Please help

Sport Relief

(I should apologise for bringing you here by illicit categorisation and tagging, but I won’t. You might have wasted just 10 seconds. Hopefully you will make the choice to change someone’s world in less than a minute).

Filed under: 2.0, ACL, Adobe, Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analyst, Analytics, Apple, Awards, BBC, Blog, Blogging, Blogroll, Books, Branding, Business, Buzz, CBS, CIM, CRM, Charity, Colour, Computer, Computing, Conversational marketing, Conversion, Cool, Corbis, Customer service, Data, Deloitte, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, EMI, Email, Entertainment, Entrepreneur, Events, Experiential, Facebook, Fairchild Semiconductor, Forrester, Fun, Gartner, Google, IBM, IODA, IT, IT Planning, Ideas and Riffs, Illusion, Imagery, Influence, Infrared, Job, Keywords, Knee, MIT, Mac, Measurement, Media, Microsoft, Mobile, Music, News, Online, Online Video, Open Social, PC, PR, Planning, Power 150, Printing, Public Relations, Punchstock, Quotes, RSS, Religion, Remarkable, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, SPARQL, SQL, Salmon, Scene7, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Second Chance Tuesday, Second Life, Semantic Web, Sinclair, Social Graphs, Social Media, Social Networking, Software, Sony BMG, Spam, Spectrum, Strategy, Surgery, Survival, TV, Tattoo, The Orchard, Tim Berners-Lee, Twitter, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, WIFI, WIKI, WOM, Warner Music Group, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, Wired.com, Wordpress, Xerox, Xuuk, Yahoo!, YouTube, ZX, blogs, bob, copywriting, digital, dotcoms, garfield, iStock, ideas, illustration, last.fm, marketing, ogilvy, permission, photography, podcast, sport, startups, stock photography, technology, trust, venture capital, verge, web 2.0, webmasters, wi-fi, word of mouth , 2008, Advertising, Age 5-14, Animals, Anime, Announcements, Answered, Art, Articles, Barack, Basketball, Bible, Big, Big Questions, Blog, Blogging, blogs, Books, Business, Charity, Children, China, Christianity, Church, clinton, Club, Comedy, Commentary, Community, Crime, Culture, Current Events, Daily, Democrats, Design, Economics, Economy, Education, Election 2008, Elections, Eliot Spitzer, English, Entertainment, Environment, Events, Faith, Family, Fashion, Fiction, Film, Food, Friends, Fun, Funny, Games, God, Government, Health, Hillary, Hip-hop, History, Home, Humor, ideas, India, inspiration, internet, Iraq, Islam, Jesus, John McCain, Journal, Kids, Leadership, Life, Links, Love, marketing, Marriage, Me, Media, Misc, Miscellaneous, Money, Movies, Music, Musings, My Life, Nature, News, Obama, Opinion, Parenting, penguin, People, Personal, Philosophy, photography, photos, Physics, Pictures, Poems, Poetry, Political, Politics, Pop culture, Prayer, Projects, Psychology, Questions, Quotes, Race, Ramblings, Random, Rants, Recipes, Reflections, Relationships, Religion, Research, Review, Reviews, School, Science, Sewing, Sex, Shopping, Society, Software, Spiritual, Spirituality, Sports, Stories, Stuff, technology, television, The Page, Theology, Thoughts, Travel, trends, TV, Unanswered, United states, Update, USA, video, Videos, web 2.0, Welcome, Women, work, World, Writing, YouTube

The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan

If I said to you, you can learn about Internet Marketing in a weekend, and implement a thorough Strategic Internet Marketing plan in just 26 weeks, you might react in two negative ways; depending on your perspective. I know I did.

How can you provide me a strategic plan? That’s nonsence.
or
26 weeks? That’s too slow, too lethagic.

I’ve changed my mind. And I’d urge you to think again. I VERY rarely recommend items on this blog, but this deserves a mention…….

When the authors of the 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan asked me if they could send me a full preview of their package I was flattered, slightly nervous about what I would receive and hestitant to be seen like so many other bloggers who jump on a bandwagon to secure affiliate revenue, or traffic to their site (the latter is just not my style)

But I am so glad I accepted the gift, and challenge! What a wealth of content. It took nearly a full weekend to get through the content – and I am sure I missed bits.

Many UK marketing bloggers have been sent the pack as part of the stealth launch, and I’ll link to some of their content in this post. In a nutshell though, to be one of the best online marketers it is really key to know the basic rules of Internet Marketing – and this package has the basics outlined in as clear a manner as I have EVER seen.

The 26 week Internet marketing plan contains 4 DVD’s, 8 Multimedia CD’s and 4 ring-bound workbooks; plus a wall planner and 10 step quick start guide. It is written in a no-nonsense, pragmatic and conversational way – clearly a reflection of author David Bain’s clear understanding and experience in the Internet Marketing space. Great stuff.

Now don’t get me wrong. If you are a well read, experienced Internet Marketer, with a record of practising Internet Marketing for a number of years this quite possibly is not the guide for you. BUT (and I think this is a big ‘but’) if you are a marketing manager, business leader, entrepreneur or anybody who needs to make an impact online, is serious about it (you should be), and don’t know where the hell to start, the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan is an unbelievable package for you.

To give you an idea on its depth and breadth, this is what is provided out of the box.

Phase 1: Website Structure
Business Strategy
Keyword Research
Site Architecture
Conversion Rates
Viral Coefficient
Visitor Tracking

Phase 2: Automation and Launch
Blogging
RSS
Email Updates
Blog Communities
Blog & RSS Directories
Press Releases
Pay Per Click

Phase 3: Broaden Your Base
Major Directories
Industry Directories
Local Directories
Article Marketing
Competitor Backlinks
Forum Interaction
Blog Comments

Phase 4: Broaden Your Horizon
New Website
Social Networking
MyPage Marketing
Podcasting
Video Marketing
Visitor Analysis

Phew! See why it took 2 days to get through it!

This is what my marketing counterparts are discussing about the materials, and here is a brief introduction, plus here’s another.

As I mentioned the workbook writing is hype free, clear, easy to read; but most importantly littered with examples that makes the content easy to read and understand. So what? Well I have read many internet marketing books and too many are still poorly written.

But whilst the 4 workbooks form the core of the 26 week Internet Marketing Plan, they really are just the tip of the iceberg. And that leads me to the next great thing about the package. Its loaded with MP3’s of interviews, documented transcripts and .pdfs which really help to contextualise what you can learn in the core workbooks. Contributors include Jonathan Farrington and Yaro Starak by the way.

And finally what I really like is the overriding candid, honest, hype free approach that David has taken in producing this package.

IMHO there are numerous starter courses that prospective Internet Marketers could take – seminars, courses, training sessions etc. The trouble is they’re slick, polished but ultimately forgettable (most of the time).

For £399 I would be amazed if you could spend your hard earned money more wisely. And for the forgetful – the CD’s, MP3’s, .pdf’s and workbooks are a timely reminder of what to do, when and how. Highly recommended!

Filed under: Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, Analytics, B2B, Blog, Blogging, Branding, Business, Buzz, Conversion, Data, Direct Email, Entrepreneur, IT, IT Planning, Influence, Keywords, Measurement, Media, Online, Online Video, Open Social, Planning, RSS, Research, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Social Networking, Strategy, Usability, User Generated Content, Viral, Viral Coefficient, Virtual Worlds, Web, Web2.0, YouTube, blogs, copywriting, marketing, permission, podcast, technology, web 2.0, word of mouth , david Bain, Internet Marketing, Internet Marketing Plan, Jonathan Farrington, Marketing Automation and Launch, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Training, Purple Internet Marketing, Strategic Plan, The 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan, Website Structure, Yaro Starak

Greatest Copy Shot Ever Written

In the year 2000, some of the stars of creative advertising during the 20th century nominated 115 best slogans, straplines, taglines, and headlines. Nick Padmore in The greatest copy shots ever written has analysed the list a bit further.Nick is a digital copywriter at bd-ntwk/London and admittedly has ‘an unhealthy interest in how language works, and where it came from’. Without wanting to steal his thunder, Nick suggests all great copy shots should:

1. Be five words in length.
2. Not mention the brand name.
3. Be declarative.
4. Be grammatically complete.
5. Be otherwise standard.
6. Contain alliteration, metaphor, or rhyme.

Sound advise? Read on here.

Filed under: Branding, copywriting, marketing , , bd-ntwk, Brand, copy, headlines, Nick Padmore, slogans, straplines, taglines

Usability: do’s and don’t’s

I am always plugging e-consultancy and their reports. I’m going to stop. After this last post….

Have you ever wondered if you are spending more or less than other companies on usability? Or wondered which sites you should be looking to for inspiration – i.e. the best-rated UK websites for user experience? What is more, who are the top usability gurus?

E-consultancy has just published the Usability and User Experience Report 2007. This in-depth 64-page report covers the benefits of usability investment and the problems encountered by organisations. It is based on a survey of more than 700 internet marketers.

The findings are divided into the following sections:

• How companies are approaching User Experience
• Budgets and Spending
• Benefits and ROI
• Usability Services
• Barriers to User Experience
• Project Management
• Hall of Fame and Top Gurus

You can download the research report immediately if you are a subscriber (subscription packages start at £149 per year, for access to all our research).

Alternatively it is available as a standalone report for £99.

There is also a free sample available for non-subscribers (429.1 kb .doc that opens automatically)

Filed under: Analyst, Design, Measurement, Online, Planning, Search Engine Optimisation, Strategy, Usability, Web, Web2.0, White Paper, copywriting, marketing, web 2.0, webmasters

Three letter acronyms (TLAs)

I got an invite to a webinar today.  I get a lot of these.  Tech vendors LOVE their webinars.

I’ve read the title of the invite twice.  Twice.  Slooooooowly.

“TWO WORLDS COLLIDE:  Combining PPM and ALM, from the PMO Perspective” *

Now I’ve worked in technology marketing all my working life.  I get technology.

But the use of two, three, four letter acronyms is getting beyond a joke.  Either that or I am getting too old and need to be put out to pasture.

P.S.  The invite went into the deleted items before I could be bothered to read the title a third time.  And I am usually a patient lad. 

* Hint.  Drop the TLAs.  Prospective clients might actually be interested in what you do – if they can get through your complex messaging and hyperbole. 

Filed under: Advertising, B2B, Computing, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Events, IT, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, ideas, marketing

How to create an effective + unique blogging experience

This is simply a great presentation about creating an effective + unique blogging experience.

I particularly like the 4c’s of Blogging….

• Content
• Community
• Consistency
• Clarity

….and in particular the concept of bloggers aspiring to be ‘Conversation Architects’.

I’ve broken many rules by regurgitating this content. But when the content is THIS good I think it’s worth sharing.

And when your done with that, give this a go….

Filed under: 2.0, Blog, Blogging, Conversational marketing, Design, Fun, Ideas and Riffs, Planning, Social Media, Strategy, Web, Web2.0, blogs, copywriting, ideas, marketing, web 2.0

Semicolonic Irritation

Make no mistake. Copywriting is a skill worth paying for.

But the rules are odd. When it comes to marketing: the less you need to write, the more you should consider paying a professional imho.

Anyway, I’ve paid Writing Machine for a variety of projects in the past (thankfully) – and regular readers will know I’ve advocated their newsletter Trade Secrets in the past. Today, their newsletter comment about no single punctuation mark instilling more dread than the semicolon is so true, that I had to repeat it here.

As they say, many people will tell you that using the semicolon properly is ‘just a matter of feel’. Unfortunately, however, if you don’t have ‘the feel’ in the first place, such advice isn’t much help is it? No.

The fact is the semicolon is a very useful little tool, and one that is all too often overlooked. And, far from being a question of feel, there are clear rules governing the correct use of the semicolon.

Enjoy Writing Machine’s Tips for using the semicolon. They’re correct. Just like they always are.

——————————————————————————————-

In many respects, the semicolon can be regarded as about half way between a comma and a colon. The upshot of this is that there are two things the semicolon is extremely good at: lists, and joining sentences together.

Lists: what’s the big idea?

Read the following sentence out loud:

When you go camping in winter, remember to pack your Long Johns, for extra warmth, a silver blanket, in case of emergency, a propane stove, as butane tends not to work well in the cold, and make sure there are plenty of people who know exactly where you’re going.

It feels that the sentence is breathless – like somebody is just blurting out a load of information. Now try this version:

When you go camping in winter, remember to pack your Long Johns, for extra warmth; a silver blanket, in case of emergency; a propane stove, as butane tends not to work well in the cold; and make sure there are plenty of people who know exactly where you’re going.

Essentially, the semicolons allow you to give better instructions to the reader about what each bit of the sentence is doing. That makes it easier to read, and people will thank you for it.

You can see that each big idea is followed up by a little idea – ‘a silver blanket [big idea], in case of emergency [little idea]’. When you have a series of big ideas and little ideas, separate the big ones with a semicolon.

Joining: independence day

We’ve said it before, and no doubt we’ll say it again: one of the most important things you have to do is to engage your reader. That means encouraging them to interact with the words you’ve written. And the semicolon can play an important part here too.

Say you have two separate sentences:

The semicolon is a much under-used punctuation mark. For some reason, people seem to be scared of it.

Joining these sentences together using a semicolon demonstrates that although the ideas are independent, they are also connected:

The semicolon is a much under-used punctuation mark; for some reason, people seem to be scared of it.

Here, we’ve got two ideas that are intimately linked. To show that the second sentence comes as an explanation or refinement of the first sentence, we join the two sentences together – using a semicolon. As a result, the nature of the relationship becomes easier for the reader to identify.

A really comma error

The biggest single mistake people make when it comes to the semicolon is not using one when they join two sentences together. An awful lot of people use a comma instead of a semicolon. They tend to ‘feel’ that there’s something wrong with what they’ve written, but can’t tell exactly what.

Consider the following example:

I used to be entirely convinced that the semicolon was really difficult to use, now, I’m not so sure.

The key to good writing is that it makes good reading. But in the above sentence, it’s difficult at first to work out what the word ‘now’ is doing, and the sentence loses impact because it’s confusing.

I used to be entirely convinced that the semicolon was really difficult to use; now, I’m not so sure.

Here the reader has clear directions as to what’s going on in the sentence. The word ‘now’ clearly relates to ‘I’m not so sure’, and confusion is avoided.

——————————————————————————————-

God blesss crews like Writing Machine. hHeaven knows where we would be without them.

Filed under: copywriting, ideas, marketing

80% of 1990s Usability Study still holds true

As Web usability testing enters its 14th year, it’s worth asking how early results have held up to recent user research.

10 years ago, Jakob Nielsen wrote an article on the changes in Web usability from 1994 to 1997. A few of his original findings were no longer valid a mere 3 years after they were issued. But most of the 1994 guidelines hold true in 1997 — and they’re still correct today.

As Neilsen explains, considering how primitive websites were in 1994, it’s striking that most of these initial usability guidelines remain valid for today’s sites. It’s even more impressive when you consider that the Web currently has 120M sites, and his very first study tested only 5 sites with 3 users. This tiny, exploratory study’s outstanding outcome and endurance is testament to the power of qualitative usability methodology.

Read the Full piece.

Subscribe to Neilsen’s Alert Box Newsletter

Filed under: Blog, Blogging, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Email, IT, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Online, Planning, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media, Strategy, Usability, Web, Web2.0, blogs, copywriting, ideas, marketing, web 2.0

An Excellent Web Design Best Practice Guide

e-consultancy have just introduced their latest best practice guide. This time it concerns itself with Web Design.

Now this is a popular topic, and everyman and his dog has a perspective on what to do and what not to do when it comes to web design. But just for a change, e-consultancy introduced this particular guide with a testimonial; and quite rightly they are proud that even the BBC are saying very nice things about it.

This is first-rate piece of work that will provide an invaluable reference for anyone involved in the production of websites . I’m personally delighted to see a document that so clearly espouses the broader role that designers must play, beyond the creation of the visual layer, in order to achieve this success.
Adam Powers, Head of Design, Vision – BBC

Do you need insight into how to develop your next web project?
Not a web designer?
Not sure where to look?

e-consultancy’s comprehensive 350-page Web Design Best Practice Guide, will provide you with a single point of reference on the key aspects of web design.

If you are a member of e-consultancy this report is FREE. If you are not a member it’s yours for £99.00. In fact is you pay £149.00 you’ll get access to every single report and piece of content they have – lock stock and barrel. Now that’s value.

e-consultancy reports are aimed at empowering people who work in business and marketing roles, and this one is no different, though it can also be used as a reference guide for web designers.

- So what’s in this guide?

e-consultancy believe that there are 14 key aspects of web design that need to be managed for a successful outcome. As such, their Best Practice Guide includes plenty of detail on the following:

1. Strategy and planning
2. Internet marketing planning and improvement process
3. User-centred web design process
4. Web usability
5. Web accessibility
6. Information architecture
7. Visual design
8. ‘Findability’ – best practice principles
9. Search engine optimisation (SEO) best practice principles
10. Persuasive design & copywriting
11. Using web analytics to improve website design effectiveness
12. Technical site requirements
13. The law – is your site legally compliant?
14. Selecting agencies to support web design

What I think is super is that there is a free sample for non-subscribers, or those of you that fancy trying before you buy.

Filed under: Analytics, Books, Design, Measurement, Online, Planning, RSS, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search Engine Optimisation, Strategy, Usability, Web, Web2.0, copywriting, marketing, web 2.0, webmasters

Great ads that never ran

“Very few ideas are ‘new’, and no ideas are ‘bad’.”

That’s what I was told as a junior marketer in my first marketing post for db vendor InterSystems, and it has kind of stuck with me ever since. Maybe my ideas were poor and someone was being polite? I’d like to think not and think there is something very relevant in the statement.

But to my post.

Sellers and Rogers is a creative advertising and PR agency “whose culture is devoted to building, developing and sustaining brands” and they have two (yes two) volumes of creative ads that never made it.

Maybe their clients changed their plan? Perhaps the budgeted spend never materialised? Maybe the work was done speculatively in a creative pitch of some kind? Or perhaps some of the clients simply weren’t brave enough to go with what was recommended?

Who knows or cares – but either way, fair play to Sellers and Rogers. Their unused ads do see the light of day, as you can download them FREE.

I really think showcasing work that doesn’t go live is just as important as stuff that does. In fact I’d guess potentially the most effective work by marketing agencies usually goes unused because it actually stretches boundaries too far, or takes ’safety first’ C-Tier execs out of their over sized comfort zones.

So, if you are a prospective agency client looking at a portfolio of case studies, ask to see additional concepts or iterations of the creative execution. You’ll probably get a better feel for the agency, its capabilities and its likely effectiveness on your bottom line.  You’ll certainly get a better idea of their ‘fit’ with your organisation.

And if you are a marketing agency, its a great idea to showcase work that was used AND work that was poo-pooed.

Filed under: Advertising, Design, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, ideas, marketing

The Science of Email Marketing Creativity

There is no denying that marketers are continually pushing the creative envelope when developing campaigns that are both meaningful and influential to their target audiences. Email marketers, however, need to be even savvier. A superb creative is not enough to guarantee success in a medium where the audience is under daily bombardment from competitor brands, where the risk of blacklisting is high and where you can never be quite sure how your creative will render in the email providers viewing pane.

Antonio Ferrara, Strategic Services Executive at Premiere Global Services explains in a piece for Technology Weekly the science behind the creativity of email campaigns. Using the elements from a tried and tested creative scorecard, he looked at the factors that need to be considered to ensure that an email campaign has the desired impact. I’ve pasted it below for you all to enjoy in full, but please be aware that none of this is my work.

(By the way mad.co.uk delivers business insight to professionals in marketing, media, new media, advertising and design, and I believe their eNewsletter is well worth subscribing to)

Enjoy!

—————————

A general rule of thumb

One of the most important facts that email marketers need to be aware of is that the majority of people consume their emails from within the reading pane of their inbox. Whether they open the email or not will be greatly influenced by what they initially see in the pane. This is an important fact because the size of the pane is much smaller than the full screen of say a webpage (about a third of the size), greatly limiting the area in which an email marketer has to make an impact. It is worth stating this rule upfront as it has a bearing on a number of the elements described below.

Logo placement

Many brand guidelines would have you place the logo somewhere along the top right hand corner of any branded communication. The challenge here is that if people are viewing your email in their reading pane in most cases the top right hand side of the message would be cut off along with the logo. Ensuring that the logo can be seen in the viewing pan is important because, of the vital role it plays in confirming that the email has come from a trusted source.

Image Vs HTML Text

Traditional direct marketing wisdom would push many a designer to overlap the image of the communication with text; in many cases ‘the offer’ itself. Image suppression in emails is now the rule rather than the exception meaning that it is not images that people see on viewing their emails but a box with a red x in it. Therefore if you follow the DM code, not only will your image be suppressed but your carefully crafted text as well.

Dimensions

Once again the reading pane is far smaller than the size of the average computer screen and whereas this does not really affect the vertical length of your message as people are happy to scroll down it is important that people do not have to scroll right as it is not something they are not used to.

Call to action and its placement

The call to action is possibly the most important part of your eMarketing and also the one that is most easily lost. eMarketers will do well to remember to make this a prominent part of their design. It should stand out, be above the fold if possible, so as to make it into the reading pane, and by no means should it appear within an image, where it could be suppressed.

Content

Once you have caught the attention of your reader it is vital to keep them engaged. If your email is too long you may lose them, too short and you run the risk of not engaging them in the first place. It is also important to take a moment to consider the language you are using and the way that it is formatted. There are some urban legends out there but it is true that if you use words that have a pornographic connotation, a classic example being erection, you will probably fall foul of spam filters.

Links

With the effectiveness of open rates as a measure of campaign success diminishing, it is important to look to other methods of gauging the success of your campaign. Links are still the bread and butter of email tracking and give a clear measure of the most popular elements of your offering. Ensure that links are only used where relevant and that they lead directly to the information on your site and do not just point to the home page.

Above the fold design

Understanding on how people consume information presented on screen is progressing everyday and can be utilised to optimise the effectiveness of your creative. Studies into eye patterning show us that the majority of people’s time is spent at the top of the screen and then drops off substantially the further down you go. This is important for two reasons. First we can use this knowledge to realise that our key messages need to appear towards the top of the page and second that we must employ tactics to influence people to track further down the page. This can be done using colour, information that fades in and out and also a links index so that people can jump to the information that is most relevant to them immediately.

Filed under: B2B, Design, Direct Email, Direct Mail, Email, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Online, copywriting, ideas, marketing

Interface decision making: in the blink of an eye

This post started a brief conversation about usability, interfaces and making first impressions count. In it David Hawdale discusses various usability issues in a little more detail.

After reading his comment, I jumped on his website to take a look around and was presented with these images.

Thanks for the laugh David. This sure flags up the interface usability issue.

For those of you really interested in usability and understanding customers behaviour online read on for David Hawdales views on Blink Usability Protocol.

This piece if full of interesting material – the sum of which is;

“….eye-tracking report(s) state that users look at a Google results page for an average of 6.4 seconds before clicking on one of the results and in that time they read 3.9 individual ads. That’s an average of 140 words in 6.4 seconds.”

As David points out that’s fast, and that’s not subject to rationality.

It is decision making done in the blink of an eye.

Filed under: 2.0, Advertising, B2B, Branding, Computing, Design, Ideas and Riffs, Measurement, Online, SEO, SEO / SEM, Search, Search Engine Optimisation, Strategy, Usability, Web, Web2.0, copywriting, ideas, illustration, marketing, web 2.0

Call – Speak – Get More Done

This could be very BIG indeed.

Too bad it is U.S. only at the mo.

Filed under: Ideas and Riffs, copywriting, ideas, marketing

Meet the Name Inspector and enjoy his 10 tips

The Name Inspector takes a close look at names and tells you what makes them tick (or tank) from a linguistic point of view. He does not offer marketing treatises on branding strategy or corporate nomenclature. He is concerned with the linguistic essence of names: how they feel and sound when spoken, what they look like when written, and the meanings and moods they evoke in their contexts.

Check out The Name Inspectors 10 tips for naming your company, product or service.

Filed under: Branding, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, marketing

Mission statement-itis

Despite widespread mission statement dissing from the likes of Guy Kawazaki in the last year – little has changed in the UK IT/S sector when it comes to defining the value a technology oriented company provides.

Most mission statements I see are complex, unwieldy, technical and loooooooooong.

From the technology vendor’s perspective this is usually much to do with an innate fear from the boardroom, CMO or Marketing Director of making a mistake during its definition.  No-one wants to miss a step in traditional value definition processes.

And alas it also is much to do with marketing agencies and their slick sales techniques and processes, that take clients through a well structured and well defined (revenue generating) process that has ‘all the steps’ and more that anyone could wish for.

BUT Just because they have a process doesn’t make it right.

Sure, some technology oriented start-ups aren’t wasting their money in this way.  But they are exceptions that prove the rule.  As Kawazaki said back in Jan 2006, “The ultimate test for a mantra (or mission statement) is if your telephone operators can tell you what it is. If they can, then you’re onto something meaningful and memorable. If they can’t, then, well, it sucks.”

I can’t think of many software or IT services firms in the UK who pass the ultimate test. Or even come close for that matter.  That has to change to be remarkable and memorable.

Moreover, vague or verbose mission statements create many problems if they are left alone.  Creating a 3 or 4 word mantra  solves many issues that expose themselves down the line in virtually every area of a technology oriented business.

Filed under: B2B, Branding, Ideas and Riffs, Strategy, copywriting, marketing