Business Juice

What's going on here

My name is Ashley Lohman, and herein I express what I think marketing communications can and should accomplish for businesses that sell to other businesses. Those who have read the cluetrain manifesto: the end of business as usual will notice the influence. You'll hear echoes of marketing gurus Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki. But this is my unique worldview, refined during the more than 10 years I've supported supply chain technology companies.

There's nothing sexy about supply chain technology, right. Manufacturing execution. Management of warehouses and transportation fleets and mobile assets and enterprise resources. Yawn. But wait a minute. Order something from Zappos after dinner, pay nothing for shipping, receive it the next day before lunch. You think, that's interesting, how Zappos was able to do that. It's pretty cool, you must admit, this invisible orchestration that went on behind your order. That's what these supply chain companies do, they provide orchestration. Often it's not about getting sneakers and pumps to people, but still. It's pretty cool and interesting when you think about it, and with the right marketing approach it could seem downright sexy.

For now, business-as-usual conductors who lead the technology companies that make orchestrations possible far outnumber the Gustavo Dudamels. What a shame. I'm only interested in the Gustavo Dudamels. And guess what. The people who are buying supply chain technology would much prefer to do business with the Gustavo Dudamels if given the choice. It's really for their sake that I continue to preach and practice evolved methods of bringing businesses together. Not only do I believe it can be done, I believe it must be done if the technological underpinnings of commerce are to be fully realized, anticipated and appreciated.

Here's how to reach me:

e-mail ashley (at) businessjuice (dot) com

804-240-7719

Twitter: ashleylohman

Say twhat?

the art of communication

 

Here's the "word cloud" that formed when I typed in the address of this site on Wordle.

The more frequently a word appears, the greater the word's prominence.  You can play around with Wordle's color, font and layout choices and create your own masterpiece.

The question is not what are you doing right now (Facebook).  Or, more simply, what are you doing (Twitter).  Wordle's inherent question is, What are you saying? 

From the color scheme and word prominence it becomes evident what I'm saying here.  Marketing Chain Company Boring.  Yep, that's pretty much what I'm railing against.  Set in muddy brown type. Supply and People jump out at you in lively, cheerful white, the two most interesting, most marketable aspects of a supply chain company and where I believe the marketing emphasis needs to be placed.  I didn't have a hand in it - word colors are dictated through the color scheme.  But I sure do like the coincidence.  Or is it coincidence?

So, what is your company saying?  Paste the corporate URL or text of the latest brochure to see.  Is it what you thought you were saying?

I remember reading through my husband's college Comp back when we were dating and coming away not knowing what in the world he was attempting to prove with it.  And now helping my boys with their reports, it's the same deal.  A singular focus on getting it down, getting it pushed through, getting it done.  The joy of the thing, no matter the thing you're working on, lies in getting something said.  The fun at the time, and the reward later, is in starting, joining or furthering a conversation.   

The takeaway from this post and this site taken in combination is this: Before trying to win hearts or change minds, first know exactly what you're trying to say, put your energy and money into getting it said in the most entertaining and interesting way possible (please!), and for a fun and productive way to test it out use Wordle. 

The (real) Secret

I have the same kind of crush on Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs, as my friend Kathy did on David Letterman in the 80s.  It's that seductive combination of intellect and sense of humor.  

Mike Rowe has figured out the secret to happiness, bless him.      

Perhaps you've read or viewed The Secret.  Pure drivel.  Rowe has discovered that people with dirty jobs possess the real secret. 

Go Steelers!

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Following beats Friending

Twitter's going to change everything. No matter who you are or what you do, twitter means business is required reading.

The idea of Facebook turns me off. The whole Friending thing reminds me of the superficial unpleasantness of my time in a sorority during college. I was happily doing my very unsorority-type thing with my then and now best friends, but I got talked into it. Not this time. I know a stint on Facebook would quickly land me in the same category as it did then. "Inactive."

I'd love to know as it happens what cool things are being thought and discovered by people like Chris Lindland of Cordarounds, Kenneth Brown of Kenneth Brown Design, and my most accomplished, well traveled, devilish friend Sarah Hurst (none of whom are tweeting, to my dismay). So thank goodness for Twitter that it's possible. I'm finding it great fun to think 140-character thoughts and quite valuable to know what 140-character thoughts the people I'm following are having.

But the business value of the thing has my mind spinning. Think of this one small example of the possibilities inherent in Twitter. My husband works for the power company here. A power company exec in another state at another company tweeted the other day about how she's interested in the smart metering program he's been working on. Here's the tweet: Dominion Power in Virginia is looking at some unique and creative applications for their smart metering. I'm excited to learn more. 8:17 AM Jan 14th...Name T_McLeod...Location Phoenix, AZ...Bio Expresso consuming energy exec

So let's say my husband (jon_lohman) replies, "I'm with Dominion's smart metering group, and I'm excited to teach you." I imagine a very happy ending.

It's not about accruing followers, unless you're a tweeter like 1MILLIONorBUST or you really want to be among the Who's Who in the Twitterverse (see Twitterati). As the book says, it's more than a communication tool--it is an engagement tool. It's about two-way conversation. It gets us ever closer to the old way of doing business. Ironically now we find ourselves advanced enough, and with Twitter evolved enough, to be able to go back. Remember Nels Oleson, the proprietor of the town's general store in Little House on the Prairie? There's your original tweeter. He had stuff for sale, but what people bought was him. He sold a lot of stuff that way.

On Twitter I'm "ashleylohman" without the quotes.  Come tweet with me!

First, is it fit to eat?

Today I received an invitation to download the brief of a MarketingProfs survey conducted with Forrester Research that is said to uncover changes in Business-to-Business marketing strategies and budget allocation.

"Not surprisingly, survey results indicated sharp increases in spending and usage of such Web-based marketing tactics as Webinars and other Web 2.0 media."

Uh-oh.

We are going to be seeing a whole lot of meatball sundaes.

fun vs. boring

Fun! Wait for a few seconds and see what happens!

Boring. Wait a few seconds and see what happens.

I'm not picking on LXE. All supply chain-type products are presented this way, or worse. Boring products don't have to be presented in a boring fashion. In fact, if you present boring products in an interesting fashion they cease to be boring. Or at least as boring.

And when you're not completely boring in this industry, you're remarkable. It's a low threshold until supply chain executives start to wake up, so have some fun while fun equals pure profit for your company. Fun will equal expenditure for companies that try catch up.

The warehouse as muse? Get serious!

DC Velocity published an article titled "the warehouse as muse" in the February issue, and I can't figure out if the staff is being tongue in cheek. I've puzzled over it all day. The article points to profiles in The Boston Globe of two people whose creative talent blossomed while working in a warehouse.

Warehouse as muse? Try Mephistopheles. These two people weren't inspired. They barely got out with their sanity intact. I'm feeling like I, too, am losing my mind. Everywhere you look it's the same lack of courage to treat employees, customers and prospects with a little respect. To treat them like the interesting and multifaceted people they are. It's a pervasive corporate culture that nobody enjoys, inside or outside of these organizations. Will it ever change? That's a serious question, and I'm looking for a straight answer.

an important conversation

Supply Chain Digest takes a step in the right direction of building a community of supply chain professionals by asking for feedback on articles. Feedback pours in. On the first day of February 2008, the editors apologized for not doing anything with it. "We're really behind again - bear with us. But keep the letters coming! In the next few weeks, we'll start adding feedback right on specific story pages, so you can see what others are saying. Still catching up on letters sent in late 2007 this week." Supply chain community remains an oxymoron.

Yet because there aren't many -- if any -- other ways to be heard, having the opportunity to submit feedback to Supply Chain Digest is at least something. And I took them up on it last week, even though I knew my letter wouldn't be published in a timely manner if at all. Here I'm posting my response to the article "How to Effectively Fill Your Supply Chain Executive Team" in the hope it might continue what I believe to be an important conversation.

People running things are marketers. Once you see that every interaction, product, service and side effect says something about your company, you'll realize most executive decisions actually are marketing decisions. It's not what you're offering but how you're offering it that defines what business you're in. And so, often I've wondered why companies in the supply chain industry aren't keen to recruit and retain the very best marketing talent.

It's curious to me that at every supply chain-affiliated company I've represented over the years, every salesperson I've talked to, without exception, has personified prospects as frumpy, unimaginative, cynical, overloaded, territorial middle-aged men. Ouch. Is it any wonder why these companies can't keep the most clever and tapped-in marketers, and therefore generate the excitement, that business-to-consumer companies are known for?

I believe the supply chain products or services company that can turn a sense of playfulness into a competitive differentiator will change the industry. As the bestselling cluetrain manifesto says, getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate Web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk and a genuine point of view. Show me a supply chain products or services company with these attributes.

Having effective marketers on the supply chain executive team is critical to a company's growth and prosperity. Without big values, a little humility, straight talk and a genuine point of view, your company might enjoy short-term gains but will struggle with long-term viability. So, where is "Marketing Prowess" on the Tradeoff Scorecard? Rock star versus Colonel Tom Parker.

Exceptional marketers build an organization around big values, a little humility, straight talk and a genuine point of view. Marketing does not support the organization. The organization supports marketing. What we -- your market -- have wanted all along is to be treated with respect and to be connected to other people. Thanks to New Marketing tactics like blogs and YouTube videos and the like, it's easier than ever to give us what we want.

Yet you don't. Because these tactics don't work so well if you're boring. And you'll never be anything but boring unless you have the courage to fill your supply chain executive team with great marketers. People want to do business with people. And right now jargon-laden communications, online brochures disguised as Web sites, and fear of the new stand in the way. Having great marketers running things would make all the difference.

pointers

If you see someone pointing up at the sky and a crowd gathering, would you continue on your way without looking up? Not likely. It's human nature to look because everyone else is looking. It's human nature to buy what everyone else is buying. It's human nature to like what everyone else likes. New Marketing -- creating stories and spreading them -- accounts for human nature. New Marketing tactics allow people to do what comes naturally.

If yours is truly the Superman of its kind of offers, the best in the world, people will point and say in effect, Look...Up in the sky! It only takes one pointer to begin to attract a crowd, and attracting a crowd, even if it's a small one, is what you need these days to grow and prosper. New Marketing tactics can help you work the crowd, but you need pointers to attract one to begin with.

I've written and said it several different ways for the past couple of years: There are no companies offering supply chain products or services that have managed to attract a crowd. That would be for lack of pointers, because nothing amazing is happening. Nothing amazing is happening because across the board it's business as usual with marketing to match. Supply chain company executives are focused on creating and marketing things so that people would want them. But if instead they focused on creating and marketing things because people would want them, now that would be amazing. And more amazing still would be if they had marketing to match.

"First one in, doing it right, wins. C'mon in, the water's fine," invites Seth Godin in his latest bestseller Meatball Sundae. The end of the book seems to be directed right at supply chain company execs. "You can't imagine coming to work tomorrow trying to transform your [business] into an organization that makes stories. You can't imagine that your hard-nosed business-to-business customer, the guy in the short-sleeved shirt who does $3 million in billings with your distributorship, is going to fall for this nonsense.

"If that's you, I've failed. I'm hoping that just a few readers find themselves in your shoes, and I'm going to give it one last shot before I leave you alone.

"It's not nonsense.

"In 2006, Pfizer launched a prescription weight-loss drug. For dogs. [Fat dogs] are fat because the hard-nosed, short-sleeved business-to-business buyer you are so certain is hyper-rational is actually overfeeding his dog every single day and is now about to buy medicine so the dog will eat less.

"Human beings, left to their own devices, don't act like robots or rational computers. We don't all do the same things, and we don't do things for the same reasons. Given enough choices, we'll make choices. Not always the one the spreadsheet says -- just the one that feels right to us. Given an authentic story that matches our worldview, we'll believe it. And given the chance to speak up, we'll do that -- loudly and often."

You need to find a proverbial phone booth, cram all your executives into it, and change your organization into one that can give rise to the Superman of offers. Then it's up to pointers. The hard-nosed, short-sleeved business-to-business buyer has all the makings of one. He's a human being, after all. Human beings notice things that are amazing. Human beings notice other people noticing things that are amazing. Human beings crowd around when people are noticing amazing things. You, then, have the envious job of working that crowd.

Don't ask or pay pointers to point, or the crowd will surely turn on you and things will get ugly. Pointers are just doing what comes naturally. They don't necessarily care about you, and certainly they don't expect anything from you. The only thing you need to worry about is getting an amazing thing aloft and then working the crowd that gathers. The quickest way to disperse the crowd that pointers have attracted is to use Old Marketing tactics (annoying interruptions, hijacked conversations...). The best way to manage the crowd is to use New Marketing tactics (permission-based contact, enabled conversations...). But if you don't understand how important pointers are to your success, then for sure you won't be enjoying any.

boo on cynicism

Usually it's good to be a brand people use as a verb. Not today, not for Xerox. Clinton's "it's change you can Xerox" zinger in last night's debate with Obama went over like a lead balloon.

Seth Godin: It's too easy to criticize hope

And in the end, cynicism is a lousy strategy.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The advice contained in the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs to Stanford graduates in 2005 has helped me a great deal. No matter what place you're in right now, whether you've found what you're meant to do or not, it's worth a read for sure.

Are you ready to listen?

Uno, the first beagle to win the hound group in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show since 1939, won best in show this week in a huge upset. No hound of any kind had won at Westminster since 1983. He's the first beagle ever to win the top prize.

History-making things like this, things that glorify the everydog and everyman, are starting to happen regularly.

The sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden clearly favored Uno. He received the blue ribbon against the backdrop of a first-ever standing ovation. According to the AP story, "It was an upset in the show world...sort of like the boy-next-door becoming president — that's how it was to see an everyday backyard pet earn the silver bowl."

Speaking of, I read in the local Richmond paper that the obituary of a man who died in Charlottesville last Friday asks friends "to make a healthy and significant contribution to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, or, if they insist, the charity of their choice." People care profoundly about Obama, the everyman, the underdog (for now).

The best in show in any arena, from dog show to trade show, is going to be the one we like, the one we relate to, the one we believe in. Hundreds or millions of voices calling for change, that's what's happening. You'd best start to market to the we. The business-as-usual types, the status quoers, the them, can't be heard above the din.

Perfectly coiffed and clipped poodles have had their day. Now it's time for the honest dogs to win. We say it's so, and we're going to be heard. Is your company ready to listen?

freeing your story

Here's the frame of the animated short film Madame Tutli-Putli, which is in the running for an Oscar, that I just "unlocked." Each of the 36,000 frames of the film must be unlocked by a visitor to the National Film Board of Canada's Web site. If all the frames are unlocked by February 22, the film will be streamed on the site the same day. They say you have to wait 24 hours between turns, but I've been taking advantage of a technical glitch that allows you to click right on through again.

This is smart marketing by the NFB. I've unlocked a handful of frames so far, and I feel like I own those particular story fragments. I appreciate the people who've unlocked the frames before mine, and I'm rooting on the people who come after me. Finding a way to have the members of the community you've built around your product or service unlock your story one metaphorical frame at a time would be smart marketing. The story's there, waiting to be told, it's just that you're letting your community free it.

Yes We Can

Obama song resonates on the Internet
will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and celebrities record a tune with the candidate's speech as inspiration.

"This is the nuttiest thing in the freaking world," he said. "It's not propaganda. It's not part of a campaign. There's no corporation behind it -- the record company couldn't get involved. I did it on my own. The only thing behind it is the people. And that's like, wow!"

New Marketing - the promises part

Today I bought a tub of baby wipes to have in the car for the three boybarians I drive around. Yesterday one of them used every wipe, tissue and napkin in the glove compartment after spilling the milky remainders of dunked Oreos all over the middle console.

I paid a little more for the chlorine-free wipes from Seventh Generation. The only chlorine I want on my kids is of the swimming pool variety, only because the thought of what could get on them in the absence of chlorine is too disgusting to think about. And there's the inherent promise by Seventh Generation to be as gentle on the planet as they are on people. That's worth something to me. If you've been anywhere on this earth, even your own backyard, and you've been awestruck, then that promise is worth something.

The tub came shrink-wrapped in plastic. I didn't think twice about it. I prefer my wipes to be untouched by human hands except the grubby little ones I hold so dear. When I opened the tub and saw the wipes encased in a plastic bag, actually I didn't think much about that either. My immediate thought was they're not going to be dried out. But then I was greeted by the following message printed on the outside of the bag. "We apologize for the temporary use of this additional packaging in our baby wipes tub. We are in the process of adding a new production line which will correct this situation shortly. Questions: www.seventhgeneration.com, Consumer Relations ph. 800-456-1191."

This is what I call keeping a promise, a promise they took more seriously than I did. So seriously that they're taking extraordinary measures to keep it. Seth Godin says New Marketing is about fashion and stories and permission and promises. There's your example of a promise made and kept.

Make us care.

I'd like to shake the hand of the person who came up with eBay's tagline. Now that's doing it the way God intended. "Shop victoriously" even beats "Just do it," the granddaddy of perfect taglines.

I'm so tired of seeing taglines being adulterated. "The Supply Chain People," "The Supply Chain Results Company," "Your Link to Supply Chain Solutions," these are but a few examples of this shameful practice. You don't have to be associated with the supply chain industry to know where I'm coming from. At business-to-consumer companies, where you think you'd find the more sophisticated marketers, it's the same deal. For some products in my house right now there's "Good call." (Miller Lite), "Closer to stylists. Closer to hair." (Goldwell), "knows fabrics best" (Tide), and "Endurance. Sport. Training." (Avia).

Wow, I get what you're all about. You're all about you.

In Guy Kawasaki's book The Art of the Start, required reading for anyone working at anything anywhere, he sets the record straight on taglines. Taglines are meant to be guidelines for customers on how to use your product or service. They're a call to action. An imperative sentence. And the incredibly effective ones also find a way to capture the essence of how customers can expect to feel when they do business with you.

For goodness sake, stop using taglines as half-baked, cutsie, say-nothing company descriptors. It's all about us -- not you. Make us care. There you go, a pretty good tagline.

"let Olive be Olive"

I've been seeing marketing lessons everywhere.

For instance, you could make the analogy that owl-eyed, untrained, out-of-place Olive in the movie Little Miss Sunshine is like New Marketing, which is about being authentic and transparent. Like Olive, New Marketing is the real deal. New Marketing wins out over Old Marketing in this Age of Choice because it supports the remarkable.

Old Marketing, which used to work in the Age of Scarcity, is about trumping up and tricking out the average. Old Marketing is like Olive's competition in the pageant, the homogenous pseudo-nymphets with their spray-on tans and capped teeth and elaborate talent acts. Old Marketing is about drawing the attention of a crowd and interrupting the more people the better. Because the pseudo-nymphets are all outrageously coiffed, inappropriately dressed and similarly coached, plain Olive is the one who stands out. She's the interruptive one. That's Old Marketing giving way to New.

A teachable moment about the difference between Old Marketing and New comes in the scene where Olive's brother privately beseeches his mom to pull Olive out of the competition before she performs so she won't be humiliated. His mom says they need to "let Olive be Olive." That's New Marketing's philosophy, right there.

Olive's striptease act, choreographed by her recently-deceased, heroin-snorting grandfather, earns the respect of those who are most important to her, her family. If your organization is the type that could support New Marketing, meaning you're starting with something remarkable, not only do you have the potential to be a stand-out but you have the potential to earn the respect of the people who care about you. And the people who care about you are the only ones who matter. If everyone else is incredulous, even outraged, so be it. Let Olive be Olive.

The sound technician and the tattooed biker, the only two people at the pageant besides Olive's family with a shred of sense, are the only ones to break the resounding mock-horrified silence after her act. They are your market. They're the ones you need to set your sights on. New Marketing is about creating stories and spreading them to small groups with similar interests. The stories you create will have limited but more potent appeal. They're honest and real, making you more relatable and memorable. When people used to the ways of Old Marketing wonder what you're doing, you can quote Olive's dad and say kickin' some ass, that's what we're doing.

great advice

Be absolutely determined to enjoy what you do. ~ Gerry Sikorski

the real deal

This "new" definition of marketing was adopted by the board of directors at the American Marketing Association in October 2007: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.

A frightful definition that may be true of Old Marketing. But marketing has changed. Hellooooo.

Seth Godin, The King of All Marketing, quite obviously is not on that board. Seth defines marketing as making use of time and money to create stories and spread them. That's New Marketing, which he wrote in Meatball Sundae is about fashion and stories and permission and promises. And then there's Old Marketing, the act of interrupting masses of people with ads about average products. That worked back when there was scarcity of choice and a large resource of cheap attention.

A great example of what New Marketing's all about is the bob johnson project. A retired insurance salesman would seem the least likely person to set the fashion world on fire, but there you have Bob Johnson. And it's not because he's using New Marketing effectively, but because his remarkable products are conducive to New Marketing.

What you must realize is that Bob Johnson isn't in the business of selling t-shirts. He's in the business of selling a creative expression of his unique worldview. It takes a shift in your perspective on marketing to see this. Seth believes the business you're in is not defined by your products and services but rather by your marketing. When you start to see that marketing defines you, defining marketing becomes pretty important.

If you define marketing as an activity, set of institutions and processes that support the organization, you aren't rolling with the sea change. Today you're contending with scarity of attention owing to abundance of choice, and at your disposal is a cheap resource of small groups with similar interests. New Marketing tactics like storytelling, Google AdWords, YouTube videos and blogs aren't going to help you reach the masses and make your offer more appealing if your offer isn't remarkable. In fact, you'll end up with a meatball sundae, a very unappetizing concoction of boring stuff that doesn't attract word of mouth and tantalizing toppings that make a mockery of it.

As a prospect, the most obvious way to know there's a meatball sundae being served is if you see a corporate Web site touting a "Coming Soon" blog. There are plenty of other indications. Look for the absence of fashion and stories and permission and promises. The real deals are the bob johnson projects of the world which are proliferating not because of New Marketing but because they're conducive to New Marketing. The new reality is marketing must not support the organization. The organization must support marketing. Somebody needs to tell the American Marketing Association board.

UPDATE: Turns out there's a story behind the bob johnson project story. I corresponded today with Bob Johnson, a.k.a. Denise, to my surprise. She explained that Bob is an alter ego of hers. When she was young she would play "office" for hours and hours. She called herself Bob Johnson, and she worked in insurance, modeling her workday around her dad's. Her dad would bring home forms and stamps and all sorts of office supplies. She eventually ended up working for her dad in the insurance industry. Years later she left to pursue a more creative outlet. But Denise said because of her work ethic, her friends have continued to call her Bob Johnson, as in "What's Bob up to today? He's always so busy." So she came up with the bob johnson project, and, well, you know the rest if you've visited the site.

I was feeling tricked until I became privy to the backstory. It underscores, for me, the importance of authenticity. It ended well, but, like I wrote to Denise just now, the backstory only adds richness and depth. Why not be as transparent as possible? All you have to lose is repeat business.

Part 1: The Inspiration

Take it from the creators of Madame Tutli-Putli, an Academy Award-nominated film short that takes audiences on an exhilarating existential journey. What gives context and meaning to what you've created is the inspiration behind it. Let us know, or better yet, show us, what inspired your product or service. Why not use Madame Tutli-Putli's Web site as a model for yours. Give inspiration top billing.

less than a country club, but much more

I grew up going to the same neighborhood association pool in the summers that my family belongs to now. We're also members of Willow Oaks Country Club, which has the least affectation of any club in the area and the most down-to-earth group of members you could hope to find. But, still, it's a country club, and the experience is suitably different than the one offered by the pool down the street.

I found a sweet little article that published years ago in The New York Times titled "Less Than a Country Club, but Much More" that mirrors my fondness for our neighborhood pool. It waxes poetic about broke-down palace types of places.

...Less Than a Country Club, but Much More...this captures the essence of my neighborhood pool perfectly. I think our association would be wise to stay true to that essence, in fact to embrace it and have a sense of humor about it, as we rise to the serious maintenance challenges ahead. I've suggested we design logoed t-shirts that say, "No shirt, no shoes, no service" to play off of the sign posted at 7-Eleven. Unlike at a country club, this place offers practically no service of any kind. But, much more.

Ask yourself as you're building a community around your product or service, do you want to create a country club experience or a neighborhood association experience? If you instill pride of ownership rather than propagate a sense of entitlement, if you create a shared purpose, if you make fun a priority, if you encourage deeper relationships between members, then you will be offering your community that "but much more." So what if yours is a broke-down palace type of place. It will be real, and it will be welcoming, and people will want to stay.

Where's the magic?

Marketing communications should be a magic act. And I mean that literally.

It was Jerry Seinfeld's interview in the November issue of GQ where he said he had savored Steve Martin's memoir Born Standing Up that led me to read it, which led me to the passage about Dariel Fitzkee that led me to the revelation above.

Dariel Fitzkee wrote a handbook first published in 1943 titled Showmanship for Magicians which was meant to turn amateurs into professionals. In it he breaks down a magic act into elements he believed every magician needed to incorporate, including Music, Rhythm, Comedy, Sex Appeal, Personality and Selling Yourself. Fitzkee asks, Why not throw everything in the book at the audience? Costumes, lights, everything? He stressed the importance of originality in entertainment and implied there's always room for something new. If you want to put on a real show, Fitzkee's handbook is as relevant now as it was in 1943.

I've come to realize something. Amateur marketers think their job is to inform. They think, if we can just get people to understand why this person, place or thing is so wonderful and grand then sales will take off. Professional marketers, rather, think their job is to entertain. They think, if we can just get people to experience why this person, place or thing is so wonderful and grand then sales will take off. Therein lies the Fitzkee difference.

The most effective marketing communications programs treat people in the market as an audience. The perfect example of an effective program is the show being put on by Chris Lindland of Cordarounds. Chris is a marketing magician of the kind Fitzkee would have appreciated. He's throwing everything in the book at his market audience. And his audience, myself included, is buying into his act, hand over fist, time and again.

Steve Martin wrote that Fitzkee's handbook turned out to be more important to him than The Catcher in the Rye. Perhaps it will turn out to be more important to me than any other book I've been reading to improve my skills as a marketer. Certainly it's an unlikely source of inspiration, but if I can manage to convince my customers to let me break down the programs I'm overseeing into elements including Music, Rhythm, Comedy, Sex Appeal, Personality and Selling Yourself, then I've got myself a great act and one my customer's competitors will find hard to follow.

Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It

When I was with agencies and during these years on my own, I've been required to track and report exactly what I've worked on and for how long. As an independent contractor I've have the freedom to work when and physically where I want, although on what and for how long is tightly controlled by the customer. There has been one exception. I entered into a gain-share type of arrangement, where I agreed to do "whatever it takes for however long it takes" to get results. Whether I worked five minutes or 50 hours in a week, whether I worked on one thing or 10, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered to either of us was results.

Win-win partnerships sure make a lot of sense if there are gains to be made by both partners, so it's a wonder they're not more mainstream. A results-driven arrangement doesn't have to be confined to those rare partnerships between a company and a contractor. If you haven't already, soon you will hear of Cali and Jody, two visionary women who literally are changing the world one workplace at a time. The basic premise of their groundbreaking HR initiative, first introduced at Best Buy's corporate headquarters, is that people can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. There are proven links between freedom and accountability, productivity, creativity, happiness and health.

Cali and Jody have created what they call ROWE, the acronym for Results-Only Work Environment (perhaps the best blog post to put ROWE in perspective is here, pointed out by Seth Godin), and now they have a consulting business called CultureRX that helps other companies get "ROWEing." For ROWE workers, freedom equals success, not the other way around. It's an equation that's so profoundly simple and obvious that it's amazing, when you think about it, that the variables have been reversed for so long. It's undebatable that the quality of the lives of people who work to live is so much better than that of those who live to work.

Among ROWE's "13 Commandments" are:
- Work isn't a place you go, it's something you do.
- Every meeting is optional.
- No judgment about how you spend your time.

You can place an advance order for Cali and Jody's upcoming book Why Works Sucks and How to Fix It, which for sure I'm going to buy for myself and for my husband who spends most of his life at the office trying to catch up on work he's pulled away from because of meetings that create more work. He slogs away believing the grass isn't greener anywhere else, and now maybe, if he puts this book in the hands of the right people at the right time, he could be trailblazing away instead.

I encourage you to get this book when it publishes, to talk and blog about it, and to pass it on. Buy an extra for someone in HR or enough for everyone in the department. Encourage them to contact CultureRX. ROWE should be an all-out movement, IMHO, not simply a remarkable initiative that's getting press and gaining traction at Best Buy.

What's your MacGuffin?

In my usual cover-to-cover read of Vanity Fair, within this month's article about the upcoming Indiana Jones movie, I discovered what most marketing communications programs lack -- a MacGuffin. The term "MacGuffin" refers to the plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, and, depending on who you ask, it either does or does not matter what the MacGuffin is specifically. Though the object's importance is accepted by the story's characters, usually it does not have any effect on the story. Alfred Hitchcock is credited for adding the term to our lexicon, and he perfected the technique. For instance, in his 1959 suspense classic, North by Northwest, the men chasing Cary Grant are after microfilm containing “government secrets” that remain secret to the audience. It doesn't much matter to the story what those secrets are. The more vague the MacGuffin the better, believed Hitchcock.

George Lucas of Star Wars fame agrees with Hitchcock on the importance to the story of a MacGuffin and considers it the first building block of any of his Indiana Jones movies. But, unlike Hitchcock, Lucas believes that the MacGuffin should be powerful and specific and that the audience should care about it almost as much as they do the characters. The MacGuffin in Raiders of the Lost Ark is the Ark of the Covenant, which of course none of us would want to see in the hands of the hateful Nazis. In Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom it's the sacred Shankara Stones, which somehow have the ability to save the remote village children who were kidnapped by a demonic cult and forced into slave labor (a weaker, too esoteric MacGuffin in Lucas's opinion). And in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade it's the life-giving Holy Grail, a feeble MacGuffin admits Lucas but one that comes in handy when Indy’s dad is dying. All this is according to the Vanity Fair article, and reportedly what's delayed the next installment in the franchise is the lack of buy-in on Lucas's proposed MacGuffin for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is said to be a fossilized skull made of quartz crystal. These actually exist, and some believe they have either supernatural or alien properties.

I believe the use of a MacGuffin, however emotionally charged and fleshed out you choose to make it, could be the key to the eventual profitability of your company's story. There's a big difference between a story and a well-crafted story. "There’s a difference between throwing a puppy on a freeway and watching what happens and constructing a story,” Lucas is quoted in the article as saying. “You don’t just put your main character in jeopardy and then that becomes entertainment. That’s why so many people have failed at this. Even though they may make some money, it doesn’t get to the level that the Indiana Jones films do. They’re a lot more complex than that. They’re like little watches that have a lot of pieces in them.” It's worth considering what might be your MacGuffin and to what level you're willing to take your story. The profitability of your story could depend on it.

on being a change agent

When should you feel comfortable applying a label to yourself? You might like to write, or build decks, or run or whatever else. But does this make you a writer, a builder, a runner? Somebody once told me, or I read somewhere, that you're a writer (or whatever) if you can't help but to do it. I've neither kept a journal nor written anything, poem, story or otherwise, simply for pleasure. Blogging is the exception in that it's been purely voluntary, but my blog serves a marketing purpose. After some soul searching I have to admit that I can help but to write even though it comes easily to me and I love to do it. Writer, therefore, is not a label I'm comfortable applying to myself.

Not that I'm entirely happy about it, but it's fair to say I'm a change agent. I'm compelled to find better ways to do things, which truly is more of a curse than a blessing. I've found it to be exceptionally difficult and often emotionally draining to make change, yet I just can't help but to do it. Not many people appreciate change agents, at least in the moment, and certainly not many people desire the label. There's not much fun in it. Thankfully, and where I least expected it, I found some insights about managing change that will help me be a more sensitive and effective change agent, and getting better at it hopefully will make my life easier.

Last year I marketed a distribution company that was being advised by a fairly famous guy named Eli Goldratt, known for being the father of the Theory of Constraints and author of The Goal, a bestseller. I came across a published interview he gave in which he explained the two pillars of the Theory of Constraints:

(1) In all real-life systems there is inherent simplicity. If you can just find that inherent simplicity, you can manage, control and improve the system.

(2) People are not stupid. Saying people resist change just because it's a change is saying people are stupid. People certainly do, however, resist change that they have a reason to believe will hurt them.

Therefore the emphasis of change, in his opinion, must be on win-win-win for all of the parties that need to be collaborating. He believes the problem is that the win-win-win solution is usually blocked by erroneous assumptions, and that’s why it’s hard to find it. But when you find it, it’s obvious, because your own reaction and that of everyone else is, “Isn’t that obvious. Why didn’t we see it before?”

Armed with this logic, I'm starting to be able to have some fun with my compulsion and to get some immediate gratification. Gone are the days of dreading being asked to head something up.

a picture is worth a thousand words

What would get you to open up your wallet faster?

This?

Blue Star Moms is a national organization of families with loved ones who proudly serve our country in the Armed Forces. They support each other as well as the efforts of our military men and women. Chapters across the country are in need of supplies including fleece blankets, shaving cream, non-perishable food items, and black and white tube socks. Please donate today to your local chapter!

Or this?

Go ahead, make their day. Please donate to the care-package drive of your local chapter of Blue Star Moms.

Click on the picture and you'll see that's a real tough one.

My boys came home from school carrying a flyer with this picture on it. The caption identified the guy on the far left as the son of one of the teachers at the school. The flyer was not at all sophisticated, but it was real and it was powerful. In less than 24 hours I had a big box of supplies put together. Multiply my donation with the donations made by other parents equally affected by the picture, and you're looking at a call to action that had its intended effect.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Spare me the fact sheets, the white papers, the Web copy. Show me what I can expect to happen if I take the action you want me to take. Make me see the worth of your offer. Help me imagine how beneficial it is. This flyer was a good reminder to me, as a marketer, how effective visualization can be.

Using visualization to communicate a message is a technique that's been used effectively since the dawn of man. It all started with cave paintings. Look what sophisticated tools of visual expression are available to us now, and why wouldn't customer-facing organizations demand their marketing teams use them?

***

www.bluestarmothers.org for the chapter in your area

Sold!

We sold our house this week. Selling a house and marketing a start-up company are more alike than you may think.

You believe you have a great thing going, but remember that worth is determined only by what someone's willing to pay.

The key is to get someone, or a bunch of someones, willing to pay what you think your offer's worth. I learned important lessons during this process that I can use to help my customers sell, the top three being:

(1) Neutralize what you think will be the perceived negatives through price. It takes more courage to price fairly than it does to price high or low.

(2) Gun for the low-hanging fruit. There will be people predisposed to care about your offer, so show that you care about them above all others.

(3) Surround yourself with people who exemplify the qualities you most admire. It's easier to weather a storm that way. Plus, it's much more fun to celebrate with people you like.

the A-side and B-side of your company

A business has been defined as a bringing together of talented people who agree to work to achieve some common goals (the cluetrain manifesto, page 129).

The company is an “it” in the literal sense, but “it” is made up of a bunch of “you.” A sense of your group identity will pervade everything you say and do. It’s not just the look and feel of your Web site and collateral that will be affected, but how you conduct yourselves and treat others. At the same time there's room -- in fact, it's essential -- for you to maintain a sense of your individual identities. Having a strong sense of self is important to the success of the relationships in your personal life. It’s just as important to the success of your business relationships. It's become my common refrain but, again, people want to do business with people. Especially those they feel they know and can trust.

It's been a while ago, but I read a good book called The Other Side of the Card; Where Your Authentic Leadership Story Begins. Soon after, I searched for an example of a business card design that visually expresses both the individual's and the group's identity and found this one (see picture to the right which you can click on to enlarge). Here's the behind-the-scenes blog post that makes a solid case for this "other side of the card" approach.

You could say there's an A-side and B-side. Like the sides of vinyl records back in the day, the A-side, or hit side, is meant to elevate the B-side, or secondary side. The A-side of this card is reserved for the individual to express his or her unique talents and viewpoint. The B-side showcases the shared information of the company and subtle visual representation of the group identity. The sides play off each other, but it's clear what's being featured -- the person, not the company.

Notice there's no meaningless job title. People are more interested in what you do everyday and how that applies to their interaction with you. You could do more with "the trusted gatekeeper for the person who can get things done for you" than with "receptionist." You know you'll have to pitch yourself and what you're selling, not just leave a message with this person. If you're the gatekeeper in question, you'll no doubt appreciate the respect you deserve.

I've had a customer argue that the non-standard sizing and double-sidedness of this design isn't conducive to business card scanners. What's a scan-it-and-forget-it type of card going to get you? Not an ounce of mind share, that's for sure.

I've had a customer argue that their people wouldn't have anything interesting to say about themselves. If you've got people you'd rather hide in a closet, then you've got much bigger problems than deciding on a business card approach. The biggest problem you have is one of perception. I don't care who you are or what you're into (or not), you're interesting because you're not like any other person in the world and nobody else comes from exactly the same place. You'll be surprised at what you find out about people when you create a work culture that encourages free expression.

I've heard all the objections. But I haven't heard anyone argue that this approach would be less than memorable. Isn't that the point -- to give people something to actually remember you by? To create a voice that people actually listen to? If you're not interested in being remarkable in everything you do, then you must not be interested in longevity. So then why invest in business cards that will become obsolete when your company gets left behind by more personable competitors.

have fun dialing for dollars

Lean and mean. The pairing of words is apt.

When the pressure's on and budgets are in a vice grip, companies are ugly to marketers. They have their people in the trenches making cold calls to try to gain some momentum. Every other activity is frivolous.

This is exactly the right time to have some fun. People hate making cold calls, and people hate taking them. Try putting a buzzworthy slogan and design on retro t-shirts and give them away to the people who agree to spend 10 minutes, or however long, talking with you.

A friend of mine's mired in cold calling for his PC-refurbishment company. Today I pitched the catch phrase, "It ate crackers in bed," coupled with an image of a perfectly acceptable, if a bit dated, PC in a trashcan. I suggested that the tagline under the corporate logo on the sleeve be, "We're down with other people's PCs." It's a bit naughty (you know the OPP song?), but it'll get attention. And that's the whole point.

vintage marketing

Tell me and I'll forget,
Show me and I might remember,
Involve me and I'll understand.

Guess whose quote this is. Ben Franklin's.

Things haven't changed one iota since Franklin's day. Marketing communications isn't a Tell Me proposition. Identify the problem, bullet point those solution benefits, and see how fast your prospect zones out. It isn't even a Show Me proposition. Lift your skirt because authenticity and transparency make your brand so much more memorable, but don't expect to get prospects to lift theirs because you did. It's an Involve Me proposition, and to hijack the software version moniker given to changes in the ways systems developers have used the Web platform let's call it a "2.0" proposition. That is to say, marketers are finding it effective to harness technology to communicate with people rather than at them. Rather than 2.0, let's call it vintage marketing. What's old is new again.

easy as Soda Cracker Candy

People go crazy over Soda Cracker Candy. It's easier than pie to make. You're guaranteed maximum return on minimal effort. Try it:

2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
Saltines
12 oz. “swirled” type of chocolate chips
chopped nuts

1. Line 10x15 glass pan with parchment paper. Spray non-stick stuff on paper.
2. Place Saltines in a single layer on paper.
3. Melt butter and sugar over medium heat. Stir constantly.
4. Boil 3 minutes while stirring.
5. Spread over Saltines.
6. Bake at 350 for about 17 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Cool 2 minutes.
8. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top and spread as chocolate melts.
9. Top with chopped nuts.
10. Freeze. When completely frozen break out into pieces. Keep in freezer, covered, until serving.

Whipping up a connection with prospects and influencers can be just as easy and the return just as huge. Follow simple steps on do-it-yourself sites like Custom Ink or Spreadshirt to create promotional merchandise. Be sure the phrase is catchy and/or the design is cool, and give the stuff away. If it's as buzzworthy as Soda Cracker Candy, people will go crazy over it. Create an appetite, then deliver.

Speaking of give-aways, when planning your next appearance at a trade show consider something like this.

when it comes to naming, think like The Smiths

Lawn service companies in my area are a dime a dozen. They all have standard-issue names, like Green Thumb Lawn Care and Virginia Lawn Pros. Yawn. Sameness leads to invisibility. But then yesterday, whoa! I notice J.G.B. Creative Services plastered on what was obviously a lawn equipment trailer (click on photo).

Creative Services? That got my attention. Yes, when you think about it, you wouldn't get creativity from the kid down the street who could mow your grass and trim your hedges for $20. Meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations -- that's what you're really getting when you use a professional. It struck me that the people at J.G.B. Creative Services are The Smiths of lawn care.

The story goes that The Smiths chose the most ordinary of names for their band in reaction to the bombastic names that were proliferating at the time (think Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark). The Smiths chose an ordinary name to be different, and their sound -- in stark contrast to their name -- was far from ordinary. It was, and still is, a great effect. Dubbing lawn care "creative services" is a great effect. J.G.B. Creative Services is making an entirely different statement than the other guys. I'm sure they have an entirely different sound to them, so to speak.

Positioning starts with a company name. Where and what does your company's name land you?

what the tea door tells us

It would have been just as easy for the store manager at this 7-Eleven near my house to put up a standard-issue sign. By using the opportunity to infuse some personality and a sense of humor into its communication with customers, even in such a small way, the store took on a more pleasant mom-and-pop feel.

I stood off to the side for a while and watched as people of different ages and races took notice (click on photo to enlarge). It was really interesting -- everyone coming through paused to read it, everyone smiled, one guy laughed and pointed it out to a buddy. My kids even noticed that the vibe in the store was different than usual. On the way out one of them said, "That was fun!"

Why not infuse some personality and sense of humor into your communication with people who touch your brand? It's just as easy to do as putting out corporate-speak, and it breaks the ice a lot quicker. You could start with your job listings. Take for example this one which communicates very effectively why good people should work there. It cuts right through to those who would appreciate the company's culture. I'm not really into moving to Utah, but I forwarded it to my IT-whiz husband nonetheless. I got caught up, what can I say.

Take it from the tea door -- let people know what's going on with you by telling it like it is in your own voice. You're more likely to get what you want and what you need.

whistle while you work

Let me guess how you'd answer someone who asked if your company has a theme song -- "Yeah, right."

Wrong answer.

Leave it to Seth Godin to provide the most eloquent, persuasive argument for theme songs. He wrote, "...every organization needs one, especially ones where marketing matters. So does every job seeker. Theme songs are the black holes of marketing -- supercondensed memes under enormous pressure, putting a whole bunch of ideas and emotion into a tiny space."

The best theme song in history must be for Cordarounds, a San Francisco-based online retailer offering the world's first horizontal corduroy pants and shorts. Download Cordarounds.mp3 Keep in mind, this particular theme song was UNSOLICITED. That makes it even more amazing. How'd you like your brand to be so inspiring? It will take a change in mindset and some work to get it there, but it's more than possible.

the non-issues

Sandy Towle of ARC Advisory Group, who is a long-time confidante, yesterday laid out the business development issues for an independent marketer like me who's targeting boutique b-to-b companies:

(1) They don't know what sort of help they need.
(2) They don't think they can afford it.
(3) They're afraid to ask for fear of being disappointed.

There's also that universal tendency of so-close-to-it executives not to want to give up control.

Business development is what Sandy does for a living, and he does it well. His advice to me was stick with what I know rather than subject myself to a b-to-c marketing learning curve, believe that the cream companies will rise and make sure I'm positioned to skim the cream off the top. Okay!

So, I'll start right here by addressing the issues. I'm really good about figuring out what sort of help you need. My top talent theme as identified by the StrengthFinders online interview put out by the business book Now, Discover Your Strengths is "Strategic." People strong in the strategic theme create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.

Secondly, I charge by the hour for work I actually perform. If I estimate it will take 10 hours and it takes five, you get charged for five. Then again, in some cases, I've agreed to participate in a gain-share type of arrangement where I receive a bonus based on sales in exchange for a reduction in my hourly fee. I work off of long-term contracts that stipulate how many hours per month I'm allocated, and also I can do short-term project work. I'm affordable and flexible, which is an unusual combination.

Let's just say you won't be disappointed. Not possible. Everything I do is centered on bringing you value. If you can only afford to do a little something right now, you'll see a return on it. Starting small is still starting. There's no reason to wait and every reason not to.

About the control thing, we'll have to cross that bridge when we get to it. I know it will take some time to build trust, but, as all of my references will tell you, trusting me is the least of the non-issues.

Get a (virtual) life!

If you fancy yours a "2.0"-type of company -- if you're all about collaboration and visibility, continuous improvement, scalability, harnessing collective intelligence, treating users as developers, encouraging customer self-service, leveraging social software, that kind of thing -- then surely you own virtual land in Second Life. No? Come on! Like at IBM, your people have avatars which gather for surprisingly productive meetings in your Second Life virtual office space. You're probably looking into having your avatar recruiters screen prospective avatar hires, like HP, Microsoft and Verizon are doing. You've made a few virtual sales in Second Life, a respectable source of first (real) life revenue. Seriously, no? Then you've got a big disconnect.

You're being negligently underserved by your marketing communications department or agency if you've never heard of Second Life or if you know little about how to become a part of it. Waste not another second. Here's a simultaneous talk and demo given by the founder and CEO of Second Life, Philip Rosedale. His online avatar, "Philip Linden," is on the screen showing you around while the in-theater Philip Rosedale conjectures about what it all means. From a marketing, and a business case, perspective, it means everything. This is must-see TV.

And there's so much more to it. Soon you'll be able to bring a Second Life avatar directly into Google Earth. There's a facinating article about what's called Second Earth in the July/August 2007 issue of MIT's Technology Review. The implications of this "World Wide Sim" are huge. "What I want to do one day is represent the Grand Canyon or a national park with such fidelity that you could essentially go there and plan your whole trip," says Michael Wilson, CEO of Makena Technologies, the company that operates the virtual world There. "Or what if you could model a Europe where the sea level is 10 feet higher than it is today, or walk around the Alaskan north and see the glaciers and the Bering Strait the way they were 10 years ago? Then perceptions around global warming might change."

I encourage you to sit there for a few minutes and imagine what getting a virtual life could mean for you, your company, your cause.

image is not everything

This house has been on my morning carpool route the past few days (click on photo to enlarge). I was paranoid of looking suspicious as I was taking it, and therefore it's not the greatest picture. Hopefully you can make out the Doric columns lining the sidewalk and statuette gracing the lawn. Looks like these Greek homeowners are awfully proud of their heritage. How can you argue that image is everything when you see things around you every day that prove identity is everything!

If it's just not "you" then you're not likely to want to buy it -- whether it be a pair of pants, software package, whatever. Those who choose your brand strongly identify with you. If not enough people are choosing your brand, then try making an emotional connection with the types of people who you think would care about it.

It's an us vs. them tension that generates excitement and involvement in a brand. Creating this tension should top your list of marketing objectives. Working on your identity rather than your image -- figuring out who you are, what it means to do business with you and who might care about that -- is where you should start.

kangaroos don't hop backwards

Brainstorming a company's avatar as part of a recent brand-building project got me thinking about what might be my own avatar. I've decided a kangaroo. What's worked for b-to-b companies in the past doesn't work as effectively anymore. It's a 2.0 world out there, and in response I've evolved my services. I don't hop backwards. What might be the avatars of the marketing people at your company? It's worth thinking about.

bad habit

My husband isn't a handyman. He's the only one who would disagree with that. He also would disagree that he's accident prone, but that's another post. When something breaks around the house, he's great about taking it apart to find the problem. However, he rarely finds the problem. At least I can say that he always concedes we need to bring in an expert.

My clothes dryer seems to have imploded. There's a pile of parts and tools where it once stood. Our regular repairman just left the house without fixing it, and that's a big problem because my boys are in adventure camp this week -- need I say more. The guy took one good look at the pile, mumbled something about needing to go to his truck, and next thing I know he's calling me from down the street. He said my husband's "bad habit" makes his job so time consuming and fraught with unnecessary challenges that his company has decided not to do business with us anymore.

Does my husband remind you of any of your company's executive managers? He reminds me of the CEO who designed the company's Web site. He reminds me of the chairman who scripted the sales presentation. He reminds me of the VP of business development who writes the news releases. Executive managers tend to think that taking on marketing communications is easy enough. And most of the time they are forced to bring in an expert to clean up the mess. It's a bad habit that needs to be broken. You might find yourself in the same situation with your marketers that I'm in right now with my repairman. The best marketers at your disposal might call you from down the street to say they've decided not to do business with you.

Footnotes:
(1) I found out the hard way that my husband reads my blog. He has something to say about this post, link below to his comment.
(2) I called another service company. Imagine my surprise when our regular repairman showed up, the one who didn't want our business. Turns out his company goes by several names. We had a good laugh about that. He agreed to give us another chance, as long as my husband could restrain himself from taking things apart in the future. Hey, now this reminds me of me -- giving customers another chance!

life force

I captured this power-of-mother-nature image today with my camera phone (click on it to enlarge). It's a mushroom pushing up through the asphalt on the lip of my driveway. I didn't stage it. The mushroom heaved those big chunks of asphalt out of the way sometime during the night. That's what's called life force. Does your company have it?

My tag line, "Just add life," is meant to impart that infusing life, i.e. humanness and emotion, into sales and marketing will help you break through. I endorse the cluetrain manifesto, follow luminaries like Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, and believe Martin Lindstrom's BRAND sense is required reading. The mushroom in my driveway is proof I'm on the right track.

RedPrairie's been juiced

RedPrairie's marketing director Jim LeTart offered up a review of my recent Web copywriting services:

"Ashley did a great job for us, gathering information from our thought leaders and turning it into interesting and understandable copy. She is very creative and brought a fresh perspective to our web content approach. She made several very helpful suggestions that we adopted across our site."

I'm not great at gathering testimonials, but those I have are here.

supercloth marketing

Al Gore's global-warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth is one of those rare thought pieces that cause you to change your behavior immediately. You realize after viewing it that really you have no choice but to make some positive changes straight away. Changing your behavior is not just a nice, or a passing, thing to do. Companies associated with the supply chain would do well to strive for the same result from their sales and marketing efforts. To change purchasing behavior, these departments must be led by people who get that you must establish an emotional connection with prospects. It's not enough that prospects realize they need what you offer, you must leave them feeling like the fit's so perfect and right for them that there's no other choice.

I've always had green sensibilities. My dad, the architect, was talking to me about solar energy when I was two, but he's had very few clients come around to his way of thinking because of the perceived inconvenience (how aptly named is Gore's documentary). This week I got turned on to an environmentally friendly way of cleaning, the SUPERCLOTH that requires only tap water -- no detergents or chemicals. You just can't believe how well it works and how convenient it is. You'll feel like a great steward of the earth for using it.

SUPERCLOTH is marketed as having, "...exceptional qualities of absorption, resistance, elasticity and durability [that] make it unique and unbeatable in daily use." Same could be said of my, the Business Juice, approach. My tag line, Just add life, is meant to impart that all you need to juice up your supply chain technology or services business is life (an infusion of personality, humaness, emotion, senses) -- just essentially tap water. By adding life, your brand will begin to display exceptional qualities of absorption, resistance, elasticity and durability that make it unique and unbeatable in daily use. You just can't believe how well this approach works. You'll feel like a great steward of the supply chain community for using it.

Thank you, Luke, for turning 10, and thank you, tripadvisor.com!

Today is my oldest son Luke's 10th birthday. We've been building up to the milestone of having a child reach the double digits. After a great deal of fanfare at home that's lasted literally for a couple of months, to mark the occasion we're headed to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands when school lets out. We've never traveled with the boys farther than Emerald Isle, North Carolina, which is five hours away, so it will be quite an adventure. Our usual take-it-as-it-comes attitude won't work out so well, considering the complexities of the trip. I've been leaning on the tripadvisor.com community to essentially over-plan our vacation (I might add, against the better judgement of St. John forum members, yet they haven't met our four-year-old, Jed). It's been insanely productive escapism! You must check it out in advance of your next trip.

please help me find those who are clued in

I’d like to believe there’s a cosmic undercurrent running through the series of choices I’ve made that has swept me to a meant-to-be here and now.

From picking the small, niched PR agency over the bank PR job...to breaking out as a free agent for companies in the niche...to embracing a marketing support role...to taking a cluetrain manifesto-inspired journey of discovery (I agree with Seth Godin that a better use of time and money than getting an MBA is actual experience combined with a dedicated reading of 30 or 40 books)...to making allegiances with like-minded people and making regret-free breaks with those who aren’t...to end up at the finish of the best project I’ve ever had...now I find myself these past few days treading water.

Anyone have any idea how to go about identifying people who "get it" at companies associated with the supply chain?

Do you have the courage to stick to the formula?

I’ve just come off of a fantastic brand-building project with a supply chain services company. We adhered to marketing guru Seth Godin’s brand formula: [Prediction of what to expect] times [emotional power of that expectation]. It’s [the cluetrain manifesto] plus [Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start] times [Seth Godin’s small is the new big and etc.] plus [Martin Lindstrom’s BRAND sense] -- on steroids.

Aristotle wrote, “Beauty depends on size as well as symmetry.” This brand formula is a beautiful thing. It offers definitive structure to an esoteric process, which is huge. And the variables of the formula are equal in their importance (symmetrical). It's not enough to be able to say clearly and compellingly what it is the company does and what that means so you're able to set expectations -- and most can't even do this -- just as importantly there's got to be an emotional connection, which is where sensory branding comes in. And for sure sensory branding is not Standard Marketing Procedure for supply-chain associated companies. Should be!

If the executive managers who used the formula to guide their brand-building effort stick to the formula as they bring the brand to life, soon they will be building long-lasting bonds with customers based on enjoyment and appreciation (can you imagine a supply chain services company that's enjoyed and appreciated?) –- and soon you will hear about this brand. It's very exciting to me that this company has the potential to be the first true brand associated with the supply chain and that I might be chosen as the brand foreman. I, for one, am sick of the same old messages that continue to stand in for brands in this space. You?

It will take courage for these executive managers to look, act, talk, market and sell differently. If they have the courage to stick to the formula, they will create not only a brand with value but one with a truly competitive advantage. I believe not doing so would be a big loss for them, their customers and the entire market. It would be a huge loss for me personally. It seems like I’m virtually the only one who wants to do something remarkable in this space. No longer am I interested in business as usual.

It's hard work to get to the point of being able to communicate what the brand means and what it does for those of us facilitating brand building and those engaging in it. And according to the formula, this is only the first half of what a brand requires. It seems counter-intuitive, but people have an exceptionally hard time verbalizing just simply what it is their company does. Being able to say clearly, compellingly and memorably what you do would go a long way towards setting expectations and building the most predictable experience you can.

[Prediction of what to expect] equates to knowing and being able to say why the founders started the organization, why customers should patronize it and why good people should work there. Having honesty and clarity of purpose will distinguish you from competitors, and you’ll be able to relate the heart and soul of the organization to engage prospects, turn them into customers and turn customers into brand loyalists.

How you do this is by teasing out your answers to about 10 questions: Who are you? What do you do? What is the name for what you do? Who do you do it for (what types of companies)? Who do you want to talk to about it (at these types of companies)? What is the meaning (vision) behind what you’re doing? What is your mission? What is your ambition? What is your business model (your business plan distilled to 10 words or less)?

At this point your half-a-brand might convince people they need to buy from you because if you've gotten this far you're more persuasive than the others simply because people will get what you do. But that's not nearly good enough if you're serious about accruing some staying power. The real challenge is convincing people that they want to buy from you. People don't buy what they need, they buy what they want -- and in your case the people you're marketing to happen to have a corporation to pay for what they buy (this is the only difference between b-to-c and b-to-b). Very few brands get rejected or selected based on performance or price -- decision-making is based on that extra something else.

That extra something else is encapsulated in the second variable of the brand formula, the [emotional power of that expectation]. Sensory branding, which is establishing the tactile, sound, taste, aroma and visual expressions of your brand, is one of the few ways you can secure a truly competitive advantage. These expressions help you layer the most emotional experience you can on top of the foundation, or expectation, you've set. Sensory branding encourages customer loyalty and ultimately ensures profitable growth. If you're in doubt, just ask Singapore Airlines, Cadillac, Apple, Mercedes-Benz, Nokia, McDonald's, Louis Vuitton, Nestle, and Disney how adopting a sensory approach has helped their brands perform. It will work for supply chain companies just as well because, remember, people buy what they want, not what they need, regardless of who's paying for it.

How many supply chain services or technology companies even get halfway there by setting expectations? Do you know anybody who can tell you without using jargon what their company does and what it means, and in a way that would get you excited about it, compelling you to learn more? Do you personally identify with any of these companies? Do you associate any of them with a pleasing image…flavor…smell…taste… texture which helps you remember them? Do you really care about any of them? I'm guessing you've answered no to all of these questions. To be the first brand in the space would be remarkable. People would literally remark on your brand, many would strongly identify with it and begin to care about it, and most would be able to memorize it. And that would be bad why? What are supply chain companies so afraid of?

the apple doesn't fall far

I've been channeling my energies into new business development for my dad the architect. This is the first time he's marketed himself and his impressive body of work in the 35 years he's been in business, and the first time I've worked with him, so it's been interesting for both of us. Vanessa Holmes of Organibrand in London did a beautiful job with the design of the business card, flyers, yard sign and the brick overlay -- get this, we found an oh-so-realistic fake brick that's sold only in the U.K. and we're wrapping a business card overlay around it for a memorable leave behind for builders or potential customers. The memorable leave behind for me, however, has been the oh-so-realistic notion that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I'm seeing some parallels between my dad's and my career, and quite frankly it's unsettling.

b-to-b might still work for me

John Clark at Provia has renewed my faith in the business-to-business space. I've written on this blog about how I'm concerned that the b-to-b culture isn't supportive of creativity, playfulness, transparency and direct communication with the market and about how I'm finding it hard to get excited about the prospect of representing another b-to-b. Many of my friends in marcoms say they want out of the space, and I'd been saying much the same thing. Until I called and spoke with John.

services

What main services does Business Juice offer?

● brand building
● messaging
● marketing and brand communications
● media relations
● online marketing strategy
● technical writing including customer success stories, bylined articles, Web and collateral copy
● trade show and customer conference support

a look back

I founded Business Juice in 1997 to offer marketing communications support to an exclusive roster of supply chain services and technology companies. Business Juice has driven business opportunities and carved out mind share for companies in this space including: