Never Stop Marketing...

The global perspective on social…

jer979 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:41:00 GMT

Of the five pragmatic steps that Jeremiah Owyang suggests in the January Altimeter report (recommended read), A Strategy for Managing Social Media Proliferation, I think the most important is number 3

“Select vendors based on business needs, not marketing.”

Frankly, you can drop the “vendors” part because the real point is that it’s not about social media, it’s about what happens as a result of the arrival of social media.

When you think about social MEDIA, you naturally gravitate towards marketing, but it’s deeper than that.

When you think about SOCIAL media, however, you recognize that the arrival of the social/mobile/network-empowered consumer affects every single aspect of the business.

Social has no regard for silos, business units, or geographies. It transcends all of those.

The question then isn’t “how does social media fit into my organization?“

the question is, “how do we adapt our organization’s realities to the realities of social media?”

A very different pivot.

Chris Bailey may have written that, “Creativity is an act of open disobedience against the norms. Creativity is an act of courage,”
HOWEVER, when you are talking about a Brand that has anywhere from hundreds of dollars to BILLIONS of dollars worth of equity, you can’t have people, units, teams, or divisions just “going rogue.”

The risk to the brand is just too great…

You can’t “control the conversation,” we all know that, but you can coordinate activities to make sure that the company speaks in a unified voice…thereby delivering a unified experience which is, ultimately, the primary driver of brand value AND do it in a way that allows for creativity within the spectrum of experience.

This type of holistic, comprehensive thinking that Jeremiah put forth is really the next wave of social media adoption and represents the inevitable transformation towards social-centric organizations.

How 16 Burgers Led to a reach of 800,000

jer979 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:20:00 GMT

One of the best things about marketing today is how anything...no matter how small can go big.

That's why every single moment of interaction-no matter where it happens-is so critical. In this great video, Wimpy (a South African burger chain) shows us how some sesame seeds and a bit of caring can generate HUGE WOM.

HT to Andy Sernovitz for this one

How to do Everything Wrong in a Presentation…

jer979 — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:56:00 GMT

(Update: looks like they made the video private in the days since I posted this. Bummer)

Longtime readers know that I am a maniac when it comes to bad presentations (and bad PowerPoints)…the scourge of business.

Here’s a great video (w/a HT to Mitch Joel for the link) that shows you all of the problems in a remarkable way.

Remember…it’s not just your content, it’s your content experience.

Go Where They Are….

jer979 — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:28:00 GMT

One of the primary efforts in marketing is to get people to come to where you are.

Stop by our booth.
Come to our event.
Visit our website.

Sometimes it’s easier to flip that on its head and go where your audience is already.

Here’s a nice little example I saw about how the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel changed their approach and are now overflowing with participation.

Madonna’s Real Gift to You…A Lesson in Never Stop Marketing…

jer979 — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:09:00 GMT

Forget the game.

Forget the commercials.

Forget about the actual content of the halftime show.

What’s remarkable beyond belief is that after, what 30 years or something, Madonna is still going strong.

Talk about someone who lives the mantra of Never Stop Marketing and keeps reinventing herself.

And, so, we bequeath on her the coveted Never Stop Marketing Award #16.

She joins this impressive list of past winners.

Your Task
What lesson do you think Madonna best teaches about marketing and innovation?

Reducing the Barriers between Intent and Sale…

jer979 — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:13:00 GMT

One of the questions I asked at the recent Never Stop Marketing Field Seminar was:

What recent innovation have you seen that has gotten you very excited?

Well, as luck would have it, I had a chance to experience a new innovation DURING the event.

One of the attendees hadn’t paid for the event ticket, so I told her…just bring your credit card and we’ll test out Square which allows ANYONE to turn their smartphones or iPad, etc. into a mobile credit card machine.

And that’s exactly what we did.

I attached the reader to my phone, swiped her card (it took a few tries), entered in the data (she had to provide her billing zip code and then sign it!) and in an under a minute, we both had email confirmations. She had a receipt and it even included a map of where the charge had taken place.

Very, very cool.

From a marketing perspective, this is HUGE.

If a customer wants to buy, you can take their money anywhere at any time…reduce the friction between intent and conversion.

(and the money, after everything clears, is automatically deposited in your bank account)

Crossing the Social Marketing Rubicon

jer979 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:27:00 GMT

When the history of the social marketing revolution is written, I bet that this week will be viewed as the watershed moment.

There are two massive vectors which have intersected each other, symbolizing the fall of one paradigm and the rise of another.

On the fall side, you have the announcement by P&G that it is laying off 1600 marketers because it realizes that its model of “spend more on advertising to generate more sales” no longer works.

And on the rise side, of course, you have the filing of Facebook S-1 announcing its IPO.

There is probably NO company in America (maybe even the world) that rode the wave of mass, traditional advertising to behemoth status more than P&G. It’s as iconic a marketing org as there is and this week will be recognized as the one where the balance of power finally-and forever-shifted.

Your Recipe to Never Stop Innovating…

jer979 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:43:00 GMT

Want to be an innovator? If the answer is no, go ahead and read a different blog.

If yes, here’s the recipe

Deliberately put yourself in a position to hear about ideas that are outside of your realm of expertise
Discuss and meet with others who share a commitment to innovation and community
Repeat

That’s the model for the Never Stop Marketing Field seminars, the most recent of which was January 10th at the National Museum of American History. (see list of previous ones below)

Not everyone has the guts to show up at 10am on a Tuesday morning to walk through exhibits about the history of the American automobile (the electric car was actually very popular in 1904!) and the evolution of the electrical industry.

But, those who do are the kind of people you want to meet.

After our curators led us through the 2 exhibits for an hour, giving us insights into the minds of the great innovators of the age, 30 people sat down to share their perspectives on innovation.

The questions were simple:

what innovation that you’ve seen most recently excites you?
what book are you currently reading?

The answers were as varied as the people…and that’s the point.

The model of the seminar has its basis in a lot of research.

In The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice, Todd Henry tells us that the key to being a great innovator is: You need to build the practices in your life…that allow you the space and the freedom when you have to have them at a moment’s notice.
Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, explains how we are pre-occupied with the notion of the “A-ha” moment, but the reality of innovation is that it’s more often the result of exposure to many different ideas from many different sources, over time, that lead to one’s ability to see a “knowledge arbitrage” situation (as Gary Hamel would call it).
And, lastly, I’ll cite Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. See #33: Take Field Trips

I’ve asked those who attended to add their comments below and to the post on the NSM FB page., so don’t take it from me. Take it from them on the value of the experience.

I’d encourage you to make it a habit/practice to take time out of your schedule (we’re talking 2-3 hours per quarter here, folks!) to drive your innovation brain forward.

Previous NSM Field Seminars

Photo credit: Tom Cooper

…and the Inevitable Story You’ll Tell

jer979 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:08:00 GMT

In Deep Survival (you should read it), Laurence Gonzales tells us that those who are best suited for adaptation are those who pick up the small, subtle changes in their environment and make an adjustment before it’s necessary.

In the Asian Tsunami, for example, the people who noticed that the ocean receded (as if taking a breath) and recognized it as unusual (the vacuum created by the earthquake) went to higher ground and survived.

Others, unfortunately, saw it as an opportunity to gather more shells.

In marketing today, the same changes are happening.

Yesterday, I shared how I think we’re past the tipping point on Community Marketing. It’s inevitable.

I think “storytelling” (really, really good storytelling though) is also one of those things that are now “inevitable.”

How do I know?

Well, I was watching Bloomberg: The Mentor about Kaenon sunglasses and their guest mentor was the past President of the Limited Brands.

In the 20 minutes of actual viewing time (thank God for DVR), I heard the phrase “tell our story” about 100 times.

Ok, maybe not that much, but you get the gist.

Bottom line…EVERYONE knows it’s about storytelling that connects.

Now, it’s time to actually do it.

Go read Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die .

Your Inevitable Community Marketing…

jer979 — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:56:00 GMT

Image via Wikipedia

I’m reading a fascinating book now by one of the leading minds in technology, Kevin Kelly, called What Technology Wants. It’s ridiculously deep and broad at the same time. This guy thinks on a level that I can’t even comprehend.

One of the more surprising elements is his argument that innovations are inevitable. Yep, they don’t just “happen,” they are a result of a cascading series of events.

I think that the migration of marketing from outbound/broadcast to inbound/community-centric is one of those inevitabilities that is pretty much here.

Now, it’s just a question of focus, drive, and commitment.

Game on.