Don't let this one word scare you

We strategic thinkers so easily get our hopes up sometimes.

Haven’t you been in those sessions before where you just know you can drive the group to truly selling out to some key objectives and committing together to make it all happen? Things are going well, you’ve got your tight list of objectives and goals, and it feels like some real barriers have been knocked down.

Then someone points out that there’s one small initiative that hasn’t been addressed in the objectives.

Then another someone points out there’s a small vocal minority that hasn’t been addressed in the objectives.

Then a couple folks realize John and Jane Doe, who have been around forever, aren’t going to think the objectives address an area they’re interested in.

And the snowball builds and builds and builds. And that demon known as consensus creeps in and starts turning tight, focused, strategic objectives into generic, limp, scattered corporate nonsense.

You’ve been there, haven’t you?

It’s one of the most deflating experiences that any strategic session can endure, and it’s way too common.

Maybe it’s due to simple fear. Fear of risk. Fear of alienating a possibility. Fear of offending someone.

Or maybe it’s because people simply don’t understand the basic nature of positioning and attraction. That people are attracted to what’s bold and specialized and exclusive. That no one chooses generic on purpose.

Whatever the reason, there is some good news: you can thwart a lot of this nonsense by just apply a simple word to your process.

You interested?

The One Word that Makes All the Difference

It turns out that it’s not just thirty-something single guys who are afraid of commitment. Corporate leaders tend to be that way, too. When the stakes are high and jobs are on the line, it’s really tough to get the group to buy-in and sell out to “the plan.” It’s excruciatingly painful to get the team to commit to a simple list of five objectives because it’s possible there are five other objectives that you could be doing. It’s tough to get someone to stand by those objectives simply because they could be wrong.

This is a human issue, really.

So you, the guy who has a true understanding and appreciation of strategic planning and commitment, need to add something to the conversation that will put everyone at ease while still getting you a 90% commitment level to the group. It’s just a single word, and it goes something like this:

PRIMARILY

Adding this one fairly simple word can help you cut through most of the crap that strategy sessions tend to turn up, and still retain an extremely high commitment level from the team.

Here’s How It Works

Let’s say you’re narrowing down to three major objectives for 2012. A simple way you may present this is with this statement:

We will grow in 2012 because we will … 

1. Create a customer loyalty program that rewards the right behavior from new customers. 
2. Focus our support on the 10% of our sales force who accounts for 70+% of our new business. 
3. Open our doors in Costa Rica and Ecuador. 

Inevitably, someone will chime in that these objectives don’t cover everything (which is kinda the point, but we’ll save that for later). There are programs, markets and opportunities that aren’t addressed in these objectives. In most cases, after the group has already been discussing the important stuff for hours on end even to get to the point of having three clear objectives, if all this other stuff hasn’t popped up, then it’s probably not that crucial. And therefore, needs to stay off the list.

But human nature will prevail here, and you’ll start getting lobbied to make the list longer, make the sentences longer and make the wording pretty “blah.” All of which are known strategy-assassins.

The way you get around it and ease the tension is by adding the word “primarily.” Check this out: 

“Primarily” puts people at ease, but it still gives you the benefit of keeping your top objectives your top objectives. They are the primary reason you will grow.

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I just stumbled upon this TED talk by Ken Robinson. How could I have missed this? It’s 19 minutes long, and worth every second.

You can view the video here, as well.

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David Ogilvy, Marketing God

“What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.”
- David Ogilvy

My take: I agree that it’s content that eventually makes consumers make a decision to buy. But I’m not sure it’s only content that makes people pay attention in the first place. Content marketing is a trendy thing right now (although it’s been around forever), and it is no doubt valuable and necessary. But it’s not everything. You still have to get people to consume that content. You still have to do enough to just get their attention. Content does it some of the time, but not all of the time. 

You need form and content. You need emotional stimulus to make someone want to buy, and logical stimulus to make someone happy they bought.

Form and content serve different purposes, but they are both equally important.

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p.s. Like quotes like this? Check out the entire series on Marketing Quotes by Marketing Greats.

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Nile Rodgers

“Any real record person knows that the number one most powerful marketing tool when it comes to music is repetition.” 
    – Nile Rodgers

My take: First, I think it’s awesome I get to use a Nile Rodgers quote and apply it to marketing. The guy is a studio guitar legend.

As Nile describes it above, think of all the hits and stars that have been made simply because a program director at a radio station simply decides to play the song every hour on the hour. Britney Spears, anyone? Think of all the songs you think are great simply because you’ve heard them enough to convince you that they are.

The repetition convinces us the song is valid. It’s popular, and therefore we should like it. We start learning the lyrics, and then can’t help but sing along. All positive experiences.

And all impossible without repetition.

The idea of repetition has been consuming me a bit lately. It’s always been an integral part of any marketing campaign. Nobody ever gets it the first time.

Which is why single marketing tactics are always a waste of time. One banner ad. One radio spot. One phone call. One Facebook post. One blog post.  The response to a single version of anything is the anomaly, not the rule. So as you’re planning your marketing communications efforts, plan for repetition. Don’t give up on your message too soon, and don’t share it in just one way, in just one place.

Spread it out, and keep playing it until you’re bored. Then play it a lot more.

Give people a chance to “sing along” with your message. Then you won’t have to sell them anything; they’ll be looking for reasons to buy.

Speaking of repetition, I just realized I pointed out this quote a couple years ago. How’s that for putting you’re own advice into practice (even if it’s an accident)?

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p.s. Like quotes like this? Check out the entire series on Marketing Quotes by Marketing Greats.

Image credit: http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/nile-rodgers-2.jpg

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Promoting anything you write and publish is a lot harder than you originally think.

You figure the masses will come seeking out your wisdom and creative genius. You figure people will be only too eager to open up their wallets and buy several copies of your masterpiece. You figure everyone who visits your site will subscribe after the first visit.

You figure wrong.

Which is why it’s imperative to find ways to leverage stuff well within your reach to help you in the process. Like leveraging your friends and their networks.

I recently posted this article, 10 Ways Your Friends Can Help You Sell More Books, over at Author Marketing Experts. This post was a lot of fun to write, and I’m eager to put to use all of the tactics suggested. You’ll need to read the full article to truly get the gist of it, but here’s a quick summary of the ten tips:

1. Rate it on Amazon.
2. Create a video review on YouTube.
3. “Like” your book.
4. Use the “Reading List by Amazon” app on LinkedIn.
5. Tweet quotes … lots of ‘em.
6. Share quotes via your Kindle.
7. Write a blog review.
8. Try guest posting.
9. Become an affiliate.
10. Email their list.

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There’s a whole lotta launchin’ going on.

Just a couple days ago, Apple unveiled its latest iPhone. Which so far has received a relative “meh,” at least from us iPhone 4 owners.

The more interesting launch, by far, has been Amazon’s release of the Kindle Fire. And it has nothing to do with the product. It has everything to do with its position.

The Kindle Fire is a tablet going head-to-head with the iPad without being an also-ran like every other tablet that’s out there. Because Jeff Bezos understands that going head-to-head means you still need to keep things apples and oranges. That’s good positioning.

So what’s the deal with the Kindle Fire? As this Tech Crunch article summarizes so well, it’s really about price. And yet it’s not just about price. It’s about using price as a key differentiation. Amazon isn’t getting cheap; they’re getting competitive. As is so easily seen in this open letter currently on the Amazon.com home page.

This open letter is the proverbial line in the sand, from the very first sentence: “There are two types of companies: those that work hard to charge customers more, and those that work hard to charge customers less. Both approaches can work. We are firmly in the second camp.”

Where other companies have failed in taking on Apple is that they are trying to attract the Apple customer. And the Apple customer doesn’t want to be cheap. They want to be trendy, and pure, and an early adopter. The Apple customer doesn’t mind paying more. Amazon isn’t going after that crowd. Amazon is not just offering a valuable product at a value, but they are also pointing out that Apple “charges more.”

This is positioning at its simplest and its finest. It’s bold, it’s clear and it’s polarizing in reference to its competition. 

And the funny thing is that I bet a lot of iPad owners buy a Kindle Fire, too (cuz it’s cheap enough). (For the record, I own an iPad, and don’t see myself getting a Kindle Fire. But I’m still digging the approach).

What’s your position? Is it clear? Bold? Does it stick out? Is it clearly different than anything else your potential customers would consider?

p.s. Apple is great at positioning, too. My guess is they don’t just drop the price of the iPad. My guess is they add more features to the current model, then possibly launch another product that competes at the cheaper level. We’ll see.

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A large email service provider recently found that almost 20% of the emails they sent were viewed on mobile. As mobile internet use grows and grows, you may be thinking about doing a mobile version of your emails. That seems like a good idea, but then you realize that you’re going to need to make your messages look good on iPhone and Android devices. And what about Blackberries? And then you start to think about tablets. Suddenly, things have become very complicated.

Thankfully, a new approach can help save you from these headaches: responsive design. A responsive email uses one base of code that displays differently on different-sized screens. This magic is enabled by a new feature of CSS3 called “media queries”. Media queries check the screen size and modify the styling code appropriately. So, on a larger screen, you might have a three-column layout; on a slightly smaller screen, like a tablet, a two-column layout; and on a phone, a one-column layout. You might have an image on a large screen, which becomes smaller on a medium screen, and disappears on phone. If you want an example of a responsive site, go to www.impactdialing.com on your computer; then, slowly resize the screen by clicking and dragging the lower right corner, and watch how the site changes as your browser window gets narrower and narrower.

Ready to jump into the world of responsive email design? htmlemailboilerplate.com is a great place to get started – it contains all of the basic code needed to build a responsive email template. If you’re looking for a responsive designer, mediaqueri.es showcases responsively-designed sites and is a good starting point to find someone who can help design your email templates (or your website, for that matter!).

Michael Kaiser-Nyman is the CEO and founder of Impact Dialing, an easy to use hosted predictive dialer for small businesses, call centers, and political campaigns.

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Occasionally, I get ideas for guest posts here on the site. Some are good, some fall a little short. But this one by Ashyia Hill is outstanding. I haven’t heard of most of these sites, and her tips on how to leverage them best are spot on. Pass it around. Interested in guest posting yourself? Here’s how. – bd

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I was a pitcher my Freshman and Sophomore years at Dallas Baptist University. A little known fact about pitchers is that when you’re not pitching, you’re running.

Which gave me an interesting perspective to add at the Against the Wind 5k blog. I recently posted the mantra that drove me through countless laps around the campus. Up the steep hills. From foul pole to foul pole. And through mindless laps around the track in the Texas heat.

And you can read the post here to find out exactly what that mantra was. It’s something that still pops up anytime I have to push myself, and it always does the trick.

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Are you familiar with this quote: “Attitude reflects leadership?”

I saw it written on someone’s whiteboard yesterday. I knew I had heard it before, and assumed it was a timeless quote uttered by a leadership guru of decades ago, or maybe a coach like Lombardi or Landry. Regardless, I couldn’t shake it all day, so I looked it up last night. Best I can tell, it came from this scene from the movie Remember the Titans in 2000:

Click here if you can’t see the video above.

Here’s my take: Leadership no doubt carries a huge amount of influence. And the best leaders are able to use that influence to inspire greatness in the group.

But I’m not willing to let my attitude be so reliant on my leader. Sometimes, your leader sucks. Other times, even great leaders can let you down. But it’s my attitude, not theirs. My attitude is my responsibility. As much as I respect the power of leadership, and as much as I agree with Maxwell when he says that “leadership is influence,” I’m still responsible for my attitude.

Not my leader.

Not my circumstances.

Not anything or anyone but me.

The minute I give the keys to my attitude to my leader is the minute I give myself an excuse that shouldn’t be there.

What do you think? I know the Remember the Titans quote is inspiring, but is it right? 

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