Conversation Agent

Don't Tell, Show Them!

2008-08-21T12:08:40-04:00

Companies have the same tools their customers and fans have. Here's an example of how an organization can build on an existing conversation. This is the response by the EA Sports to a video that a Tiger Woods PGA Tour '08 Player posted on YouTube one year ago. [hat tip to Rocco at Adverblog]

Execution matters. A few techniques that can help you bridge from telling to showing:

Taking the time to respond - how many opportunities have you missed to be part of the conversation about your business?

Building on existing content to respond (not react) - the difference between messaging and conversation lies in listening. Show them you are and then take the conversation to the next level.

Injecting some reality into the story - he is that good, the showing part can be done without showmanship. Your customers are now immune to a certain kind of glitz and shout.

Putting your actions where your mouth is - the best kind of showing is delivering on your promises. It might sound obvious, it helps being reminded.

Doing what you do best today includes the conversation about what you do. How can you surprise, wow, and show your customers you are engaged?

MySpace, Music and Brands

2008-08-20T08:51:56-04:00

Everyone has a song in them, Cartier has many and it has chosen MySpace to share the love. This is just one of the alliances with big-name brands the site is making.

After the acquisition by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for $580 million (2005), and the news that rival Facebook has just surpassed the site in traffic (May 2007), the social network is now calling itself a portal and planning to go back to its roots - music.

The new initiatives count a site redesign among them. According to a recent Fast Company article, MySpace co-founders feel confident that they have a proven cash-flow ad model. Will the changes be sufficient to help the company in its next phase of growth?

Regardless of what happens to MySpace, one line in the article caught my eye - while Google may dominate the search market, it isn't close to MySpace in terms of detailed information about what users do and consume.

It may be the Holy Grail of targeted marketing, it makes me just more than a little uncomfortable. Behaviorally targeted advertising needs a code of conduct. In an article on The Guardian about Google's 10-year anniversary, Vasanthan Dasan, one of the web's pioneers and now an engineer at Sun Microsystems, perceives three threats to Google's dominance.

First, social networks such as Facebook and MySpace are transforming information about you in a much more targeted and finely grained way; Google is behind on that. Second, mobile phones will become increasingly useful for information, and Google is behind on that too. Finally, there are quite a few companies working on personal genomics: knowing what your genes are so can you see your profile for genetic diseases and find customised medicine. Google will have a lot of challenges.

MySpace does have one advantage for brands - and that is the music portion. Brands can command attention with jingles and music, says Steve Cone in Powerlines. Music was a way for men and women to choose partners. Later, it became part of religious experience - I wrote about Mozart's Requiem at Fast Company as expressing sacred things. From religion, it morphed into a way to combat fear in battle, and today it is a form of entertainment.

Music may be mass produced, but the experience it creates is highly personal. Hence the power of jingles for marketing, those commercial hymns we hear less and less on television and radio. There are new media and now McDonald's is reviving its classic "two all-beef patties" jingle on MySpace. The social network pulled together up-and-coming talents to create their own versions, then opened up a contest for user-generated versions, including videos.

For whom the bell tolls, a jingle is a memorable ad slogan set to a catchy melody that lodges itself in your brain and won't let go all day. Sound is very powerful in musical form and MySpace is well- and about to be even better-positioned to take advantage of that and offer marketers fertile ground on which they can burnish their brands on users' minds.

The Cartier page on MySpace earned a big chunk of my time and so did the jeweler's site - they both gave me a chance to discover new music and images. They are both crafted to tell a powerful story and sell the product by creating a compelling context. Everyone has a song in them - who doesn't respond to a message of love?

________

Do you Have a Facebook Account?
Facebook Beacon: Brands Guilty by Association?
Privacy: Trading Trust for Cash
Privacy in the Age of New Media
Made in Italy: Music to my Ears

When the Secret Sauce is the Sauce Itself

2008-08-19T08:39:57-04:00

I have met and talked with a number of free agents and entrepreneurs over the years. Partly through association with colleges like Temple and Drexel University. Partly thanks to the connections forged when working for a start up company a few years ago.

We had conversations about business with Fast Company's network, and on occasion we helped a new business kick things in first or second gear. Those are exciting times, when you think about possibility, resources, and make plans for the future.

Having attended my fair share of events geared towards solopreneurs at various Chambers and organizations, I can say that the topics and information can be quite helpful to professionals getting their own business off the ground.

Getting started is rarely the problem. What becomes apparent fairly soon, I'd say probably within the first 6-8 months, is that one needs to have a plan to sustain the business over the long haul.

I've heard some call it the "feast and famine" cycle. There are bursts of intense activity followed by lulls that may seem to last forever. The main challenge is of course that if this is your business and you are starting it alone, you are doing it all - the marketing and sales, the administrative and financial work, the ideation piece and the execution or delivery part.

You probably decided to start a business because you loved what you did a great deal and wanted to do more of just that. Herein lies the issue - your secret sauce is the sauce itself. You are your own brand - what you sell and deliver are one and the same with you. No more sick days, in many cases vacation days, or days when things slow down - when they do, it is a worry.

How can you scale?

The first step is establishing processes and systems for the parts that are not core to your business that you can partner with other professionals and providers for or find a service to do. For example a virtual assistant for the administrative work - collecting payments, paying invoices, setting your calendar, etc. You can still personalize a great deal even with help. In fact, it will be easier to pay attention to detail once you get support.

The second step is creating products and services for your core product that are repeatable. This will allow you to build consistency and experience into what you deliver, as well as give you the flexibility to customize the delivery. When you know what you offer, it is much easier to know its value, too. Make sure that those products and services are something the market wants and needs and not one-offs. Do your research and be strategic.

The third step is figuring out a realistic pricing structure for your offerings. You are not answering the question: what will the market bear? You are seeking to find your point of value. What are you really good at that the market wants and needs? What do you provide that nobody else does your way? Hint, it is about being more of yourself (the secret sauce), than a copy of someone else.

From here, you will need to decide whether you intend to remain a consultant or build a business. The difference is you. I'm splitting hair here, but a business would not need you to function, a consultancy would.

[Chris Guillebeau has a very informative post on scaling up your business or your life.]

__________

Hardest Thing to Manage: Our Own Ego
How do You Go from Start to Success?

Blog Action Day 2008 Announced: Change the Conversation on Poverty

2008-08-18T09:52:27-04:00

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

Poverty has a profound effect on people and can cause ripples throughout communities. I've been very fortunate - although I've been called to make tough choices growing up and during the years I worked in the non profit sector, I've had a roof over my head and access to a superb education.

Poverty is affecting society, the enormous hole left by possibilities that go unrealized becomes even greater with our discomfort in acknowledging the gap. The rapid aging of the population in the Western hemisphere and the failing of public systems contribute to increasing demands on individuals. Many of us are called upon to assist our families in two directions for the future - children and parents.

Can we change the conversation on poverty with action? How can we tie our personal goals with helping others? What can we offer the world?

On October 15, 2008, hundreds of blogs and millions of readers will publish the results of their efforts and reach out to their readers and communities. I reached out to Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, one of the top blogs active in support of this initiative, for his take on this global conversation:

"It's frustrating for those who would like to take action to help those in extreme poverty, in our own countries and in Third World countries where billions are in extreme poverty, starving, or dying of preventable illnesses. What is needed is for us to take action, but individually, it's so hard to make a difference when the problem is so overwhelming.

In large numbers, we can not only help - we can greatly reduce the problem. The First World, for example, has the power to wipe out so much of this suffering with action by the elected officials of our countries. That's the power of this global conversation. By getting people talking, we are creating the impetus for change."

If you are considering participation, go ahead and register your blog and join 1,839 plus blogs that have already signed up, globally. These charitable organizations are affiliated with the event:

The Global Fund with donations accepted via Change.org (FAQs on how your donation will be processed here)
Kiva.org (for tracking purposes, use central@blogactionday.org as your referrer)
Any other charity you may be working with (tally via receipt to central@blogactionday.org)

To give you an idea of the scope of this project, 35 blogs signed up just minutes after I did with Conversation Agent.

It is estimated that the world population as of July 2008 is about 6.684 billion. Thus far, Blog Action Day is reaching 3.2 million readers/listeners. That is less than a quarter of a percent. (In calculating it, I was reminiscent of some of my marketing budgets.)

I believe a determined group of people can change the conversation for the better. Our first action step is awareness - talking about it. Your voice counts and so do actions. Last year Blog Action Day took on the topic of the Environment - we discussed how social media is greening the planet here. Go sign up now and join the conversation on poverty, October 15. You can make a difference.

This is the kind of list that is worth belonging to. Will companies and agencies with blogs participate?
________

Blog Action Day 2007: How Social Media is Greening the Planet
Acts of Kindness: Make the Impossible Possible

NBC Gets Olympic Gold on Ad Sales

2008-08-17T07:00:00-04:00

As marketers, we're all called to choose among tactics and media in search of the greatest return on dollars spent and impact towards our goals. Strategies can be served in a myriad ways. We get our medals when we perform at peak.

NBC and the network's parent company, GE, chose to realize the most gains from the Olympic Games by directing audiences to the most ubiquitous and lucrative media. Now it is laughing all the way to the bank, according to Wired magazine.

Gold on Sales

Broadcasting & Cable news reported that NBC hit $1b in ad sales, the network's stated ad-revenue target the day before the opening ceremonies and recently reported $10 million more from that day.

With viewers in excess of 107 million or over 95% of total audiences (Nielsen), one can easily see how the television set still dominates the Olympic experience - even when it opens on a delay.

Revenue from advertising is just the beginning. NBC's parent company, GE, has posted $700 million in sales from various projects in and around Beijing, including security equipment for a subway line and airport terminal, medical equipment at the Olympic village, and more than 120 wind turbines north of the city (Wired).

And of course there is the advantage of being up close and personal with a market that values personal interactions at a local level. Getting to know a business and brand through its people, especially when playing host, is welcome in China (for more insights on the Chinese market, read One Billion Customers by James McGregor).

But is the ad spend effective for sponsors of the games? A report released by the Fournaise Marketing Group on June 2 states that the spend could fail to deliver the effectiveness results expected by marketers and sponsors.

The report highlighted the example of Chinese 100-metre hurdler, 2004 Olympic gold medallist and world record holder, Liu Xiang, who while being sponsored by a limited number of organisations, was shown to be associated by Chinese consumers to a whopping 20 brands – most of whom weren’t even his sponsors!

Silver on Integration

The online experience at the NBC Olympics portal works in harmony with television. In look and feel the site home could be a landing page for a direct response program. The sponsors receive nice exposure from the banner rotation. But for the advertising to be effective, it must focus on the right metrics that truly matter in hyper-cluttered and hyper-competitive market environments – not awareness, not recall, not viewership, not eyeballs, but quantifiable and profitable direct personal engagement with their target audience.

There are many choices at the NBC site - a programming schedule for television that can be searched by zip code and no doubt yield viewers data. An option for viewing on the go is also offered - go mobile! The carriers report that mobile traffic is between 210k and 495k or 0.3 to 0.4% - there is lots of room for growth here.

Online unique visitors ranged between 4.2 and 7.8 million or 5.7 to 7.6% of total audiences (Omniture) in the first few days. Some have complained about the choice of Microsoft Silverlight for the videos. It supports Internet Explorer 6, 7 for Windows, Firefox 1.5, 2, 3 for Windows and Mac and Safari 2, 3 for Mac. However, it seems that people with older Macs with no Intel are having difficulty viewing.

Bronze on Conversation

For all of these nice metrics to work on behalf of the businesses, we will need a new level of depth and correlation to results. What are these ever elusive metrics? Would recall be aided by personal experience? And would it prompt a change in behavior to favor the brand?

There are blogs in the media area of the site. I like that one of the menus offers blogs by athletes, but so far they seem to be all from the US, where NBC operates. I'm pretty sure that if one of those bloggers were Michael Phelps, the traffic (and comments) would be off the charts - probably unprecedented.

Imagine what would happen if Adidas, Nike, Speedo, Omega watches, Power Bars and Visa, Phelp's sponsors, helped take the conversation to the next level. The Olympics is a fleeting event, could new media help sustain interest in the brands that have a stake on the athlete succeeding?

Would an approachable Phelps, one with a robust personality and charisma, carry the conversation forward? I'm thinking there is opportunity there even if Jay Leno and David Letterman don't come calling. With new media and a little help from the global brands, Phelps could have a personal channel to surf, ahem swim in. This might take care of the US market. How about the rest of the world?

The Pitch

2008-08-15T15:18:49-04:00

Maybe he hasn't noticed me. That's just one of the rationalizations that marketers tend to make when the consumer is not paying attention. In man-woman relationships that tends to be wrong.

In fact, you could take the time it took you to notice him and cut that in half - and that's how long it took him to notice you. It's a crowded marketplace and there are just too many products and services out there, continues the rationalization, let me shout louder.

You make your pitch, but the likelihood that it's going to work depends on that person being already predisposed to seeing you for them to listen. Maybe he's just not that into you.

Social media is adding opportunity to see that clearly. Two days ago I posted about agency blogs I enjoy reading. There were four main kinds of reactions to the post:

1. Thank you for reading and linking and here are some suggestions of other blogs authored by peers on the agency side - these are the folks I'd call and ask for a pitch. This is customer relationships for the agency I read and some branding for the friends they refer.

2. Good list and please add my blog - these are the folks I might consider visiting with, good contextual marketing.

3. A link to my post with something to the extent of "we'd like to be on that list'' or we thank so and so for adding us to the list - this is good brand stewardship and PR.

4. Hey, if you ever need an ad agency, call us - this is advertising as it's done today. One shot, one fly by, mainly in the dark. There is no relationship and little indication that there is the will to have one.

The pitch works much better when it's part of the conversation and a natural progression of it. In the same way that manufacturing and hardware became services and solutions, then outcome and experience, with social media, marketing has the opportunity to go from impersonal and mass constructed to personal and potentially tailored to the situation.

[brochure of Atwater Kent Radio]

Brandjacking

2008-08-14T09:38:43-04:00

In the age of transparent conversation, knowing who you are talking with is increasingly important.

Both as consumers and marketers, we have been quick to state that humanizing a brand makes it more likely we will engage with the company, product or service. And we have demonstrated that is the case in many public instances. We pay attention to brands and that is reflected in brand rankings.

Is brand impersonation a form of brandjacking?

It could happen to you, but is it likely to? This is an open question to each one of us.

A little over a week ago, the Houston Chronicle reported that Exxon Mobil stated it was not behind the Twitter account by Janet at ExxonMobilCorp. This is not the first instance when someone took on an identity that was not theirs on Twitter.

Seth Godin came forward a couple of months earlier to clarify that he had not created the account in his own name.

In both cases, the person behind the other's identity was up to something fairly innocuous. One might have called it a case of customer evangelism - the use of a company's or person's name to spread useful information.

In the Exxon Mobil case it was messages about the oil giant's philanthropic efforts, answers to questions about the company's policies and even a few human laments for a shortage of caramel apple sugar babies at one Exxon retail outlet. The Seth Godin's account was a stream of posts from the author's blog, one not created by the author himself.

ZDNet reported on some lessons that can be learned from the Exxon Mobil case. Some of the issues are fairly easy to address with increased awareness - hint, sticking your head in the sand about social media may not be an option for a company anymore, especially when you have an established and visible brand.

Forrester's Owyang outlines a few points for consideration (in bold):

Lack of identity confirmation continues to plague the Web - if you think this can happen only to big companies, think again. Anyone can buy a domain name similar to yours and try to piggyback on your brand.

Companies must monitor their brands - the first step is always awareness. Chances are that if you are a company or business that is active in the customer community, your customers or partners will be the first ones to let you know that a brand exists in your name (or a cunningly similar one) somewhere.

An opportunity for the real brand to step forward - while there may be little you can do outside legal action to discourage someone who is determined to confuse the marketplace with a similar or identical mark to yours, there is a lot you can do to establish your voice and persona. Communicate about your business, let customers and partners see and experience the real you by participating, being active, and present to them. I can assure you that the experience of the "other", the brandjacker, will be very different.

There is a need to validate identities first - are you who you say you are? This is not very dissimilar from all the problems created by spam emails. If you think this applies only to account identities, consider comments to blog posts, in online forums, and social networks.

Legal and trademark issues complicate the matter - see Owyang's advice here. I wrote a post at Marketing Profs Daily Fix about why trademarks are important back in February.

Regardless of the social channel, when a company or business does not speak for itself, it creates an opportunity for someone else to use their voice. Call it image or reputation, a brand is an asset, it matters to your bottom line. The digital space is still very much like the wild, wild, west - a lot of unclaimed territory exists.

Look at it as an opportunity to invest in re-energizing your brand through customer conversations. Worry less about selling, start telling, sharing, being present - step forward and own your brand, or someone else may take it for a spin.

[image from Interbrand Best Canadian Brands, 2008 report]

Notable Agency Blogs

2008-08-13T13:48:39-04:00

It's encouraging to meet more practitioners on the agency side who walk the talk. In many cases, as you will see, the blogs are created and maintained by individuals as their own personal thinking ground. In others, they are the effort of a small group on behalf of the agency. Many I read very regularly, some I visit with on occasion.

In no particular order:

Signal vs. Noise - by 37 Signals
Micro Persuasion - by Steve Rubel (Edelman)
Sixty Second View - by David Brain (Edelman, Europe)
Experience Matters - by Critical Mass
Logic+Emotion - by David Armano (Critical Mass)
Ad Literate - by Richard Huntington (Saatchi & Saatchi)
Going Social Now - by Avenue-A Razorfish
Cultural Fuel - by Leo Burnett Germany
Persuasionism - by Persuasion Arts & Sciences
Paul Isakson - by Paul Isakson (space150)
PSFK - by Piers Fawkes and team
Mindblob - by Luc Debaisieaux (JWT)
Useful Lunacy - by Tim Brunelle (Hello Viking)
Jaffe Juice - by Joseph Jaffe (Crayon)
Six Pixels of Separation - by Mitch Joel (Twist Image)
Inside the Marketer's Studio - by David Berkowitz (360i)
360 Digital Influence - by Ogilvy PR
Influential Marketing Blog - by Rohit Bhargava (Ogilvy)
Metacool - by Diego Rodriguez (IDEO)
Techno//Marketer - by Matt Dickman (Fleishman-Hillard)
Brendan Cooper- by Brendan Cooper (Fleishman-Hillard, UK)
Jerry's Juicebar - by Jerry Johnson (Brodeur)
PR Squared - by Todd Defren (SHIFT)
Social Media Explorer - by Jason Falls (Doe-Anderson)
The Buzz Bin - by Livingston Communications (now part of Social Media Group)

UPDATE: from the comments (thank you and keep them coming):

Idea Peepshow - by Fast Horse
New Media Buzz - by Michael Leis (Emerge Digital)
One to One Interactive - by Oto Insight
The Future Buzz - by Adam Singer (Pierson Grant)
Noah Brier - by Noah Brier (Barbarian Group)
Brains on Fire - by staff at Brains on Fire
Leigh Himel - by Leigh Himel (Twist Image)
Get Shouty - by Katie Chatfield (White Agency)
Rob Campbell - by Rob Campbell (Cynic)
Three Minds - by Organic
A Media Circ.us - by Adam Brotiman (Morpheus Media)
Scamp - by BBH London
Welcome to Optimism - by Wieden + Kennedy
CST Advertising - by David Trott
Fallon Planning - by Fallon
PR Bristol - by Montage Communications
Zeus Jones - by Adrian Ho
Touchdowns & Fumbles - by Veritas
Donor Power - by Jeff Brooks (Merkle)
Fine Print - by GCI Group Canada
Toothless Tiger - by Toothless Tiger
The Ad Contrarian - by Bob Hoffman (Hoffman/Lewis)

I'm quite sure this, although comprehensive, is not an exhaustive list. What other agency blogs out there are notable?

When the Marketer on the Inside can Think

2008-08-12T10:16:46-04:00

I have been on receiving end of pitches from agencies for the good part of my career in corporate America. I recognize that I do not represent the average marketer on the inside. Heck, I think that using the word average to describe me in any fashion would not put the word to its intended use. Not being average has been an advantage at times and a big liability in some circumstances.

As I am preparing to work on my presentation for the fabulous Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) Annual Summit on October 1, a few thoughts are starting to take form. [many thanks to Tim Brunelle for inviting me to speak]

Having this identity online and having been passionate about the profession over the years, while at the same time pursuing jobs on the client side, have presented some challenges. There are days when it is pretty hard to live with yourself - to follow your own advice. Especially when you are called to lead others who are not directly part of your organization. You can be diplomatic all you want, eventually you will ruffle some feathers, if ever so gently.

Coupled with some very ingrained myths about the marketer on the inside, things can get quite interesting. The situations that develop during pitches and in the actual work done in (more or less) collaboration with agencies are an indication that this is a conversation worth having.

Myth: "they don't get it"

Marketers are curious professionals. You cannot make assumptions that just because they work for a company, they are not participating, learning, experimenting, teaching, executing outside the walls of the organization.

Many organizations are encouraging these activities because they see the benefits of having someone on board who is learning in first person. Therefore, approach with this in mind. You may be talking to someone who knows more than you do about social media, for example.

Myth: "they're looking just for an idea"

These days we are all about measurable marketing. What we're really looking for is an idea with a solid execution attached to it. Market-driven, honest and real in language and representation. I've called this right size marketing.

What that entails for you is: we will go the extra step to ensure that your business succeeds by partnering with you. We want to find the right value proposition and unlock that value to your customers. We will also work efficiently with you on your challenges. There is no B team, you get the "A" team and all the attention and care your business deserves.

Myth: "they will take boilerplate"

Au contraire, we insist that your idea and execution be grounded in our business, and not your other case studies. "Save as" will not work. Since we're talking about past successes, let's make sure your work wins us customers, not awards for you. It has to be said.

Along with measurable, we are used to doing research as a way of testing opinions with those that really count - our customers' and prospects. There are many more options both for quantitative and qualitative work, so hopefully you are familiar with those.

Myth: "it will take a long time"

Surprisingly, we can move really fast when the right brief gets into our hands. The business case leaps off the page and into the hearts and minds of those who need to be in the loop. I agree that in some cases the client does not make the business problem very clear.

Here we're talking about a marketer who can think and has a grounding - and a stake - in the business. Quite simply, engagement needs to lead to business results. And yes, I am aware that sometimes agencies are asked to accomplish too many things with just one marketing vehicle.

Myth: "they will give us everything"

Honestly, let's not pitch for more until you deliver on what you were hired to do. These days the ability to do more comes after we've reached our goals in one area. The budget is no longer a big lump sum.

It becomes much easier to justify expansion in an area or a test run in another when you've had a win. Getting an account may be a lot of work, but doing the work to keep it is critical. Often it entails great communication skills and the desire to truly contribute to your client's success.

________

Many marketers on the client side are looking for the right kind of agency. I am discovering many professionals on the agency side who are a pleasure to deal with. Are agencies paying attention to talent? I'm talking about individuals in planning, account management, and creative direction. I realize they are not necessarily the people who run offices and thus set the tone for the agency. You should pay attention nonetheless, they are the ones keeping the account by delivering on the work.

Consider this - when marketers on the inside can think, you are better off following the lead of your best talent. It will be good for the business of your office, and it will make you look good with headquarters. Yes, even agencies have bureaucracies that sometimes lead to the path of least resistance. Resist you must. For the good of the client and for your own good.

___________

Top Ten Sins of Agencies

3 Trends and Top Ten Reasons to Work with a Smart Agency

Conversation as Negotiation

2008-08-11T08:18:34-04:00

Many of the most productive conversations you have lead to an understanding of sorts. In some cases they allow you to connect with one another in a way that leads to solving a problem, advancing a project, and creating opportunity for a next step or action.

I liken this kind of conversation to a negotiation where both or multiple parties participate to varying degrees.

Because people are involved, outcomes tend to be fairly unpredictable, and that is a good thing.

If we could boil down the dynamics of relationships to a specific and neat formula, we would cut ourselves out of the myriad possibilities that exist for new creation. In fact, while ideas may sound similar at the moment of conception, the sweet spot is in the combinations and permutations we find for practical executions.

If we are to live our lives more publicly - as individuals and organizations - learning how to approach conversation as a negotiation can be a benefit. Our digital imprint and what others experience of us are available for review.

When we talk about listening, engaging, sharing, we employ the principles of good communication. Yet the action does not stop when the conversation is over. The emotion generated before, during and after an exchange creates the momentum for what's next.

We buy, we join, and we connect on the basis of emotion. Then, as a way of justifying to ourselves and others our actions, we rationalize how we got there. This is the correct order in which events occur. See if this statement resonates with you:

"Perhaps the most powerful way to soothe someone's emotions is to appreciate their concerns. There are three elements in appreciating someone. You want to understand the other's point of view; find merit in what they are thinking, feeling, or doing; and communicate the merit you see."

It's one of the many teachings Roger Fisher shared in his second book on negotiation, Beyond Reason - Using Emotion as You Negotiate, co-authored with Daniel Shapiro. His first book was the famous Getting to Yes, co-authored with William Ury.

The model Fisher and Shapiro employ as a framework can be very useful to us as we learn to negotiate the speed and frequency at which conversations come at us in the world of social media. As well, we can learn to be more effective in addressing the context in which the substance of business rests.

There are five main or core concerns to all human beings that you need to be aware of to become more effective in negotiations:

(1) Appreciation

How can you understand the point of view of the other? Find merit in what they feel and do? And communicate your understanding through words and actions? In conversations, the tone and mood come across - are you listening for them? Yes, even in 140 characters, even when it is unintended. Look to find the meta messages, which are the indications of whether a person is being supportive, ambivalent or resistant to the ideas being discussed.

This works in communications even when we are talking about marketing conversations. Cam Beck had a good series of posts on building relationships and advertising. Appreciation of the context and dynamics is a good start. When you're attuned to the other and are willing to see and appreciate their point of view, you are investing your time and money.

(2) Affiliation

What can you do to build structural connections as colleagues? Think about many of the peer to peer relations we engage in when participating to social networks, too. How can you build personal connections as confidantes? Have you given consideration to what happens when adversarial assumptions dominate your thinking? Also, the best way to meet a person is face-to-face, although I have found in some rare instances that even that may not work out.

Good examples of willingly building affiliations are embedded in many of the posts by Francois Gossieaux at Emergence Marketing.

(3) Autonomy

Everyone wants freedom to affect and make decisions. One of the best compliments I have received from professionals I have had the fortune of managing is that I am very keen on giving them the opportunity to shape their job and work. I tend to offer as much or as little guidance as needed by the individual contributor. When possible, I tend to consult everyone on the team as to their view and recommendation.

In some circumstances this desire for autonomy comes across as wanting to be a star. They are not one and the same and they should not be confused. Individuals want to be heard, to express themselves, see their vision and thinking in action. Respect the autonomy of your customers as well. Tom Fishburne inspired me with the fishbowl. Everyone can be a voice in the narrative.

(4) Status

This is about acknowledging everyone's areas of particular status, including your own. When it comes to expertise in substantive issues, it is advisable to recognize expertise. One of the most disappointing part of negotiation occur because of the inability to take this step. We cannot be all experts at everything.

Interestingly, while free agency was a way to express one's status just a few short years ago, we are now seeing the emergence of combinations - day job and a night passion. Particularly with the ability to self publish and express coming at a much lower financial cost. Slash careers are starting to be recognized. Marci Alboher has been reporting on that at her blog.

(5) Role

You can choose a fulfilling role in negotiation and select the activities that go with it. You will know a fulfilling role because it has a clear purpose and it is personally meaningful. It incorporates your skills, interests, values, and beliefs and channels them into the task at hand. How can you make meaning of a situation?

The trap we all fall into is that we play a role in response to someone else also playing a role. Instead, you can step into a temporary role - that of the listener, arguer, problem solver, adviser, advocate, collaborator, learner, brainstormer, facilitator, guest, option generator, mentor, colleague, etc. This calls for an expansion of your role to model the behavior you are seeking.

Assumptions about roles also undermine your ability to wear a temporary hat. To learn more about challenging assumptions and looking for second answers I recommend the ever creative thinker Roger von Oech who has a brilliant post on the grandeur of the lowest common denominator.

In Departure

Conversations are opportunities to both listen and learn and to be heard. It is quite common that we find ourselves negotiating positions and encountering strong emotions in the process. The first step on the road to connection is the availability to both awareness and understanding of your self and the other.

Where you are in the process, what you bring to the table and occasion, and what you hope to take away depend on that. This is a departure, not a destination or a conclusion. What other thoughts and experiences have contributed to your understanding of the importance of negotiation in conversation?

Do You Need Trade Media for a Product Launch?

2008-08-10T07:00:00-04:00

As we challenge the tactics used traditionally for many of the components of the marketing communications mix, I do wonder if in the age of new media, businesses still need trade media to initiate the conversation around their products. Public relations is not equal to media relations, after all.

What would happen if a company put its resources into a coherent, well-thought out, product launch on its own new media portfolio? That is if the company has one. Let's think about it for a moment.

One of the most important aspects of your product launch is the passion you can convey and that may get lost in translation.

Two of the biggest risks in going the traditional route of briefing media and going with a press release are that:

(1) the reporter or journalist may not know enough to ask more questions and get some of the details wrong, or skip important parts altogether;

(2) there may already be editorial in place with no space for your news, even though readers would find it interesting and useful.

Both issues are compounded by the fact that everyone is so stretched these days. In B2B especially, when things get tight in the economy, the ad budget is the first one to go. Trade publications rely on those funds to varying degrees for their sustenance. When the funds are meager, the print output is indeed quite thin.

Now that the SEC is poised to recognize corporate blogs as public disclosure, businesses may indeed not need traditional media and distribution channels to fulfill their obligations.

July 30, 2008 - "Under certain circumstances, companies can rely on their websites and blogs to meet the public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), according to new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today." [hat tip to Brian Solis]

The press release to me has always been one document, a step in the process of informing and disseminating the news. A well thought-out process includes analyst briefings, and a full outreach with both the media and other stakeholders - if not with full information, depending on the nature of the news, at least as a courtesy and heads up.

I am not suggesting that we do away with wire distribution - the way things are set up today, as Brian points out, those services fill a necessary role in the mix. I am focusing more on the news value to your customers and prospects. Many of them never see the wires and in some cases the volume of news on certain portals is such that they might miss it anyway. They can easily choose to pull your content through RSS.

Plus we have more robust search engines than we did a few years ago. Think about search engine optimization (SEO) working with appropriate social tags and the right search engine marketing (SEM) program. Digital imprints can be precise if you are. Honesty pays off in the long run when you select your language and tags wisely.

Many have talked about the social media release. We discussed it here, too.

The format may be helpful particularly if you have something that is not real news, yet it has not really been covered in the marketplace. You can do a show and tell, have interviews with customers, the product group, engineers, scientists or anyone who has worked on the product to enhance it.

It's your chance to get the information right, to go into as much depth as your customers need and want. And it will give you the added bonus of telling the news the way it should be told. Have you ever wondered why a reporter did not cover a specific data point?

Providing many data points and creating a complete picture on your site or blog may also afford you the added benefit that when the news hits the wire, if it does, you will have a ready portal to help reporters and journalists with their research and media assets.

Expecting that the media will do all the heavy lifting for you and your customers is also unrealistic. Think about your products and services, how could you make them come alive as you announce them? Steve Jobs does an impressive presentation for Apple. Lots of work and drama goes into building the right kind of anticipation and talk in the marketplace. There was a time when Steve Jobs started this tradition.

What kinds of web assets, new media hubs, events, discussions, forums could you build for your product announcements? How could you create a signature appointment with your customers and partners? B2B does not have to mean boring.

[images from WWDG 2008 Steve Jobs Keynote -iPhone 3G]

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Moments of Truth

2008-08-08T07:00:00-04:00

“The moment of truth, the sudden emergence of a new insight, is an act of intuition. Such intuitions give the appearance of miraculous flushes, or short-circuits of reasoning. In fact they may be likened to an immersed chain, of which only the beginning and the end are visible above the surface of consciousness. The diver vanishes at one end of the chain and comes up at the other end, guided by invisible links.”

[Arthur Koestler, British novelist, journalist]

We talk about authenticity, honesty, and truth. How many moments of truth do you have in a day, a week, a month, a quarter, a year? What is your point of equilibrium?

[image by Argenberg]

Are You Too Accessible?

2008-08-07T06:18:48-04:00

I just got the paperback in the mail from Debbie Aroff at Random House and I'm already a big fan. The Age of Speed by Vince Poscente is filled with twists and turns and is a fast read. It's about learning to thrive in a more-faster-now culture. Think about this, we want things faster, but we don't necessarily want to do things faster. According to Poscente, speed is the new change.

Many of you already know that. To remain competitive, we must change by design. What things stay, what things go? What interruptions add value, what are just a distraction? It's not so much about keeping up with everything that is out there, but selecting what you anticipate - as in being truly immersed, passionate and interested. That is the only way speed can work to your advantage.

I've seen great use of technology like BlackBerries to speed up while not detracting from the conversation. I spent a few hours between morning greetings, lunch and dinner with Chris Brogan at Marketing Profs B2B Forum in Boston back in June. Now I have a better idea of how he does it. He's in the room with you, in the chair next to yours, totally present to what you are saying - listening and participating, remembering what else you talked about.

Then during a break in the conversation - the waiter brings the salad, you talk to other people, the speaker is getting ready to start - he quickly checks one or two messages. He's so fast and discreet, you might not even notice. For a few moments he is totally with the message, then he's back with you - totally back. I suspect that Chris invests his time and is very selective about what he does, when. Can you do that, too? Can you choose when you are accessible and then to be fully there?

My mentor used to say that paper is like blood, you have to keep it flowing. He had devised a very simple system to deal with memos and emails - deal with the quick answers immediately, including redirecting what needs to be, then align the rest to the projects and context of the day. It's about making choices that align with your authentic purpose. He then had time to walk the halls, talk with colleagues, learn about what was going on - he was accessible of his own choice.

Provide fewer, immediate, faster results and you'll be golden in your career. How do you do that? You focus on your destination. Ask Google about speed, it's as much part of their success as their algorithm. You can also learn to use the velocity of others to your favor - just like in martial arts. A body (and mind) in motion is more flexible and faster on tasks than one that slows down. Yet every movement is choreographed

Today at the Fast Company expert blog we explore if more-faster-now is the answer in relationship to customer conversations. Faster does not mean busier. Accessibility can be designed for speed.

I've recently cut down on some activities that were distractions to focus on others that although afford interruptions on occasion are more aligned with my purpose and destination. Maybe the question is not if you are too accessible, maybe it's about choosing when. Are you selective on who and when has access to you? Is there a difference between work and home?

Read the book and learn if you're a balloon, a zeppelin, a bottle rocket, or a jet.

What is the Most Empowering Word?

2008-08-06T08:52:57-04:00

I was reading an article in a magazine the other day about the power of words to elicit imagery.
It depends on how the words are charged, what meaning we give them according to our experience, assumptions, and cultural references.

A man reads to his wife who is terminally ill. He begins the novel graciously, trying to act out the subtext in the characters. "Oh no," she pleads "not like that, it's too much. I cannot bear to hear."

Instead, she asks that he stop reading the words and start inventing a new language for her. He complies, at first awkwardly, then getting drawn into the game of creating new sounds. Until he looks at her - she is smiling peacefully in a deep sleep.

Too many words are tainted by meaning that our culture and practices - especially marketing practices - have invested in them. Others have been pounded into the ground for every occasion. So much so that they have lost their meaning.

When it comes time to move a team, a group, a company to insight and to action, we are a few words short of powerful. History and the usual metaphors bind us to what was. Take for example the word empowering. Literally, it means (1) to invest with power, especially legal power or official authority and (2) to equip or supply with an ability, to enable. How empowering is that someone else needs to grant the authority? In French and Italian, the term translates as authorize.

Why are we then talking about empowered customers, employees, consumers? Would they have no power if we did not grant it to them?

What other word would you use to signal that you are taking charge? Is it the most self-fulfilling word of the future?

[sunset outside office taken with my iPhone]