What Matters Now?

I just finished reading “What Matters Now”, a Book (additionally available as a free eBook) conceived by Seth Godin.

My advise to you is read it now (and if you can afford it, buy it now too, so you can read it again and again).

The book promised to highlight a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around. It delivers on all three.

My favourite ‘essay’ is related to ‘Productivity.’  It was written by Gina Trapani who blogs about software and productivity at Smarterware.  This is what she wrote;

Getting things done is not the same as making things happen.  You can…

…reply to email.

…pay the bills.

…cross off to-do’s.

…fulfill your obligation.

…repeat what you heard.

…go with the flow.

…anticipate roadblocks.

…aim for “good enough.”

Or you can…

…organize a community.

…take a risk.

…set ambitious goals.

…give more than you take.

…change perceptions.

…forge a new path.

…create possibility.

…demand excellence.

Don’t worry too much about getting things done.  Make things happen.

That’s a fairly decent perspective and modus-operandi to take into 2010.

Bad design can be beneficial

Craig Stout a creative director at Interbrand NY, together with his colleague Scott Milano, have authored an interesting byline that has appeared in Interbrand’s www.brandchannel.com online newsletter this morning.

In it, they outline why some of the world’s most successful websites are so ugly and adored: Google, eBay, Craigstlist and Wikipedia, I am sure you have read pieces like this before.

And whilst they raise a number of very important arguments – I think they missed one key point that Seth Godin raised in May 2006.  That being, “bad” design (that is to say, slightly bad design), can facilitate engagement and might actually be a good thing!

Slightly bad design isn’t familiar. It’s off. It demands attention. (Very bad design demands the ‘back’ button, of course). One of the reasons that experienced power tool users–like table saws–can still lose a finger is that they don’t pay attention… it’s too easy to turn the thing on and just use it.

A phrase I have always enjoyed is “you can break the rules, when you know all the rules” and I think this applies here. There is hope for us all it would appear, but there are many rules to learn on the path to web design enlightenment.

Definitions of marketing

There is a lot of debate and commentary about Seth Godin’s recent post about a definition of ‘marketing’.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) would have you think the definition is this. Ouch.

Is Seth’s definition any better? Does its brevity raise more questions than it actually answers? Do the four words focus the mind (an achievement in itself)?

I really think marketers need to make their own personal definition of marketing – in every role, and in every project. But I do think a little more Seth and a little less (CIM) would help focus the mind. Ofcourse the real message here is that if you under promise you are invisible. And over delivering needs to be a defacto response in your company. Why?

Consistent ‘over delivery’ = Reliability

Over delivery = ‘Delight’

Trust = Reliability + Delight

As for under promising? R.I.P.

The race, the elephant and Jennifer

The internet is like an elephant. It never forgets.

As long as there is a server, a web page with a story about you, plus money in the meter, you are going to be read about. For days, weeks, years, possibly decades. Great news.

Possibly.

Which is why I feel for Jennifer.

Nobody wants to be made an example of, for the wrong reasons. And in that regard I refer B2B marketers to Seth’s point:

You can contact just about anyone you want. The only rule is you need to contact them personally, with respect, and do it months before you need their help! Contact them about them, not about you. Engage. Contribute. Question. Pay attention. Read. Interact.

For every Seth, it still seems there are ten thousand Jennifer’s. And that is not intended as being another slight on Jennifer. The reality is, there are very few B2B marketers not guilty of invading privacy, mis-reading trust, or abusing or mis-reading permission.

This simply needs to change, in an era where consumers of all kinds (from CIOs @ FTSE 100 firms, through to window shoppers @ a local store) are craving a new marketing tipping point.

So whilst growing your subscription list, increasing your sales pipeline or adding to your customer list can feel like a mad dash in B2B circles, my advice is simply to change the goal of your marketing. Race toward Trust and Permission. Play the long game, take the long haul.

And although this can take months, even years in B2B, the good news is (to completely over-use a racing analogy) we are probably just on a parade lap.

Albeit a highly visible, search engine optimised, parade lap; with a memory of an elephant.

Find your brand spam

I had an interesting email exchange with Seth Godin a few days ago – in response to this post.

During this brief exchange Seth wrote, “I hate email.”

It turns out one of my email replies went straight into his spam folder. And he felt awful a couple of days later, because having retrieved the item and having read my message, he knew he would have replied sooner – given the chance.

But Seth ‘hates email.’

Of course, in reality he might not. Seth hates ‘Spam’ and the effect it has had on his email use. And his reputation. So much so, that it might have made him say (and think) the wrong thing.

For B2b brands there is a lesson here. Someone somewhere might well be ‘hating’ your product or service due to something that you have no control of. The best B2b marketers will try their darn’dest to find the unrelated ‘Spam’ that messes or cloggs up their brand – and look to fix it.

As for email? It turns out the real Killer App (for productivity and collaboration) is actually Spam. What a shame. I am sure innovation pays a price.

Résumé (or CV for us Brits)

I really like Seth Godin. Who wouldn’t in a role like mine? But today he got it wrong.

He said;

If you’re remarkable, amazing or just plain spectacular, you probably shouldn’t have a résumé at all.

I agree that jobs don’t get filled by people emailing in résumés, especially jobs in start-ups, or remarkable organisations. You need to raise your head above the parapet – either by knowing someone on the inside – or by standing out from the crowd. But here’s what I think – you’d be daft NOT to have a résumé.

In a world dominated by ‘average’ and ‘ordinary’, the easiest, fastest and most efficient means to show how remarkable you are is to stand out alongside ‘average’, and show it for what it is.

Be close enough to warrant comparison. Far enough apart to stand out.

update 18/03/08 Think about it. The fastest runner on earth runs the 100 metres like everyone else.  He doesn’t go off and create his own gig to show how fast he is……

Yes the bog standard résumé format is crap. But remarkable, amazing and just plain spectacular folk will use this fact to their advantage. They’ll re-write the rules, but still under the banner of a ‘résumé’. They’ll also realise that re-writing the rulebook for getting employed is a bad idea. Because some cretin, somewhere in corporate-ville will ask for a copy anyway.

Bother having a résumé. Just make it unlike anyone else’s.

The Meatball Sundae Webinar: A review

WOW. What a great way to spend an hour! With 2000 people on the call Seth Godin’s seminar about ‘Meatball Sundae’ was well worth the investment in time.

I thought I’d quickly highlight what was said in the seminar, and how I interpreted this, for those who could not attend and haven’t read the book.

———————

This is a revolution that changes everything. Just like the Industrial Revolution, and revolutions of the past (brand, transportation, assembly line, mass marketing and TV) the current Internet Revolution is just as big. Probably bigger.

It’s time to take a deep breathe and think…….”what do I need to do today, what can I change today that I will be glad about in 10 years time?”

Josiah Wedgwood is perhaps the best marketer that ever lived. He fundamentally understood that you need to ‘shift’ what you do each day. (Edit: read up about Wedgwood, his approach to increasing pottery sales was an example of great strategic (marketing) thinking)

Marketers too often think about the ‘pretty’ stuff on the top (cherry and cream) when really they should be thinking about the foundation of the product or the service (the meatballs).

Make people want to talk about you.

These are the 14 (Mega) trends Seth pointed out:

1) Direct Communication. Get your right. Major disintermediation is happening. Don’t get caught out, or up.

2) The amplification of consumers needs to be leveraged. Think conversation.

3) Tell authentic Stories. People don’t buy from specs, reports or checklist. Your brand story has to hold up, from every angle. Above all – be the brand you say you are.

4) Speed. You have all probably heard it a million times before, but it is getting more important. Fundamentally change the way your company deals with speed. Fast businesses thrive. Slow ones die.

5) The long Tail – The Billboard Top40 is irrelevant. Own a segment of the long tail curve – not a tiny niche; and understand the implications of personalisation and involvement to own a segment.

6) Outsourcing. This is not about pennies. Outsourcing helps you understand costs, BUT changes the business you are in. This means there is a death of the ‘factory’ model going on where you no longer need to do (build, buy, sell, market) everything.

7) “The dicing of everything“ (I need to readup about this!!!, I will blog about this in due course)

8) Infinite choice and Infinite Channels. In a world with 80M blogs PR is now different. There are channels for everything. Make your own channel. But beware being louder and offering variety is not the way to capture attention. Additionally yelling is not sufficient any longer.

9) Consumer to Consumer. ‘Connections’ are intimate, fast, and person to person. And connections are everything – just look at ebay, paypal, facebook.

10) The concept of ‘Scarce’ v ‘Abundant’ is a key theory to understand. ‘Disposable’ products are becoming less attractive as land becomes scarce. Equally in the past having lots of information = power. Now everyone has access to information so information is less the ‘key’ area: ‘access’ to information is. Offer something that is scarce or go for mass adoption. Don’t be in the middle.

11) Big Ideas. Advertising and big ideas are dead. The ‘Big Idea’ should is the product itself.

12) Permission. Anticipated, personal, relevant wins. Still.

13) The New Rich are a lot like you and me. They drive pickup trucks, buy comics, drink in Starbucks…….this has a dramatic impact on the way to court the rich.

14) There are new Gatekeepers. Traditional gatekeepers are not as important as they used to be…..Today ‘Leaders’ are more important than gatekeepers.

Bonus Trend – There is a ‘reverse bell curve’ (”The Seinfeld Curve”), and it highlights their are two ways to make money…. 1) be ubiquitous. 2) be scarce.

What I learnt

Oh man. Loads!

• You need to be organised to thrive around the long tail and this new economy, world and revolution.
• Take a deep breathe start things small, gain traction, gain attention.
• Search matters. Every Google search is comparable to a TV ad, or a magazine of yesteryear. But Organic Search is the CRITICAL. The product itself should be ‘optimised’. Clever meta tagging is simply part of the story…..what people say about your product is really the most important thing.
• Find out how friendship and engagement relate to your business. This lasts months or years, and that is why community is so important, why social media is so important. Find your tribe and show humility.
• Make products that people want to talk about. ( be remarkable)
• Everyone is a marketer now. In 1920 the head of Manufacturing ruled the roost. The Manufacturer was in charge. That’s why Ford choose black paint – it dried quicker…..Today the marketer is in charge. Don’t blow it!
• Google and Wikipedia are ‘choice machines’
• As opposed to sitting in an empty room thinking of, looking for the ‘big idea’, marketers should sit with people inside their organisation to refine what is done, delivered, created, made or sold.

Finally, this is a very decent table comparing the old world (left) with the new world (right):

Seth Godin Webinar

Being based in the UK, getting to hear Seth Godin live is pretty rare. Thank god for YouTube recordings and the web generally eh?

Although face-to-face is best, this webinar is going to be a great way to hear him speak ‘live’, hear some stories and anecdotes and learn from one of the very greatest marketing gurus alive today. You UK guys and gals…..get up early though…its at 6.00 a.m.

I am told in this brand new presentation, Seth Godin outlines 14 trends that are changing businesses forever. He will talk about how the new marketing landscape represents nothing short of an industrial revolution, and highlights the organisations and brands and products that are taking this new world by storm. (btw the webinar will be moderated by ClickZ Network’s editor-in-chief)

In the interim this is a good interview for those not too familiar with Seth Godin or his new book.

Edit: 04.01.08 And this one is good too

Outgoing only

I am sure everyone has received one of these before:

This is an “outgoing only” email address. If you ‘reply’ to this message by simply selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional comments.

Sounds like a wasted opportunity to start a conversation if you ask me.

Seth Godin reminds us that if you think interacting with customers is expensive, driving costs down is a good thing, and getting people to go away is beneficial – you’re probably toast.

Learning from the B2C sector

There is plenty of discussion out there about B2B and B2C marketing, and whether there is a difference in the disciplines. On the one hand business to business marketing is just marketing to consumers who happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy. And yet there is a perspective that buying a product for yourself verses buying for your company is a very different, emotional experience.

Lets face it. There are plenty of good and bad marketing examples on BOTH sides of the divide, and the best marketers will be those that draw best practices from both disciplines.

To that point, this week I saw a great DM piece from Sky. This is clearly a world away from High Technology marketing, but what I received was a timely reminder that you can get inspiration from anywhere.

You see, being a subscriber to Sky+ I get to come home after a hard day at the office, open a beer, and watch my wife’s favourite TV programmes – all series linked using Sky+! It was great of Sky therefore to mail the household to explain that one of the broadcasters in the UK (Channel 4) were making a few changes in my area – and that programmes due to be recorded using Sky+ wouldn’t work on or after a particular date.

Maybe not a big deal at face value eh? Think again. For my wife to be reminded that someone in the household would need to re-select what they wanted to record is a pretty big deal. She works hard all day with two (great) kids, and at the end of a draining day likes nothing more than putting her feet up and watching some dross. With Ugly Betty just one of the programmes set on permanent record, the aftermath of a failed recording would have caused a fair old rumpus in the household.

My wife will have blamed Sky (when in fact this is a broadcasting issue apparently), complained about how poor the service is (it only takes one glitch for a consumer to feel hard done by these days) and held a grudge for quite a while (1 bad customer is worth 10 delighted ones).

The lesson for a High Technology B2B marketer therefore?

The next time a technology partner makes a software update or a major new release, make sure you do a real good job finding out the consequences for your customers, and the potential ramifications. Then in a clear and concise fashion, explain the issues and the route to resolving the issues that might surface.  Why?  Your brand depends on it. And moreover do it right, and you’ll have a brand advocate on your hands – after all my wife passed me the DM knowing I’d love it.

Best practice in building trust, building a powerful brand, and providing exemplary customer service doesn’t require you to think differently just because you are operating in B2B or B2C. Poor is poor, good is good, and great is great whomever your customer is.