I just posted at Three Ships Media on 5 actions CEOs should take to improve their marketing as the economy heads south.

Tie Everything to Revenue. The great businesses gain market share during downturns.  While advertising agencies claim that a recession is the time for aggressive marketing, in reality, a recession is the time for precision marketing.  Model each dollar invested in every advertising channel on a monthly basis and track a Return On Ad Spend metric.

Reassess Your Salesforce. If you were starting today from scratch, would you be better off using targeted marketing to generate new prospects or would you rehire the bottom 20% of your sales performers?  Look at the cost-to-value ratio of every single sales rep.

De-risk Customer Decision-Making. Amid increased uncertainty, customers value options and want flexibility.  Introduce free trials of your products and experiment with money-back guarantees, particularly if you have a high margin product.

Earn Customer Attention. Shift budget from “paid” media to “earned” media.  Quality content is difficult to accurately value without enterprise-level web analytics, yet it unquestionably provides the best cost-to-value return of any marketing channel.  Kraft Foods is now the largest publisher of recipes, AMEX’s Open Forum is better than many media companies, and BMW is a filmmaker.  How do you engage prospective and existing customers?

Create a Frictionless Customer Experience. Steve Krug’s classic on web usability was titled, “Don’t Make Me Think.”  Businesses that use technology to improve the customer experience (“Don’t Make Me Work”) will see higher close rates and less churn.  Ask how you’re doing, using the Net Promoter Score methodology.  More importantly, watch how you’re doing by assessing falloff in your sales funnel and churn with your existing customers.

You can read the full post here.

The Three Ships Media leadership team traveled to Tennessee this weekend for a retreat that included hiking, whitewater rafting, and strategy discussions through which we could align around our Q3 gameplan.  Okay, well, we wanted it to include hiking and whitewater rafting.  They, um, were kinda jettisoned for strategy discussions.

The good news is that we had a robust and engaging discussion about where the business is and how we can take it to the next level.

Helpful in framing the discussion was a package of readings that each member of the team read prior to the retreat.  Here is the list and a few thoughts on where stand in these areas.  (Each reading corresponding directly to an objective on our agenda.)

Objective: Build trust and empathy among team by learning more about each other

• The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, by Patrick Lencioni (pp. 195-201)
• Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni (pp. 141-181)

Across the last 3 months, the team has become increasingly comfortable addressing problems directly.  This is actually rare as most organizations and people are passive and try to avoid conflict.  Highly effective organizations spark constructive conflict in meetings to make better decisions and align people.  Constructive conflict helps identify “root cause” problems, which is the first step to solving them.  Across the company, our level of transparency and candor is rising.

Objective: Explore challenges and tensions relating to hiring

• Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan (pp. 109-137)
• “What Makes a Leader,” by Daniel Goleman (Harvard Business Review)
• Inside Steve’s Brain, by Leander Kahney  (pp. 107-149)
• “The Differentiation of Talent: Rethinking Performance Management,” by Dick Grote

We’re getting concrete on our talent roadmap, and how we attract and retain the best people in the months to come.  What is our value proposition to highly talented young people?  We’re also thinking about our process for mid-year performance evaluations and what is the most effective way to provide each person on the team with constructive feedback on how they can develop.

Objective:  Discuss the communications cadence of the larger team

• Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Fast-Growth Firm, by Verne Harnish (pp. 53-70, pp. 83-93)
• Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable, by Patrick Lencioni (pp. 221-252)

We’re talking about ways we can increase the quality of communication across the leadership team and the larger company. Questions we’re asking ourselves are: What is the right frequency of meetings? What is the right type of meetings? How can we create more drama (Lencioni’s word) or more rigor in our meetings?

Objective: Discuss the core strategy of the business

• “Building Your Company’s Vision,” by James Collins and Jerry Porras (Harvard Business Review)
• Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, by James Collins and Jerry Porras (pp. 91-114)
• The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels, by Michael Watkins (pp. 185-202)

We’re trying to get really concrete about how we bridge the distance between our vision and what is needed to take the business to the next level, across every team.  As we get more focused, we are getting more granular about where we’re performing well and where we’re not.  We’re also gaining confidence in saying “no” to things outside our core focus.

Way, way back in my youth (okay, not that long ago), I worked on several political campaigns. I always marveled at how star political consultants recounted the ways they “spoke truth to power” when the candidate didn’t want to hear it.

In the re-telling of the conversation, the savvy political advisor would position themselves as the hero.  “I told the candidate the hard truth,” they’d relate. As I aged into actually participating in these conversations, I was surprised how soft (even pandering) these self-proclaimed “brutally honest” political advisors were.  You could fly a 747 through the gap between what these advisors said they told the candidate and what they actually told him.

Why?  Candor is hard.  Facing power and delivering the truth is hard.  Making people angry is risky.

As a CEO of a quickly growing organization, I am starting to see some signs of that same dynamic which I once observed as an aspiring political activist. Too often, the really tough criticism doesn’t make its way to the top.

A week back, I had an opportunity to spend time with a good friend of mine who is also running a rapidly growing company. The stories she shared of people unwilling to engage in candid conversations at the top were strikingly similar to some of my own experiences.

What are warning signs that you’re not hearing the full story?  I’ve heard other CEOs say they worry about:

• An employee who says they’re engaged in their job yet is telling co-workers they don’t know why they’re at the company
• A colleague who sees substantial problems with the way a process works and widely broadcasts her view yet doesn’t suggest a constructive solution
• A hiring manager who dissuades a talented individual from joining the company because their own position would be threatened

CEOs, or political candidates, who hear these rumblings should worry.  These are just the incidents that filter up!

As human beings, we are social creatures. Being a social creature is challenging. Navigating the complexities of interpersonal relationships is not easy in love, war, or business. And as a result, leaders often have to spend as much time listening for what people don’t say as listening to what they do.

I often take extensive notes when I’m meeting with advisors, potential investors, colleagues, or customers, and I can list dozens of conversations that in retrospect proved extremely insightful.  Many times a trusted colleague was trying to tell me a difficult truth, and what they weren’t saying was just as important as what they were.  In this situation, you have to stop listening to their words, and start understanding their intent.

Here are some things I personally have heard that turned out to be huge warning signals:

• “I want your customer to need you more. I think you have a good value proposition but you really need to hone it.”
• “I definitely understand the strengths that this person would bring to the organization, but how concretely will they create value?”
• “This is an excellent person, but what role are you thinking about hiring them for? That would be important.”
• “Can you help me understand what is unique or defensible about what you’re offering?”
• “I really like and admire what you’re doing; however, right now my plate is too full to consider focusing on this.”

These “soft letdowns” or “soft feedback points” are gentle ways for people who trust and like you to tell you to reconsider.

As an entrepreneur in sell-or-die-mode, it’s tempting to provide your best rebuttal. After all, the number one thing entrepreneurs do is spend time proving people who say “it can’t be done” wrong. Sometimes though, the time invested in listening and additional reflection pays off in big ways.

If offered a breath mint on a date, take it.

Frances Scott McElwee Nicholson lived through the Great Depression, a World War, the fall of the Soviet Union, and 9/11.  During her lifetime, fifteen of this nation’s 45 presidents held office.  She married Nathan McElwee in this church and they raised four amazing children.  During the Civil Rights movement, she endured threats and even violence for her husband’s leadership of Integration in Iredell County Schools.  She was blessed with a second marriage to her lifelong friend John Harvey Nicholson and she loved the six Nicholson children and their families.

As a toddler, I had no grasp for the wisdom such an expansive life offered.  In fact, I couldn’t even pronounce my grandmother’s name.  “McElwee” was such a mouthful, I started to call her “Mac.”  The name stuck.

Last weekend, I returned to Statesville to say goodbye to Mac.  I arrived around 10 o’clock on Friday evening.  She had moved that day to Hospice and her four adoring children stood surrounding her bed.  It took everything I had to maintain my composure as I looked at the way that they looked at her.  It has been years, perhaps my entire life, since I have felt such a wave of emotion.

Nate’s quivering voice.  Anne’s teary eyes.  Estelle’s very teary eyes.  My mother’s affectionate touch.  I expected the moment to be bittersweet, but the tenderness and gratitude overwhelmed the sorrow.

Returning to Mac’s home on Pinehurst Road that night, I examined the place with new eyes.  I was struck by its well-ordered interior design.  Like the home she lived in for 57 years on West End Avenue, there is a certain structure to the physical place that reflected my grandmother’s inner sense of order.  Her home’s elegance reflected her own dignity.

There I sat, surrounded by dozens of silver picture frames in that well-appointed home.  And gazing at the photos – at new weddings and new children, at departed family and faded memories – I am reminded that life moves fast.  That it can all change in an instant.  And that mercy, kindness, and love – qualities Mac epitomized – are timeless.

In those pictures frames on Pinehurst Road, you could see glimpses of Mac.

When I was five or six years old, sitting at her long dining room table, I made a callous remark about war.  Swiftly, she reprimanded me.  Her dear brother Ed had fought, and died for his country.

She did not pander.

We inhabit an era in which leaders – in business, in sport, in government… whether on the left or right – lack such dignity.  Too many leaders demonstrate hollow character; these leaders have lost who they are.

My grandmother had little patience for that.  “Remember who you are,” she always admonished to us.  In letters, on phone calls, during in person visits, Mac repeated her signature phrase: “Remember who you are.”

The highest compliment – to anyone, of any era – is to say they possessed integrity.  Integrity is the alignment of your words, your beliefs, and your actions.

Frances Scott McElwee Nicholson remembered who she was.  May we never forget.

On the kickoff night of Rye Barcott’s book tour, his boundless energy filled UNC’s FedEx Global Education Center.  The Carolina for Kibera Co-Founder spoke to a packed house on what was also the 10th Anniversary of CFK, the successful UNC social venture he founded.  The release of Rye’s book, It Happened on the Way to War, hit stores this week.  At the kickoff event, supporters gathered to hear Rye read excerpts of his memoir, watch a trailer previewing CFK’s new documentary, and hear Leann Bankoski speak about CFK’s future.

Reviews are already hitting the media on Rye’s memoir, and Rye is embarking upon a 100+ event tour across the United States.  While the media will have much to say about this book — “Three Cups of Tea meets One Bullet Away” — I wanted to share a few reflections of my own.

I’ve been fortunate to know Rye as a colleague and friend.  I serve on the board of Carolina for Kibera.  He serves on the board of Three Ships Media.  While I know him well, Rye’s multiple layers are easier understood in his book than any in-person interaction.

Here is the bullheaded youth who muscles past all forms of bureaucracy to create a place where hope lives in one of Africa’s most desperate corners.  Here is the Jarhead son of an anthropology professor who faces blinding hatred at an enemy — yet still finds time for introspection.  Here is the Harvard graduate, propelling an organization forward with an urgency that is anything but academic.

It Happened on the Way to War conveys the intensity that extreme success requires.  It showcases the raw drive behind all great human achievement.  The book, ultimately, embraces the darkness and contractions that define every type of genius.

In our world there are few heroes.  Confidence in business and political leaders remains near an all-time nadir.  Sports stars and entertainers offer little more.

Yet, this book offers hope.  Rye’s story is about far more than his 30ish years so far.  It’s about drive.  It’s about injustice.  It’s about cruelty, and it’s about redemption.  More importantly, it’s about the person each one of us can become.

Buy it here, and let me know your thoughts.

David Broder’s passing is a milestone in the history of media.  The dean of Washington journalists defined an era in which we looked to large media personalities as “village elders.”  He was humble.  He was a listener.  He was wise.

I first glimpsed Broder while visiting the Washington Post newsroom.  I was 17 or 18, there for the first time.  His office, stacked floor-to-ceiling with the messiest jumble of old newspapers, documents, and books I’ve ever seen, hardly had room for his chair.  Umberto Eco meets Hoarders — my first glimpse of a quirky but endearing giant.

I met him later when he was working on a piece called Politics for the Disengaged.  We spent an hour or so talking in the Post cafeteria.  I recall his intense curiosity.  He demonstrated the most genuine interest in learning.

David Broder’s writing carried the gravitas of someone who understood the country, loved it, and felt responsibility for it.  The bombastic commentators of cable news channels today are a shrill contrast.

All of us might pause to reflect upon the manner in which he approached his craft.  He was not an entertainer, but David Broder strengthened the state of the nation.  That — more than money, ratings, or fame — is a legacy.

I was honored to speak to UNC’s finalists for the Morehead-Cain Scholarship last weekend.  During my remarks, I shared 5 themes that shaped the way I work as an entrepreneur.

1. Work on something so important, you don’t care whether you win or lose.  (Then, win!)
2. Be the best in the world at something.  Resources always flow to real opportunity.
3. It takes a team.  Ideas are easy, execution is hard.  You need a team.
4. There are more good (and bad) ideas out there, than in here.  Get exposed to them.
5. Big success requires big risks, so get ready to fail.

Video of the speech is here.

Serious people have a hard time learning about social — I mean digital, err, I mean Web 2.0 media.  If you’re trying to shock a clueless boss into caring, this type of standard Mashable presentation will do it.  But to where do serious people turn?

Mapping the companies who participate in the “ecosystem” is simply the best way to truly understand “how does digital media create value” and “how does my company benefit from that value?”

Why map them?  ”Digital media” and “social media” are amorphous terms carelessly bantered about by nattering “experts.”  There is simply too much happening in the space to consider any company (i.e. Rapleaf ) or any activity (i.e. blogging) without developing a framework for considering how it interacts with everything else occurring in the landscape.

Together, these “real world, real company” comparisons force you to think about the tradeoffs in capabilities between media companies, data companies, software companies, and service firms.  

Finally, keep in mind these categories are constantly fading into each other as several major shifts transpire simultaneously:

• All marketing becomes measured marketing
• Consumers ignore one-way communication but engage in two-way communication
• Every company’s marketing department becomes a media company

These shifts — quite independent of each other — are critically important.  Collectively, of course, they are game-changing.  Who are the thinkers that truly “get it?”  A few:

• Relentless execution matters. Chuck Porter, founder of one of the most successful creative agencies: “Ninja account people are what allow the work to live… We do shit.  We don’t plan.  We don’t meet.  WE DO.”  Porter has publicly discussed the need for agencies to align economic incentives with client success.
• The idea matters. Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts, one of my favorite agency CEOs, has a nice interview on Bloomberg BusinessWeek.  In it, he claims Saatchi & Saatchi is an “ideas company” — not an agency.  Obviously, the theme is congruent with the “media-agnostic” element of CP+B’s work as well.  For example, CP+B actually created a new product for client Burger King and marketed it.
• Community matters.  Legendary PR CEO Larry Weber says, “The real job of the marketer in the social web is to aggregate customers.  You aggregate customers two ways: 1) by providing compelling content on your website and creating retail environments that customer want to visit, and 2) by going out and participating in the public arena.”

This week Jan Davis made an excellent presentation to Three Ships & EMRC, and engaged in a lunchtime question and answer session with the team. Our conversation was broad — encompassing her experience as CEO of a marketing service firm, her work as an intrapreneur at Transunion, and her outlook on the marketing services industry. In particular, it prompted me to reflect on a few particular items:

In the future all marketing will be measured marketing. Yes, this sounds trivial, but in reality the distinction between direct marketing and brand marketing remains today. As all information consumption becomes digital that distinction will disappear.

Yesterday, I listened to a marketing executive at B2C Fortune 500 company talk about the challenges she faces in cross-channel attribution. The complexity she is dealing with in terms of understanding what expenditures drive the most value is overwhelming. She has enormous resources touting different messages across different channels. She feels like to do her job well, she’d need an army of MIT PhDs. Concretely, just imagine the challenge of calculating Return on Investment across just this single path to a sale: (1) multiple banner ads build awareness, (2) a keyword search delivers a prospective customer, (3) customer visits site but abandons cart, (4) company retargets customer with advertising, (5) purchase finally occurs.

So, the need for all marketing to be measured will mean that normative data becomes increasingly powerful. While the most innovative companies will invest in engaging the MIT PhDs to create novel models for customer acquisition and retention (Harrah’s comes to mind), 98% of companies will not be able to do so. Those firms will get real value out of understanding “what works” for their competitors. It doesn’t make economic sense for a single organization to build that data on its own, however.

Finally, I will not do Jan’s remarks to our group justice, but I wanted to share some of Jan’s counsel on business building:

1. Take risks and fail. You learn from these risks and you only create new value when you try new things.
2. Perfect is the enemy of good. Make progress day-by-day and it’s better to be in the market than thinking about the perfect way to be in it.
3.  3 wide, 3 deep. Build deep client relationships (three people across as well as levels up and down). This will ensure that you get what really creates value in a client organization.
4. Beware of bright shiny objects. Marketers are constantly tempted by new distractions.

Finally, some background on Jan: She is an experienced board member to start-ups and mid-cap private companies. She’s currently advising 5 companies, including RTP-based Market Vue Partners, which provides highly localized integrated marketing services and related data and analytics for stories and branches. Learn more about her here.

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Mendenhall at an event the Emerging Media Research Council hosted at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington, DC.  Our interview, on February 1, was Mike’s first day after departing HP as Chief Marketing Officer.  Mike was part of an executive leadership team that doubled HP’s market capitalization and helped push HP back into the Fortune 10.  We had a wide-ranging hour in which we touched on numerous topics and took questions from the EMRC Members.  Here are a few highlights: 

• Business is moving faster and faster.  Mendenhall says that 5 year plans aren’t nimble enough.  The acceleration of how people build brands and go to market is faster than anything we’ve seen before.  
• A content-driven marketing environment must map to an IT-driven environment.  Infrastructure and content go hand-in-hand.  While excellence in crafting the story will always matter, you must distribut the story appropriately.  
• Information is the most valuable resource in the 21st century.  The Internet has democratized media.  People are building brands quickly with a low cost of capital and redefining the marketplace.  And now, of course, the personalization of information is what determines its relevance.  
• Small has advantages.  When you look at the market today, you want to think about an ecosystem that allows you to be nimble in R&D and consumer insights.  Speed to market is incredibly important.  
• Come into any door possible.  Information gaps between offline and online are big — so marketers must think about reaching consumers across a wide variety of media.  

Finally, Mike’s comment that the next iteration of the Internet is “Everything as a Service.”  The phrase both mocks and affirms the prevailing cliches: Software as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, etc.  Don’t let the colorfulness of this comment drown its potency.  Everything as a Service is a reflection that our product and goods economy is becoming a service economy.  And that managed services — services enabled by technology which drives process — will become an increasingly important aspect of how economic value is delivered.  

Information is knowledge and insight if used well; it’s noise if lost.  The managed service businesses of the 21st century will leverage information appropriately and they will drive efficiency in service operations.  For customers, this should result in higher quality customer experiences.  For business owners, this will mean that every company will become a technology company (in the same way today that every company is an “electricity company.”)  If you don’t become a savvy adopter of tech, you will cede ground to those who do