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How do you get the creative juices flowing?

October 17, 2009

There are many ways to spark creativity. Most of them involve a shift in perspective and a willingness to be playful, even though the work is "serious." Here are some of the ways we go at it for our clients at MMG.

View the problem/product/desired result from a different seat on the bus.

In other words, how would a six-year old child view it? A librarian? Truck driver? College student? Someone who is wheelchair bound? By putting yourself in many different people’s shoes – you can begin to see the situation differently. A great technique is to literally speak their voice out loud. Like improv…see where it takes you.

Personify it.

If your product or service was a person, who would it be? A man? A young girl? How would they behave? What would their personality be like? What would be their favorite book? Movie? What are they afraid of? What would they be most proud of?

Get out.

Most people brainstorm and try to spark their creativity in the same work environment that they’re in every day. One of the best ways to inspire some new thinking is to be in a new place. Go to a park and take a walk. Go play at a toy store. Visit a museum. Play a kind of music you’d normally never listen to.

Stimulate your senses. I think this is why the shower is such a hot spot of creativity!

Ask why.

If you have children, you will remember their "why" stage. A simple question could take 30 minutes to answer by the time they asked why 12 times. Adopt that attitude. Make an assumption about what you’re working on. Then ask why. And answer it. Then ask why. And answer that. Then ask why. And so on. See where it takes you. Then, when you can’t go any further, make another assumption and do it all over again.

Play.

Have a paper airplane contest. Create a putt-putt course in the office. Play charades. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to be creative and being playful is a great way to bring that part of you to the surface.

How about you? How do you get the creative juices flowing?

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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Is a chilly reception part of your brand?

October 12, 2009

This weekend, my daughter and I embarked on the first of what no doubt will be many college visits. We headed up to MN to visit my mom and check out one of the schools on her short list, St. Olaf.

We got there early, which was fortuitous because of three colliding factors.

It had unexpectedly snowed the night before
We had only packed clothes with short sleeves
The walking tour of the campus was scheduled for an hour

So while she got us checked in, I ran over to the campus bookstore. I got there around 9:40 and according to the signage, it opened at 10. The exact time the admissions presentation was starting. There were two middle-aged women inside the store, bustling about, putting cash drawers in the registers, etc.

Meanwhile, I am lurking at the door.

They straightened the t-shirt table. They re-arranged a pumpkin display.

Meanwhile, I am pacing outside the door.

Did I mention the incredible lengths they went to, just to avoid making eye contact? You see, the store walls were floor to ceiling glass, so they couldn't really miss me.

At exactly 10 am on the dot, they meandered over to the door and unlocked it. I scooted past them with a hurried hello and rushed to the St. Olaf logo-wear, which of course, I had been eying for the past 20 minutes.

I grabbed the heaviest sweatshirts I could find and literally 4 minutes after walking in the door, I was at the register, ready to check out. My guess is…this is not how their average customer behaves.

The clerk rang me up and while she was keying in the amounts, I asked her if she might have a scissors I could borrow to cut off the tags. She looked at me and asked, "oh, are you going to wear these now?"

I laughed and pointed to my short sleeved shirt. I told her I was there with my daughter, on a campus tour and we hadn't packed for the weather. She looked at me like I was a moron and handed me the scissors.

No, "welcome to St. Olaf" or "you're going to love the XYZ" or "be sure to check out the ABC."

From the get -go of ignoring me outside the doors to the final kiss off, these two women could not have been less welcoming.

From what I've seen so far, St. Olaf has a pretty aggressive recruitment strategy. Plenty of expensive, four-color mailings, lots of personal attention, etc.

All with the solitary goal of making students and their parents feel like St. Olaf might be home for the next four years. Guess which employees left the most lasting impression on me, the guy who will be footing the bill?

I think this happens every day in companies across the globe. Marketing and other C-level people invest hours and dollars exploring and defining their brand. Only to have it completely violated by one of their own teammates.

How do you know that everyone in your organization not only understands your brand…but is motivated to deliver it? Are you sure?

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com

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I’m so over you

October 8, 2009

We all love chasing after new clients. The rush of winning a new account or having someone new announce to the world that they love you is heady stuff. It's enough to make many a business leader swoon a little.

Fast forward a few months…and all of a sudden, that shiny new client is a whole lot less interesting.

Net result? Nearly 70% of business lost in America is lost due to post-sales apathy.

Amazing isn’t it? We spend all this time and effort luring them to our business. We seduce them on the sales floor. We listen attentively to their problem and help them find a solution. We gave them a fair price. We smile and wave as they leave.

And then, we ignore them.

There is no hotter prospect than your current client. They know you. They liked you enough to try you once. Hopefully, they had a reasonable or even good experience the first go around. So why aren’t you talking to them? Why aren’t you telling them more about you? Why aren’t you asking them more about them?

If you don’t have a customer retention program – one that turns your clients into raving fans…you need one.

Make it simple, easy to implement and something you will actually do. Consistently. Start on it today. It’s that important.

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Lessons in Extreme Leadership — up close and personal

October 6, 2009

A couple weeks ago, I had the amazing good fortune of getting to spend a few days with Steve Farber, author of Radical Leap, Radical Edge and Greater than Yourself.

I won’t blather like a school girl about how cool it was to hang out with a guy whose work I have identified with, woven into my company’s culture and believe with my whole heart and soul.

But I gotta say, it was way beyond cool.

(The photo to the right is Tim Johnson, Steve and myself. Mike Sansone was the 4th in the party, snapping photos.)

Anyway…as you might imagine, spending all that time with Steve, observing him interact with others, watching him give several presentations and listening to his stories, I had some takeaways I wanted to share with you:

Extreme leadership is risky business. You have to be willing to be the first one to admit you’re scared, be willing to put a spotlight on your own failings and mistakes, to have those terrifying moments as you stand at the edge of a cliff and decide to leap and not only love your people…but show & tell them.

You’re never done: No matter how good of a leader you think you are…there’s plenty of room for better. Probably way more than you think, by the way.

Extreme leadership is an action verb, not a label. It’s about doing, not talking. Lots of posers out there, wearing the leadership label. The real leaders are just getting it done.

You can’t lead if you can’t be audacious enough to think you can change the world. It’s not about your ego, it’s about having a passion and commitment deep enough that you just can’t stop trying. No matter how big the obstacles.

There’s nothing magical about leadership. It’s all in the heart. Anyone can do it, if they care enough. It has to start with heart. You can’t fake it. You can’t buy it. All you can do it be willing to

The legacy of a leader is more leaders. The ultimate of leading is to identify those people who you can help and actually lift up so they can be greater than you.

Whew…that’s a lot to aspire to, isn’t it? I’m up for the challenge — how about you?

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Age of Conversation III — call for authors

October 5, 2009

The authors of Age of Conversation I and II have been calling Gavin Heaton and me names for a week. I think the most frequent word they used was insane!

I prefer to think of us as fools for love. The first two books are a testament to all the buzzwords people so casually toss around when it comes to social media.

Community, Sharing, Conversation, Experimentation, Engagement, Collaboration.

Well if you want to see all that and more in action — join us. Become one of the 300 authors of Age of Conversation III.

We invited the past authors a week ago and 137 of the 300 slots are already full. So this isn’t something to ponder for days. If you want in…get in now.

Here’s the drill. All authors, by signing up, agree to sign away all right to their 400 word chapter (which won’t be self-promotional), to let us donate all proceeds to charity and to promote the book on their blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. presence.

Chapters will be due in early November. Each author will choose a “theme” for their chapter among the ten we’ve designed. They’ll serve as sections in the book. We’ll allow 30 authors per section, so the longer you wait, the less choice you’ll have.

If you’d like to join us, please visit this link to sign up and choose your theme. We’d love to have you!

UPDATE: In less than 14 hours, we had 306 authors sign up and have closed the call for authors. Thanks to everyone who has opted to come on board!

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Interview with Drew McLellan: What’s new in social media (podcast)

October 3, 2009

Zane Safrit writes a great blog about being an entrepreneur and he also has a very popular podcast series.

I was fortunate enough to be a guest about a year ago and he recently asked me to come back again. So on Friday (Oct 2, 2009), we spent an hour or so talking about social media, community, and how businesses are viewing and succeeding in social media.

Zane’s always fun to chat with…so if you are so inclined, take a listen.

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What I’m reading (10/3/09)

October 3, 2009

I've always loved to read…and thank God, I'm fast. So many books….so little free time. I thought I might try a new feature on the blog and every week or so, give you the skinny on the books that have caught my fancy. Most will be new ones (I am trying to whittle down the pile) but every once in awhile it will include a classic too.

Here's what I've been reading this week and my take on each.

The Brand Called You by Peter Montoya & Tim Vandehey (buy it here)

Personal branding is certainly all abuzz. I'm not going to spend much time reminding you that A) everyone has a personal brand, whether you want one or not and B) you should purposefully manage your brand, as opposed to having it thrust upon you.

This book breaks down the discussion into four sections:

The DNA of a personal brand – what is it, how does it work and what can it do?
The brand with three brains – Key strategies that make personal branding work
Anatomy of a personal brand – Tactical tools you can implement
Bringing your brand to life – Making it happen

This book is light on theory, heavy on real life examples and ideas you can implement quickly.

Bottom line: Some very intriguing ideas. It's not rocket science but even if you're an old pro, you'll close the book with some new ideas to try.

The New Language of Marketing 2.0 by Sandy Carter (buy it here)

Wow. Sandy Carter has gathered up over 50 case studies and examples that demonstrate how marketers can use web 2.0 tools to really connect with their customers. Most of the case studies include Lessons Learned call outs or tips culled from the study. Very helpful format.

If I have a complaint it would be that the mass majority of examples are from very large companies like IBM and Coke. If you're a mom and pop business, it may be tougher to apply some of these lessons.

Bottom line: Superb case studies and learning. You may have to work a little bit to apply to your world.

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A practical, tools you can use conference

October 2, 2009

You all know I am an unabashed fan of the site Marketing Profs and their blog Daily Fix. Ann Handley and her crew are just some of the smartest, most generous marketing pros out there.

So you can trust me when I say…their Digital Marketing Mixer is going to be a "your hand hurts from scrambling to write down all the ideas and must do's for when you get back to work" sort of an event.

Here are the details:

Chicago, October 21 and 22. (If I wasn't speaking at the Iowa Tourism conference, I'd be there in a nanosecond!)

The speakers' list is a who's who of internet marketing & social media. You'll meet and learn from the likes of Andy Sernovitz, Peter Shankman, Mack Collier, Amber Naslund, Paul Chaney, Mari Smith, Leigh Duncan-Durst, Ann Handley, Beth Harte, Jason Baer and many others.

It is sick and wrong that all of these people are going to be in one place and I have to miss hearing them teach and learn from one another.

They're going to be talking practical, real content. How to develop leads from webinars. How to monitor and measure social media activity, e-mail newsletter campaigns, how to get creative with SEO, how to impact Google…all for the taking.

What are you waiting for? Click on this link to save $200 on the registration and get to Chicago! You owe it to yourself to at least take a look at the incredible content and try to figure out a way to get there.

If you're a regular reader, you know I don't gush about too many of the conferences out there. But this one's different. This is not for the social media super stars. This is for you — the marketing pro who is looking for some new ideas, some new contacts and a new playing field.

Have a great time and come back and tell us about it!

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A nickname does not make you more cool

September 30, 2009

I remember a Disney (made for TV) film that my daughter used to enjoy. It was about this nerdy kid named Charlie. He lamented his lack of coolness, so he decided to re-invent himself. Cooler clothes, a new, cool haircut but the lynch pin to his plan was the nickname. Chaz.

All of a sudden, Charlie (as Chaz) exuded cool.

Of course, you can guess how it ended. Chaz became the darling of the school but when he was exposed as a fraud, he learned two valuable lessons. You can't fake cool and in the end…you are who and what you are.

I wish I had a DVD of this movie. You know who I'd send it to? The CMOs of Radio Shack and Walgreens.

Radio Shack, a very uncool brand, has decided to slap on some cool by asking us to call them "The Shack." So many problems with this, it's staggering.

When you hear "The Shack" who or what do you think of? (either the basketball player or the book)
Even if you bought into nickname, the stores are still the same — packed to the gills with wires, switches, and gizmos. The Apple Store is cool. Radio Shack…not so much.
Radio Shack already has a very entrenched brand…and it isn't about being cool!

In the same vein, Walgreens has recently re-branded their private label products. You used to be able to buy Walgreens shampoo but now…it's W shampoo. Yes…that does make me forget that it's generic.

Again…nothing they do is going to make Walgreens cool. We don't really need or want Walgreens to be cool.

We want them to be open 24 hours/day.

We want them to stock most prescriptions so we can call and then pick it up an hour later.

We even want them to keep a good supply of Haagen Dazs ice cream so we can rush up there at 11 pm and pay an exorbitant price…because we need it now!

We don't need Radio Shack or Walgreen's to be cool. And in fact, we won't let them be cool. No matter how cool their nickname might be.

The lesson here for us marketing types? A brand is not something you manufacture. It doesn't come from your name or your logo. It comes from within. It is born out of who you actually are. No matter how cool your nickname might be.

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What I’m reading this week (9/26/09)

September 26, 2009

I've always loved to read…and thank God, I'm fast. So many books….so little free time. I thought I might try a new feature on the blog and every week or so, give you the skinny on the books that have caught my fancy. Most will be new ones (I am trying to whittle down the pile) but every once in awhile it will include a classic too.

Here's what I've been reading this week and my take on each.

Maverick Marketing by Tom Hayes: (buy it here)

As you might guess by the title, the book's "theme" is a trailride into the wild west of new marketing. Hayes keeps the theme tall in the saddle throughout the entire book, which feels a bit forced in places. But, if you can tolerate the cute "little dogie" references….this is quite a good read.

Hayes basic point is this: You aren't going to win if you play the game the same way as everyone else. You've got to be a maverick. That might be in who you target as a key audience, how you reach that audience or your message. (or a combo!)

The best part of this book are all the examples. Hayes goes to the usual suspects like Virgin Airlines and Wal-Mart, but also brings in some fresh stories like Johnsonville Brats and Clif Bars.

Bottom line: I started to skim but the real life examples drew me in. Worth your time.

Brand Immortality by Hamish Pringle & Peter Field (buy it here)

This book is a scholarly study of branding, Drawing conclusions and culling data from 880+ case studies submitted to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) dataBANK and detailing numerous case studies from winners of the IPA Effectiveness Awards, the authors have compellingly made the case as to why the eventual death of any given brand is not an inevitable fact of life. The authors point out the pitfalls and dangers in much current thinking in the field of marketing.

The type is small, the graphs are plentiful and the language is academic. I have no doubt this is a fascinating study, but I must admit, I had a hard time staying with it.

Bottom line: Good information that academics will love. It could have been packaged in a more digestible fashion.

Putting the Public back in Public Relations by Brian Solis & Deirdre Breakenridge (buy it here)

As you might guess by the title, this book is about bridging the gap between the old PR methods and the new. While much of the emphasis is on social media, the underlying message doesn't depend on the media. You could apply much of what the authors write about, whether you're reaching out via Twitter or the old fashioned telephone.

Lots of good stories and references that you can steal from throughout the book but what I think makes this book most different from other PR/Social media books is the 4th section on measurement. Some very helpful thinking.

Bottom line: Accessible, memorable and some stealable ideas. You'll dog ear some pages.

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