk with colleagues who are involved in a job search, I get a sense of what is happening in the marketing worlds of other industries.  How are they adapting to the pressures of social media?  What are they doing with marketing budgets, and staffs?  How has the influence and importance of marketing changed in those industries over the last few years.  While certainly I can get some sense of all of this by reading the literature, there is a nuance and a truth from personal experiences that don't often make it into formal interviews and articles.
• Mentoring someone who is on a job search, whether it is for their first job or their last, is the most elemental form of networking.  Like Blanche DuBois, when I have been looking for a job I have relied on the kindness of strangers.  I think it is only fair then to be receptive when someone finds their way to my doorstep looking for similar kindness.  
• Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is an element of paying it forward in mentorship.  I have received career help from others, at the start and during mid-course corrections. As I tell those who I try to help, the best way to repay those kindnesses is to provide them yourself when the opportunity presents itself.  It feels right; it feels good; and its pretty good karma!  

As Auden states in the quote at the top of this page, we are here to help others.  I encourage you to be a mentor whenever you can.  Don't be one of the others!

Knowing Why

The other day, a colleague said something profound to me.  He said, "Those that know how work for those that know why."

It is a simple explanation of the difference between advertising and marketing, managers and leaders, doing and creating.

As Simon Sinek says in his inspiring  TED Talk on how great leaders inspire action, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it.  If you understand why, you hold the keys to what makes business, or really any organization, work.

Understanding why, is what makes someone a leader.  Communicating why is what makes someone an inspirational leader!  Great leaders inspire us because they talk about their beliefs.  Their why.  They inspire us through connecting with the beliefs that we share with them.  As Mr. Sinek points out, Martin Luther King, gave the "I have a dream" speech, not the "I have a plan" speech.

Figure out why.


Watch Simon Sinek's TED Talk here.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html

One is the loneliest number...

A month ago I posted a blog on the value of jumping into the marketplace with a new venture.  You can read it here.  In it I espoused the value of not waiting until you have everything just so before you push your venture into the marketplace.  I believe that to be true.  However, I got a couple of comments to that post to which I want to respond.  If you go to read that past blog, make sure to read the insightful comments.

First of all, Jeff Hoffman posted a comment that gave me pause and prompted me to think about what I had written.  Jeff wrote "I can understand what you're saying. The key is knowing WHEN to jump. Crossing every T and doting every I is one thing and starting too soon with too many holes unaddressed in your plan is another. I've seen too many people crash and burn on business ventures because they weren't ready either emotionally or financially and figured they could "wing it" because they didn't have someone to whisper to them "not yet, what about this?" or chose to ignore them."

Jeff is absolutely right.  He goes on to espouse the benefits of working collaboratively with a group of people.  The more people you have looking over things, questioning assumptions, ground truthing plans and adding their skills and perspectives to the effort, the better off you are.  Implicit in this is that the more varied your group is, in terms of expertise, level of experience, background, etc. the better off you will be.

Having a team is essential.  It is essential to getting things ready to enter the marketplace and it is even more essential to weathering the ups and downs of the marketplace that every start-up eventually goes through.  Many wiser and more experienced voices than mine tout the importance of developing a team as part of a entrepreneurial adventure.  Starting your own company does not mean starting a company alone!

The other comment I got was from Emily Mooney.  I have the pleasure of knowing Emily and her husband and business partner Todd.  Their venture, a creative media company called Mooney Media, is exactly the type of venture I had in mind in my initial comments.  They are versatile, creative and able to react quickly to the market opportunities that come their way.  Apparently, from Emily's comment, being in the market early has provided them with more advantages than not.

The answer, it seems, is to walk the razor's edge between being overly cautious about jumping into the market and overly frivolous about preparations before you enter.  And listen when someone like Jeff is kind enough to whisper in your year "what about this?"

Boring

Hugh MacLeod, author of gapingvoid.com, stated in his blog yesterday that "Advertising is the cost of being boring."   I think that is more true today than it has ever been.  

It used to be that the best way for a company to get the attention of prospective customers was to advertise in mass media forums and, if they were really working hard, get a press release or two picked up by that same mass market media .

These days, more than ever, there is a value to being a company or a brand that is unique, interesting and/or newsworthy.  More and more consumers get their information (news, product information, entertainment, etc.) via electronic media.  Electronic media differs from traditional media in many ways, but most significantly in that it is of the moment and often of the community.  It is also 24/7 and has an insatiable appetite for new content and anything that will get eyeballs to stop and look for a few seconds.

If a brand is newsworthy or interesting, it can capture the attention of a blogger.  A mention on a blog can be picked up by a larger blog or online news source.  In the blink of an eye, a quirky, risk-taking videographer or an attention-grabbing charity can be in the center of the spotlight, at least for a moment.  For a start-up company, the attention that time in the spotlight brings can be a remarkable boon.  Boring companies don't get in the spotlight.  As Mr. MacLeod suggests, they have to pay to have the spotlight shine on them.

The downside of these new rules is that the spotlight never stops moving.  You have to dance pretty hard to stay in the spotlight.  Most companies, even the most exciting and innovative ones, only cross paths with the spotlight from time to time.

Andy Warhol said that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.  What he didn't say was that it would be 15 seconds at a time!

Present AND Future

I had the opportunity this morning to hear Terry Mazany, the President and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust, speak about the work that The Chicago Community Trust is doing.  He raised many interesting and salient issues, but there was one in particular that I wanted to discuss today.

Mr. Mazany indicated that one of the challenges, and responsibilities, of community trusts and foundations is to provide civic leadership for today paired with creating a legacy for the future.  His point was that while community foundations and trusts have an obligation to address the community needs in front of them right now, 50 years from now, people will also have needs.  Addressing those needs, by building an endowment and planning for the long-term impacts, is no less important.

I would argue that the same dual focus is important for businesses, regardless of whether they are for-profit or not.  Obviously, a company that doesn't survive today, won't be around tomorrow to provide solutions to their customers needs and wants.  Too often, however, companies focus solely on this month's receipts or the current quarter's stock price, and end up making moves that provide short term gains and long term damage.  The challenge for any organization is keeping that delicate balance between the present and the future.

I also think that there is value for businesses to think in terms of their legacy.  Not for profits and politicians do this naturally, but business ventures don't often engage in this conversation, at least not out loud!  The value of acknowledging and caring about your organization's legacy is that you will tend to pay attention to the long term impacts of the decisions you make today.  A manufacturer who is paying attention to their legacy, will be less likely to dump their toxic waste in the nearby stream, even if it is cheaper.  An employer is more likely to treat her employees fairly and pay them a competitive wage if she is looking to developing a team that will carry the company's values forward into the next generation.

A company, or an organization, or a community foundation or trust, that successfully cares for their present AND their future stands to have a good chance of having both be bright and positive!

Don't Wait For Perfection

"Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything."     Eugene Delacroix  (1798 - 1863)

I read an online article recently that advised that entrepreneurs and dreamers seeking to start a business shouldn't wait until they have everything worked out perfectly before they make things operational.  Better to get into the marketplace and test out your vision and theories in the real world, the article advised, than to tinker away in the ivory tower striving for theoretical perfection.

I guess I am doing just that with one project I am a part of.  I am working with a group of much more talented and much harder working people that are starting a community radio station. We certainly did not wait until we had things worked out to perfection, had the line up nailed down or even the entire venture completely imagined.  Instead, we started broadcasting and started talking about what we are trying to do with anyone and everyone who would listen.

The community support we have received and continue to receive has been nothing short of remarkable.  People want to see this happen.  I think that it is true that people tend to want to support what one mentor I had called BHAGs, Big Hairy Audacious Goals.  This is especially true if there is evidence of some amount of energy, effort and resources being devoted to the BHAG.

Also, when you road test a dream, when you drag it off of your sketch pad and into reality, interesting things start to happen.  Opportunities occur that you never would have been able to anticipate or plan for.  Bumps in the road, some good and some not so, help to start to shape the culture of your budding enterprise.  New people step up and a few step back.  Reality, when it meets dreams, can create some awesome and plan-altering fireworks!

One of the lessons I have taken from this venture so far is that it is worthwhile to roll up your sleeves, put your shoulder to the wheel and roll your dream into the marketplace.  While it is almost always scary, it is a also a great way to see how your plans and dreams stand up to the harsh spotlight of reality and the marketplace.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to listen to our station, we broadcast 24/7 on www.harvardradio.net or at AM1610 if you are in Harvard, IL.  Thanks for listening, even though things aren't yet perfect!

The incredible long-term cost of charging for doughnuts.

Yesterday, NPR ran a story about how a brief period of charging for doughnuts has forever sullied the reputation of the Red Cross among many veterans.  It is worth a listen and, as the story suggests, it is worth consideration as companies and entrepreneurs try to figure out how to make money off of the internet.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/13/156737801/the-cost-of-free-doughnuts-70-years-of-regret?utm_source=fp&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120716

Public Speaking = Public Teaching

"Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership." -James Humes

I have given a lot of speeches and have found that I enjoy it.  I know that this is not a universally shared emotion related to speeches.  They say that many people fear public speaking more than death.  Others don't see the difference between the two.  


I think that Mr. Humes, in the quote above, may have hit on one of the reasons for this phenomenon.  Many people are uncomfortable putting themselves forward as experts.  They equate making a speech as an audition for expert status or leadership.  This puts a lot of pressure on how well you do on any particular speech.


On the other hand, if you approach a speaking opportunity as a teaching opportunity, you take off some of the pressure.  As a teacher you don't have to be an expert on a subject.  You just have to have something to share.  I doubt that many high school math teachers believe that they are the world's foremost authority on mathematics, yet they have some knowledge, some understanding of the subject.  By sharing what they know and what they understand, teachers help others to know and understand.  Truly great teachers give their students, their audiences, the tools to surpass the teacher's knowledge and understanding!


I also think it helps to look at speaking opportunities as a conversation.  My favorite part of presentations is when I am able to engage the audience in a question and answer session.  That is when you can really connect with the audience and have a true dialogue.  On special occasions, audience members will answer each other's questions, creating a true forum and exchange of ideas.  It is times like these that I feel most like a teacher.  


Giving a good speech does take a lot of work.  A good speaker works on what she or he is going to say, how to say it, what visual aids to use, etc.  But a good speech does not have to be an audition for anything.  It is just a teachable moment.

...with a little help from my friends

I just spent a few days at a conference of people who do what I do for a living. There is a tremendous rejuvinating power in being surrounded for a short while by people who walk in the same trenches you do; you begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, you aren't crazy! If people are giving seminar presentations on the challenges you are facing, you probably aren't the only one facing them! Conferences can be a great place to make new contacts and revive old ones, shake off the dust of the regular work week, collect new pens, and make friends. ...and besides that, it's a lot of fun!

Recognition vs. Ceremonies

In this tough economy, many companies are driven to eliminate any extraneous expenses.  Gone are the company cars, a good chunk of the expense account, the Christmas bonuses, Free Lunch Fridays, the "extraneous" raises, and so forth.  For the record, I have never worked anywhere that actually had a Free Lunch Friday.

The point is that as companies eliminate these expensive "perks," they would be wise to replace them with other low cost recognitions.  Even in tight times, especially in tight times, employees crave the emotional boost that recognition provides them.  In times of budget cuts and belt tightening, employees get nervous.  Recognitions can alleviate or at least mitigate their anxiety.  Recognition also helps to communicate and reinforce company values.  The company values what it recognizes and rewards.

The thing about employee recognitions or celebrations is that it is MUCH more important that they be sincere and timely than that they have a price tag of any significance.  A recent study suggests that the three things that workers want is interesting work, appreciation for the work that they do, and feeling as if they are being adequately communicated with.

If staff members have to wait until the annual Staff Celebration Breakfast to get the bronze plaque for the good job they did, they will value it much less than a sincere thank you from a supervisor that they get at a staff meeting immediately after a successful project.

So cut out the Annual Staff Recognition Awards Banquet if you must, but make sure that you redouble your efforts to give staff true recognition and genuine thanks when they go above and beyond.

Specialization

This weekend, my family took a day trip up to the International Crane Foundation outside of Baraboo, WI.  The International Crane Foundation is a conservation organization that focuses on the preservation of the world’s cranes and their habitats around the world.  Just cranes.  That is all they do.

There is something special about a place that has such a specific mission and manages to stick so closely to that mission.  In Search of Excellence was a management book popular in the 80’s that called that “sticking to the knitting.” 

I find myself similarly intrigued by retail and service businesses that do only one thing, but work hard to make themselves the best they can be at that one thing. Common sense would indicate that these companies would need to be better than their more diversified competitors in order to survive.

It seems that these companies and organizations are staking a claim on being the best at their particular focus and are certain enough of their superiority that they operate without the safety net of diversification.

Guts & Numbers

"I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination."                                                                               David Ogilvy

"I don't need somebody behind a desk to tell me what a marketing survey says is funny. I got 3 million miles and 70,000 tickets sold, telling me that I know how to make people laugh."                                                                                                                                   D. L. Hughley

As long as there have been marketing departments and advertising agencies there has been a tension between practitioners who use research to back up their decisions and those who trust their judgement, or their gut.

The problem with this argument is that there seems to be no middle ground.  Believers of research are most comfortable when every decision is backed up with data.  Proponents of "the gut" will often talk about their superior instincts, their understanding of the target audience and their track record of creative, off-the-beaten path solutions.

It seems to me that there is a place for both decision making strategies in developing creative and effective marketing programs.  The history of advertising is full of stories about the maverick adman who bucked the trend and the research department and had a huge success, based on his instincts.  If we relied only on market research, we probably wouldn't have some of our most popular and revered marketing campaigns.  You see, research is really good at measuring the effectiveness of messages and media that the public is already familiar with.  It is not nearly as effective at capturing the effectiveness of new ideas or new platforms.  You may know the Henry Ford quote "If I asked my customers what they want, they simply would have said a faster horse."  Likewise, 10 years ago, if you questioned people about whether they would like to get information about a company on a free internet site that is primarily social in nature (Facebook) or on access special offers from a retailer on their telephone, I am pretty sure you would have gotten poor responses and a lot of strange looks.

What those stories don't tell us is that the same maverick geniuses have a lot more strike outs than home runs.  Research can help focus a message or a strategy to help it become more effective with target markets.  Research can also help identify shifts in public perception, both in general, say in their understanding and desire for Model Ts, or about a product in particular, say the Edsel.

So it seems to me that "marketing magic" is not in having great instincts or being able to craft surveys that accurately measure customer intentions but in striking the right balance between guts and numbers.  Using data to help make decisions only makes sense but measurement and analysis have never been as good at measuring the new and innovative as they have been at analyzing the tried and true.  I suppose this is why I consider marketing and communications an art as much as it is a science.

Disagreements

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me."
                                                  Dudley Field Malone

A strong marketing/communications program always invites feedback and criticism.  This is often the hardest thing for marketers, and especially marketing managers, to get used to.

A customer who complains is really doing you a huge favor.  They are taking time and energy to tell you how you can improve.  Many companies pay researchers a lot of money to collect exactly that information, and your customer is giving it to you for free, or for the cost of a refund.

Learn to ask for and embrace complaints.  When it comes to customer service, silence isn't golden!

The Revolution Has Been Postponed...

The wireless revolution is dependent on access to wireless internet.  That means that the revolution is vulnerable to something blocking access to the internet, like hackers, terrorists or the substandard modem that the internet company chooses to send you.

I am sorry I haven't blogged in the last few days.  In case you couldn't tell, I am fighting with my internet company.  The revolution has been postponed.  Back soon, I hope!

Has the World Gone Nutella?

A California court recently awarded a San Diego woman a $3 million judgement because she interpreted Nutella advertising to be making claims that Nutella was healthy.  The most surprising thing about this verdict is how unremarkable it has become.

I am an earnest proponent of honesty and good faith in marketing communications anyway.  It is the only way you can build and sustain that relationship with the customer that is essential to a long term profitable relationship.  It seems, however, our judicial system has given marketers another reason to keep to the straight and narrow in their advertising claims.

Here is the transcript of one of the ads that came into question:
"[MOM]: As a mom, I’m a great believer in Nutella, a delicious hazelnut spread that I use to get my kids to eat healthy foods. I spread a little on all kinds of healthy things, like multi-grain toast. Every jar has wholesome, quality ingredients, like hazelnuts, skim milk, and a hint of delicious cocoa. And Nutella has no artificial colors or preservatives. It’s quick, it’s easy, and at breakfast I can use all the help I can get.
[VOICEOVER]: Nutella—breakfast never tasted this good."

Obviously, they were trying to broaden their market and hoped to be thought of as a breakfast alternative in question.  I honestly don't see egregious overreach here.  Nevertheless, I do think the verdict provides an opportunity for all marketers to revisit the marketing and advertising claims and make sure they aren't spreading it on a little too thick.

Reflections

"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."  Edith Wharton

Professional communicators are given a great gift.  We get to, on a regular basis, be the mirror that reflects the light of accomplishment.

It seems appropriate that, from time to time, we use that mirror to help reflect the light of those who are doing unselfish and good things anonymously.  When you can, celebrate the everyday heroes, the unsung champions, the everyday philanthropists who aren't seeking the spotlight as they do their good deeds.

They are the ones who deserve it.

Key Communicators are...Key

People talk to people...and those people talk to other people...who talk to others...and so on and so on and so on.

The holy grail of any professional communicator is generating positive word of mouth communications.  We all know that people find messages from their friends and neighbors to be more trustworthy and worthy of consideration than messages from ads or other "professional" communications sources.  Word of mouth messages are seen as trustworthy because they are filtered through the opinion of a disinterested third party.  The thinking is "I trust Becky and if Becky is giving me a message, that message must be trustworthy!"

The challenge, from a professional communicator's point of view, is that the very factor that makes word of mouth so desirable makes it very hard to manage!  To someone who is used to developing style books,  overseeing every comma and semicolon of an organization's communications, and who's mantra is "stay on message," this is difficult to accept.

You may not be able to control the message when it comes to word of mouth communications...but you can influence it!

Developing a key communicator network of key opinion leaders in your community or industry is one way to let the grapevine work for you.  The concept is simple.  You identify those individuals who are opinions leaders within your target audience.  These are the people that other people listen to and believe.  These are not always just the community or industry leaders.  They might be the hairdresser or PTA Mom or the blogger whom everyone listens to in order to find out what's what.

Once you identify who you want to be in your group, you invite them to join.  You tell them that as they are the opinion leaders of the industry or community, your organization will be providing them with extra information on your organization.  The only thing you ask in return is that they participate in some future survey or focus group once or twice a year that allows you to collect THEIR opinions on what people are thinking about regarding issues important to you.

You supply your key communicators with additional information about your company, your issues and/or your industry.  It is important that you provide your key communicators with accurate, realistic data.  Don't try to "spin" your key communicators or you will lose them.  However, if you provide them with real, trustworthy information, on a reliable basis, amazing things can happen.

This works for a few reasons.  First, being recognized as a Key Communicator is an honor to most people.  Better yet it is an honor that comes with few obligations!  Second, you are giving your Key Communicators something that they truly value, access to unique information.  Since they are communicators, they should value being able to share information with their various contacts.  Access to the information you are providing them increases their stature as a communicator.  Third, if you are doing this well, this works because you are not putting any caveats on their access to the information.  You are not even suggesting that they go out and share the information.  You are sharing it with them because you feel that they would find it interesting.

Once again, the frustrating part of this is that you, as a professional communicator, cannot control the message or the flow of information.  You have to just put it out their on faith that it will do your organization good.  And you may never know what good it does, but every once in a while you get confirmation that the process makes sense.

A week or so after my school district celebrated a rare referendum victory, I was talking to a community member who was in my Key Communicator group.  She was congratulating me on the referendum and started talking about how some people in the community had had misunderstandings about the referendum.  She proceeded to tell me about a couple of neighbors who told her why they planned to vote against the school district and then shared the arguments she told them in favor of the school district.  Her arguments, coincidentally were taken almost directly from a referendum fact sheet I had sent our Key Communicators.  This Key Communicator, without even realizing it, had helped promote the district's point of  view.  I became a committed believer in the power of Key Communicators at that moment.

Know Your Stuff

I once had a salesperson make an appointment with my boss and myself to tell us about his company and the product that he felt we could use.

He was on time, well dressed and did the required small talk very well.  But when it came time to give the presentation, he couldn't get the PowerPoint presentation on his laptop to work.  After watching him struggle with trying to get things to work for 10 minutes or so, it was clear that he couldn't give the presentation without the PowerPoint crutch.  He asked if he could reschedule the meeting.  We declined.

If you are going on a sales call or making a presentation, know your stuff.  Things happen with technology.  If you aren't prepared to move forward without laptop assistance, you aren't prepared. Be prepared!

Make 'em Laugh, Part 2

Today's post is the gift of a smile!
You can find more of Hugh MacLeod's cartoons at GapingVoid.com

Public Speaking is NOT Open Mike Night

Many "experts" on public speaking, right after they tell you to picture the audience in their underwear will tell you to start with a joke.  It loosens up the audience, they say.  Makes them like you and more receptive to you and your message.

The problem is, telling a joke to a large group of people is hard!  There are lots of reasons for this including the subjective nature of humor, the importance of delivery, the wariness of most audiences these days when a speaker sets out to tell a joke, and the fact that most jokes have only a tenuous relation to the topic of the speech.

I like to use humor when I give a presentation, but I rarely tell a joke.  Rather, I prefer to make a comment on my presentation or the circumstances of the event.  I like using situational humor because it shares an observation with the audience, which helps to create a connection.  Wry or slightly sarcastic comments can come off as more natural and spontaneous than set jokes.  I do usually plan these comments, but I don't always use them.  I try to read the audience and judge how well such comments will be received.  There is nothing more disheartening than making a comment that you expect will result in laughter and instead getting silence.

You should ONLY use humor in a presentation if you are comfortable with it. Don't feel that you have to tell a joke.  Also, if you do decide to use humor, you should NEVER make jokes that are disparaging or degrading to someone else.  More often than not, those types of jokes are alienating and will work against you as a speaker.  I tend to use self disparaging comments, where I make fun of myself, which for some reason often gets a laugh.

And for the record, I have never pictured an audience in their underwear.  I am pretty sure that would make me forget where I was in my presentation!

The Lament of the Luddite: Frozen out by new technology

I consider myself technology friendly.  Really I do.  But I am also on a budget, so I don't have all of the latest electronic toys I would like to have.  I haven't really missed them, but in the last week a couple of things happened that made me wonder just how much of a Luddite I have become.

I was at a presentation at which the presenter gave QR codes as links to her presentation slides and tip sheets. Very cool and very of the moment.  However, for those few of us who have not joined the Smart Phone revolution (as I wrote about here) QR codes are just funny looking square patterns.  I could not link to her materials.

Shortly after that, I got this month's issue of FAST Company, a magazine that I highly recommend.  It is a fun, thought provoking publication and always has something in it that I can use at work (and in this blog!)  This month's issue of FAST Company had a cover sheet proudly proclaiming that I could now get the magazine on my tablet device.  Unlike smart phones, I have never even considered getting a tablet.  The promotion cited all of the additional content I could get on my nonexistent device.  Which made me wonder why I am being short-changed because I only experience the publication in its archaic paper format.

My point is that as companies rush to meet the surge of new ways we can access content and information, they should make sure to remember those of us who are a little slow on the uptake.  Don't let your loyal customers or subscribers be frozen out by new technology.

FINE Communications

I sometimes get asked to define "good" communications.  Defining communications is a bit like defining good marketing or good art.  It is hard to put words to but you know it when you see it.

Unfortunately, when I give that answer, almost no one is satisfied.  While there are many different definitions of communications, most don't seem to include all of the elements that I consider important.  So, in the interest of keeping  people who ask me about communications from walking away muttering rude things under their breath, I cobbled together a workable definition.

In my opinion, good communications should be FINE communications:  Familiar, Interactive, Newsworthy and with Everyone involved.

• Familiar: For communications to be effective, you need to communicate to your audience in a language and using a medium that they use and are familiar with.  We all know people to whom it is useless to send an email, because they never check their email.  Similarly, you can talk to me all day in Portuguese, but you won't do much communicating because I am not familiar with the language.

• Interactive: Truly excellent communications is always two way and interactive. We have all heard the old adage that we were given two ears and one mouth because we should listen twice as much as we talk.  There is a lot of truth to that.  The best communicators are ALWAYS those who connect the most with their communities, constituencies and audiences.  The only way you can do that is by listening to them and hearing what their issues and concerns are.

• Newsworthy:  For communications to happen, the receiver of a message has to value the message enough to accept it and process it.  The message has to have value to that person.  It has to be newsworthy to them.  It is important to remember that newsworthiness is determined by the receiver of the message, not by the sender.  It doesn't matter how important a message is to the sender, if the receiver isn't interested, it is not received.   Also, our definition of what is newsworthy varies significantly depending on the situation. While virtually everything my 4 year old nephew says is newsworthy to me, if a coworker said the same things, it would not only NOT be newsworthy, but would be a cause for concern!     

• Everyone involved:  For communications to be effective and to have impact, it must reach an audience.  As we discussed above, first  the message must have value to the receiver and they must accept it.  Good communications is not a spectator sport.  Both the sender of the message and the receiver of the message must be actively engaged in the communications any communications to happen.  Furthermore, communications is most effective when it spreads.  For that to happen, the receivers of the message need to become the spreaders of the message.  They need to believe enough in the importance and newsworthiness of the message to pass it along to their communities, to their contacts.  Everyone needs to be a part of the communications.

If you can get these four elements working in your communications, everything will be just FINE.

The Answer is Leverage

Communications is like breathing to most companies.  They know that they need to do it to survive, but they don't give it a lot of thought (except when something goes wrong!)

One of the reasons for this is that most companies or organizations don't see communications as their primary function.  They sell cars, make steel beams or educate children.  They don't communicate as their primary business, or so the thinking goes.

Because of that mindset, these companies often don't invest much in the communications function within their organization.

The problem is that in reality ALL companies are communications companies.  Selling cars is ALL about communications.  Making steel requires coordination with suppliers and customers not to mention shareholders and boards of directors.  Teaching is, well, 110% communications: to students, parents, colleagues, administration, licensing boards, the community, grantors, evaluators, and just about everyone else!

So the reality is, while organizations don't invest like they should in communications support and infrastructure, they do a whole lot of it.  Which means that they expect and need a whole lot out of those communications resources they do have.

Hence the age old questions that is heard in marketing/PR/communications offices throughout the land...How can I do ALL of that with just this amount of resources?

The answer is leverage.  Leverage your efforts through partnerships.  Mobilize everyone else in your organization to serve as informal spokespeople.  Develop a Key Communicator network of opinion leaders that can help you get the word out about your organization.  Take advantage of existing platforms to help broadcast your messages further than you can on platforms you have to build and/or fund.  In other words, get EVERYONE you can involved in helping to spread your message!

Leverage can help to expand your results without expanding the amount you spend (in time as well as money).  Leverage, when done well, can appear effortless but seemingly work miracles.

If communications is like breathing, then leverage must be like shouting.  At the top of your lungs.  Without losing your breath.

Happy Earth Day

On this 42nd Earth Day, I wanted to suggest a few things we communicators and marketers should consider:

• I think that it is a good thing to consider the environmental impacts of the media decisions that we make. I think it is valid to consider those impacts, along with the effectiveness of reaching your desired audience, when mapping out your media choices.  It is also valid to publicize the fact that part of your decision was made altruistically, with an eye to your organization's impact on the world you operate in.
• A lot of our media options require electronic equipment (smart phones, tablets, laptop computers, etc.) to create and to experience.  As you upgrade your equipment, please remember to be responsible with how you dispose of your old equipment.  Electronics and electronic media recycling is becoming more prevalent, although admittedly not convenient in most parts of the world.  Please take the time and effort to 
• find a reuse for your phones or computers when possible, 
• find a responsible recycling venue that will keep all components out of landfills, and find a reuse for as many of the components as possible.  
• Don't be afraid to initiate efforts.  Communicators have traditionally been heavy users of paper and other resources.  We can have an even larger impact on the environment if we can figure out ways to prevent from using the resources in the first place (electronic meeting minutes, web conferencing instead of traveling to a meeting, etc.) 
• Celebrate the environmental and conservation efforts that are going on within your office and organization.  If we all start talking about it more, "being green" and Earth Day will become less a matter of special focus than a way of life.

It Takes a Community...To Spread a Message

"Community has little to do with proximity."
                                                                                               Aaron Starkey

Mr. Rogers called it the Neighborhood.  Seth Godin calls it Tribes.  Tribal Africans and US politicians refer to it as a village.  Regardless of what you call it, humans form connections.  We are social animals and will form communities in most of the things we do.

Communities, as Mr. Starkey points out, has little to do with physical proximity.  Rather community, or tribes, teams, neighborhoods or affiliate groups, share a proximity of experience and/or beliefs.  Backyard chicken farmers, retired Marine sergeants, and 1977 graduates of Adlai E. Stevenson High School are all communities for one reason or another.

These communities have many advantages. Among those advantages is that they aid and abet communications.  Communities, because of their shared experiences or beliefs, usually share a language and a lingo of common experience.  This language is often unique to the community.  I can mention "The Big Gun Award" and other 1977 Stevenson High School alums will know what I mean, without explanation.  (If the Marine sergeants think they know too, I guarantee they are thinking of something different!)  This common language helps to speed communication within the community.  Members can talk in a kind of shorthand.

Communities can also help speed up the spread of a message.  And help it to spread beyond where you can take your message personally.  Members of your community already understand your message, the implications of it and its inherent importance.  Since we all belong to many communities, when community members start to share your message, invariably they share it with members of other communities they belong to.  This helps spread your message to others you would not have been able to reach on your own.

Communications are possible without communities.  Your communications are just more effective and have a greater chance of having the desired impact if you are communicating from within a community.  Compare the street corner preacher and the pastor of a church with 1000 people in the pews.  Both have a chance of getting their message to someone within earshot, but who do you think has a better chance of generating a positive response?

Small Business

Entrepreneurs come in all shapes and sizes.  They all share one thing...commitment to a dream.

If you've seen this short film Caine's Arcade about a remarkable young entrepreneur, you know what I mean.

If you haven't, be prepared.  You will be moved to smiles and possibly tears.

Business Poetry

In honor of National Poetry Month, here is an amusing poem from Evan Elpus, describing things that are all too familiar in the world of business...

Anthem of Frustration

You've rung the Melbourne offices of No-One's Ever Here;
Please leave your name and number and then kindly disappear,
For our laws' writ rules king and twit in east, west, south and nor'ward,
and fosters strife in modern life; Nothing Is Straightforward.

No doubt you know our other show, called Nothing Ever Fits,
Who, in their turn, as all soon learn, sell incomplete spares kits,
That lack the one important part to re-start car or tractor,
And at which stage, cause further rage, when we insert this factor;
-That all shall be discovered only once the shops have closed,
So nothing ever, ever, ends as cheaply as supposed.

An allied gang that makes a bang is Not At This Address,
Who trade as ' We've Moved Premises', but where and when's a guess;
For, though they've gone to Station Street, you're really none the wiser,
You think they're still in North Box Hill ? Try Station Street, Mount Isa!

This mob'll kill yer; sound familiar ? They're Out At A Meeting.
Elusive, they're conducive to a lot of overheating.
They won't come back till you've jacked up, and on your homeward trip;
-As you leave town, they get beamed down, in pairs, from Mother Ship.

And if, in Swanston Walk, a cork falls easily to hand,
Then use it! Please don't lose it, since here too, we're in command;
Our Never Any Dunnies group works hard on private fears,
So by the time you've read this, stuff is pouring out your ears.

And I'm caught short with this report, and better end it now.
As ' Out Of Order' manager, I maintain a sacred vow;
Ensuring what in theory works, but functions not in deed
Should always, always, always coincide with greatest need.

Copyright; Evan Elpus

Tax Day

I know that it is politically and socially impractical, but wouldn't it be interesting if paying taxes could be discussed as a patriotic responsibility, along the same lines as voting and military service often is, instead of the painful obligation it is today.

A lot would have to change for that to be possible, but I wonder how it would change our national and political dialogue.

How we talk about things makes a difference in how we view them.  Taxes are no different.

Good ideas

"Good ideas alter the power balance in relationships. That is why good ideas are initially resisted."
                                               --Hugh MacLeod, Author


Yesterday, I wrote a post about how organizations, with their resources and support staffs, should be nurturers of creativity and risk-taking.  
You can read it here.  


Maybe Mr. MacLeod has figured out why they usually aren't.

The Organization Man as a Risk Taker

In an idealized world, societies should promote and protect risk taking.

A farmer in a society can take a risk by planting a new type of grain that may provide better yields.  If it fails, the society -- neighbors -- help to keep the farmer and her family from starving until it is time to plant a new crop.  By herself, the farmer would not have this opportunity, this luxury, this ability to take risks and test something uncertain but possibly better.  Without that luxury, the farmer and society would progress at a much slower pace, if at all.

The same should be true for corporations.  Providing a secure place to conduct R&D, to explore new ideas, to try projects that are unique and off the beaten path, to kill projects when they aren't working, to take a chance against all odds seems to me should be a primary purpose of a corporation.  Corporations should be about soft landings for dreamers, non-conformists and risk takers.

That is not the picture of an entrepreneur most of us have.  The popular literature likes to paint the entrepreneur as someone who maxes out their credit cards and converts the garage to a mini factory on the hope and the prayer that their venture will work out and make them rich.  Like our farmer, there are very few who are willing and able to take such risks with their family's future without the safety net of a society, or a corporation.

Rather, I am suggesting that ideal environment for nurturing entrepreneurial drive should be the corporation.  With all of those resources, with all those support people and systems, the risk-taker wouldn't have to waste time fending off collection calls or waiting in line for government cheese.  The primary purpose of an organization should be to foster creativity and non-conformist thinking and developing the marketing advantage of uniqueness and nonconformity.

Unfortunately, that is not how a many of our corporations and business organizations actually look.  Conformity is encouraged.  Next quarter's bottom line, if not next week's, is often about the only horizon the organization man is allowed to look toward.

Imagine how different things could be, if the button-down organization man could loosen his collar from time to time and take a risk.  A company sponsored and supported risk!

Is Voter Turnout a Communications Issue?

Yesterday,  someone commented on my March 21st post on local elections with this question:
"I am active politically at the local/state level. We have had declining voter turn-out over the years so that the last city council election garnered less than 10%. I used to think that those elections would have higher participation for exactly the reasons you mention - council & school boards being so close to home. any thoughts on this?"

After responding, I continued to think about this issue.  I suspect that low voter turnout, in part, is a communication issue.  Venturing a risky step into political blogging (just for today, I promise!) I wanted to expound on some of my thoughts.  Please join in on this discussion if you want to add to the discourse!

I suspect that there are several reasons for the decline in voter turnout.  

• I think that many "could be" voters stay away from the polls because they question whether or not their vote makes a difference.  I suspect we will see a significant drop in the percentage of people voting in the national election this fall (as most states saw during the primaries) because there has been a lot of attention paid to Citizen's United issues.  "I don't have millions to contribute so how can I change things" is how many individuals are viewing things this political season. 
• Related to that, many erstwhile voters question what impact, if any, one candidate will have over another.  If you view all politicians with the same suspicion-colored glasses, they all look the same and then why take the time to go to the polls?  
• While they were set up to make it easier for people to vote, I suspect that the preponderance of options like Early voting and Absentee voting can be intimidating and confusing for those not fully engaged in the process. It also has the impact of lessening the special aspect of Election Day. 
• When I was growing up, I remember hearing leaders of all shapes, sizes and political flavors talk about the importance of getting out to vote.  I grew up believing it was EVERYONE'S civic duty to vote.  I don't hear that from our leaders nearly as much.  Voting no longer is held out as a sacred duty of citizenship.  
• It is harder and harder for politicians and political parties to cut through the communications barrage we are all subjected to every day.  With an ever-increasing number of communications venues and an exponentially increasing number of message that most of us have to contend with every day, it is hard for your voice to be heard.  It is hard for McDonald's and Chevy, who can market 24/7/365.  Imagine competing with that with an uncertain source of funds and a limited time frame.  On top of that, try communicating complicated policy issues and positions in a 30 second ad or a two minute "news" story.  Perhaps that is why candidates and PACs turn toward negative ads.
• Negative ads.  Proponents say they work.  But they work not by bringing out your voters but by discouraging the voters of the other guy.  

More specifically on local elections, 

• I think it comes down to people not realizing the impact that local elected officials have on their day-to-day lives. There are fewer and fewer independent, local media sources to tell us the value of those local elected officials.  When all you have is national and regional media, who is covering the city council meeting?

As any good marketer knows, in order to get people to act, you have to move a prospect through certain steps of interest and affiliation before you get them to consider taking action.  I suspect that our political system, used to a bygone era when stronger party affiliations provided automatic interest and affiliation to a candidate.  They still have to adjust to a new political reality in which more and more voters identify themselves as being independent and even those who identify with a party are more willing to cross over to vote for a candidate or an issue that captures their imagination, their interest and their affiliation.

In the end, voter turnout is tied to interest in the candidate and the system.  For some of the reasons I suggested above and many others, eligible voters have lost, or never obtained, that interest.  From time to time an issue or a candidate will fan those flames and generate new interest, and new voters.  Ronald Reagan  in the 80s and Barack Obama in 2008 both come to mind.  And both of those candidates were touted as being Great Communicators.

Planning for Crisis Communications

There is an old saying that there are two times to plant a tree: twenty years ago and today.

Preparing for crisis communications is not much different.  There are two times to start preparing for crisis communications: a year ago and today.

Jim Dunn has written a very comprehensive article for this month's National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) newsletter that you can read here.  While I plan to write more about this in future posts, I wanted to summarize his four tips to remember.  In a crisis situation:

• Deliver a simple message with a single, clear voice
• When talking with reporters, use CPR: Calm Prepared Relaxed
• Practice the crisis plan BEFORE the crisis
• Develop a professional network that can provide you with support you during a crisis

I think it is important to note that half of these things can be accomplished AFTER a crisis occurs.  And the other half (the first two points) are a lot easier if they are prepared for ahead of time!

The Bigotry of Mass Marketing

When marketers use mass marketing tools like national television ads they market to the majority.  They have an excuse for not representing "minority" groups like people of color, gays, non-Christians or even women in their advertising.

As marketing becomes more customized; as mass customization becomes more and more common and cost effective; it seems to me that this bigotry of mass marketing no longer stands up.  Marketers no longer have a viable excuse for not reaching out to the various demographic groups that make up their base of customers and potential customers with specific and tailored messages.

Thinking about how to effectively customize your marketing message to the different groups of constituencies in your market is a greater challenge of the new marketing paradigm than figuring out whether to start a Facebook fan page or have your CEO write a blog.

Certainly, there are many issues that marketers must consider when reaching out to a specific group versus marketing to the masses.  For starters, it is harder to find a genuine voice when communicating with segments within the total market.  The literature is filled with advertising missteps by advertisers that simply translated their mass market messages to another language to somewhat disastrous results.  Chevrolet, for instance, learned the hard way when they tried to market their popular Chevy Nova in Latin America that "No Va" in Spanish meant "No go." That is not a very good branding message for a car!

I think that many marketers find it difficult to reach out to subgroups without coming across as pandering and disingenuous.  The problem usually is the result of marketers trying to take short cuts.  A company that truly understands its customers and understands what their needs and interests are, will understand how their products and services meets those needs and interests.  From that point it is a short distance to a marketing message that works within that market!

A company that is still stuck with "mass marketing mind" tends to think of all its customers as the same.  Cultural, gender and lifestyle issues aren't factored into marketing messages because they aren't considered at all.

I guess, in the long run, the message is that social media seems like its cheap, easy and fast.  It seems like a great antidote to shrinking marketing budgets and tighter markets.  But one of the true powers of Internet based media is its ability to customize mass messages almost down to the person.  And customizing mass messages isn't fast, easy or cheap.  It takes knowledge and understanding of the many facets of your market.  It takes the resolve to get to know and understand your market to a degree and a level of detail you've never done before.  It takes a firm, unshakable desire to move away from the ineffective bigotry of mass marketing.