3 keys to napkin innovation (Brett Duncan)

February 13, 2009

Drew's Note:  As I try to do every Friday, I'm pleased to bring you a guest post.  Meet another  thought leader who shares his insights via the blogosphere. So without further ado…Brett Duncan.  Again. Enjoy!

Why is it the best ideas always start on a napkin over dinner?

You know what I’m talking about. You hear inventor and innovators all the time thinking back to when they first had their amazing idea, drafting it out on a napkin. And the rest is history . . . .

It’s easy to pass the napkin off as mere coincidence, but is it really?

I think not. In fact, I think there’s really something to Napkin Innovation, something worth digging into. Here are three reasons why the napkin holds the key to better innovation:

The Setting
OK, when was the last time you had a great idea at your office? I’ve had more ideas in the shower in the past week than I’ve had in my office over the last year. Try as we may, our brains simply can’t accept switching off all the business ideas after 5 p.m. every day. In fact, the fresh air and freedom of a new setting is usually what gets your brain really cooking.

Furthermore, other people help the creative floodgates open. The conversation and different viewpoints get your brain juices boiling. So when you sit down for a meal in a more relaxed, pleasant setting like a restaurant with friends or family, you’re basically insisting that your mind expand. No wonder great ideas can come out of it.

Where you innovate and with whom is extremely important. Don’t wait for it to happen. Get outside of the office with others and give your mind a chance to surprise you.

The Spontaneity
Innovation isn’t on a schedule, and it doesn’t need a routine. But when it strikes, you’ve got to be ready to capture it. Scribbling down your ideas on a greasy napkin isn’t normal, and the dinner table isn’t a typical lab for innovation. It’s this kind of process that you need to get those synapses snappin’.

The whole point of being spontaneous is that it isn’t planned. It’s not something you create, but it is something you can react to, and prepare for. Whether it’s a napkin, scraps of paper or a digital voice recorder, get in the habit of having something to catch all these flashes of brilliance.

The Structure
As important as the setting and spontaneity are, the napkin’s real key to innovation is its smallness. A napkin requires you to be brief. To not get caught up in too many details. To capture the real essence of your idea, and nothing else.

Too many budding ideas are scrapped due to details. “We’ve never done it that way before.” “Our system won’t support that.” “We don’t have the manpower.”

Try this: take an idea that’s pretty complex and sum it up on the space of a small dinner napkin. Prune it until you’ve reached the idea’s core, and nothing more. Then run with it. Move forward with a sense of brevity, of succinctness. Embrace the borders, let them guide you and then go crazy within them.

The Point
Free yourself enough to harness the power of the napkin. Get out of the office, down some wings or something, capture the spontaneous and welcome any constraints upon you. That’s Napkin Innovation.

Brett Duncan is the sole writer of Marketing In Progress, a blog dedicated to making sense of the blur that is marketing communication for small business. He lives in Dallas with his amazing wife April and two-month old son Mason. Email him and learn more.

Every Friday is "grab the mic" day.  Want to grab the mic and be a guest blogger on Drew's Marketing Minute?  Shoot me an e-mail.

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Blogger Social ’09 is here!

February 11, 2009

Hopefully by now you've heard that Blogger Social is taking us to the fantastic city of Boston this April! 

We've got a weekend packed with fun, laughter and smart bloggers!  We'll eat and drink our way through the historic city and our hostess is none other than Lori Magno, of Blogger Social '08 fame!

You can get all the scoop and register today by going to Blogger-Social.com.

To keep the party intimate and give you a chance to actually spend plenty of time with all of the attendees, we're limiting registration to 100 people. 

So don't dilly dally!

We'll have a casual night on Friday, a Boston-centric, you can't believe I am actually here outing on Saturday afternoon and the very swank soiree on Saturday night.

The price is exactly what it was last year and we've got some excellent hotel deals lined up for you.  You heard all about it last year and you were bummed that you weren't there.  Don't let that happen again this year!

CK, Lori and I are looking forward to getting social with you!

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Innovation can be the slightest tweak

February 9, 2009

Innovation.  Everyone talks about it.  But very few can define it, let alone do it.  I think sometimes we make concepts like innovation much "bigger" than they need to be.

Somehow all the discussion, articles written and trainings offered make the concept seem nearly impossible to achieve.  It suggests that it has to be remarkable and industry changing to truly be innovative.

But a simple tweak or fresh perspective can sometimes create all the innovation that's needed.  Let me show you an example.

Over 50 million people eat fast food every day in the United States.  A vast majority of those eat their fast food meal in their car.  And I dare say, a good percentage of those eating in the car — end up dripping ketchup or burger juice or something onto their shirt.  (First two stats are legit, third one is my supposition).

So that's a lot of stained shirts and irritated customers. 

Panera solved this problem  with a dash of glue.

Most fast food establishments either wrap their food in a flat piece of paper or box it in a cardboard box.  Either way, there's nothing about the packaging to help with the shirt drips.

Panera took their flat piece of paper and folded it, gluing it along two sides.  Making it, in essence — a pocket that holds their breakfast sandwiches.

That's it….a fold and dollop of glue.

But, as you can see — if you wanted to eat a juicy bone while you were driving, thanks to Panera's innovation, your shirt would be safe.

So, why am I telling you all this and why does it matter to you? 

Because all the fast food restaurants knew that their customers ate on the run.  They knew that their packaging didn't protect their patrons from shirt stains.  But no one did anything about it.  It was just the downside of fast food dining. It was just accepted.

Not any more.  Panera has solved the problem with a simple observation.  And if it works like it often does — everyone else will now have to follow suit.

How about in your business?  Is there some aspect of it that frustrates or irritates your customers?  Are you just accepting it?  Is it possible that a small tweak (a fold and a dollop of glue) might erase that frustration?

What would it do for your brand and customer satisfaction if you were the one to find the tweak?

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Which customer service example are you?

February 6, 2009

When I was a kid, I loved Highlights Magazine.  My favorite feature was Goofus and Gallant.

If you're over 30, you remember that it was a side by side comparison of two boys and their behavior.  So it might say….

Goofus gets up from the dinner table and goes into his room to listen to the radio.  Gallant helps his mom clear the table before pursuing his hobbies.  (remember, I was a kid a long, long time ago). 

I had my own grown-up Goofus and Gallant experience this week.

Goofus:  As part of a mystery shopping exercise for our regional bank client, I went into a local bank (not our client's) to open a checking account.  I was in business attire, it was the middle of the afternoon and there were no other customers in the bank.  I walked in and looked around for a brochure rack, so I could figure out what checking account to open.  I'd been in the lobby a good 3-4 minutes before one of the bankers said hello.

I approached her and said I wanted to open a checking account.  She handed me a form on a clipboard (like the doctor's office does) and told me to fill it out. (I was told to sit in the lobby)  When I was done, I brought it back and she led me into her office.  We spent the next 10-15 minutes with the printer popping out forms and me signing docs.  During that time, she did not:

• Ask my name
• Introduce herself
• Give me her business card
• Tell me about the other features of the bank
• Ask about my other banking needs
• Get my e-mail address so they could stay in touch
• Appear to give a rat's rear end about me, my business, my family or my finances

She did however, mention how much she hates the cold weather and was tired.

On the flip side of the coin…..

Gallant:    I am volunteering for a local charity telethon in a couple weeks.   I should have ordered the team t-shirts weeks ago but of course, I hadn't.  The team I'm leading always wants screaming bright t-shirts, so I did a Google search and found CustomInk.  I went to their site…found some vivid purple shirts, uploaded the charity's logo (paid for rush shipping because I am a moron for waiting so long) and voila, my order was done.

I got a call in the morning (of course, I ordered the shirts in the middle of the night) from one of their production artists, asking if we had the logo in a different format because they thought it would reproduce better.  If not, they'd try to re-create it for us.  (At no charge)  I sent him the new format and thought we were all set.

Then, later that same day, I receive an e-mail from a one of their customer service folks (Laney) who says…"it looks like you have designed shirts for a charity event.  If that's the case, CustomInk would love to make a small donation to your team or charity on your behalf." 

Holy cow.  I spent less than $200 on shirts and they want to make a donation?  I sent her an e-mail to say thank you and shared the link so she could read about the telethon.  Next thing I know…Laney's picked up the phone, spoken to one of the charity's employees and made a $20 donation.  The e-mail telling me she'd done that…referenced the charity staff by name and was a bit apologetic that they could only donate $20.  And, she shared with me a program where they'll take fifty cents off each shirt, if they can put their logo on the back of the shirt as a sponsor for any future orders we might have.

Wow.

If I had said to you…which business could profit more from me, over time, you'd guess the bank, true?  If we'd guess who received more on the job training, odds are we'd guess the bank employee.  If we wondered which business should be more prone to great customer service — the local bank or the online t-shirt shop, I'm guessing we'd have said the bank.

Guess which business just got a raving fan and who is going to make a lot of money from me over time?

I wouldn't guess the bank, would you?

If you had to guess how a brand new customer would be treated by your staff — would you think they're a Goofus or a Gallant?  Are you sure?

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Teaching Sells re-opens enrollment today

February 5, 2009

We know how smart content marketing is — it's the shift in marketing that we've seen coming for a long time.  Ultimately, content marketing is about teaching.  Most of you have an expertise that you bring to your customers every day.  But you deliver it one at a time.

What could you do if you were able to share that knowledge with many at once?  Could you sell ebooks?  Could you conduct online classes? 

Is this a new revenue stream for you? 

Teaching Sells will teach you what you need to know create an online business selling your knowledge and expertise. 

I've been a member since they launched and we've been working on something very exciting that I'll be telling you more about in the weeks ahead.  But…if you're interested…you need to HURRY.  They are re-opening today at noon (CST) and only taking the first 500 members.  Get in now!

But don't just take my word for it…

"One of the most compelling and viable approaches to a real online business I've come across." — Darren Rowse, ProBlogger and co-founder of b5 Media

"If you want to really start making money online, Teaching Sells will tell you exactly what you need to know." — Chris Garrett, new media consultant and Performancing co-founder

"Every so often a product is launched that I wish I had created. Brian Clark has done that with a methodical program that elegantly guides you step by step through the process of creating and selling multimedia teaching programs. Teaching Sells is now my top recommendation for professionals who want to accelerate their business growth on the Web." — Denise Wakeman, The Blog Squad

"The strategies described made me stop and rethink what I knew about making money online." — Daniel Scocco, DailyBlogTips.com

"Teaching Sells is an excellent and legitimate training program for bloggers, consultants and entrepreneurs." — DoshDosh

"This is the best guide for starting a membership based site… period. There's nothing else that even compares." — Ryan Caldwell, College Startup / Performancing

"Internet Marketing for smart people." — Yaro Starak, Entrepreneur's Journey

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The true Barry Bonds legacy and the message for us all

February 4, 2009

I know he's not the only one who juiced.  I know part of why people came down on him so hard wasn't the steroids….but his attitude.

But, when I think about Barry Bonds and his impact on baseball, I think asterisk.

A while back, I wrote about Bonds and the danger we all face — if we're not authentic.  The fact that the idea of "being an asterisk" is already become part of our culture's vernacular (as evidenced by the TV spot below — e-mail and feed readers click on the headline to view) is incredibly telling of how fast a reputation can be destroyed.

While it's a different aspect of authenticity — we all run the risk of falling into the same trap.  And the damage that we can do to our company, to our online reputation, to how our employees view us, to how our customers perceive us — is all very real. 

Branding, when done in a meaningful way, isn't about selling more stuff.  It's about identity.  It's about values.  It's about who you are when no one is looking.  It's about decisions made in the heat of the moment  when you don't have time to spin it.

Sure…when you get it all right and you exude your brand's promise — you will sell more stuff.  But it's much more important than that.

It's about never being an asterisk.

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Are you making the recession worse?

February 2, 2009

Let me first acknowledge that I know the recession is real.  I know people are losing their jobs, homes and life savings.    I get that.

But the truth is….we’re making it worse.  We’re letting fear make it worse.

Just like the kid who works himself up into a frenzy because he imagines what might be under his bed — we're allowing fear and all the hype freeze us with fear. 

That paralysis is the biggest threat your business has ever faced.

Look around you.  Ask other business owners.  They will sheepishly admit that business is good.   Some, under the promise of anonymity, will confess that it’s great.  For the vast majority of businesses, especially B-to-B and the service sectors – things are fine.

And yet, they behave as though they’re down to their last dime.

I was talking to a friend of mine who owns a small business last week.  He admitted they’re having a fantastic start to the year and everything looks good moving forward. 

He went on to tell me that he needs a new company car.  He has the money to pay cash for it.  Car prices have never been lower.  But he’s holding off.

Just in case.

Simpson College here in Iowa has a brilliant outreach program, thanks to the Associate Director of the department.  She’s like a Pied Piper, getting to know theatre kids when they’re younger and encouraging them to visit campus, attend their very profitable summer program, etc.

Simpson just announced that despite great enrollment numbers and the construction of a new theatre space (capital campaign) – they’re eliminating the position.

Just in case enrollment goes down.

People, we have to stop this.  A stimulus package alone isn’t going to cut it.  Do you think any of those stimulus dollars are coming your way?  Check the list – you’re not on it!

Small business owners are the backbone of this country and we will determine how long we’re in this recession.  I’m not asking you to spend with reckless abandon.  But I am suggesting that we don’t get our business advice from the local or national news.

• This is exactly the time you should be investing in your employees and current customers.
• This is exactly the time you should be investing in marketing outreach and not blindly lowering your prices
• This is exactly the time you should be taking advantage of incredible pricing on those capital improvements and high ticket items that will serve your business for years

Look around.  See how your business is actually doing.  And behave accordingly.  We can be paralyzed with fear of what might be coming, or we can behave ourselves out of this recession.

But…it is up to us.

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What secrets do 40 top bloggers share?

February 1, 2009

That was the premise behind Stephane Grenier's book, Blog Blazers.  Grenier created a list of questions ranging from what makes a blog successful to you all the way to what are the most common pitfalls new bloggers fall into and several in between.

Each blogger's chapter ranges about 4-5 pages, depending on how verbose they were.  I asked Stephane what his criteria was for the top 40 and his response was "I first tried to vary it as much as possible, but obviously some types of bloggers are more common than others. That and I had certain minimum criterias I wanted everyone to meet. Than I also had to coordinate with who was interested and who had the time. It was a pretty big job."

After reading the book, I was left with a few impressions.

• Seth Godin is a master at dodging questions when he doesn't want to be pinned down or doesn't believe in the core of the question.
• There's no magic or even consistent answer to any of the questions — which reminds us that blogging, even business blogging, is about being genuinely you.  There's no one size fits all answers.  You need to blog from your organization's heart.
• Everyone seems to agree that ProBlogger is where newbies should start learning about blogging.

Beyond that…the answers are very interesting to read but if you are looking for clear-cut direction, you won't find it.  Lots of opinions but no definitive answers.

Probably as it should be.  One blogger's must is another's never!

If nothing else, you'll get a good insight into some very successful bloggers and find a new read or two.

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How do your customers describe you?

January 29, 2009

As promised, I want to spend the next couple Thursdays talking about word of mouth marketing.  We all want our customers to tell their friends and colleagues about us but do we have any idea what they might be saying?

Here's a ten minute assignment for you. 

Go to your favorite free online survey tool, like Survey Monkey.  Create a new poll and ask these three questions:

• Do you ever talk about McLellan Marketing Group (obviously, fill in your own company name!)
• If so, what do you tell people about us? 
• If you had to describe McLellan Marketing Group in a single word, what word would you choose?

Now, send an e-mail to all your clients, past clients, vendors, etc.  Explain that you're trying to understand how you're perceived in the marketplace and because you value the relationship you have with them, you're counting on them to be candid on a very quick, 3 question survey.

The power of this is two-fold.  One, you're going to get some eye-opening insights.  But second, you are making the people you survey feel important and valued.  And in a subtle way, suggesting that you might be talk-worthy.

Send out the survey and prepare to be surprised. Most of the time, people do not spout off your features and benefits.  They talk about what sticks with them, what feels different, something that surprised them.

What do you think they'll say?

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HP launches MarketSplash to serve small businesses

January 27, 2009

One of the biggest challenges of a fledging small business is producing professional grade stationery, business cards and marketing materials.

HP believes they've created a viable solution at MarketSplash — a web-based shop that allows you to design and customize DIY templates for your business basics like stationery, business cards, static website, postcards and even promotional items like polos and mugs.

The templates give you several options — uploading your logo and beginning your design from there, or choosing one of their templated logos, or choosing industry-based templates that don't require a logo at all.

You can also opt to have them custom design a logo or stationery package for you, if you'd prefer.

The offerings and designs are vastly superior to the all too often heard "I designed it myself on Publisher" option that many start ups and small businesses rely upon.   Make no mistake, this isn't like hiring an agency to truly help you discover your brand promise and design your identity pieces to fit that promise.  But for many organizations, that's just not a viable choice.

So, MarketSplash is a happy middle ground for those companies who want to project a very professional, consistent image but can't afford an agency.

I spent about an hour getting a guided tour of MarketSplash last week and found it incredibly easy to navigate and use.  I was able to select a business card template, change the font, color and enter my own contact information in about 10 minutes. 

I have to admit, I was impressed by quite a few of the templates and the flexibility of the design modules.   But what I found most interesting were the delivery options.  After designing my cards (or whatever I needed), I could:

• Complete the order online (choosing paper, finishes etc) and have the printed materials delivered to me via the post office
• Have the order sent to my local Staples and pick up the printed materials in 45 minutes
• Download the PDF files and print them off on my office or home printer

That gives me hope that HP truly does understand some of the challenges and unique needs of the small business owner. 

For a limited time, HP is offering 100 free business cards (including shipping) to new customers. 

Go check out the site and let me know what you think.   And what else would you like to be able to buy right from the site?

Note:  I'm going to order some items from the site and will let you know about the quality/experience once the items arrive.

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