5 ways to stay creative

February 25, 2011

How do you stay creative?

You write.  You design.  And most likely, you do it on command.  There’s no waiting for a muse.  You have a deadline.

As we talk more and more about content marketing and the power of using our expertise to impact search engines and woo potential clients — we have to write even more!

So how do you stay fresh?  How do you create when you don’t feel particularly creative?  I’m going to share a few of my favorite techniques but I am hoping you’ll jump into the comments section with your own tricks of the trade.

Read: I try to keep my brain well fed.  I read/skim about 100 different blogs a day, try to read a book a week and check out several newspaper websites every day.  Surprisingly, this doesn’t take as long as it sounds — my iPad has apps that collect and coordinate it all so I just have to quickly flip through and see what catches my eye. (I read these smart people, you should too!)

Write/Design every day: I try to stay limber by never putting down my proverbial pencil.  Sometimes I am at it for hours and other days, maybe only 30 minutes.  Even if it’s just answering e-mails to friends — I rarely take a day off.

Tunes: There’s something about music that fuels me.  It’s an energy that I can channel into my writing.  I’ve discovered that I turn to different styles of music depending on what I’m writing and if I need a boost or need help staying focused.

Fresh air: When I am really stuck, I head outside.  (Unless it’s ugly hot) The crispness of the air and just stopping to close my eyes and inhale deeply refreshes and calms me when I’m feeling jittery about a deadline or am stuck in some way.

Partake in witty banter: One of the best parts of the Internet for me is that there are playmates available 24/7.  I can hop on Twitter or Facebook and find someone smart to chat with.  Smart people bring out the best in my thinking, writing and outlook.

Your turn.  How do you stay creative on demand?

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Marketing math: how do you measure success?

February 23, 2011

Are you measuring your marketing?

I don’t like math.  It’s not that I can’t do it – I took advanced math all through high school.  I just really don’t enjoy it.

But math matters.

If math = measurement.  How can you justify your marketing budget/spend if you can’t point to how the dollars are moving some needle.

You see — there isn’t just one needle.  No one indicator or sign of success.  It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish.  Depending on the size of your organization, measurement does not have to be complicated.  For most businesses — it’s more a matter of discipline than it is sophistication.

Let’s look at some common indicators and how you might measure for them.

Are you trying to measure perceptions/opinions?

A good way to measure mind shifts is to do some benchmark research and then repeat that exact same research after a given period of time.  Compare the results for your measurement – does the marketplace see you differently than they did when you did the benchmark. (Depending on your size, budget etc. you should probably repeat the research every 2-3 years to get accurate results.)

Are you trying to measure a change in traffic (initial interest) either in your location or online?

Online is easy — track hits and unique visits with a tool like Google Analytics.  Drive them to a specific landing page and simply monitor change/activity.

Offline is a little less scientific.  You can guestimate foot traffic.  Or you can ask people (as they check out or you engage with them) how they heard of your business.

You can also use a unique phone number or e-mail address in your marketing and track the number of inquiries that way as well.

Are you trying to measure inquiries or trials?

Again, this will differ on and offline.  Online, you can track things like e-newsletter sign ups, downloads of coupons or e-books and requests for more information.

Offline, you might monitor phone calls and requests for proposals, bids or initial meetings.  If you’re a retailer, you could also count redeemed coupons or how many samples you give out.

Are you trying to measure sales (new or residual)?

This should be pretty easy — just track sales.  You’ll need some historical data so you have something to measure against.  Be sure you divide up the data so you can track new versus repeat customers.  For our purposes — you don’t need to boil down to the nitty gritty.  That someone came in and spend $42.37 is enough.  You don’t need to record that they bought a hammer, a box of nails and  a garden hose.

Of course… the key to effective measurement in marketing is understanding why you’re doing it in the first place.  Measurement isn’t an afterthought.  It should be built into your marketing plan’s strategy.

Knowing what you are trying to accomplish will tell you what you should measure.  But…it’s a what, not an if.

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The Swahili take on branding

February 21, 2011

Swahili proverb:  A boat does not go forward if each is rowing their own way.

Any good crew team will tell you that they rely on the coxswain to keep them in synch.  During a race, the coxswain shouts commands, keeping the crew on course.  No matter how polished or experienced the crew, they would not be successful without hearing the same commands over and over.

Branding works pretty much the same way.  No matter how talented your team is or how many years of experience — they need a brand champion who will serve as coxswain.  Someone who runs a long side them and keeps them on course, shouting directions and encouragement.

What does it take to be the brand’s coxswain?

Discipline: Sooner or later, your brand is going to put you in a spot where you have to make a tough decision.  For example, do you honor the brand or just hire any breathing body because your understaffed?  Branding is fun when you’re creating the logo.  It’s not as much fun when you’re making difficult business decisions.

Perseverance: Branding really is for the brave.  It’s a long-haul sort of proposition.  So your brand champion needs to be willing to go the distance.

A learner’s heart: Leading a brand effort is often uncharted waters.  So you have to enter into it accepting that you don’t know it all and will learn along the way.  You need to be curious, ask a lot of questions and listen to every perspective.

A welcoming spirit: You can’t build a company’s brand all by yourself.  You need to inspire others to join the cause.  You need to help them understand why it matters and how they can be a part of something meaningful.

What else do you think it takes to be a brand champion?

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The NOW Revolution is here

February 21, 2011

Here’s the mistake I made.

I picked up The Now Revolution by Amber Naslund and Jay Baer around midnight, thinking I would just flip through it to get a feel for the book and then read it this weekend.

So much for a good night’s sleep.

The book is built on the premise that the world has changed and we’d all better make some shifts in how we do business to be faster, smarter and more social.

I’m guessing most of the shifts won’t shock you.  What makes this book so valuable is that this isn’t so much an idea book as it is a DO book.  Amber and Jay offer up good case studies (fresh ones you haven’t seen 100 times), lots of extra resources and at the end of every chapter some tangible steps to take to make it happen.

Here’s how they outlined the shifts we need to make:

Make a new bedrock: Your company’s culture is more critical than ever, more exposed to the public than ever and can be a game changer if you build a good one.

Find talent you can trust: Building a team who gets it and shares your vision used to be a luxury.  Today, thanks to social media — it’s a necessity.

Organize your armies: Social media is something that will touch every aspect of your business.  You need to make sure everyone is on board, knows their role — even your agency, who may be leading your efforts or just participating.

Answer the new telephone: Remember the good old days when you weren’t on call 24/7? How do you possibly monitor all of the potential places people could be talking about you?  And how can you use this new expectation of instant access as a customer service bonus?

Emphasize response-ability: Who will respond?  How will they respond?  How can you make sure they respond in your brand’s voice? How do you arm your team with the resources so they can respond?  How quickly do you have to respond?  Lots of questions and this chapter has some answers.

Build a fire extinguisher: Okay, now you’re listening but what do you do get ready to respond if someone says something negative? This is crisis communication planning (on both the macro and micro level) for the 21st century.

Make a calculator: It doesn’t make sense to do something if you have no idea whether or not it’s working.  So measure.  And monitor.  The trick is — give it time to work.  This isn’t magic.  It’s marketing.

My one disappointment is that they took a very cool idea — added QR codes throughout the book to give readers even more resources and made it annoying.  Rather than using generic QR codes so that everyone could just use whatever scanner they already had on their smart phone — they opted to use a specific tag made by Microsoft which required me to add another app to my phone.

Bottom line for me — this is a very good read.  Pick up a copy today (Amazon affiliate link).

Or…. tell me which of the 7 shifts you think would be the most difficult (and why) and you could win a copy of the book!  I have 3 copies to give away.  (I’ll draw commenters names at random.)

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Things are not rosy at FTD!

February 16, 2011

Happy Valentine’s Day?

Like many of you probably did, I grabbed a couple of the Groupon deals for FTD to help manage the Valentine’s Day floral budget.  (Yes, I gave some local florists my money too)

Let me say this — I feel sorry for any business that has killer days like florists do.  I am sure Valentine’s Day is a nightmare for them.  However… it’s not like it’s a big surprise.  So they should be ready for it, right?

When one of the arrangements I had ordered hadn’t arrived at 7 pm, I called their 800 number.  The first message I got was that they were very busy and it would be 15 minutes before I could speak with someone.  Then, a couple minutes later, the recorded voice came back on the line and said, due to the volume of calls and it being Valentine’s Day, they would not be able to answer my call and promptly disconnected me.

Wow.

I called back and held for over 30 minutes. Somehow, I dodged the hang-up.  I have no idea how long I would have continued to wait — I got word that the flowers had finally arrived and so I hung up.

Not a good day for FTD.  But wait…

This morning, the flowers are wilted.  I am talking D-E-A-D.  Even with the coupon, they were $50 so I call the 800 number.  This is really how the conversation went.

FTD guy:  How may I help you?

Drew:  I ordered flowers that were delivered yesterday and this morning, they are all wilted.

FTD guy:  I am very sorry to hear that Sir.

Drew:  Thank you.  What can we do about it?

FTD guy:  May I have the order number?

Drew:  FRK372912

FTD guy:  May I have your full name?

Drew:  Drew McLellan

FTD guy:  Thank you, Mr. McLellan. May I have your billing address?

Drew : I give him the address.

FTD guy:  Thank you Mr. McLellan.  May I have your phone number?

Drew:  I give him the phone number.

FTD guy:  Thank you Mr. McLellan.  May I have the recipient’s name?

Drew:  I give him the name.

FTD guy:  Thank you Mr. McLellan. May I have the recipient’s address?

Drew:  I don’t have it handy.

FTD guy:  I’m sorry Mr. McLellan but I am trying to verify the order.

Drew:  Wait a second — I have told you the order number, my name, address, phone number and the recipient’s name.  Isn’t that enough information to verify the order?

FTD guy:  I really do need to verify the order, Mr. McLellan.  (by now…we’ve had enough Mr. McLellans)

Drew:  Seriously — you think there might be two orders with the identical order number, buyer and recipient?  You are looking at the order on your computer, aren’t you?

FTD guy:  Yes Mr. McLellan, I am.

Drew:  Have I gotten any of the questions wrong yet?

FTD guy:  No, Mr. McLellan.  Should I wait while you get the recipient’s address?

Insanity.  Pure insanity. This is a man who is following a script, no matter how ridiculous it is.  He doesn’t care about my order, my frustration or my repeat business. (I kept wondering how call center expert Tom Vander Well would react to this.)

I told him I didn’t have the address with me and couldn’t get it.  Yes, I was being churlish.  But come on.  So you know what he made me do to finally verify the order?  I will send flowers to the first correct guesser.  (But not from FTD)

My point — when something goes wrong, you have a huge opportunity to win a customer for life. (read how Disney says I’m sorry) But you don’t get a second chance.  You cannot add insult to the injury.   FTD lost more than my $50.  They lost the chance to begin to create a love affair with me.  That cost them a lot more than $50.

Related articles

• Groupon, FTD give refunds on flower deal after complaints (boston.com)
• Groupon users revolt against FTD (money.cnn.com)
• ARA: Did your FTD arrangement not arrive yesterday? (timesunion.com)

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What sells better — the future or the past?

February 14, 2011

Is this the future or the past?

Here’s what I am pondering today.  In terms of connecting with a consumer’s emotions, what works better — pointing to the future or the past?

I’m 48 (albeit a 10 year old boy trapped in man’s body) which puts me a little behind the line in terms of baby boomers and a little ahead of the curve for Gen X.  But I’ve noticed over the past several years that many advertisers are reaching back into my childhood for inspiration.

The music of my youth, classic toys like slinkys and key moments in my life’s history seem to crop up in TV spots, print ads and headline references.

On the flip side, many advertisements promise us a better future, thanks to their product or service.  From the his and her outdoor tubs thanks to Cialis or the joy of an engagement accepted via Kay’s Jewelers — we do love the pictures they paint.

Do we react more strongly to memories of days gone by or the promises of days not yet experienced?  And which makes us pull out our wallets?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.  Which do you react to more strongly?

I got thinking about this idea after reading Harry Beckwith’s most recent post over at Psychology Today. (read it here) about progress.  I began to wonder if it was the emotion of the future’s promise or the actual realization that mattered most to us.

Speaking of Harry — I have 2 copies of his new book Unthinking  that I highly recommended last week to give away.  I’ll do a random drawing among the comments on this post… so don’t be shy, weigh in.

The past or the future — which one drives right to the wallet and why?

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Your employees = your 24/7 news source

February 14, 2011

Everyone’s a publisher today

In the “good old days” you could control the messages generated by your company and about your company.  Your CEO might be quoted in the newspaper or interviewed on TV.  You had a corporate brochure or maybe an annual report.

However word got out — it had the company’s seal of approval on it.  Not today.  Today, the kid who comes in for 10 hours a week to help with inventory or answer the phones is as likely to be a spokesperson as the well-versed CEO.

Actually, in fairness, that’s always been the case.  Employees have always talked about their employer, the work they do, etc.  But now, thanks to digital publishing, social media and technology — instead of talking around their dinner table to 3 other people, a single Facebook post or blog entry could go viral and be exposed to millions in a matter of hours.

As I said in my last post — this is not cause for breathing into a paper bag.  It’s actually good news.  Here’s how to harness the buzz your employees can create for you:

Keep them plugged in: No one likes to be kept in the dark.  Talk to your people.  Don’t just tell them about the past — share your vision for the future.  Show them prototypes or the new delivery model.  Keep them informed.  Be clear about what is and is not for public consumption but be willing to share all the news, not just the good news.  Be honest.  Be ready to answer some tough questions.  Be real.

Listen: Don’t just talk.  Ask their opinion.  Seek their ideas.  Ask them to help you monitor what customers are saying about your brand.  Tap into their insights and instincts.  They may be more plugged into the social media tools than you are.  So ask them how to best connect with your customers.

Set clear expectations: Be very clear about how you would like them to use social media in terms of your organization.  I’ve said this before — but soon every company will have a social media policy, just like we all adopted sexual harassment policies 20 years ago.  (Here are some excellent social media policy examples)  Define your boundaries and the consequences for breaching them.

Celebrate them doing it well: If you have an employee who is really using their social media clout to serve a customer, sing your praises, answer consumer questions, recruit new team members — shout it out.  Thank them publicly and use their behavior as a model to teach other employees.

This is one of those — lemon or lemonade kinds of choices.  Your employees aren’t going to disconnect any time soon.  So why not recognize the opportunity of having every single employee out there, talking about your organization and the work you do?

If that idea frightens you — you’d better ask yourself why.  My guess is, it has little to do with the employees.

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Meet your company’s spokesperson

February 11, 2011

Is he your new spokesperson?

Take a few minutes and walk through your place of business today. Really look at the people who work for you. Your goal — identify the employees who are just there to get the paycheck.

• Maybe it’s the 16 year old part-timer who calls in sick about as often as she shows up.
• Or the employee who has been there for the past 20 years and is just biding his time until he hits retirement age.
• Or the employee who is still bent out of shape because they got passed over for a promotion and goes out of his way to sabotage the woman who got the nod while he looks for another gig.

Congratulations — you just met your organization’s new spokesperson.  There is no “off the record” anymore.  Because we’re always on the record.  Just ask former Congressman Christopher Lee.

The idea that a disgruntled or disengaged employee could say something unfortunate is not new.  But in the good old days, they might tell a few friends over a beer or vent to their family, but it was pretty contained and isolated.  And as soon as the words left their lips…they evaporated in thin air.  No record, no residual.

Not today.  Any employee can shoot off their mouth on Facebook, Twitter or another social media outlet and literally infect thousands of people with their opinion in a matter of seconds.  And thanks to Google, screen shots, archives and savvy web users — those words never disappear.  They are etched in digital stone.

Whether you like it or not, this digital age means that every single employee you have represents you 24/7.  On your time, on their time.  On your communications tools and on their own.

Before you start breathing into a paper bag — recognize that this isn’t an inherently bad thing.  It can be a wonderful thing, if handled right. But it does require that you understand the risks, the potential rewards and how you can set your employees up to be fantastic representatives of your brand.

I will dig into that on Monday, so stay tuned.

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Learn why we unthink

February 9, 2011

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Marketing tip #56: Walk a mile in their moccasins

February 8, 2011

I believe this is one of those marketing tips that we all nod our heads at and think, “gosh, I should do that one of these days” but really rarely get around to doing.

We get so caught up in our processes and getting the job done that we forget that we’re doing it “to” and “with” a human being.  And those pesky human beings sometimes need a little hand holding or explanation — especially if they’re new to the task.

It’s so easy to get frustrated with yet another question or request that takes you off “the path of the plan.”  But honestly — if you find yourself reacting that way — then shame on you.  Yes…shame on you.

If a customer is pushing back, or asking more questions or seems unable to pull the trigger it’s because you left something unexplained.  The more firmly you dig in your heels and hold them to the process, the more unsure they feel.  Which just leads to…yup, more questions and concern.  It’s an ugly cycle.

I’m reminded of this truth as we work with a new vendor to McLellan Marketing Group.  While they’re quite good at what they do, they have the customer service skills of a grumpy drunk.  I have often found myself wondering if they have any concept of what it’s like to work with them.  My guess is… no.

Our experience with them has me very mindful of how we’re treating our own clients.  Are we taking the time to really walk out the next steps with them?  Are we in tune with their hesitations or worries?  Do we dismiss their concerns or ideas because “we know” what’s right?  And do we even bother to explain the why?

I find myself wanting to be able to experience us… as a new client.  What do they see and hear?  Do they feel welcome and important?  Or do they feel rushed and confused?  Are our procedures confusing?  Our bills clear?  Our gratitude evident?

We can’t step into their shoes, but we can ask for their feedback.  We can be more mindful of how it must feel from their position.  In our quest to create love affairs with our customers — this would seem to me to be pivotal.

How about you?  How do you balance conducting business in a way that is efficient and effective with customer care?  How do you stay in touch with what it’s like to do business with you?

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