Validation. We all need it. Reassurance in our lives, relationships, and deliverables gives us the confidence we need to survive in this unstable, ever-changing world. But, how can validation help us in the world of B2B marketing?

Validating concepts and messaging with internal stakeholders is a common practice. We do it to get internal buy-in (and spread out the responsibility if something goes wrong). In most cases, the feedback from internal stakeholders can be entirely too subjective, i.e., based on personal preferences or how we perceive customer wants and needs. This can often result in a watered-down concept driven by collective agreement or the loudest or most senior person on the team.

If you want a truly objective point of view that will increase your chances for success, spend the time to validate marketing ideas with your external stakeholders.

Validating ideas externally gives you more insight about customer preferences based on their reactions. It can drive higher effectiveness in key areas such as:

• Believability (credibility)
• Differentiation
• Relevance

Many B2B companies feel this step is too complicated or adds too much time to the overall process. If you are one of these companies, remember that external stakeholder validation will deliver 0bjective feedback, which can set you free from endless rounds of internal revisions, ultimately minimizing time in the overall process.

The Validation Process

External stakeholder validation can be used for many marketing objectives. Currently, we tend to use it most for messaging and concept development. Companies invest significant amounts of time and budget crafting these critical pieces of their B2B marketing materials, yet completely skip external stakeholder validation.

In the case of messaging, you can test a variety of  core positioning and supporting statements to determine which resonate most with your stakeholders. Creative concepts should be validated individually with a supporting written rationale that explains the business objectives.

While budgets and time may not allow for conducting qualitative and quantitative research, there is a simpler process we use to gain fast, relevant, customer-driven data:

In each case, this validation process can be completed in 2–3 days and is an effective way to move your approval process to a more objective state.

Once this information is collected and refinements are made, you can confidently present your ideas knowing that any internal personal preferences can be neutralized with outside data generated directly from your customers. This will speed the process, reduce costs, and increase your chances for better results.

Additional methods for conducting and improving results for external stakeholder validation include:

• Conducting validation on-site at tradeshows
• Developing a Customer Advisory Board that meets several times a year
• Working with placement firms (headhunters) to develop lists of potential audience groups for validation
• Offering a drawing (prize give-away) for all who participate

Stop Guessing

External stakeholder validation takes away some of the guessing and internal group-think prior to launching anything into the market. As part of your regular process, it will save you time and money, and increase your likelihood of success.

In return, you may be properly “validated” by your boss for the wonderful job you’re doing!

To learn more about messaging or concept validation techniques, feel free to contact me at any time. I’m happy to share stories, answer questions, or develop a program for you.

What I find the most interesting about Pinterest is that it is actually quite different from all of the other major social media sites. Here are five ways it’s completely different from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn:

1. Pinterest lets users curate content in a new way, but users cannot create content. On all other social networks, you can post a picture and write a little (or big) status update. You can’t do that on Pinterest — you can only “pin” things that appear elsewhere on the web. [UPDATE: I stand corrected.  As Brianna correctly mentions below, you can "create" new content right on Pinterest.  It's not as common, but it is possible]
2. Pinterest recognizes that people are complex and multi-dimensional. It’s interest-based, not person-based. Take me, for example. I’m interested in things as broad as being a dad, social entrepreneurship, poverty, sports, crossfit, the Paleo diet, social media, online advertising, and playing the accordion. And compared to others I know, I’m pretty boring. So, if you happened to follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’d get all that goodness. On Pinterest, you can just follow specific areas of interest (i.e., “boards”).
3. Pinterest lets users express themselves in a new way— not just in what content to curate, but how to organize the buckets of content. Other social networks give you a museum, and you fill it up with paintings. Pinterest gives you a big open space and lets you figure out where to build the walls and then put up the paintings. This might be my feature of Pinterest — it’s not only that I can pin awesome content to my “Being a Dad” board, it’s that I could choose to create a Being a Dad” board in the first place. It is utterly fascinating to see how cleverly others have created boards.  Some of note: Do the Do, Home Sweet Africa, Groovy Moods, and Trips to India. We’ve even been using Pinterest internally to share design inspiration among the team at Creatology.
4. Pinterest requires your content to be visual. If you try to share a page without an image or video, it won’t even let you. Wow.
5. Pinterest early adopters are women, not men. Some data suggests that 97% of Pinterest fans on Facebook are female. When Google+ and Twitter first launched, they were filled with male engineers, IT professionals, and the like. Pinterest is almost the polar opposite of that.

When I look past all the hype, what I see for businesses is this: Social media rewards businesses who think of themselves as publishers and curators of compelling content. The more compelling the content, the more likely it is to go social. Pinterest just continues this trend, enabling individuals and businesses a creative new set of social tools to share content. When businesses ask me, “So, what should I do with Pinterest?” here are some principles to start thinking about:

1. Visual content is more important than ever (just like headlines are important, so now is the square thumbnail image). In fact, some say that Pinterest has “changed web design forever.”  Make your content visually and emotionally appealing. Words — even the sweetest, most eloquent ever written — can only take you so far.
2. Infographics are more important than ever, too. Infographics are already one of the most shared type of content out there. They’re just so darn tweetable that most tweeters just can’t resist. Well, infographics are so pin-able, too.
3. People can experience your brand in a new way. Put your creative hat on and think about what broader topics and interests your customers have. Why not create boards for those areas and become known as a go-to place for great information? Put some creativity into coming up with unique, different board topics.
4. Collaboration on boards will create new ways for businesses and customers to interact. Since Pinterest allows you to collaborate on specific boards, I could see businesses working with customers and partners to build common interest boards. It’d sort of be like opening up your Facebook wall to posts from anyone, except now you’re creating visual galleries. I’d love to see specific boards of customers using a company’s product in new, creative ways.

What do you think? Is Pinterest just another flash in the pan, or is it onto something much more that will change the game?

If you have not already started to develop your mobile strategy, you’re falling behind. From what we see, B2B is falling well behind the curve compared to B2C in the mobile race. Of course, this also presents an opportunity to take a mobile leadership position in your B2B market. By addressing your company’s mobile strategy today, you stand to gain an advantage over your competitors and increase market share.

With any mobile strategy, there are plenty of decisions to make. To get started, I recommend you focus on the following three areas:

• Optimize your existing web assets for mobile devices (smart phones and tablets).
• Develop a permission-based MMS/SMS list (otherwise known as distribution list for text messaging).
• Get in the app game…start thinking about apps that will make an impact on your business.

For the purposes of this blog, I’ll dive a bit deeper into the first area, optimizing existing web assets for mobile.

Optimize Your Current Investments

This is important as most companies have not yet optimized their web content for mobile (smart phones and tablets). Businesses are losing mobile visitors every day simply because their current desktop websites are translating poorly to mobile devices. When your website is not optimized for mobile, the user—your customer—may be forced to read small text, or have to fumble through navigation designed for mouse clicks, not for touch screen technology. Think about it: How many times have you found yourself in a similar position while accessing the web on your mobile device? It can leave you very frustrated, which can also lead to poor brand perception and lost opportunity.

As a first step, use your smart phone to compare the mobile user experience of your website to that of your competition. You’ll see quickly if you’re ahead of the game or if you are falling behind. Don’t have a smart phone handy? No problem. Just look up “mobile emulators” with a desktop search engine and you’ll find dozens of links to sites that will show you how your web site looks when viewed on a mobile device. This is a good thing to share at your next marketing meeting if you’re facing opposition to converting your web assets to mobile.

Don’t Get Left Behind

As mentioned above, there are many other mobile strategies to explore, including test-based marketing, app development, and location-based marketing. With mobile audiences growing every day, developing your strategy is more critical than ever.

StudioNorth offers guidance in all areas of mobile development. Feel free to call me any time for a personal mobile assessment or to schedule a 30-minute mobile strategy educational seminar for your company. Don’t get left behind!

*Source – Morgan Stanley

It starts with additional requests during the project’s life-cycle, or it can be driven by your internal specialists wanting to make additions while working on the project. During an assignment, there’s always the threat of scope creep, but there are some simple steps you can take to avoid those threats from taking hold. Keeping an assignment on target, on time and on budget are imperative to any successful Project Manager and Team. The fact is most people involved with a project want it to go well, and ultimately be successful. Scope creep usually begins with the sincere desire of creating something really great. From the client’s perspective, they want to have something unique and engaging, and sometimes that vision doesn’t become clear until after the project has begun, and it begins to take shape. Similarly, within your own internal team, everyone gets excited for the client and often wants to embellish the project mid-stream to give it every conceivable advantage. Usually both parties have great intentions. Reality typically presents itself later when deadlines get missed or you go over budget, and this can lead to someone being disappointed; and let’s be honest, nobody wants to be disappointed.

So, how can you avoid and identify when scope creep begins, so you can nip it in the bud. Here are some important tips on preventing falling into the scope creep trap.

1. Make sure you communicate and document clear expectations of the project including deliverables, timeline, and responsibilities.  - This may seem obvious; however, you might be amazed at how many companies don’t have a SOW (statement of work), a project brief, or even a schedule with clearly defined milestones with deliverables. Do your due diligence up front, it’s well worth the additional time and effort to clearly define the project and its objectives, before launching into it.
2. Share the approved project plan with everyone on the team so they know what the objective is, and the agreed to deliverables. – This allows the entire team, including your client, to help identify when scope begins to creep. It’s unrealistic and inefficient to assume the Project Manager alone can keep tract of every element of the project… it’s a team effort 
3. Schedule regular status meetings during the project’s life-cycle to review status, and talk about any project related concerns… before they become issues. – Regularly scheduled status update meetings are a great way to ensure you’re all on the same page (external and internal teams) and avoid any last minute surprises. Remember to include the client in these meetings, it’s imperative to keep them in the loop.
4. Immediately identify when something is out of scope and talk about options then, not later after the fact.– Assuming you’ve followed the first three steps, it should be easier for everyone to identify when something is out of scope. Acknowledge it at the point it presents itself, and determine what options you have and the best way to proceed. Can it be accomplished within the budget and timeline or is it a potential enhancement for phase two? This is best to be determined immediately, don’t let your next status update meeting go by without resolving how to move forward.

The best plan is to stop scope creep before it starts through good documentation and great communication. It often starts small and even innocent, but be careful… scope creep can be harmful and frankly, it’s just not worth it. So take control of your projects, and don’t let the “creep” win.

What other advice do you have on avoiding scope creep?

I can’t think of an existing term that encapsulates both into one intuitive and assumed process. “Design Thinking” would be the closest, though as I understand it, that also suggests the adoption of a relatively specific process model (often using post-its). Can we develop a new nomenclature, or better yet, a new mind-shift that automatically assumes the relevance and involvement of both?

Why is this mind-shift important? It is a bit disheartening that design and strategy are considered separate and not always integrated as a part of the creative solution. I am not disputing that there should be a division of labor and expertise for teams to be efficient and highly functional. Generally speaking, designers cannot replicate what strategists do, and vice versa. I am empathic to the distinction and often, the divide. Being at the front lines of problem-solving, I understand what becomes lost without both working in lockstep, or worse, what is missing if one becomes excluded or undervalued.

I can also understand how issues surface when one camp seems to think that its expertise is more relevant than the other’s. This can lead to conflicts over who has control over the idea, and therefore who owns the responsibility to make decisions directly affecting the final product.

Creating a new term that merges strategy and design implies that both teams are really one team, working toward a common goal. I know it sounds simplistic, but keep in mind there is a lot of ownership at stake when developing “proof of concept.”

Strategists bring insights that guide decision-making for all parts of the creative process, and identify the benchmarks that define success or failure. Designers can tap into a visual and emotional experience that brings strategy to life. When we talk about integrated marketing, it needs to reference more than integrated media—it should speak, instead, to integrated ideation, manifested by integrated execution via any media necessary to yield the most effective market results. The term “integrated marketing” should imply that strategy and design sit at the ideation and execution table together, early and often. And we should educate our clients on the true potential of the term to help ensure the best results.

How important do you think it is for us to name and claim it?

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A year ago, I wrote an article entitled “Make it easier for your customer to do business with you.” The main point was that using an iPad makes it easier for your customers to do business with you. A year later at StudioNorth, we have done just that. We’ve created an iPad app we call the StudioNorth SalesKit for our own sales force to use every day, and it’s rapidly becoming a valuable part of our sales process. We use it to show our work, brainstorm with clients, gather industry intelligence, do research on the fly, and ensure we follow up with our clients immediately following meetings. Here are a few key takeaways we found along the way.

1. Don’t reinvent the wheel — make it better.

The iPad AppStore is full of apps that can make you more productive and help you research like a PhD. You can take advantage of Google Maps to find the best route to a client. You can use the Calendar to keep track of all your appointments. The Contacts app keeps everyone’s info at your fingertips. Mobile Safari can let you find a definition or a competitor in the middle of a meeting. With Keynote, you can present anywhere, at any time.

However, all these apps are all built for generic purposes. When it comes to your brand and your product or service, you may need a bit more focus to overcome a prospect’s objection or to save the day for your existing accounts. At this point, you should consider creating your own app. A custom app can help you support your brand promise and deliver laser-focused info about what your company has to offer.

2. Go native.

If you’re targeting mobile users in general, and you need to be compatible with multiple devices, a Web app is the way to go. Applications that are created to run in the mobile device browser using standard Web technologies can reach any device that’s connected to the Internet. Web technologies that are not mobile-optimized can limit you from accessing the full power of the device hardware, which can make animations slower and the app less feature-rich.

When you have a dedicated device like the iPad, nothing performs better than a native app. Apple gives you all the tooling you need to make your app useful and provide an enjoyable user experience. The learning curve is high, but the benefits are worth it. We were able to create an incredibly integrated presentation platform that included whiteboarding capabilities, collaborative note-taking, a page-turning portfolio, client locator, and more. All of it takes full advantage of the iPad’s graphic capabilities, as well as other hardware features like the built-in GPS system. By having access to WiFi^® and cellular hardware, we have made the application available with or without Internet access.

If you decide to create a similar tool for your organization, make sure you sign up for Apple Enterprise Developer program to be able to distribute your app directly to your internal company users without having to push it through the Apple AppStore.

3. Govern your brand while giving the sales force flexibility.

These digital sales kits can have the entire power of the Internet cloud behind them, giving your sales force unlimited scalability and availability. The app should be backed by tools to allow your sales folks to create the presentations they need and refer to intelligence they gathered on sales calls.

For example, you can develop web-based tools that allow them to create content from anywhere. This way, they can prepare their attack from their office and integrate with existing software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions so their data is with them wherever they want it. These “builder tools” give the sales force the ability to create the content they need, but it restricts them from modifying the brand look and feel. At StudioNorth, we call these types of tools “Brand Governance” tools, and we have a long history creating them for our clients. With these integrated resources, the iPad app becomes the consummate tool for a sales team to use when they are in front of the client or prospect. Remember, the power in this little device is truly shown in intimate settings like an office or a lunch table. Your sales person should be able to show their presentations or data from anywhere at any time.

4. Measure everything.

Once the app is in the hands of your sales team, analytics can help you refine your efforts and make the tool more effective. The app should be constantly recording activity in the background — reporting back to you about what specific area of the tool they are using, where they are encountering errors, etc. The other aspect is actively asking users for feedback. Many times they don’t realize they need a feature until they are on the road actually using the app. Give them a way right in the app to send you feedback — this will provide you with more user responses as you seek to upgrade the app. It also allows users to capture feedback when it’s top of mind for them, before they forget.

Don’t forget that technology is a tool, not a solution. The real solution is in what you offer and why. Building an iPad app for your sales force helps them communicate what your company can do for your clients in an insanely great way. It shows your innovative approach, which is really what folks are buying in the first place.

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In communications, “planning” the message can be equally rewarding and frustrating.  On one hand, you’d like to be thoughtful and strategic in messaging. But, on the other hand, with the rise of video and social media channels, it becomes increasingly important for messaging to be conveyed in the most real and authentic manner. But how do you capture that “realness,” avoiding contrived, almost robotic manifestations of messages?

Video offers enormous opportunity for authentic messaging. Recently, I was developing a video proposal for a client. After reviewing the format of the proposal and the content within, including the messaging, I finally presented it. To my delight, the client said not to get overly concerned that every message was in the document.  She declared, “Sometimes organic messaging can be the most effective.”  It was probably the most liberating commentary I had received in my professional world in a long time. I thought to myself, “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?”

Organic messaging. What a concept. What is it, exactly? In the World English Dictionary, organic (ɔːˈɡænɪk) is defined as, “developing naturally: organic change through positive education.”

To me, the operative word is “naturally.”  For something to develop naturally means that it’s normal, genuine, or even spontaneous.  Unfortunately it’s quite common for communications professionals to feel stifled by our legally bound world, always second-guessing the message, perhaps watering it down to the lowest risk factor. But organic messaging presents an entirely new paradigm in messaging, allowing the message to take on a life of its own.

I’ve thought about organic messaging a lot lately, and even applied some methods to recent video work. And, while organic messaging doesn’t imply a lack of planning, it offers a fresh approach to delivering a message, naturally.

A recent assignment called for a series of interviews with individuals on their experience with flexibility in the workplace. The client had a set of required messages, yet I knew the individuals had their own personal stories. Again, how do you strike the balance of planned yet natural delivery of messages?   While different media require different strategies, here are some tips for creating videos that evoke natural — organic — delivery of messages.

1. Think about the preferred message beforehand, but don’t overthink it.  Leave room for personal stories and examples to underscore the point.
2. Quickly develop a relationship with the “subject.”  It’s easy to focus on the message too intently while forgetting about the person delivering the message.  Understanding a bit about the person beforehand can help trigger compelling proof points or anecdotes.
3. When videotaping, start with small talk. If they feel comfortable in small talk, they’ll feel comfortable on camera. You have about three minutes to set the stage for either a stodgy, formal interview or an interview that’s energetic, spontaneous, and fun.
4. Give the person on camera permission to be natural. Tell them to treat the taping like nothing more than a conversation.
5. Finally, as the message crafter, producer, or cameraman:  Be natural!  Avoid technical jargon when engaging the person on camera. Don’t be too formal in the interview. Keep the interactions light and fun to allow the real person to flourish in the interview.

What sort of experience have you had with organic messaging?

Both relationships begin in the romantic stage — in many ways, one might say we’re courting each other. We begin in the interviewing stage, choosing our words carefully and remembering to position ourselves in the best possible light. The employer reserves the most impressive conference room for the interview and maintains a confident yet warm and welcoming composure.  The potential employee dresses to convey a sense of professionalism and success. Both parties use their wit and charm to express interest in the other. It reminds me of some exotic rainforest bird trying to attract the attention of a passing potential mate.  When you stop to think about it, you can see quite a few similarities between interviewing and courtship.

Like a romantic relationship, we might assume our working relationship should just automatically flourish. In the most ideal cases, the courtship blossoms — both parties come to an equally beneficial agreement and partner together to do great things. But we know relationships are complex and often difficult; and they require honest communication, effort and grace. Without investment in the relationship, it simply will fail.

Here are some recommended strategies to keep the “fire” in your employer/employee relationships:

1. Acknowledge that not all relationships are meant to stay the same. Both employers and employees have the ability to modify and refine their strategies over time, and in some cases, the relationship is destined to transform into something different from its original form. That can be a very rewarding experience for both parties.
2. Be yourself from the very beginning. Be honest about who you are and what you can bring to the table. Be comfortable articulating what your expectations are of the other party, and what they should expect from you.
3. Sometimes it’s the simple things that can make the difference in letting someone know you appreciate and enjoy their partnership. It’s in those wonderful moments of giving, or just saying “thank you,” that one party recognizes and appreciates the other. Mutual respect is unquestionably required to build a strong, lasting relationship at work.
4. Focus on the positive aspects of the work relationship. The employer-employee relationship is symbiotic in its nature, and should be revered appropriately by both parties. The key is to hold on to that excitement and enthusiasm that brought you together. Don’t allow yourself, over time, to focus on the “imperfections” you once thought were unique and maybe even engaging.
5. Invest in your relationship by communicating frequently so you don’t drift out of sync and lose the ability to have impactful, open and honest conversations.  Your ability to communicate with each other is absolutely critical to sustain.  As the years go by, don’t allow yourself to progressively withdraw from each other.

If you truly care about your working relationship, treat it like an important personal relationship and you’ll both have the opportunity to build a long-lasting and rewarding future.

What strategies do you use to keep the employer-employee relationships healthy?

There is certainly a great deal of hype about social media these days. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are just the beginning. How is it that a professional networking site like LinkedIn is valued the same as the company that owns Dr. Pepper and Snapple? $9 billion for a website?

Nonetheless, in order to really understand social media, you have to look past the hype to see what social media really is. Here’s how I explain it: The rules have NOT changed at all.

• The world is built on trust.
• Trust is built through relationships.
• Relationships happen on the web through social media.

How does social media build relationships on the web? Think about it this way — look at the words “social” and “media.” At the end of the day, it’s really various types of content (i.e., media) that is shared (i.e., social) with people in our spheres of influence. The tools we use to share (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) get all the hype, but that’s all they are — tools that make it easier to share and listen to content/information you care about.

Make no mistake about it, media has always been “social.” It’s always been shared. “Have you seen that new John Wayne movie that just came out?” “Wow, I just had this great new drink. It’s called Coca-Cola!” The only difference today is that it’s so much easier to share content. And not just to your circle, but to the world.

And as the world turns, now you can build relationships with anyone in the world.

So, that was the “theoretical” part of the explanation. Sometimes, examples speak even louder – here are four:

1. Let’s say you’ve found out you have a degenerative disease called ALS. In the past, you could talk to you doctor about it. Now you can also engage with an entire community of patients with the same disease, trading notes on practical ways to deal with the disease, find the best treatment, and support each other.
2. What if you’re a budding social entrepreneur looking to connect with others who share your passion for building businesses that solve social problems? No problem, just do a search on Twitter for #socialentrepreneur and connect with people who are already talking about it.
3. Say you’re a quality/compliance engineer at a big pharmaceutical company and you’re worried about the next time the FDA shows up to inspect your facility. So, you join the LinkedIn group of 7,000+ members all talking about FDA inspections.
4. You’ve planned that vacation to Oahu, Hawaii, and you want to try a few great sushi restaurants. None of your friends like sushi, so you’ve got no recommendations to go on. So, you hop onto yelp to read a few of the nearly 800 reviews of the 10 highest-rated sushi restaurants on Oahu.

Has anyone recently tried explaining social media to someone who didn’t quite understand it yet? How did it go?