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Thursday, October 29, 2009

What's a Brand to Do?

Say you work for a brand. Customers have more access to you than ever - and you've got a wealth of choices as far as channels go: traditional marketing, online & interactive, gaming, mobile, social media, etc.

But for your customers that are interested in interacting online, what do you think they want from you? And what should you do when you connect with them? Look no further! eMarketer Daily has very helpfully published a piece on Lightspeed Research's "Global Web Index."

Actions Brands Can Take that Are Most Relevant to US Internet Users, August-September 2009 (scale of 1-5*)

What do customer want from the brands they love? Information, mostly (well, after a good discount, anyway). Ultimately, they want value. They're not there to be "friends," or to get your time-wasting app - they want something that's relevant to them that helps push the relationship forward.

Something to think about when thinking about your online strategy.

Chart courtesy of eMarketer.

Posted via web from The Full Monty

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Friday, June 12, 2009

The Microphone Is Always On
Andy Warhol once noted "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." Now that we're constantly publishing, sharing, microsharing, updating, vlogging... (I could go on), it seems to me that in the future, everyone will have 15 minutes of privacy.

I've noted before that it's extremely important to live your life in a way that reflects positively of you, because you never know who's capturing what image, sound file or video. Put more bluntly - if you'll allow me to turn another phrase - whatever happens in Vegas stays on Google. Every action counts.

Want proof?

One need look no further than Michael Richards, who was caught via cellphone video making a racist rant at a comedy club. It's still the #1 search result on YouTube for "Michael Richards." And President Ronald Reagan made a famous gaffe during a microphone check, unaware that he was being broadcast live:



How does that apply online or in social media? Every tweet you make, every blog post you write, every video you record - it all adds up to showing the world who you are. And since content is easily discoverable by Google, the content you (or your company) produce needs to reflect what you want it to. For example, just the other day, I was told that I was the subject of someone's presentation, and they showed my Twitter feed up on a big screen. If I were careless about what I wrote, my stream might have been embarrassing. Luckily, that's not the case.

Since you never get a second chance to make a first impression, every single piece of copy, every minute of video, every utterance you make can become a decision point for someone. It may be a potential customer, a prospective employer, maybe even a family member. Make your actions count.

Have you run into a situation where you you either gave someone an impression you didn't intend to, or you discovered something about someone that made you think twice about them? I'd be interested in hearing from you.

Photo credit: iNafih

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Monday, March 30, 2009

Generational Marketing
As I was shaving with a disposable razor this morning - not my usual razor - I began thinking about the power of generational marketing. One way of segmenting markets is by looking at the various generations: Matures (b. 1909-1945), Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1976) and Millennials/Gen Y (1977-1994). We're well aware that the Baby Boomers are the largest generation, followed by the Millennials, hence such the interest in both.

As I was using the disposable two-blade, I thought about my Gillette Mach3 Turbo razor and was reminded of how I got to use the Gillette brand in the first place. In the late 80s / early 90s, Gillette made an incredibly smart marketing move: they purchased the mailing list of the Selective Service. If you're not familiar with the Selective Service system, every male in the U.S. between the ages of 18 and 25 must register, in case there's the need for a military draft.

Gillette sent their new (at the time) razor, the Sensor, to every registrant. For reference, Gillette makes more money on their blades than they do on the razor mechanism itself - it's similar to the computer printer model, in which printers are priced affordably and the cartridges are expensive. Each and every young male that registered got a free razor and set of blades from Gillette, essentially giving them the opportunity to be Gillette customers for life. I don't know what the long-term adoption rate for Gillette was, but I can guarantee you that it got more men thinking about their products than just advertising would have done.

But it got me to thinking more broadly: how many opportunities are there for marketers to really affect an entire generation? It seems like a tall order in this minute-by-minute attention-starved generation. But if it's something as simple as what Gillette did, such an experience has the potential to stick - especially since word of mouth (online and offline) can help such efforts grow.

Are there other campaigns that you know of that have affected entire generations that way? Or are there opportunities that you foresee for current brands to have this kind of impact? Drop me a comment and let's discuss it.

Photo credit: Brian Warren (Flickr)

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Sunday, October 05, 2008

Some Hope for the Sartorially-Challenged
I take my personal appearance seriously. It's part of who I am and how people perceive me. I'm proud that someone like Dmitri Gunn has called me "the sharpest dressed man in social media today."

Even when I was working at an agency and when I was consulting with crayon - workplaces that were business casual - I took pride in what I wore and how I presented myself. It's part of my personal brand.

But looking sharp and business casual are not mutually exclusive. In this day of open collars, one fashion pet peeve (among many) is the total disregard for collar stays (or stiffeners). The result? You've seen it - collars on button-down shirts that curl up or seem to be flying away.

It's a minor detail, but it sends a message to those around you that perhaps you don't care about details. Or that you haven't entered the "grown-up" world of business attire yet.

The Solution
Luckily, I'm here with the answer to the problem you didn't know you had. Wurkin Stiffs has developed the magnetic collar stay that they call Power Stays. Place the Power Stays™ into your shirt’s collar stay pockets and place the super-strong magnets on the inside of the shirt… It’s that easy!

And just in case you thought that this post had nothing to do with social media (other than that lots of social media types work in casual environments), here's their YouTube video explaining it:



If you're accustomed to wearing your shirts without a tie, I highly recommend that you consider buying a set of these. Or make it a gift to a friend or family member this holiday season. They'll thank you.

Do you have any modern-day fashion tips or suggestions? I'm sure we'd all like to learn.

Photo credit: believer9

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Friday, October 03, 2008

Personal Branding and Your Career
I was at a career fair representing Ford recently, and one thing struck me: there's a lack of truly decent personal presentation skills out there.

For example, to any number of college seniors who said they were interested in getting into sales, I said: "Great. Sell yourself to me."

The reaction I got was a stunned look, followed immediately by a rambling choice of words that didn't really convince me of much. Well, maybe they convinced me of something, but it wasn't to hire them.

I had just made a presentation to Brand Camp University, so perhaps presentations and personal branding was on my mind, but it got me to thinking: there could be a number of people who might benefit from some suggestions.

I know I've got a lot of followers on Twitter and here on the blog who are college students (hello Golf Management program at Ferris State (what a cool major!); hello students of Barbara Nixon at GSU), so I thought I might help out with some specific suggestions to consider.

Before I get into the steps I recommend, here's the deck I presented. I hope to have the video of my presentation at a future date.

Social Media, Personal Branding and Your Career
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: bcu08 brandcamp)



Tips for success in your career

1. Prepare yourself
Darwin said "Chance favors the trained mind," and Henry Ford said "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success." This means being careful of everything you do in public. While you may already know not to post racy pictures of yourself or make lewd comments on Facebook, others can tag you in photos and years later, due to the everlasting memory of the Internet, you may find that there's information out there about you that is less than flattering.

According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, one out of five employers is turning to social networks to find out about you (not to mention the 80% who already Google you). Some startling facts that were posted on socnet profiles:
  • Information about alcohol or drug use (41% of managers said this was a top concern)
  • Inappropriate photos or information posted on a candidate's page (40%)
  • Poor communication skills (29%)
  • Bad-mouthing of former employers or fellow employees (28%)
  • Inaccurate qualifications (27%)
  • Unprofessional screen names (22%)
  • Notes showing links to criminal behavior (21%)
  • Confidential information about past employers (19%)
Always be thinking with the future in mind.

2. Have a personal presence on the Web
Have you bought your own domain name yet? What are you waiting for? I purchased the domain names for my sons when they were born, lest someone else scoop them on their own brand. I suggest you buy yourname.com (not literally, Animal House fans) and register your preferred name on the sites & social networks that matter to you.

Choose the networks that matter the most to you - or more importantly - that you think matter to your employer or industry of choice. The social networks I use the most are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. As I've explained before, I have standards for friending on each - the loosest being Twitter, context needed for Facebook, and a personal interaction required for LinkedIn.

While I'm at it - get on out there and friend me up if you haven't already! I'd love to interact with you in different ways.

3. Be compelling
Not everyone is a thought leader. Not everyone can create videos. That's okay. The first thing you should do is listen. Odds are you already read blogs (you're here, aren't you?). Take the time to get a sense for what's being said and figure out how you want to add to it.

If you choose to create your own site/blog/profile, figure out what you want to focus on. It could be lollipop manufacturing or knitting scarves for abandoned penguins - whatever it is, pick your topic and be the best at it.

And while it's important to write well for your own site, I usually recommend spending 2-3 times longer commenting on other sites than you do writing your own. It's like your grandmother used to say, "You've got two ears and one mouth; use them in that proportion."

Every comment you make it a stamp of your brand on someone else's site. Your perspective is valuable, and eventually, it will drive eyeballs back to your site. Just be consisent in who you are and be yourself.

4. Know what you want
When I first graduated from business school, I wanted to be a strategist. The problem was, no one was hiring inexperienced B-school grads to do strategy. It takes time to truly understand markets, trends, industries, and clients - something that is built over years. I always had that in the back of my mind as my career zigged here and zagged there, but now I'm in a job where I get to craft and execute on strategy.

While your initial job out of school may not be your dream job (but good for you if it is), keep your goal in mind as you navigate your career. When someone asks you what you want to do, have it at the top of your mind, and succinctly state it. Or, as Gary Vaynerchuk likes to say, "CRUSH it!"

5. Practice, practice, practice
Usually, it takes a long time to be truly great at something. Sure, someone like Mozart was an anomaly, but for most of us, you need to keep doing something over and over to hone your skills. Please, PLEASE practice your presentation skills, whether it's formal presentations, personal introductions, your elevator pitch - whatever.


In the end, it's all up to you. The only one who will look out for you in your career is you. And you need to be confident about who you are, where you're going, and what you want.

Henry Ford knew what he was talking about:
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
Get ready. Be the best you that you can be. Do it over and over.

You'll do great.

Photo credit: zenia

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Social Media On the Road
If you happen to swing by this site, you may have noticed on my sidebar that I've had quite a number of speaking engagements lately.

Below is a short video of an interview I did with Lee Odden while I was at Blog World Expo last weekend. While my panel wasn't recorded, this is a short and succinct insight into social media and large corporations - in particular, my experience with Ford Motor Company.
video

In the meantime, here's a 45 minute-long video of my panel last Monday at the Social Ad Summit. It was moderated by Ian Schafer and my co-panelists were Deborah Korb from J.P. Morgan and Don Steele from Comedy Central. One of my key observations was around 8:00 mark - where I mentioned Your Brand Is Not My Friend, is by my friend Alan Wolk.




Anything you'd add?

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Sunday, September 14, 2008

A Word About Personal Branding
As social media has continued its rise in the past few years, there's been an increasing need for education on personal branding - that is, the you that people experience online.

The things that you do, say and post on Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, your blog, and any other public-facing social network are part of your reputation. Are your profiles consistent with each other and with who you are? Does your online persona reflect what you want it to? How do all of these come into play with your professional life? The savvy and thoughtful digital professional will give this due consideration.

These and many other questions and issues are being addressed by a number of people in the social media space. People like Chris Brogan, Mitch Joel, and Dan Schawbel, to name just three. They're all worth checking out, if you don't follow them already.

Since I moved to Michigan, I've been introduced to another personal branding expert - one who is really taking it to the next level. His name is Hajj Flemings and I'm proud to call him a colleague.

Hajj has written a book on the subject, called Brand YU Life: re-thinking who you are through personal brand management. I've been reading it and I'm very impressed with the message he conveys, broken down into seven easy to remember sections and peppered with some very compelling visuals and notes sections. Hajj recommends the following steps:
  1. Identify your passion
  2. Definie your mission
  3. Count the cost
  4. Create your voice
  5. Develop your core
  6. Be authentic
  7. Shift to now
In addition, he has created and is producing an event called Brand Camp University in the Detroit area on September 27. I'm honored to be one of the speakers there, where I'll be talking about the importance and impact of social media and your career.

If you're in the area or planning on being in the area on September 27, I'd urge you to sign up for the event. And if you can't be there, you should order a copy of Hajj's book. The personal journey he shares is worth it, let alone the solid personal branding advice that comes along with it.


Photo credit: Ahmed Rabea on Flickr

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Thursday, May 08, 2008

An Excellent Example of Citizen Journalism: Twisney
I'm taking a long weekend with my wife, kids and my parents to celebrate Mother's Day at Disney World. So imagine my surprise when I recently was introduced to a Twitter account @twisney by Doug Haslam (@DougH on Twitter). Twisney aggregates updates from anyone who uses "@twisney" in their tweets and then shares it on Twitter and on their site.

Featured in today's Buzzwatch in the Wall Street Journal, Twisney.com, the brainchild of Scott Mitchell, a 34 year-old Disney fan who created this site of real-time updates from individuals within the parks. The intro to the WSJ post captures it all:
If you want to understand how citizen journalists armed with cellphones are going to change the world–and create challenges and opportunities for businesses–spend a few minutes at Twisney.com.

What you’ll find there: Live updates from ordinary people walking around Disney World, using their cellphones to share their experiences with anyone who cares to take notice.


The site has some pretty cool features, including updates that are overlaid on an aerial view of the parks, a collection of uploaded photos by date & tag, and a whole page of tools on how you can use Twisney.

The more I read about add-ons, apps, and creative uses of Twitter, the more I'm inspired. When a simple and elegant service comes along and changes the way people interact with each other - and opens its API (Application Programming Interface - the source code), what happens is you get seemingly limitless possibilities because of the passion, know-how, and creativity of its user base.

This has happened with Twitter, again and again. I can't even begin to list all of the useful apps for Twitter because there are so many that do a variety of things. Your best bet to witness the community in action is to check out the Twitter Fan Wiki.

I believe that the brands that open themselves up to co-development by fans will benefit the most. Whether you're a consumer packaged goods company or a software startup, there are brand loyalists out there who love your stuff and want to help you succeed. Companies that greedily hoard and guard their brand will find that in the end, they'll have achieved only a shadow of what was possible had they been more open and accepting of consumer-generated content and shared intellectual property.

It baffles me that there are still corporate brand Nazis out there (mostly from the legal department in large companies) who don't get this yet. What's your experience? Have you tried to co-create anything, only to be rebuked? Or even better, have you been embraced by a company who likes what you're doing with their brand? I'd love to know.


Photo courtesy of Eprice.com.tw

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Do Taxes and Social Media Mix?
April 15, a date that Americans typically dread - because income taxes are due - seems like a perfect time to write about the intersection of social media and taxes. But not from the angle you'd expect.

I'd like to share a story with you about impatience. I know, I can hear you asking, "But what does that have to do with social media and taxes?" I'll get to it. Just bear with me.

Like many marketing bloggers, I receive my fair share of bad pitches. I suppose that makes me hypersensitive to emails in which writers indicate that they've been reading my blog and think there's a fit for their pitch. Usually the fact that they haven't commented or that they only make reference to the last two or three posts is what tips me off to their insincerity.

But let's be honest. Blogger outreach is a hard job. Unless you're already embedded in the community, you have to get up to speed with your target audience very quickly - and usually with many of them. It's incredibly labor-intensive. I really empathize with the people that are doing this, especially with experienced marketing bloggers on the receiving end. We can be harsh critics, maybe simply because we're pressed for time. Impatient, one might say.

And I can be pretty harsh. Most of the time, with good reason. But recently, I let a pitch slip by that I should have spent a longer time considering.

I received an email titled "Do Taxes and Social Media Mix?" I thought it was an odd combination, and when I looked at the body of the email, I noted that the author of the note referenced some recent posts I had made on the blog here. Rather than being encouraged that she was taking an interest in my work, I assumed it was a form email with recent topics plugged in and "social media" as the topic of my blog simply inserted into the title "Do Taxes and _____ Mix?" I immediately hit the Delete key as I thought it was a contrived effort.

I made a mistake.

It turns out that it was part of a pretty well thought out campaign for H&R Block from 360i, the agency where my fellow author David Berkowitz works. Evidently, H&R Block has a pretty sharp VP of marketing for their digital tax solutions, and she's really savvy about social media.

The campaign was pretty comprehensive, including:




If you'd like to read a couple of summaries and professional opinions of the campaign, check out Jason Falls of Social Media Explorer and Jake McKee at Community Guy. Both are positive but fair assessments of H&R Block's efforts.

The bottom line is, had I taken the time to learn about the effort a little more and been less judgmental on the opening salvo, I would have been more likely to pay attention to the campaign.

I probably would have been even more likely to pay attention to it had the author been participating in my community, used a different subject line or been a little less scripted in her email.

Then again, if I had a little more patience, these points would have been moot. Suffice it to say that patience was just a little too (dare I say it?) taxing for me last month.

Update (5/15/05): H&R Block gave a presentation this week at AdAge's Digital Bites breakfast in which they shared what they learned.

Photo courtesy of PPDIGITAL

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Friday, September 28, 2007

Even the Most Subtle Decisions Are Made for a Reason
It seems I'm in good company. Blue is in right now - my official color with crayon is Midnight Blue (Greg is green and Joseph is Aquamarine. I'll let them explain their own choices, if they wish).


I chose that color when I joined because - well, look around you here on my blog for a hint. But more than that, I chose the color for a business reason. Since I deal with clients on a regular basis, I wanted to espouse some of the feelings that blue typically conveys:
  • Openness
  • Calm, cool and soothing effects
  • A feeling of well-being
  • Fidelity

I know a lot of this might be hocus-pocus or completely subjective. Does blue have any sort of effect on you or on the decisions you make? Would you or have you ever decided against a brand or product because of its color?

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Friday, August 17, 2007

There's a Write Way and a Wrong Way
I was reading an e-newsletter (well, it's actually an emailed blog entry) today from Mobile Insider called My iPhone Needs a Gun, when I noticed something.

I actually read the entry in its entirety.

It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I consume a lot of information every day, which means I do a lot of scanning - headlines, first sentences of paragraphs. And if the copy or subject matter doesn't grab me, I'm outta there.

But this article was different. Why?

Put very simply: it was written the way I like to listen. That's not a typo. I mean that if someone was reading the article to me - or telling it to me as a story - I'd want to listen. And it made me keep reading.

Now I'm not an iPhone user, nor do I really care about what apps are working or not working for it - which was the point of the article. What had me entertained and focused was that this guy was talking as if we were joking in the hallway or sharing a beer after work. He used attitude infused with humor as a way to tell a compelling story about some iPhone features (or those he'd like to see). An excerpt:
I also get to spend time with the iPhone now at the beach, because lo and behold my 15-year-old daughter has evolved into the nightmare of every father — the cutest thing on the sand. The first time she walked into the water I actually saw teen boys point and move towards her like shards of metal towards a magnet, like puppies towards food, like detestable vermin towards a 5-star kitchen.

And another:
Luckily, the iPhone has a good camera and loads of memory, so I was able to take snaps of all these little felons just in case we need to run them with the FBI. I dug into the Safari browser in search of online sign-ups for the NRA. No one delivers firearms same day to the north beach of Cape May, I discovered.
And finally:
My daughter...was more interested in SeeqPod Music (seeqpod.com/iphone), which is a very nice index and front end for the thousands of MP3 tracks that are accessible for streaming directly from the Web. I am not sure about the legality of the rights management here, but the app uses the familiar iPod interface to slip through catalogs of artists and search for tunes that stream well into the Quicktime player. There are no ads here yet, but clearly there could be, and with people declaring their musical tastes so precisely, there should be some very targeted ad possibilities. "Ooh, look, they have Slipknot's 'Do Nothing Bitchslap,'" my sweet young girl said.

You know, when the mail-order gun arrives here at the beach, just shoot me with it.

Not the kind of writing you get from your friendly neighborhood traditional journalist, and certainly not the style you'd get from the typical marketing department. But informative and useful nonetheless. Which is a powerful reminder as to why blogs are becoming more and more legitimate and important in the media mix.

When you're preparing the copy for your blog, corporate website, brochure or direct mail piece, what style do you typically effect? Having worked in the b2b space previously, I can tell you there's a lot of dry, dull and seemingly overused copy out there. Corporate standards must be upheld, you know.

But what if you took that website or brochure and really made it sing? What if you wrote it the way people would listen to it? What if - just for a moment - you did something that was completely unexpected and out of the ordinary?

It might be slightly "off-brand," but you know what? The people that work for your company aren't all "on-brand," are they? What makes Corporate Communications think every microsite, every tri-fold, every newsletter has to be devoid of personality and as antiseptic and emotionless as a Stepford wife? Aren't rules made to be broken once in a while?

I'm sure no one is monitoring how your sales team interacts with customers in one-on-ones. They get to use their personality to persuade, inform and relate. Why shouldn't you?

Think about it. Don't make Steve Smith get the gun for his iPhone.


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Friday, July 13, 2007

iPhone, Meet Total Blender
Of the videos I've seen this week, our friends over at BlendTec are the winners, hands down.

This week, the CEO (as usual) takes his position next to the blender and whips out his brand new iPhone. He quickly tosses it in the blender, selects "Smoothie," and...



I've been following the Will It Blend? videos for quite some time and they're always entertaining. But beyond the awareness/entertainment factor, every marketer wants to know: how does this translate into sales? According to BlendTec, they've seen a huge spike in sales.

Charlene Li sums up the success factors rather well in a post on her blog, citing authenticity, humor, originality and a connection to the value of the product. I don't know about you, but if I were to go blender shopping before seeing these videos, I'd normally have no clue as to what I'd buy. I'd probably pick some mid-range model and hope for the best.

But now if you say "blender," I automatically picture one of these videos in my mind and picture how the product performs. While I might not be in the market for a $400 blender, it's top of mind when I'm considering a purchase. And that's what any good marketer wants.

The relative low cost of using a social network like YouTube for a marketing campaign is certainly attractive in these days of tight marketing budgets. But as Charlene pointed out, there are a number of reasons this one works. But there is one that I think she missed: aligning your brand with another well-known (and in this case well-loved) brand.

In just two days, the iPhone edition of "Will It Blend?" has garnered over 650,000 views. The front-runner for all 55 videos submitted over the last year is...drum roll, please...an iPod! Nearly 4 million views of the world's foremost mp3 player versus the world's most powerful blender. But what makes the destruction of Jobsian technology so much more interesting than say, hockey pucks or oysters?

People who know and use Apple products are typically enamored with the beauty of the design and how well the software and hardware are integrated. The popularity of these particular videos is, I think, due to something as basic as morbid curiosity - the same emotion that causes NASCAR fans to secretly wish for a crash and a car fire. Plus, the sheer hype of the iPhone over the last few weeks undoubtedly drove this. Perhaps a little phone envy plays into it as well?

Bottom line: sometimes, instead of the typical features & benefits approach that 90% of marketers use, a little creativity and thought can go a long way. When you connect to your audience's emotions and give them a way to share their enthusiasm through social networks, your brand will benefit.

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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

WIIFM?
Yesterday, I noted the six entries on my blog that were the most popular based on a single metric - traffic. Two of my "taggees" immediately took the bait joined the conversation and noted their own popular entries, but with a twist.

Greg Verdino, in a Herculean effort to overcome his anti-meme streak, rose to the challenge by choosing three entries, each based on a different factor: traffic generated to his blog, and most conversation generated and most attention from other bloggers.

Both he and Doug Haslam also went further by selecting which past posts they liked the most themselves. I was initially thinking of doing that as well, but I decided against it because my feeling was that the blog exists more for you as my reader, rather than for me as a writer. As a marketer, I was trying to be sensitive to this perspective, because at times the marketing profession gets too wrapped up in its own message and seemingly ignores the customer. It becomes a game of "Look at me!!" rather than "What do you need?"

As much as any marketer's positioning, branding and message are essential, let's remember that customers are constantly wondering WIIFM - "what's in it for me?" To that end, it's our responsibility as marketers to ensure that we're delivering something of value to them, whether it's a 30-second spot, a product that meets their needs or a service that exceeds their expectations.

The point of this post isn't to pontificate - it's to share a perspective. And my perspective changed a little after reading Greg's and Doug's posts. Here's how they rationalized their decision to post their own favorite entries:
Doug: [my blog] is here to help me “create with the mind”– that is what “Gischeleman” means– and work on my writing and thinking by doing it regularly.

Greg (a little more unabashed): these are some of the posts that have given me the greatest satisfaction, that I feel are most consistent with my general views on new media and marketing, that come closest to nailing my vision for this blog. These are just a few of the posts that rank among the most popular with my favorite audience of one, ME.

Even though Because they were up-front about their desire to share their own (high) opinions of their work, I was forced to rethink the position I had taken. Although my readership has grown over time (albeit slowly) and I have the utmost respect for you as a reader (hey let's face it, if you've made it this far in the post, you have my thanks as well as my admiration), here's something that sets a blog apart from other marketing vehicles:

While a blog depends on good content, it thrives based on a good relationship.

You've come to know me through my writing style, the images I choose and the content I choose to post. I've come to know you through your comments or links you've made to my site - or even better, by meeting you in person. That represents the overall evolution of a blogger-reader relationship.

So at this point in our relationship, I guess I feel more comfortable sharing my own favorites with you. You can humor me - or you can move on to your next to-do. Either way, I hope you find value out of my work.

Twittermeme - ironically, one of my favorites is a meme, in this case "What Would Sherlock Holmes Twitter?" The reason I like it is that it allowed me to tie in another interest and it actually generated some minor conversation among a limited group of friends (including that good sport Verdino).

It's All Geek to Me - this was my first interaction with David Armano, in which he commented on my blog. It was my first "big blogger" reaction to anything I posted, and it was the beginning of great relationship with David - and eventually the connection to Greg Verdino.

What Is the Face of Your Brand - hey, any post in which I can mention Calvert DeForest / Larry "Bud" Melman is a winner in my mind.


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Monday, May 21, 2007

The Pepsi Challenge
A couple of weeks ago, the new marketing company crayon announced a revolutionary campaign undertaken on behalf of their client, The Coca-Cola Company. It's called Virtual Thirst and it invites users to participate in the Coke experience by generating ideas for creating their own vending machines that can do absolutely anything. The winner will see their creation become reality in Second Life.

The folks at crayon have developed a number of social media components to the campaign, including concerts and gatherings at the Coca-Cola Pavillion in Second Life, YouTube videos inviting response/entry videos, the landing page and a panel of celebrity judges to choose the winner. Undoubtedly a creative campaign that is designed to spark user-generated ideas to make the Coke brand come to life. More information is available at VirtualThirst.com.

But you have to wonder when Coke's #1 competitor Pepsi launches a campaign the same month that features...ads on bus shelters? Yes, bus shelters.

It seems a step down from the uber-cool Second Life approach from crayon. Or so I thought when I read the headline. But as I got a little further into the MediaPost piece, my interest grew.

Evidently, the ads feature a technology called LumiGraphics that lights up the ad and the shelter. This is the first time LumiGraphics have been used in the United States; the ads are currently being run in Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver, New York and Washington.

But what makes this illuminated outdoor ad stand apart from others is that it also brings Bluetooth technology to the mix. Passersby who are Bluetooth-enabled can download content such as a rap by New York Yankee Johnny Damon (!) or hip-hop artists, if you're a rap purist. The creative also encourages viewers to go to PepsiSmash.com for more music - a site that is driven by Yahoo! Music.

Not bad, not bad. I never was a Pepsi fan myself, except for Mountain Dew. Will this change my mind? Not likely. Will it grab some attention? Definitely. But to me, it doesn't invite the same level of participation - of conversation - that the Coke campaign does. This still smacks of one-way marketing. Which is fine, but I hope for their sake that Pepsi has a little more bubbling.

I say let the Yankees associate themselves with Pepsi. I'll stick with the Boston Red Sox and Coca-Cola, thank you very much.

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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

The Problem with Starbucks
We've all had our own Starbucks experience, right? Whether it's standing behind someone who orders the most outrageous drink there is ("half-skim, half half & half, half decaf mochachinolattechai with just a dusting of nutmeg and cane sugar") or putting up with the nearly $5 a cup price in order to have access to WiFi in a comfy chair. Name your Kafkaesque moment. I'm sure you can work Starbucks into it.

Recently John Moore Brand Autopsy wrote a manifesto (with help from readers) called What Must Starbucks Do? I was in Phoenix at the time this was released, spending time with my wife's family for Easter.


To set the stage, you should know that one of the things I inadvertently gave up at the end of Lent was Internet access, as my mother-in-law doesn't even have dial-up at her house. So I did what any new media junkie would do - I made the excuse that I needed "outside coffee" and got an hour at the local Starbucks.

When I arrived in the parking lot, something struck me about this store in North Phoenix. As someone who frequents Dunkin Donuts more often than Starbucks, at first I didn't notice it. But as I watched the flow of traffic, I realized something: this Starbucks had a drive-through.

Uh-oh. A drive-through. That's the hallmark of assembly-line commoditization. And even though there's probably a Starbucks slated to open in my living room next year, I think going for ubiquity with a drive-though is a mistake.

Considering that Starbucks was founded on the premise of giving the customer more than just coffee - giving them the Starbucks experience - it's a fairly alarming development. Those grab-and-go customers out in their cars won't be soaking up the jazz, browsing the java accessories, or watching the barista do his thing. There'll be no sense of shared community that one gets (or is supposed to get) by heading into the store.

No sirree. Because in this case, Starbucks traded experience for convenience. Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with convenience. But it's what everyone is trying to offer these days and it's not a differentiating factor for a brand.

It's telling, then, that Moore's manifesto mentioned that Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz is similarly troubled:
In an alarming internal memo made public, Howard expressed his concern that Starbucks is in danger of losing its soul, its uniqueness—its remarkability.
Any brands - whether they are coffee houses, watches, automobiles, toothpastes, mobile phones, enterprise software or professional services - need to evolve to stay relevant. But the ones that will succeed are the ones that are relevant while being unique.

What's Starbucks' ultimate recipe for success? According to a number of comments in the manifesto, the central ingredient is simple: make great tasting coffee. It's that simple. Make it more flavorful and more robust than any other coffee house.

The lesson here extends to any branding effort. It's easy to evolve with your customer base, but don't do so at the expense of your product. Always remember what got you where you are in the first place and redouble your efforts to maintain that excellence.

How's your coffee?

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Wednesday, April 18, 2007

How One Big Media Entity 'Gets It'
It looks like things are starting to come around - big media is joining the modern movement and starting to embrace social media as part of their overall communications strategy, not just as a perfunctory move.

For example, USA Today has a Twitter page and has seen a readership jump of 380% since doing a social network makeover. On my local 10 o'clock news and news radio station, I hear them mention their blogs and encourage online feedback from listeners.

But the big media social network that has my attention right now is none other than...

...NBC. Yes, that's right. The peacock network. The network that once boasted "Must See TV." The network that is now #4 in the ratings war and has 22% less revenue than last year to show for it. In addition to some new shows, their social network strategy is one way that they're hoping to gain some loyal viewers.

They are currently previewing the NBC.com Social Networking site and are calling for fans to get involved. "What exactly does NBC feature in the way of a social network?" I hear you asking. Here are a few examples:

Message Boards
Yes, it's very 1997 of you, NBC, but it's a basic component of any TV network's infrastructure. Get the fans to your site and let them chat about whatever excites them about your shows and sponsors. Only this time, monitor the hell out of it and figure out how to respond.

Video & Photo Galleries
The idea is simple: keep 'em here rather than give up the content to YouTube. Just make sure you enable sharing features and embedded video, so your fans can put the content on their blogs to share with friends, if they wish. Don't keep them tied to your home-grown social network. If you do, you'll lose them altogether.

Blogs
Here's where someone got creative. You've got the expected blogs: Jay's Garage by Jay Leno and Late Night Insider by Conan O'Brien. But then you get blogs from some of the popular characters on top shows, such as Dwight Schrute's blog - Schrute-Space (The Office); the Banker's Blog (Deal or No Deal), which takes the faceless, voiceless powermonger and gives us some insights to what makes him tick.

Other features to be rolled out include a personal profile, buddies, groups and widgets. I'll be interested to see how NBC brings this to life, wraps it into the shows, and engages with their fans. It probably helps that they have an Executive Vice President for Digital Entertainment and New Media, Vivi Zigler. It shows that NBC is willing to invest in the latest method of communicating with customers.

But will it result in higher revenue? If NBC can justify the traffic to advertisers, that might be a way to stem some of the lost revenue. And if they're able to effectively integrate advertising efforts into their widgets, they may have a new network advertising revenue model that they can help to pioneer and define.

And just to bring this back to a B2B focus for a moment, that last phrase - pioneer and define - seems to be what's holding so many B2B companies back as they sit on the sidelines and contemplate their corporate navels. They're waiting for proof that social media works in their space, that other companies are doing it and succeeding.

This may or may not be the right strategy. It probably depends on the organization. But they do risk a couple of things: at worst, being left behind and at best, being an also-ran. The point with new media is to get out there and experiment. Joseph Jaffe makes a geat point (#10 in his list to Bud.TV):
Above all...experiment experiment experiment and be prepared to make mistakes. Your reported $30-40 million investment will be well worth it if you learn from your mistakes and innovate intensely.
This is no time for timidity. It's time to get out there and see what sticks.

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Tuesday, April 17, 2007

On Corporate Blogging
A recent article on BrandWeek.com highlights the challenges and successes in corporate blogging. There are a number of notable corporate blogs mentioned, David Neeleman's JetBlue Flightlog (which had a bit of a hiccup after their canceled flights), to McDonald's focus on corporate social responsibility on Open for Discussion, to the infectious Southwest Airlines' Nuts About Southwest, to Bill Marriott's ambitious and very personal approach on Marriott On the Move.

The bottom line: each one of these blogs serves a purpose, reflects positively on the brand it represents, and aligns with a larger corporate communications strategy. Blogging itself is not a strategy.

An observation from the article: larger companies are less likely to have CEOs blogging; these are typically run by PR and product management types. I can't say this is surprising - what Fortune 500 CEO has time to blog full-time? Nor is it a negative thing. As long as good content is being provided (and by "good" I mean something that is considered valuable by readers), it doesn't matter who writes it.

People want to know what goes on inside their favorite companies; they want to know what employees - from the CEO to the administrative assistants - think about the company they work for.

Why this need for near-voyeuristic information? Because to some customers, everything a company does reflects on its brand. Think this just applies to your most loyal customers? Think again. Look at what's happening to Wal-Mart because of the way they choose to handle healthcare.

We all know the buzzwords that are echoing in the marketing space right now: authenticity, transparency, responsiveness. All of these should be addressed as part of a marketing strategy, and a good corporate blog is one way to start.


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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

There Are Riches in Niches
The launch of Stripe Generator - admittedly a one-off with limited appeal - caused Seth Godin to raise a point:
Not a lot of room to make stuff that everyone thinks is great. I think you're a lot better off delighting and amazing the niches.
There's a lot of truth there. When I was recently mulling over two podcasting ideas, I shared my ideas with a new media colleague. Here's roughly how the conversation went:

Me: So I've got a couple of podcast ideas in development. One is for a social media podcast; the other is a literary podcast.

Him: Doing one podcast is a huge commitment; two would be even greater. Let me ask you this: is anyone else doing a literary podcast in the space?

Me: No.

Him: Then make that your focus. There are tons of podcasts about podcasting, blogging and new marketing. But is anyone else doing a podcast about this literary character?

Me: No.

Him: Then you should own it. Be the first. Be the best. You can stand out.
He's absolutely right. If you want to brand yourself, if you want to be remarkable, you need to give people a solution that they need, no matter what the size of the audience. If you're doing what's already been done and you have no unique angle, you aren't going to have many evangelists who will be loyal to you. Plus - if you actually enjoy what you're doing and you're really good at it, you'll be rewarded.

Go out there and build the next Stripe Generator.

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Thursday, March 29, 2007

Schwag for Your Next Unconference
I was flipping through the Wall Street Journal today (Heaven forfend! I'm still reading print!), ready to fold it up and toss it in the recycling bin, when a 4C full page ad on the back of the Marketplace section caught my eye.

It was an ad for Titleist featuring 20 golf balls with different logos sitting on newsprint. The headline was "Excellence is the best investment" and the golf balls had logos from a wide variety of well-known brands such as Fidelity, Marriott, Lexus, EMC, Ocean Spray, Timberland and FedEx. In an effort to entice readers to associate their own brands with Titleist, the ad encouraged readers to go to titleist.com/customball to create logoed golf balls of their own.

It may be an old cliche, but there's still a ring of truth to it: a good deal of the business world uses golf as part of deepening relationships. Prospects, customers, employees, board members - essentially any constituency that matters - can be drawn into the conversation and engaged on a more personal and human level while on the golf course. But what does that have to do with the Titleist ad and social media?


This is a great example of an old-school company adapting to the world of new marketing and new technology as part of its branding efforts. Titleist gets the benefit of being able to run an ad with 20 well known brands that have created custom logos, thus strengthening their own, and they get wider exposure by encouraging what is essentially consumer-generated content (i.e. your own logo on a golf ball).

Here's my take on how their service delivers.

The Good
I had never before thought of or desired to visit the Titleist Web site. Golf balls are very nearly a commodity (or should be, the way I golf!) and in my mind don't offer much in the way of differentiation. Even though they aren't marketed this way, I think all golf balls are pretty much equivalent. For my money, the clubs (and the lessons) make the difference.

So I give Titleist full credit for getting me to visit their site based on a nice piece of creative with a compelling call to action.

Once there, you can select from event-related balls (birthdays, launches, etc.) or simply design your own ball. The interface is very smooth with - its Flash-enabled - and it allows you do quickly navigate through the steps.
  1. Choose the type of cusomtomization - name, logo, name & logo, etc.
  2. One, two or three lines of text in your choice of 4 colors
  3. Your logo
  4. Type of Titleist ball you'd like
  5. Standard or customized packaging
It's as easy as drag & drop, and you can resize and crop your logo so it fits on the face of the ball.

Room for Improvement
Here's where Titleist falls down on this otherwise cool site:
  1. Logo balls require a minimum order of 12 boxes (144 balls). That may be fine if you're going to a lot of shows, have a lot of customers, or you lose a lot of balls. But if you're looking to do something on the small end, it's not really an option. An example of a company that does it right with small orders of highly customized material is Moo.
  2. There's no pricing information.
  3. Once you're done with your design and are ready to place your order, it's not as simple as clicking "order now." You need to physically print out your order, gather a high-res file of your logo and track down your nearest "authorized Titleist golf shop or promotional products distributor." At least you can go back to the main site and click on their Golf Shop Locator to find one near you.
All in all, this is not a bad service. And like Moo, it's an interesting and unique way to brand yourself at smaller events like unconferences.

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Titleist nor was I paid or approached by Titleist to write this post. I'm simply a social media expert with golf on the brain as spring rolls around.

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Thursday, March 22, 2007

What Is the Face of Your Brand?
After many faithful years of service to Late Night with David Letterman (and prior to that the Late Show with David Letterman), everyman Calvert DeForest (aka Larry "Bud" Melman) passed away this week at the age of 85. He hadn't appeared on the show for 3 years, but he is still closely associated with it.

"What does this have to do with my brand?" I hear you ask.

Everything. And let me tell you why.

When he was picked out of obscurity (DeForest was working at the Social Services office at the time), Letterman's crew had the brilliant idea of putting a normal schlub into situations in which he had no experience. They'd throw cue cards up there for him to read, but the real value for the Late Show's audience was to see how DeForest reacted. They were never disappointed.

But more than the entertainment value that he provided, DeForest represented the Letterman brand: zany, unexpected and unscripted interactions between people, held together with Letterman's own quick wit and acerbic sense of humor. People knew that with Letterman, they were getting someone irreverent - certainly much different from the "apple pie" approach of Johnny Carson.

Now think of your own audience - your customers, prospects and employees. In this digital age, they are part of your marketing team, whether you want to admit it or not. They're engaging in conversations about your brand and representing you to the outside world. Are you aware of it? Are you enlisting their help? Most importantly, have you given them anything to relate to? Who is the face of your brand?

The last point is critical, because today more than ever, relationships count. We're awash in a sea of data, constantly being barraged with messages. Who has time to read another piece of corporate collateral? If an organization can take the time to build personal relationships with its constituents and be authentic in its approach, the trust and connection will be cemented.

One way to go about this is with a CEO blog. This can be a powerful branding tool if used properly. Here's a quick list of the top 10 CEO blogs (or more properly Executive blogs, since these aren't all CEOs). But what should a CEO blog about to make the company seem more human?
  • Travel and experiences out in the field with real customers (avoiding any confidential information, of course)
  • A personal passion, whether it's sailing, a charity, or family interests
  • Examples of how customer service feedback changed a process or product at the company
  • Calling out successes of individual employees who live the brand; that is, employees who are demonstrating the values of the organization in their personal or professional lives
  • Please do not blog about new product releases - your audience can get this from your corporate Web site
These are just a handful of ways to get started. I'm open to hearing more, of course!

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Monday, March 19, 2007

Branding Has Consequences
Well, I've finally taken the plunge with two of my blogs and purchased my own domain names, all in the name of branding. While the Blogger platform works for me, it's a pain having to tell contacts that my URL contains "dot blogspot dot com." To have your own domain really helps people remember your brand. Plus, it's kind of cool. There's an inherent problem, though.

 Blogger (the new Blogger, that is) now allows you to use a custom domain for your site. I waited waited patiently for this after trying, but not quite having enough time to master WordPress. But a quick look at my Technorati rankings worries me. All of the inbound links that I've worked so hard (or not!) to encourage are stil associated with my old URL and I'm somewehre in the 2 million mark. Hopefully this is a temporary situation that will be resolved as the new domains become recognized. With any luck, a few pings is all it will take.

If not, then let this be a lesson to you: establish your domain name and your brand early, and build from there. It's no fun having to start over.

And if you'd like to do a guy a solid, please change any links you might currently have pointing to http://socialmediamarketing.blogspot.com to http://www.scottmonty.com. Thanks!

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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Your Brand Will Get Tarnished if You Don't Watch Out
I recently mentioned a case of brand hijacking via social media. While that episode marked the use of bloggers defaming a company's image, here's one that makes use of Wikipedia. This is not an uncommon occurrence.

Today's case in question is the Wikipedia entry on PhRMA, which so blatantly anti-pharma that its neutrality need not even be disputed. Just take a look at the "Company Operations" section - it focuses almost entirely on PhRMA's lobbying efforts.

Even though the pharmaceutical industry is under attack as much as Big Oil and Big Tobacco - and don't even get me started on the unfairness inherent in that co-categorization - they should be aware of the social media implications. Someone from PhRMA - even a communications intern, for God's sake - should be monitoring major sites like Wikipedia for this type of one-sided information.

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About Scott

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The best way to describe Scott is "Renaissance Man." Friends and colleagues that know Scott from one facet of his life are very frequently surprised to learn of his interests and talents in other areas.

Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Currently on the staff of corporate communications in Ford Motor Company, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.


Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his consulting and agency background, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog, a literary undertaking. Scott has been featured in numerous news and business publications, on a variety of podcasts, and on national television. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of C.C. Chapman and a PDF version of Scott's bio here.


Books in which Scott's work is featured:
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Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please send an email to speaking [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.






Some previous engagements include:

BlogWell - How Big Companies Use Social Media - Minneapolis - August 13 Keynote at OMMA Global Sept. 21, 2009

MIMA Summit

Brand Camp '09 "I am Speaking at" Widget 135px Direct Marketing Association International conference, Oct. 18-22, 2009



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Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views.

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