To-Do List-itis

The last postcard in our campaign. It isn’t really about marketing. But if you’ll allow me, it’s about more than business. In his classic documentary, “Running Out of Time,” Robert Krulwich explores “The paradox of modern life … that we have more labor-saving devices but less free time.” That “in Japan, karoshi (“death from overwork”) is accepted as a valid cause of fatalities among middle-aged men” and the irony that the people in wealthiest nation on earth take two weeks of vacation, “contrasted with those in Europe, where 5-6 weeks of vacation per year are common.”

It’s about a philosophy. As a cancer survivor, as a survivor of sliding off I-94 at 70mph into a snow-filled ditch with my daughter, as a survivor of the 60’s, recessions, depressions, orphaned and grandfathered, I believe life is precious and short. I believe we are lucky to work in the creative arts – a field of great mirth and joy – with co-workers and clients who smile (you can even sign up for our humorgram!). We, at Sinard, try to bring some of that joy to every project, every day.

And so, while it is a false promise to suggest that your vacation time will increase, your blood pressure will go down and you’ll have more free time if you work with us, perhaps one of these things will happen, if just a little. At very least, you’ll know your to-do list will be in the trusted hands of world’s only Licensed Social Media Therapists!

For more about our newly-concluded “Fear of” campaign, featuring Blogophobia, Facebookitis and the rest, go to www.sinard.com/treatment.

This is certainly true of our latest campaign – for ourselves. Our “Fear of” campaign deals with maladies called “Blogophobia,” etc.,  and exhorts treatment by “the worlds only Licensed Social Media Therapists” – us! We hope our prospects find it clever, amusing and relevant, as we’ve directed it squarely at the critical pain-points we’ve worked to overcome for our clients; those pain-points being:

▪ improper use (or absence) of social media, including blogs, Facebook, Facebook Places, Foursquare, Twitter, etc.

▪ inappropriate treatment and use of video

▪ poor translation of sales materials from print to web and vice-versa

▪ ineffective or just plain dull websites, lacking a “you” focus or a sales funnel

Over the course of the next six weeks we’ll post companion pieces to the campaign, elaborating on these pain points with examples and advice that we hope might get you thinking about your own marketing strengths and weaknesses. And we promise, you won’t feel a thing…

Part One: Blogophobia & Facebookchondria

Is your social media marketing working? Is it on a horse? Old Spice, using “two new TV spots, and the online response videos, [sent sales] up a whooping 107%” (read the article here). Best Buy and Target use Twitter and Facebook for brand loyalty and coupon outlets.

But what if you’re not a Fortune 500 company or not in B2C? What if you’re a small retailer or Business-to-Business company? The trick is which social media? For whom? How does it tie in to your larger marketing plan?

For example, Twitter is an absolute no-brainer for every restaurant on earth that has regulars and specials. It’s certainly helped us track down the food carts that have premiered in downtown Minneapolis this summer.

And B2B? We are extremely proud of one of our own success stories: our work for Creative Water Solutions. We created a blog (which they maintain) that allows them to demonstrate their expertise in spa and pool water science at a level of detail that a traditional campaign could never reach. Combined with a multiple channel marketing push and excellent PR, “WaterBlogged” established CWS as the go-to experts for scientific information in their field (a field that’s sorely lacking in good science). The blog has been so successful that their competitors are trying to ape their jargon and keywords. Fortunately for CWS, it’s too late for the competition – they are well on their way to becoming North America’s most trusted source for accurate information in their category.

And so if you think you might have a Social Media Malady, please share them with us, After all, as “the world’s only Licensed Social Media Therapists” J, it is our duty to keep our public informed! So we’ll be examining several Media Maladies during our campaign, especially over the next few weeks. In the meantime, the comments section is open, and the doctor is in…

For more about the “Fear of” campaign, featuring Blogophobia, Facebookchondria and more (appearing weekly 9/27 – 11//10) go to www.sinard.com/treatment.

In some marketing departments, they think everyone in sales is named Willy Loman or Shelly “The Machine” Levine. Of course, these same sales people may see themselves as Dale Carnegie or Tony Robbins. The key for management is to remind each group that they weren’t hired to make great theater or start a self-help industry. They are, for better or worse, partners in the same enterprise, critical players on the same team.

The teams start off from the same places – product or service FAB, audience definitions, strategy and leads – but they diverge from there. Marketers pick the appropriate medium to drive Attention, Interest, Decision, Action and Retention (AIDA). Sales people, however, deal with people, not media.

Depending on the product, service and distribution channel, a sales person may use many of the following terms, but all Sales people must decide – usually in moments – whether marketing has succeeded, and whether they are talking to a:

• Suspect: an unqualified lead – not yet attentive or interested

• Opportunity, Contact, Call Back or Prospect: a Qualified lead that has some familiarity, but has not decided to buy “our” brand

After the Pitch, Proposal, Assumptive Close, Trial Close or just plain Close (failure of the aforementioned not-withstanding), there is a:

• New Customer: someone who has purchased, but not re-purchased

• Client, Established Customer: repeat business

This is quantitatively and qualitatively different than marketing.

Can’t we all just get along?

What can be confusing is that there are many other similarities between the two. Both the successful sales person and successful marketer wishes to gain trust; both try to handle objections. But only the sales person presents and closes sales. Both sales and marketing work to retain clients. But few marketers get a person-to-person earful when a marketer has over-promised.

And this is critical: Marketing, along with operations, needs to listen to sales, to know what worked and what didn’t. Do sales people hear what they want to hear? Do sales people sell to their strengths? Are they human? Of course, and that’s why marketing needs to balance sales feedback with up-to-date demographic and psychographic information. This is usually where problems arise – when marketing finds facts that will mean new markets, transitions, uncomfortable changes. But in the long run, the two must work hand-in-glove, for mutual improvement, and improvement of the bottom line.

Why Brands Should Embrace Technological Change

Worst Smithy Ever.

The best thing that business owners can do is be aware and, when possible, get involved. Google Alerts is an excellent way to monitor your reputation online. Sign up for the free service, and Google Alerts will scour the web for your company name and send you reports on where you’re popping up. Additionally, find out where your audience gathers online to talk. Track down the forums that cover your business, and join the discussion. And remember, this isn’t a place to sell, it’s a place to contribute. Show expertise in your field, be helpful, ask questions — this is how you build an online reputation that can gain you customers, and maybe, silence a few of the critics.

Restauranteur? Visit Chowhound.

Brewer? Try BeerAdvocate.

Blacksmith? Iforgeiron.

If it exists in this universe, there’s a forum about it, and someone’s finishing a Worst of 09 list.

Constant Vigilance… isn’t worth it

This doesn’t mean non-stop, white-knuckled, late-night web-surfing. Find a few top sites, and check them out once a week. Skim through your Google Alerts and take action if necessary. Participate in the discussion, but don’t obsess. Just understand that everyone’s a critic, some of them are jerks, and some battles just can’t be won.

Read the CP article

[Note: My thought process goes something like this: my friends at the Art Institute of Chicago and Circle Campus had fabric, roll-up keyboards attached to their Bally computers (with audio cassette drives (really)) in the 1970s. Why would I buy an ultra-modern computer unable to connect to peripherals in the 21st century? Sorry, not me.}

What Does This Mean for Your Marketing Efforts?

But reasons and specific features aside, what does this example mean to your product, your service, your marketing efforts? Well, soon to be out-of-date, tech example aside, this is an example of where AIDA, Adoption-Diffusion, Social Media, Marketing and Operations meet.

Obviously Apple spent the ad dollars to garner everyone's attention, and posted enough information for me to make a decision. AIDA is satisfied. But Adoption-Diffusion is different. Always a bell curve, Innovators, Early Adopters, Middle and Late Adopters and Laggards choose based on perceived needs. Until Operations makes changes to the product, I will be a laggard.

This is undoubtedly a deliberate decision by Apple. Someone at Apple decided: we have a good enough product for this launch; we don't need those people who require more; we'll get them later, if ever.

But what if they were wrong (and for serious salespeople and business professionals, they might be!)? What if the vast majority of us wanted the ability to hook up peripherals? The Palm Pre is planning it. Blackberry can do it now. How would you know how important a feature set might be to your prospects, ahead of time?

New Approaches to Market Research

Market research. Pure, fundamental focus groups, questionnaires and client/user-group input. But also, what if you were to use social media to research your product before launch? I'm not saying Apple would have given the iPhone peripheral connectivity if they had adopted Twitter. But what if you used your Facebook and Twitter accounts to build an international support group, and create a [the name of your developing product/service here] Wiki, especially in the early design and marketing development stages? What input would you get from various communities with interest in your product development?

Of course, your competitors would love to be part of your social media community as well. But there are ways to deal with that. The point is, there’s more to Twitter than Twits, more to Facebook than pretty Faces. Collaboration can be a powerful tool – if and when used judiciously. Doing so in 2008 would have been innovative. In 2009, using social media for product research is still ahead of the bell curve. By next year, it will be standard operating procedure.

People like Craig, who specializes in “finding ways to break out of the clutter, sameness and unfocused messages that diminish the effectiveness” of too many marketing efforts. Or Flo, who speaks Marketing + HTML + SEO + Social Media. Or Josh, who listens to radio without a radio and watches TV without a TV.  Doug, the brandmaster; Julie, our Executive Goddess; Rich, our Chief Wizard … so many great minds, so little time.

Yes, here at the ol’ blog, we will share our experiences of B2C and B2B; hospitality and medical and food categories; web-work and Omni-theaters; Fortune 500s and startups. It’s what our clients say they love about us: versatility, flexibility, a focus on facilitating business and prospect discovery.

But enough about us! Please find in the post above an example of the kind of stuff we read, and, in a moment of contrite self-promotion, see below for an example of the kind of stuff we create. Check these out, then come back for more.

Creative Water Solutions website

Dimension Printing website