Some B2B companies have recently complained that many PR and advertising agencies don't want to spend a lot of time running social media campaigns. It seems the business model doesn't allow for short-term, brisk projects, amplifying content written specifically for that campaign.

Indeed, many traditional PR and advertising agencies are used to a different model of managing their clients—long-term contracts, relationship-based, with some level of measurement and analytics and a fairly high-level definition of metrics and ROI. On top of everything else, their clients are asking for more information and with a deeper level of understanding of the outcomes and success rates.

Enter the world of social media marketing, where tools and metrics are many, and the understanding of the outcomes is still questionable. The B2B segment makes it even more complex, basing many assumptions on the successful content management and distribution strategy, or knowledge-sharing engagement.

For more, please review this post in its entirety at: http://www.smmmagazine.com/magazine/issue06/smm-for-b2b.html

The blogosphere, conferences, and boardrooms are replete with discussions about the evolution of marketing and the role of the marketer in this digital age. The dual obsessions of engagement and content are fueling the debate. In the midst of so much research and conversation, it is easy to lose sight of the anchors of the marketing profession－influence and persuasion－and how to deliver the right content at the right time, to achieve those aims. 

Applying a framework that maps actionable marketing content to each stage of a Buyer’s purchase journey, enables Marketers to take a strategic approach to developing influential and persuasive content－and delivering it to achieve maximum impact.  A powerful methodology we employ is the Context + Content Template.  Full post: http://velocidi.posterous.com/2012-marketing-plan-mapping-marketing-content

@MargaretMolloy

The blogosphere, conferences, and boardrooms are replete with discussions about the evolution of marketing and the role of the marketer in this digital age. The dual obsessions of engagement and content are fueling the debate. In the midst of so much research and conversation, it is easy to lose sight of the anchors of the marketing profession－influence and persuasion－and how to deliver the right content at the right time, to achieve those aims. 

Applying a framework that maps actionable marketing content to each stage of a Buyer’s purchase journey, enables Marketers to take a strategic approach to developing influential and persuasive content－and delivering it to achieve maximum impact.  A powerful methodology we employ is the Context + Content Template.  Full post: http://velocidi.posterous.com/2012-marketing-plan-mapping-marketing-content

@MargaretMolloy

Frank kicked off the San Francisco event at the Palomino restaurant by introducing Mullen to the crowd of CMOs, which included Cognizant, HP and Wells Fargo. 

Zinio is a leader in digital content, connection and media consumption – taking print media and making it digital in a cloud-based strategy.  Zinio has quickly become the world’s largest newsstand, delivering digital magazines to readers around the globe right on iPads and Android tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs and laptops.

Mullen delighted the crowd by passing around several iPads showcasing Zinio’s interactive articles and magazines for all to experience firsthand.  She shared her learnings on the three things that change the game around digital content and media consumption:

·         Behavioral Insights

Zinio works with Webtrends to analyze consumer behavior on its site and apps to monitor consumer behavior. They’ve found that the four different generations of readers enjoy consuming digital content very differently. While baby boomers enjoy convenience based interactivity, like interactive table of contents and live links, the digital natives enjoy a custom designed digital experience which includes many variations and layers of engagement. Zinio uses these insights on a regular basis to tweak their offering to best meet their customer’s needs.

·         Customer Relevance

People like to connect with content based on categories, as much as, if not more than brands. If you like fashion, you are inclined to check out all the fashion titles and select articles, photo spreads, information from a variety of titles. So Zinio aggregates categorical content each day in its “Explore” section that its users can enjoy for free: Over 300 free articles are available every day from a variety of different magazines for its iPad and Android tablet users. Consumers can read content in their area of interest across multiple titles. This app has been the #1 news app in over 64 countries the iTunes store since July, and recently earned this same recognition in the Android Market.

·         Competition  - It’s Not What You Think

Rather than competing with other magazine or news aggregators, Zinio positions itself in the mix with other forms of digital entertainment, including games and video aggregators. So Zinio offers content that entertains and engages people, including the highly interactive and all-digital women’s luxury lifestyle VIVMag, their own original title that boasts 350,000 subscribers.

What are the findings that jump out as far as engagement? 

Mullen: Digital content is new to the consumer, but we’ve found that convenience is king for the average American – to be able to access content on any device, and a multitude of content at once.  

For example, frequent business travelers will subscribe to six to seven digital business magazines on Zinio, but would never carry that many onboard..  And many women will use their iPad in nail salons to read celebrity titles – less messy and easier to manipulate than print! You can also read on an iPad in portrait or landscape view.  We found that while brand fans will come over to digital from print, 85% of people who subscribe to digital content have never subscribed in print. People are excited by content shared in the cloud.               

How are print magazines partnering with you differently?

Mullen: Certain publishers have chosen to innovate and make their digital content on Zinio as rich and engaging as possible. For example, National Geographic might put two gorgeous photos in a print article but put 15 in their digital edition – it’s more dynamic. Zinio works with publishers to make the conversion to digital easy  - we even provide templates to help publishers design and layer their digital content.

What about production and distribution?

Mullen: There is an approximate 40 percent savings from print to publish content digitally (if the online mag is a straight replica of the print product). This means the funds can be reinvested in creating targeted or more enhanced issues. Some publishers share the cost savings with their consumers; others charge more for digital because it holds more content. Whatever the approach, one thing is for sure, all publishers appreciate the ability to have a ubiquitous and agnostic device reach for their consumers.  On average, Zinio is adding 100 new titles to its newsstand each month.

Is advertising different than online display ads?

Mullen: Yes, it can be very rich and innovative. For example: The Emmys ran an ad that, upon clicking, live-streamed the awards show right to your iPad, providing value across channels to their own advertisers. Other pluses: there are no online ad units as big as an iPad or tablet so a full page ad on Zinio is quite compelling; and interactivity– for example, you can click on an ad to buy an outfit in real time, or see a 360 degree view of a product.

What type of publishers go digital?

Mullen: Every publisher these days realizes the need for a digital strategy. Highly visual magazines translate extremely well – cooking, fashion, photography etc. News, tech, business and celebrity also do extremely well. It’s a growing market. 

What are your metrics of measurement? Analytics?

Mullen: We look at everything, and with Webtrends we look at even more

1)     Consumer behavior- which magazines and articles consumers are interacting with, both by demographic and regional categories, and as a whole

2)     Consumer purchase habits

3)     Brand strength in Social – Twitter, Facebook, forums, blogs, are just a few

Publishers measure how many issues are sold as single issues, or subscriptions. They are also interested in how many times you read an issue, how much time you spend in an issue, and how often you click on a link or reference an older article. We use Webtrends for tracking all of this. Thanks to Webtrends, we know where people are going, what they are reading. We can see who from which countries are interested in a publisher’s content (50% of purchases for any title from someone outside of the title’s country of publication.) We have found that demographics depend a lot on content – for example, Consumer Reports trends older, Seventeen Magazine, younger. We also have a partnership with Affinity Research and leverage their Vista studies for ad recall. Results indicate that ad recall is higher in digital versions of most magazine issues.

 <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cYdiKrxUFuE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

-by Ellen Seebold, Principal, Seebold Marketing Communications

Very interesting and thought provoking article from b2b

In a recent survey, almost three-quarters of CEOs think marketers lack credibility. And according to the report, we’re not helping ourselves either.

Now before I detail the survey findings, let me say that I agree that quantifying results is a challenge for the majority of marketers. And I think it needs to be solved with a two-tiered approach.

First, I think we need to quantify every marketing effort and use our knowledge, courage and leadership to tie all of our efforts to business outcomes in the form of new demand, higher sales and more profitable customers in both the long and short-term.

Second, I believe marketers need to own the customer experience. This will help marketing to gain a seat at the leadership table by creating a positive company reputation in the marketplace, by representing customer demands and through the articulation of our company’s value proposition. 

The survey conducted by the UK-based Fournaise Marketing Group surveyed more than 600 CEOs from the US, Europe, Asia and Australia in both large and small companies. The group reports that 73% of CEOs say marketers lack credibility due to an inability to translate the results of marketing campaigns into outcomes that improve business performance such as new demand, sales, customers, or market share. 

This is compounded by the study’s result that 69% of the marketers actually agree that they cannot translate the result of their marketing efforts into quantifiable business value.

Some Additional Findings of The Survey:

• 77% of CEOs believe marketers spend too much time talking about brand value and brand equity vs. revenue, profit and growth.
• 74% of CEOs believe marketers are too focused on the latest trends such as social media and are unable to show how these will generate more business for the company.
• 72% of CEOs believe that marketers often request additional budget but cannot tie that increase to additional revenue or profit.
• 70% believe marketers use lots of data to support their campaigns – none of which relate to the P&L.
• And 67% believe marketers don’t think enough like business people by focusing too much on the “arty” or “fluffy” creative side of marketing.

I agree with Jerome Fontaine, the CEO of Fournaise, in his assessment:

“Until Marketers start speaking the P&L language of their CEOs and stakeholders, and until they start tracking the business effectiveness of all their strategies and campaigns to prove they generate incremental customer demand, they will continue to lack credibility in the eyes of their CEOs and will continue to be seen more as a cost centre than an asset.”

I had a friendly Twitter exchange on this topic yesterday with Philippe Winthrop (@biz_mobility) where we accepted that there are some marketing activities that are hard to quantify in the short-term. We agreed that marketing needs to work harder to quantify the results of these efforts into hard P&L numbers, even if the results are more long-term or hard to gather.

Mike Gospe (@mikegospe) explains in his blog and new book about why Marketing should take the “high ground” (and a seat at the leadership table) in this debate by becoming an advocate for our customers:

The marketing high ground represents a special place where you know the market so well, so deeply, that you become the customers’ advocate. With this knowledge comes confidence in gathering and interpreting market data so that the best product, service, and go-to-market decisions can always be made.

Mike goes on to say that Marketing needs to drive this approach across an aligned workforce and then it will earn and even command a seat at the leadership table. (Sounds great to me!)

So how do we solve the challenge that CEOs think marketers lack credibility? For me the answer is:

1. We need to act (more) like business people and find a way to quantify every single marketing dollar, resource and effort. We need to stop focusing on marketing activities and focus on business results that include new sales, higher profits, more customers or greater market share.
2. We need to own the voice of the customer and drive these insights across the entire organization.

What do you think? Please tell me your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook.

And please Subscribe to the B2B Marketing Insider Blog to receive future posts via email.

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What’s the difference between offering hope versus promising a cure?  If you are a digital marketer in a highly regulated industry like healthcare, understanding where that line is could mean the difference between a successful campaign, and a steep fine.

To shed light on this important topic, I recently had the pleasure of presenting alongside Cramer’s Darren Ross, executive vice president of solutions, at an AMA Boston event.  The presentation, “Five Tools to Increase Digital Engagement in a Regulated Environment,” shed light on what marketers need to know before engaging with customers and prospects across multiple channels, particularly in the sticky world of social media where transparency on sites like Facebook is not only a “good to do,” but also strictly enforced.

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In my humble opinion, QR Code acceptance is dependent on consumer adoption, delivering a valuable user experience, and granular metrics.  We kept that in mind as we developed our advertising program, and segmented it by category.  But, we also wanted to understand other uses and benefits that could be gained from using QR Codes for other applications.

It’s no secret that Sun-Times Media has been hard at work both in a B2B rebranding effort entitled, “Chicago Region-Wide Network (CRWN)”, but also backing up the implication that we are “shiny and new” with innovative programs and processes, which now include QR Codes to connect our print assets with our explosively growing mobile channel.   One program, in particular, the Sun Shine Project, is a shining example (forgive the pun) of how CRWN will deliver the Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust’s (which is a 501 (c) (3) entity) message to an audience of 54% of the Chicago DMA, specifically:

— The Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust provides financial support to organizations that help the city’s youth to reach their highest potential by targeting programs that address their needs and empower them with skills necessary to evolve into literate and responsible adults.

— The Charity Trust will award up to $500,000 in one-time cash grants during a unique public event launching in August 2011.

— The Sun Shine Project will leverage interactive software for the first time to “Crowd Source” parts of the grant process.

— The program will have three distinct phases:

1.  Nominate.  During this period of a few weeks, Sun-Times Media will be encouraging our large audience and charitable partners across the Chicago DMA to nominate their favorite charities that comply with the Trust’s guidelines.  QR Codes will be leveraged in all traditional media channels, particularly print, to drive users to the our mobile-optimized web site, which is in beta until late August.
2.  Vote.  After the nomination period ends, we will be now encouraging Chicagoans to vote for their favorite charities.  Again, QR Codes will take a key role in giving on-the-go users the ability to make their voice heard.
3.  Promote.  After all the votes are in and tabulated, Sun-Times Media will heavily promote the charities who will be receiving grants. QR Codes will allow anyone to see a full list of those charities.

QR Codes are a great bridge between the traditional print world and the new digital mobile world.  Using them we can leverage the visual and emotional impact of print and provide a digital outlet that allows people to take immediate action when they otherwise might forget.  QR Codes and their cousins 2D Codes may evolve to play an important role in how we connect audiences, channels, and ideas.  With them, I can think of no more important idea to shine a light on than on the incredible, heartwarming work that many local charities do to increase Education/Literacy, Arts & Culture, and Social Services.  The Sun Shine Project campaign, replete with QR Codes, will do just that.

For more info: http://heartlandmobilecouncil.org/

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There are some obvious analogies that can be made between dating and social media marketing. Both involve efforts to “engage” (in some cases, quite literally) the other party, and each requires adherence to some ground rules (or even “The Rules”).

However, there are some places where the analogies fall apart – with that, here are four dating rules that absolutely don’t work in the social media realm.

Rule #1: Play hard to get.

Those familiar with the modern dating scene have probably heard about the “three day rule,” or the idea that person should wait until three days after a date to initiate any form of communication with his or her date. While I have my qualms with this rule in terms of dating, I definitely do not agree with following such waiting periods online. If I tweet at a company and I don’t hear anything back within a few hours (especially during business hours), I completely lose faith in the company’s entire marketing team. When a consumer is taking the time to engage with your brand online, you should find the time to respond. Even if the consumer is complaining about your product, providing impeccable customer service and quickly correcting your mistakes can turn even the angriest consumer into a loyal customer.

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With more than 175 million users, few can argue that Twitter isn’t a valuable resource for tracking everything from consumer sentiment to the latest business trends.  Despite high traffic on this content-rich site, it is often underutilized by sales and business development professionals.  With more users becoming active each day, Twitter can serve as a treasure trove of information. 

Business development and sales executives can use Twitter to learn more about prospects, keep track of client activity and research industry trends.  Twitter can also be used to engage with prospects and customers, though we’ll focus on the listening aspect of Twitter for this session of “Stalking with Style.” Here are a few practical tips to move that cold lead to a warm one.

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Historically, a key component of the value chain of every enterprise was the technology department.  It has changed names over the years from Business Equipment, to Computer Department, to Management Information Systems (MIS), to Information Technology (IT), etc., and many companies ended up with a combination of these acronyms / departments.

We also came up with a variety of titles for the chief honcho who ran these departments.  Everything from Managers, to VPs, to CIOs, CTOs, to Directors, etc., all with varying combinations of abbreviations to “specialize” their purview.

Today, we find many organization have developed “justifiable” sister entities with independent heads that are at the same organizational level as the IT Department.  These include Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Technology Officer,, Data Intelligence Officer and various “Intelligence” hybrid divisions, etc., and many more.  Let’s not get wrapped up in the far-out titles like Vice President of Pop Culture, Social Media/Community Superstar, Freelance PR Maestro, Chief Happiness Officer, Systems Wrangler, etc., ok, you get the point.

Understandably, some companies really wish to segregate Intelligence from IT and separate technological innovation from legacy operational systems.  That’s fine; whatever floats the enterprise’s boat, works.

It’s when online activity – in all its various forms – started happening that things really went haywire.  The most common battle fought today in most, well, many, companies, is “Who Owns the Web”.  The Web requires technology, right? Right.  It requires systems, hardware, software and technical expertise, right? Right.  Software? Yup.

So, in the beginnings of online communications and the early days of the Web, everything went through the IT Department.  They had the resources, only they understood the “Soul of the Machine”.  So things went on really well for a while, until GUI’s (graphical user interface) started to become very sophisticated and colorful.  That’s when companies (not the IT departments, mind you) started to realize that the look & feel was just as important as “being there online”.  That’s when they started calling for designers to get involved, then marketers, then advertisers, etc.

To make a long story short, before the CIO knew it, other departments were calling the shots on how the company’s online presence should look and operate.  With the advent of everyday tools to build your own websites, email campaigns and interactive platforms, we are now in “OCG” – Online Creative Gridlock.  The CIO knows that IT owns the Web because they own the hardware, well, sort of, if you forget about Cloud computing, and platform hosting.  The Product Fulfillment people decide when products are ready to post online, so they own the Web too.  Finance decides how to price the products, so they are owners.  While Legal says you cannot use that hot slogan on the website, Marketing is already posting product release pictures all over the web.  Let’s not forget that Sales is already taking orders online and at least 5 different departments are sending our mass emails to the entire company email mailing list!  And companies all over are violating regulatory regulations while doing the above!  Everyone owns the Web.

It’s no wonder that to post the announcement of a new product (no, not the planning, just the online Brand) takes 10 different departments, multiple teams of designers (each department by the way, has their own Web designer), and multiple channels of approval ad different C-levels just to get it launched.  Not to mention changing the color of the price text!

All the above is “BSM” – Before Social Media!  In the Social Media era we now have complete autonomy of each and every department in the organization to plan, design, launch a product, engage customers, makes the sale, support customers, socialize reviews and feedback, destroy a competitor, alienate an industry, violate regulations and say really stupid things to millions of people.  All this without any other department in the organization being involved, on a miniscule budget and with instant results!

This is the nightmare every CIO & CTO has today.  Not to mention that Legal, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, etc., are also barraged by this chaos.  All of sudden, the company has lost its consistent voice, its homogenous culture, its adherence to process, procedure and principles, and its unique and consistent Brand Image.

The CIO is tasked with the job of ensuring that the enterprise is fully and effectively supported with the computing power sufficient to capture corporate data, convert it to information and deliver intelligence to the organization to act upon it.

Savvy CIOs & CTO’s today understand the partnership they must develop with their Chief Marketing Officer since the CMO is primarily the one tasked with crafting & nurturing the Brand. And it all boils down to the Brand.  The one who owns the Brand, owns the media and the medium.  CIOs need to anticipate their CMO & enterprise’s needs by identifying tools, apps, mobile channels, converters, platforms, etc., that fit within an overall technology architecture for the organization.  Specifically, the CIO must build an “Enterprise Social Architecture” that:

1. 1. • Is cross-departmental
      • Is scalable up, down and across the entire organization
      • All components thereof, are measurable
      • All activity, campaigns, etc., are mapped to KPIs and to the enterprise ROI
      • Maps to every value chain component in the enterprise
      • Interacts with the entire Supply Chain & Demand Chain
      • Provides for customized departmental branding
      • Allows the Chairman, the CEO / CFO and most importantly, the CMO, with the power to ensure Brand Integrity & consistent messaging
      • Is wrapped around a platform of processes, procedures, policies and crisis management tools to effectively run the enterprise

CIO’s that work with their C-level peers – the CMO being the “Brand Guardian” and a key partner – to architect an Enterprise Social Architecture will, in the end, win the battle since they become the Brand Enablers while empowering their CMOs to safeguard and empower the reach of their company Brand.

“To automate, or not to automate, that is the question.” 

 Okay, not exactly as poetic or introspective as Hamlet, but a question plenty of marketers contemplate with almost as much internal conflict.  The topic of selecting the right marketing automation software, and determining if automation is even right for you in the first place, is one that is continuously debated -  and often with much angst.

To assist with the process, eConsultancy recently completed work on a new guide, “Marketing Automation Best Practices.”  It was created to “provide an unbiased look at the opportunities and challenges of marketing automation.”  The guide benefits readers by examining questions such as:

• What is marketing automation, and will it work for me?
• When can I expect to see the results?
• How can I use marketing automation to nurture leads?

Read more: http://me.lt/2B057 

Without any further ado, here are the four building blocks of one-to-one personalization:

1. Real-time Customer Profile – One-to-one personalization requires real-time customer profiles that encompass all known and inferred information, including contact information, socio-demographics, transactions, computed data, expressed interests and preferences, behavioral information, aggregates, scores, etc.  Building this 360-degree view typically requires data from multiple systems, which can either be pulled into a central data mart or tapped through federated access.  In addition, it’s essential that these profiles are updated in real time.  You don’t want a customer declining an offer presented on your website, for instance, only to be presented with the same offer on the phone moments later.  In general, the more detailed, accurate, and up-to-date the data, the more targeted, personalized, and effective the messages.

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[Posted by Kristin Hambelton
Vice President Marketing, Neolane, Inc.]

Read more: http://blog.neolane.com/events-2011/tradeshow-takeaways-quick-trip-marketing-tips-learned-travel-industry/

Integrated marketing has been the mantra of B2B marketers for many years, as they were busy deploying CRM systems in support of sales and marketing efforts and charting new strategies for integrated care centers and marketing automation. With the advent of social media, the balance of "integration" has shifted. More attention is now devoted to content creation and curation, management, analytics, sentiment analysis, search engine optimization, knowledge sharing, and ways to enlighten customers without the hard-sell approach.

So what's a B2B marketer to do? Continue to integrate! Here is how -> ...more

(For the continuation of this article, published in Social Media Marketing Magazine, click HERE. The entire article will be republished in this Blog post on July 1st, 2011) OR follow this QR code:

“It’s not authentic if everyone loves you.” – Stephen Strong (Alberto Culver) at theChicago Brand Advocacy Series.

That is a message that every marketer needs to hear loud and clear, especially as the focus on social media gets stronger and recommendations carry more purchasing weight than ever before!  The term “authenticity” gets used a lot now, but how many brands actually subscribe to being authentic, not just saying they are?

True authenticity in marketing requires brands to change their public filters.  It used to be that a whitewashed image was the way to get consumers’ notice and buy-in (literally)…but now, if brands filter out any and all slight imperfections, consumers quickly get wary.  If the only product/service reviews you allow the public to hear are about how amazing your product/service is, you quickly lose authenticity points.

In today’s market, REAL trumps PERFECT because real is what creates TRUST …and trust is what makes WOM recommendations work.  Consumers who trust your brand are much more likely to become Brand Advocates, knowing you will consistently deliver on your product and service promises.  In fact, 76% of consumers recommended companies they trust to a friend or colleague (source: Edelman).

One key way to gain consumers’ trust is to build authentic relationships with them.Give consumers ongoing chances to interact with you and your brand, so they can see that you always tell the truth. Don’t waste your valuable marketing time making things up because your consumers will sense that you are not telling the truth.  Do your products and services have all perfect recommendations, as your brand claims?  Maybe – but unlikely.  100% on-time delivery?  Maybe – but unlikely.

Of course you don’t need to announce your errors or be proud of performance inconsistencies, but if consumers bring them up publicly, consider NOT filtering those conversations out of the media.  Speak directly to any issues consumers have with your brand, and let your problem-solving conversations be public.  These authentic conversations are the ones that build ongoing relationships – the ones that create Brand Advocates.

In my opinion, our new marketers’ motto should be “LESS fabrication, MORE facilitation.” In other words, don’t waste resources whitewashing your brand.  Put your resources instead into giving Advocates the tools to tell their truth about your brand…because that is what consumers trust and what they trust, they will buy.   “LESS fabrication, MORE facilitation” = a boost to your ROR (Return on Relationship).

True authenticity is one major thing that can set your brand apart from the rest of today’s highly competitive market.  How authentic is your brand??

Originally posted at ZuberRants

Visa gets it – that the marketing world has changed significantly, and even the big players need to change along with it.  In fact, Visa’s head of marketing, Antonio Lucia, reported that Visa has increased their digital media investment from about 11% to at least 36%.

But Visa not just putting their money into digital media, they are also changing their approach to marketing.  Lucia said last month in his keynote at ad:tech San Francisco that Visa is now guided by three principles of social media, with one of them being “recommendations are the new advertising.”

I couldn’t agree more!  Consumers are overwhelmed by ads, and even if a brand does manage to get consumers’ attention by traditional advertising, they have a huge trust hurdle to jump.  So consumers are turning now to recommendations (Earned Media) as their trusted information source.

When someone wants to know what service provider to use, or which brand provides the most consistently-performing product at a price that meets their budget, where do they turn?  Social media. They ask their friends, relatives, and colleagues… and even people they don’t know, but still trust simply because they are part of their extended social network.  The key being that another individual – not a brand promising perfection via one of its ads — recommended a service or product.

Some marketers might see this shift away from traditional advertising as a negative shift, but I see it as a huge opportunity for marketers.   Recommendations are more likely to lead to action (a purchase or passing on the recommendation, for example) due to their interpersonal nature, and also because recommendations are often requested with the intent to purchase.

Our job as marketers then needs to shift from creating the most eye-catching advertisement ever to facilitating and nurturing relationships that lead to these powerful recommendations. It’s these relationships that create Brand Advocates – those people who are so delighted by our product/service/brand that they can’t wait to tell their friends and their whole social networks about their experience.

We need to make it EASY for Brand Advocates to make these brand-reinforcing recommendations. Give them the tools to interact with your brand so they can hear your consistent message, ask their questions, give you feedback, and then pass your message on to their network.  Those recommendations will catch fire in ways that traditional advertising simply will not.

Take a look at your marketing strategy – how many times does the word “recommendations” or “Brand Advocates” show up?  I bet there is room for more!

Originally posted at ZuberRants

Download file here - The value proposition in multichannel retailing

Or click on the first page of the report. 

First up, Martyn Christian provided a broad range of research that encouraged B2B companies to look at current clients for incremental revenue:

·         80% of new business revenue comes from existing clients

·         Current customers have 3x the response rate to offers

·         Success is driven by ability to understand customer needs & requirements (one size does not fit all

·         Try to customize your positioning around what the customers says

·         Need to “think in the customer vernacular” and focus on solutions not technology

·         Do “voice of the customer” research and then share the results with your customers  (demonstrates understanding and provides value)

·         “If you understand your customer better, you can serve them better”

·         Put a lot of resources into listening, asking good questions and documenting the results

Then Grant Johnson provided an overview of their sales cycle, from first contact to closing the sales. Going through the cycle month by month (as tracked via Eloqua) revealed a number of insights: 

·         Selling software solutions for over $.5 million is a long involved multi-touch process (the example provided took 12 months)

·         Can’t do “transactional demand gen” for high value products.  Instead, it requires engaging prospects in the buying cycle

·         Targeted campaigns can get the ball rolling driving prospects to your website—it is important that you try to capture “leads” at this point

·         Pega has had great success with its customer training event, PegaWorld, to increase current customer interest in “add on” services

·         Pega created something called the “heat indicator” to track leads moving up and down the intensity scale and has responses for either direction

·         PegaWorld also played a role in “heating up” prospects interest in Pega’s solutions

·         After an initial sales meeting and demo, a number of prospects including senior execs visited their website indicated the prospect was getting “hot”

·         Newsletters are an important way of keeping warm leads warm

·         Pega has a “community” that helps hot leads stay hot

·         Pega figured out that their overall ROI was directly proportional to their ability to sell current clients additional services

Johnson also covered an interesting challenge—how to get better quality testimonials from its current customers, cases that are essential for new business development. 

·         Pega created a “loyalty program” with points for various activities

·         Customers that agree to participate in case histories receive one free pass to PegaWorld, a $1000 value

·         This program, tripled customer participation in testimonial program gaining 35 customer speakers and 32 provided written testimonials.

·         Needed to add staff to support the program.

·         This program has been highly successful and ultimately helped their customers gain valuable PR exposure which they found beneficial as well.

In sum, it was a highly instructive and stimulating session for all the B2B marketers in the room. 

So how do you determine who is listening and who to target in social media? The key is monitoring and measuring the activity of audience. Listed below are five easy steps to social media metrics, measurement and scalability to help you determine what metrics can help you objectively measure your successes.

Step 1. Measure Exposure

Measure everything from page views to search engine rankings. Keep track of your brands messages, online discussions and comments so you can to be more precise in identifying your target audience and more effective in engaging your customers with relevant content. A good Social Reporting solution, such as Social Report, is an example of an inexpensive measurement tool that allows you to easily track and report on all of your social networking accounts, blogs, websites, and short links on one dashboard. 

Step 2. Engage in Metrics

Track engagement by measuring click-thru’s, visitors, comments, length of visits, subscribers, and retweets and replies. Create clickable floating images, custom apps and widgets to map and measure what your visitors are doing in your networks. Engage with Twitter lists, hash tags #, tweet-ups, conversation, RSS feeds; join Facebook communities, build landing pages and integrate social media. Compare new numbers to old numbers for a look at your successes. 

Step 3. Influence Your Numbers

Stay consistent with your messages, but work on raising awareness and creating a positive perception of your brand. Create relationships with your audience and utilize monitoring tools and follow up on comments. If your audience feels a connection with your brand, it is likely that they will become advocates for your company. Check out reputation management services Klout, PeerIndex, SocialReport, Google Insight and KnowEm; use “social pitch” platform PitchEngline; and check out Social2B’s Social Media Influence Index for help with social media monitoring tools. 

Step 4. Take Action

Use conversion tools to measure customer satisfaction. Utilize a customer satisfaction dashboard, create product ambassadors on Twitter, take advantage of an integrated CRM system, integrate email campaigns with Social Media; and try to integrate SEO with Social Media as well. You can even be proactive by visiting stores, attending events, purchasing products, donating, and volunteering in. This will give you a glimpse of what is happening in your industry. 

Step 5. Measure ROI 

In social media, relationship management is significant when it comes to brand loyalty. Convert fans to customers by directly engaging with them on various social media platforms. Align and map your Social Media Metrics with traditional marketing and business metrics. As an enterprise marketer, you need to continue to make the right choices in content and be able to channel that content to provide results and maximize ROI. 

Monitoring and measuring your social media efforts is more important than ever. If you don’t know what people are saying about you, how are you going to know what needs to be changed? Use social media metrics and measurements to influence your marketing decisions and help you successfully express your ideas through social media.

And always ask yourself: How am I measuring my brand's social media success? Because, if you can't measure, you can't scale!

Courtney Velasquez, Social Fabric Community Director, interviewed John Andrews, Collective Bias (CB) Founder/CEO, and Ted Rubin and Dave Henry of the CB Board of Advisors to understand how brands and retailers can measure social media ROI, engage in shopper listening and receive shopper feedback. Originally posted at CollectiveBias.com

1. How can brands drive measurable ROI from social media now?

John: This is such an important question! ROI is usually addressed from a longer-term perspective, and with the immediacy of social media interactions (and exponential growth and adoption), we really do need to see measurable ROI in the shorter term.

Ted: Social media is so popular and effective as a marketing tool because it focuses on the customer experience instead of just throwing an advertisement at them and hoping the impression will stick. The key, then, to driving measurable ROI is in customers’ shopping experience. JUST by listening to what shoppers want, you can improve their shopping experience (e.g. in-stock position, proper assortment, promotion placement, etc.) and grow your sales by a measurable effect immediately. Be a socially-focused organization.

2. Shopper listening: what is it and how should brands do it?

John: Shopper listening is exactly what it sounds like, AND so much more. It is listening to what shoppers want, but it is not just a passive gathering of information…it is an interactive, two-way feedback loop with shoppers (and potential shoppers).

Ted: Effective shopper feedback includes an ongoing cycle of asking questions, listening to the answers, asking clarifying follow-up questions as necessary, and then TAKING ACTION based on the answers.

Listen carefully to shoppers’ answers regarding the following questions:

• • What are their likes, and equally importantly, their dislikes?
  • What are their expectations of your brand and products?
  • What experience are they hoping to have because of your product?
  • What would delight them enough that they would want to tell their friends?

Apply those answers by making changes to in-stock product placement, or creating new promotions tailored to shopper preferences, or even removing certain products from the shelves to make space for a different assortment that your shoppers are asking for.

3. Who benefits from shopper feedback?

Dave: Just about everyone! Shoppers definitely benefit because they get the products and customer experience they want. Brands benefit because when shoppers get what they want, they not only purchase for themselves, but tell others to purchase also.  And don’t forget your retail partners – they also benefit by becoming known as the retail shop that stocks the products (your products) that shoppers actually WANT. The retail location itself then becomes part of the positive customer shopping experience, influencing repeat sales and adding fuel to positive Word of Mouth.

4. Do shoppers really pay attention to brands via the social media channel?

Ted: Absolutely. Consumers now have “the channel of me” – their opinions now create the reality of the brand, and they are watching to see which brands are truly paying attention to them. Shoppers want to know more than just which brands are offering worthwhile promotions; they also want to know which brands are open to being influenced by shopper opinions and behaviors. Those are the brands they will purchase from.

So yes, shoppers definitely are paying attention, and brands need to show that same amount of attention back to the shoppers. How? By listening!! (see #2).

Dave: The truly fantastic thing about the power of social feedback (the full definition of that term), is that the interactions your brand has with shoppers and potential shoppers now can influence their purchase decisions IMMEDIATELY. Show them you are genuinely paying attention and you can quickly become the recipient of their buying power.

5. How much time should brands invest in “shopper feedback”?

Ted: As much as you can. I can’t stress enough the importance of this LISTENING. It benefits all parties in the marketing channel at a comparatively very low cost, and the ROI shows up quickly.
When your brand is committed to shopper feedback, you give yourself the information needed to be able to:

• • Give your shoppers exactly what they want
  • Hone your product offerings to those that shoppers WILL buy
  • Turn on a dime to innovate quickly and in a way that will keep your shoppers happily along for the ride
  • Be welcomed into the consumers’ “channel of me.”

6. Is there any long-term benefit to shopper feedback?

John, Ted, Dave: Yes!
When brands truly listen – and respond – to shoppers, those shoppers become loyal customers and then go even further to become advocates for your products and ultimately your brand.  Base your product innovations on shopper listening and show them you are supportive of influencers and shoppers will become YOUR shoppers… advocates who can’t wait to tell their friends about their experience with your product and brand, simply because you delighted them.

In other words, the long-term benefit is the building of powerful relationships, and the ROI there is relationship commerce, or ROR (Return on Relationship). Listening allows for action and action can be measured.

Social media can be measured easily, quickly and efficiently, but many focus on the wrong measurements. Impressions and Share of Voice are important data points but what do they really do to move your product at retail? It’s very wise to move some allocated dollars in media into social media, and at the same time, move research dollars to measure.

Read 8 Essential Takeaways for CMOs: http://velocidi.posterous.com/50209247

@MargaretMolloy: http://twitter.com/#!/MargaretMolloy

 Velocidi http://velocidi.com/

 “If you figure out how to harness the power of female customers, you can rock the world,” says Aileen Lee in her recent TechCrunch guest post, “Why Women Rule the Internet.”

This declaration is music to my ears and one of the primary reasons I have joined organizations that truly prioritize building relationships with female consumers.  Building programs that tap into women’s interests and fuel social engagement programs is a key element in realizing this goal for brands.

 As the article shows (read the full article for specific statistics), women are the majority of users on social networking sites, and spend 30% more time on these sites than men (source: Comscore).  We have known for a while that women hold the purchasing power in households, and now we are seeing this trend expand to high-revenue E-Commerce sites (for example, Gilt Groupe says  women are 70% of their customer base and they drive 74% of revenue).

“Women are the routers and amplifiers of the social web.  And they are the rocket fuel of ecommerce.”—Aileen Lee.

What is happening now -- as more women spend more time on more social networking sites for more reasons – is that women’s purchasing power now goes well beyond the purse … into women’s relationships.   

In fact, Lee cites research by Robert Dunbar that “that women are able to maintain quantitatively more relationships within every ring of closeness than men.”   Also, a recent poll of SheSpeaks members [http://www.shespeaks.com/pollsdetails/138483/144596] also shows that staying connected with friends and family is one reason that many of the respondents use social media. 

Consider how important relationships are in social networking, and you see that women and the relationships they bring with them are key to expanding brand visibility and company growth through their powerful Word of Mouth.  

Although not everyone agrees with the sentiment of Lee’s article (just read the comments!), in my opinion and experience, she is right on target.   Build relationships with your women consumers, and you will see exponential returns (Return on Relationship: ROR).  

Before you go any further in implementing your current marketing strategies, ask yourself:  What are you doing to connect women with your brand/product/service?  What are you doing to make sure women are engaged in all aspects of your product and service cycles?  What are you doing to build and nurture relationships with the female consumer, and empower them to spread the word?

Why?… because Women ROCK!

Originally posted at SheSpeaks

Market research can be tricky because people have a tendency toward giving you the answers they think you want.  It is simply human nature, and something we marketers must pay attention to.

In the past, the solution to avoiding this skewed feedback has been to provide ways for current and potential customers to give anonymous feedback.  The prevalent thinking was that the more impersonal the feedback gathering mechanism, the better chance of getting the real feedback.

In my opinion, marketers using that data-gathering approach just aren’t getting it.  We don’t need to make our interactions less personal; we need to make them more personal and make it be all about relationships. 

When we can build authentic relationships with our current and potential consumers, we will get authentic feedback, whether they are praising our products/services or telling us what is missing or not working for them. 

Relationship-building does require time, attention, and even emotional investment, but the returns (ROR: Return on Relationship) are absolutely worth the effort and resources.   When you build an authentic relationship with your current and potential consumers, they are more likely to:

·         Tell you more … because they actually care about your product/service/brand

·        Be more honest … because they trust you and your willingness to hear the truth about your brand

·         Take more initiative to give you feedback … because real relationships are a two-way street 

·         Provide more valuable feedback … because they really know your product/service/brand

·         Be more respectful in their responses… because they don’t need to rant and rave to get your       attention 

·         Tell their friends you rock … because you are open, engaged and responsive

So, which will it be:  a cold environment of anonymity or a warm live community of relationships?   I choose relationships (and you should too).  

Originally posted at SheSpeaks

This felt like a great question to also bring to this forum as many of us report into the CEO. 

In my B2B environment I am expected to 1) represent the voice of the customer and help the product and delivery teams keep the customer front and center at all times, 2) make sales successful through demand generation, leads, and pipeline creation, 3) Build  the brand 4) champion the customer experience across all channels, but especially online and in social media.

What do your CEO's expect from you?  and follow the broader conversation at http://community.forrester.com/thread/4551?tstart=0

Dwight

Kleenex made waves with its recent “Softness Worth Sharing campaign,” which encouraged people to have FREE Kleenex sample packs sent to friends and family.  Earlier this month, a reported 1 million Kleenex packs had been sent on behalf of Kleenex consumers!

What made this innovative campaign so successful?  Kleenex gave consumers the chance to not only interact with their product, but to also easily give their friends/family the same experience. In other words, Kleenex identified Advocates, who in turn sent more samples and encouraged their networks to do the same… they were energized and mobilized.  Social sampling at its best!

One important part of this campaign was providing a way for people to track the campaign online – including their own “chain of sharing,”  where a consumer can see if their sample-sending inspired someone else to send sample(s).  When consumers can see the impact of their action, it can easily inspire them to act again and spread the word to their friends about this “cool thing you have to check out!”  Again, it energizes and mobilizes Advocates.

We know how important it is to give our Brand Advocates the tools to market our products for us, and now Kleenex has taken this concept one step further by giving consumers the tools AND THE PRODUCT (samples) to share with their networks.  They have made it easy and fun for Advocates to create a buzz around a specific product and to share theexperience of the product.

Successful social sampling campaigns rely on consumer-to-consumer connection, and your Advocates are the most powerful way to create those ties.

Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, OpenSky.

The marketing paradigm is shifting with much greater “power to the people” facilitated by social media.  If you want to continue to reach your market, it's not about advertising any more, but about building relationships.

Consider the following differences:  

1.     Telling vs. Listening

It may sound counterintuitive, but if you truly want to be heard above the growing social media “noise,” you need to listen.  Listen to what your consumers and potential consumers are saying before you even put one word out there:  What are they saying, what are they feeling, what are their pain points, what solutions do they need?   Then when you do “speak” (type), empathize with them and ask them questions. 

2.     Me vs. You

Adding on to #1 above, when you begin an interaction online with your consumers, do you come from a “ME” perspective and speak first about your brand / product / service, or do you come from a “YOU” perspective and first address what matters most to your consumer (their needs, wants, interests and expectations)?   Whatever matters most to your consumer should become what matters most to you! 

3.     “What can you give me?” vs. “How can I serve you?”

Taking the “ME” mentality one step further, when we are advertising instead of building relationships, we are focused on what our consumers can give us instead of how we can best serve them. 

Your consumers will recognize in a heartbeat if you are simply out to get something from them.  It’s not that you aren’t allowed to want anything from your consumers, it’s that there must be a give to go along with every take.   If you truly want to make an impact, aim to always put more energy and attention in your “give” column than in your “take” column.  It will pay off.

4.     Instant Impact vs. Ongoing Engagement

Traditional advertising is going for instant impact and hoping and praying you make an impression:  splashy billboards, off-the-wall Super Bowl television ads, eye-catching graphics, even shock factor (images of gore, poverty, nudity, animal cruelty, etc.).  While those methods are effective in catching a consumer’s attention, they fall short of retaining that attention.

Building relationships, in contrast, is about starting meaningful dialogue (see #1-3 above) and taking the time to thoughtfully and genuinely engage in ongoing conversation.  Relationships focus on getting to know your consumer and giving them reasons to stay engaged -- not just getting them to react.

5.     Where is the Money? vs. Who are the People?

Short and simple:  if you are only focused on the money, you risk completely overlooking the people.  Don’t make that mistake!  If you don’t know who your people are, you might as well toss your marketing money down the drain.

It’s time to re-focus ROI (Return on Investment) to ROR (Return on Relationship): let your brand be bold and innovative enough to demote “advertising” and promote “building relationships”!

Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, OpenSky.

Pete: What’s the problem, Jeff? 

Jeff: The real problem in the media ecology right now is the absolute dearth of effective, scalable reach for big brand advertisers.  All branding is a function of reach, first and foremost, and brands simply can’t grow unless and until they can find and secure cost-efficient ways to scale effective reach.  In fact, scalable brand reach is the only nondiscretionary line item in any big brand media spend, and that’s why – after all this time – digital branding revenues are still just a small fraction of their network TV counterparts, despite the rapid growth of the digital channels and the equally rapid erosion of effective network TV reach in recent years.  Brand advertising nowadays is suddenly like the proverbial tree in the forest that falls when no one is around to hear it.  Despite the increase in sheer tonnage, the media channels are shedding effective, scalable brand reach. 

Pete: How can there be no effective, scalable reach when there’s so much inventory, especially online? 

Jeff: For the same reason that knowledge and wisdom are subtractive, not additive. Because the entire advertising industry – especially online – caters almost exclusively to the supply-side creation and distribution of the one thing no one in an on-demand media universe demands and the one thing everyone in an on-demand media universe is equipped to avoid: the ads themselves.  It’s utterly nonsensical and completely delusional to think for a moment that we can generate effective, scalable brand reach with the one thing no one wants and everyone is equipped to avoid – regardless of the medium. 

Pete: But what can advertisers do to compensate for the loss of effective, scalable reach on TV if no one wants the ads online either? 

Jeff: We need to begin by asking the right question, one that’s truly mindful of the fact that all commercial media are now and always have been on-demand.  And the right question in an on-demand media universe isn't, “How do we target the right audience?”  The right question is “How do we get the right audience to target us?” 

Pete: Implicit in that question is an assertion that the right audience somehow qualifies itself.

Jeff: Exactly, Pete.  Self qualification is now and always has been the defining characteristic of all on-demand media.  In fact, we declare our demographic profiles every time we decide which programs to watch on TV, what to listen to on radio, which magazines to read, or which websites or blogs to visit online.  In an on-demand media universe the right audience always qualifies and declares itself simply by showing up.  But in advertising, getting the right audience to show up is the easy part.

 Pete: What’s the hard part? 

Jeff: The hard part is delivering the brand message once they get there because no one ever goes anywhere for the ads, and the ads can no longer hope to penetrate the massive inertia generated by their own incessant clutter, especially online.  The patent inability to bust through the clutter of our own commercial media environments adds insult to injury for advertisers because it forces them to pay the equivalent of a progressive environmental tax, what I call it the Inertia Tax, the growing percentage of each media dollar dedicated to overcoming the inertia generated by the commercial media environments themselves.  The Inertia Tax online is especially onerous and masks the much simpler truism that the ads aren’t there to support the content in the first place.  Quite the contrary: the content is there to support the ads.

 Pete: Some would argue that content is king. 

Jeff: Content may be king, Pete, but content is always incidental to the real function of all commercial media: deliver the ads.  This fundamental truism of commercial media gets lost in the clutter each and every time we sit down to calculate our Inertia Tax.  Even kings need their financial barons.

 Pete: So what can advertisers do?

 Jeff: Rather than pay to immerse the ad in the content, advertisers need to remove the ads from the intermediary clutter entirely and immerse the content in the ad instead on a branded destination page.  Advertisers need to augment or replace the collapsing advertising-as-intermediary model with a more robust and effective advertising-as-destination model.

Pete: Can you give me an example?

 Jeff: Sure.  The advertising-as-destination model dominated the golden years of radio and TV, when advertisers owned the programs they sponsored, and thus owned the entire branding experience, soup to nuts.  The programs were indistinguishable from the ads because everyone knew full well that the programs were only there to deliver the ads.  The programs and the brands who owned them shared the same marquees and the same destinations.

 Pete: That was a long time ago, and most advertisers don’t own their own content anymore.

Jeff: That’s true.  Advertisers have devolved over the years from content owners into media renters.  But while many advertisers may not own their own content anymore, they can certainly license what they need and own the virtual theater and stage.  They can own the online destination.  The secret to delivering an impactful brand impression is purely subtractive, and the job of the brand marketer is to subtract all competing distractions, to distill the branding environment until only the essence of the pure content and brand message remain.  It was true eighty years ago for the radio pioneers, true in the 1950s for the TV pioneers, and even truer today when the Inertia Tax consumes so much more of each and every media dollar invested.

 Pete: Is anyone building those destination environments online today?

 Jeff: There’s an online syndication shop in New York City called Studio One Networks.  They’ve been quietly and successfully building single-sponsor destinations for big corporate clients online since 1998.  Ironically, one of their biggest clients is P&G, the sponsor for some of the earliest radio and television soap operas.  Anyone interested in building quality environments for their brands should pick up the phone and talk to Andrew Susman.

Pete: I can understand how the advertising-as-destination model might deliver a much more effective branding environment, but how does it deliver scalable reach?

 Jeff: It doesn’t.  Just shifting from the advertising-as-intermediary model to the advertising-as-destination model can’t deliver scalable reach.  In order to generate scalable reach, you need to replace the intermediary ads that no one wants with something that everyone wants.  The current advertising-as-intermediary model is like fishing with bait that’s been clinically proven to repel fish.  Simply stated, advertisers need better bait.

Pete: Such as?

 Jeff: Short-format video clips.  Just as we can state unequivocally that no one wants more ads, we can also state unequivocally that everyone wants more short-format video – the only reason any of us pay through the nose for high-speed Internet access to begin with.  The fact that the folks who don’t want more ads are the same exact folks who want more short-format video merely confirms the need and insatiable appetite for better bait.  If you want to attract specific audience demos in real scale, just replace the ads with demographically appropriate video snack thumbnails.  Once you do, self-qualified audiences will flock to your exclusively branded destination pages in huge numbers.  It’s the only way for big brand advertisers to compensate online for the erosion of big brand reach on television, and the only way to vastly reduce or eliminate the Inertia Tax that drives up costs and drives down performance for everyone.  Remember the sage lyrics of Fishin' Blues: "Any fish bites if ya got good bait, here's a little somethin' I would like to relate..."

 Pete: Is anyone fishing with better bait now?

Jeff: There’s a small company just southwest of Chicago that owns and operates a contrarian network called the Vidsense Video Snack Network.  Unlike all the online ad networks, however, Vidsense doesn’t distribute any ads.  Instead, it delivers what it calls Video Snack Bars across a network of more than 25,000 safe-for-work websites.  Each Video Snack Bar carries up to eight unbranded video thumbnails, selected for their proven ability to attract and drive specific audience demos directly to single-sponsor destination pages.  Each click on a Video Snack Bar thumbnail resolves on a single-sponsor destination page where the requested video clip plays while immersed in and surrounded by the brand message.  As far as I know, Vidsense is the only pure brand reach network on the Internet, and the only one that can deliver the scalable brand reach numbers of TV – upwards of 300 million self-qualified visitors per month – with the immersive interactive performance of digital.  If you want effective, scalable brand reach you should contact Jaffer Ali at Vidsense.

Pete: Why aren’t there more companies like Studio One Networks and Vidsense?

Jeff: Because everyone uses the same supply-side digital tools, because no one driving the digital bus is old enough to remember Sal Mineo, and because they don’t teach common sense in business school.

Pete: Thanks, Jeff.  Always interesting.

Jeff: Thank you, Pete.

It is true that Brand Advocates have value in part due to the reach of their relationships within and across their social networks.  When they encourage their friends and colleagues to buy our products, our brand’s buying power increases exponentially, and it simply makes good business sense to leverage those opportunities.

The risk here is that we can become so focused on our Brand Advocates’ social reach that we see them only as a means to an end (sales) and stop seeing them as people.  We might get greedy and start looking right past them to market directly to their networks, ignoring our Advocates themselves.  While that marketing method can still be somewhat teffective, it costs more, it is more difficult to implement and maintain, and it is dangerous to our brand.  We cannot de-value our Advocates and expect our brands to thrive!

No matter how great a buying power their networks provide us, we still need value our direct 1-1 relationships with our Advocates.

Research shows that Brand Advocates are more likely to repurchase after recommending brands and products:

76% percent of Brand Advocates said they were more likely to repurchase after recommending a brand or product to someone else, and 79% said they would be more likely to repurchase in the future. (source: the Harris Poll, June 2009).

In other words, with our Brand Advocates, the ROR (Return on Relationship) is high.  A strong relationship with a Brand Advocate is likely to not only increase the Word of Mouth impact, but also to increase their own likelihood of repeat purchase.   And if we continue todelight our Advocates with each of their own purchase experiences, they have even more reason to recommend our products and services to others.

Don’t get greedy and interact with your Brand Advocates just to “mobilize” them for the buying power of their networks.  They are valuable in and of themselves. Treat them that way!

Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & currently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky.

Originally posted at ZuberRants

My latest thoughts on Forbes. 

http://blogs.forbes.com/johndragoon/2011/03/07/has-apples-brand-reached-a-tipping-point/

The study found that long-tenured CMOs share the following skill sets: customer orientation, global perspective, influence and impact, hands-on leadership, create and manage change, results-focused, risk taking, strategic thinker, technical expertise and team player. That is a long list of deep expertise requirements.

I explored this in more detail in a recent keynote presentation at the Frost and Sullivan Marketing World 2011, where CMO’s and senior marketing executives have been gathering to share ideas and thoughts for the past 12 years. That keynote address, “Elevating Marketing in the Eyes of Your CEO: The Qualitative ROI of Customer Relationships” (a title obviously devised by a consultant), delves into the details, the challenges, and the solutions to the CMO tenure problem.The presentation slides are available on Slideshare here.

Paul Dunay‘s keynote “How the Digital Generation is Changing Consumer Behavior Now and in the Future”, was instructive to both the B2B and B2C CMO audience, in that he highlighted social media and collaboration behavior changes that ultimately drive emotional decision-making in both targets.

Remember the old small business customer service mentality?  Where pleasing the customer came FIRST, and the need to delight them was “a given” not an option?   Great news – it’s back (or at least on its way back)!

The democratizing nature of social media has returned power to the customer, making Brand Advocates one of our strongest marketing assets.  If we want to share their power (not take it!), we need to adopt customer service as the new way of marketing – or “unmarketing,” a term mentioned by Brian Solis in the introduction to his book Engage, and Scott Stratten details extensively in his blog and book UnMarketing.

Considering this power shift, the #1 question we should be asking our Brand Advocates is “How may I serve you?” Ask early and ask often.

This “How may I serve you?” question shows our Advocates that we are back on the customer service bandwagon, and just as importantly, it keeps us in check.   If you aren’t ready to make “How may I serve you?” your priority question, consider these implications for use:

1.  It flattens the traditional hierarchy of “push” messaging, giving even more power to our Advocates.  The more power our Advocates have, the more power our brand has.

2.  It reminds us to arm our Advocates with tools for evangelizing in their own way. Side benefit: those tools are also of great value internally in our organizations!

3.  It reminds us of the necessary two-way street of communication between us and our Brand Advocates.  The era of mutually beneficial brand-Advocate relationships is here – let it work for you, your brand and your Advocates!

4.  It reminds us that our egos need to turn the spotlight over to our Brand Advocates. The success and impact of our product or service is not about how muchwe love it, but about how it “serves” our customer.

5.  It gives us direction for innovation. When we know what our Brand Advocates want more of (or less of), we have a blueprint for change.  We have unprecedented access to the needs and desires of our market – why would we even consider not tapping into that??

So here’s your new 4-word marketing strategy for 2011:  Guess Less, Ask More… and always start with “How can I serve you?”

 Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky

Having been to many conferences, meetings, trade shows, conventions and events where live tweeting was done well (and sometimes not so well), I will share nine reminders for conference hosts and organizers….

http://conferencehound.com/blog/conference-event-planning/nine-tips-for-live-tweeting/#more-2158

Originally posted at SheSpeaks

In this new social media marketing world -- where it's less about demographics and more about relationships -- one demographic still clearly matters:  WOMEN. 

Women control 85% of household spending, and (according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch) in 2011, women’s earning power will recover from the recession far quicker than men’s earning power will.  

These numbers are good news for marketers, but they need to come with a strong CAUTION statement:  just because women are a strong purchasing demographic does not mean we can pay any less attention to the relationship work required to make and keep our brands highly relevant to women. 

In fact, we need to pay even more attention to the relationships.  If we marketers dare think of women as merely a demographic clump, they will hear those undertones in our messaging and their response to our brand will be lukewarm at best.  

So how can marketers engage with women online in a way that honors their individuality, AND accesses the power of the full demographic?  Through social media, we can now:

1.    1.  Provide a trusted online community space:  relationships flourish when women can comfortably interact with you and each other.

2.     2 . Ask for their opinions: this is not just a “feel-good” exercise – we need this information for brand survival.

3.    3.  Listen to and hear their answers:  If you don’t plan to listen, don’t bother asking.

4.    4.  Confirm what you think you heard them say: We need to get it right.

5.    5.  Make changes that reflect their preferences: Actions speak louder than words.

When we pay close attention to the individual through these tactics, we build the trusted relationships that lead to positive word of mouth and the resulting positive strong brand awareness. 

Demographics give us great high-level brand roadmap, but it’s the individuals who point out the street signs.  Don’t forget to stop and ask them for directions. 

 Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky.

Originally posted at SheSpeaks

As much as we might not want to admit it, something negative about our brand will be said sometime by someone in a social network.  It might be due to a change, or something out of the brand’s control or only one little misstep in many months, but chances are, that unfortunate experience will be shared.   Such is the nature of information-sharing through social networks.

But it’s that same nature of social media that also gives us a powerful antidote to negative commentary – ENGAGEMENT. 

We might be tempted to cover any negative feedback with a huge push of positive messaging, stating and re-stating how wonderful our products and services really are. This attempt at damage-control, however, does little if anything to protect our brand reputation.  Whether or not our products and services are usually terrific doesn’t matter to the person who had a different experience with our brand, nor to those closest in their social network.  What matters to them is the one unsatisfying experience they had.

This is where engagement becomes vital.  We can stay disengaged and pretend nothing negative was said, but ignoring those comments won’t keep them from spreading quickly through various social networks.  If we choose instead to engage with the consumer(s) making those comments, we have a huge opportunity to help positively change the perception of our brand. 

Be careful not to come to those conversations with a defensive or even offensive position.  Consider the following “rules of engagement:

1.     Listen carefully. Search out any additional negative commentary, and be open to truly hearing whatever is said about your brand.

2.     Ask genuine questions.  Ask as many questions as you need to ask to feel you understand your customer’s complaint.  This information can inform your next steps now and in the future of your brand!

3.     Empathize.  Empathy lets your customer know they have been heard.  This step shouldn’t be too difficult, because you truly are sorry that the experience was not top notch for your customer. 

4.     Make it right. Based on what you learned through steps 1-3, let your customer (and their social networks!) know what action you will take to restore their faith in your brand.  This is the step that has the power to spread a newly-positive message throughout this customer’s social networks and effectively wipe out the previous negative message.

Bottom line: When the going gets tough, ENGAGE.  Your customers – and your brand – will thank you for it.

 Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky.

http://blogs.forbes.com/johndragoon/2011/02/10/can-will-i-am-of-the-black-eyed-peas-make-computer-chips-cool/

Social media is hot, hot, hot, and it can be tempting to just dive in and ride the social media wave without any specific plan.  That’s a great way to guarantee misjudging the swell and getting tossed around underneath the wave.  That’s what social media marketing without strategic intent will get you– possibly a few lucky “rides” for your brand messaging, but also a predominance of mis-steps and wasted time and effort.

Now that more businesses are getting on the social media marketing bandwagon, it’s no longer enough to just include a generic “use social media for marketing” line item in your brand growth strategy.  You need strategic intent. Gary Hamel defines strategic intent as “An ambitious and compelling dream which provides emotional and intellectual energy for the company and defines the journey to the future.”

Strategic intent is all about possibility and opportunity — which then inspires your company, your brand, and your customers to be excited about where your brand is headed over the next year, 10 years, 20 years.

Your strategic intent should be used as an “innovational guideline” for your brand.   If you innovate from within your strategic intent mindset, Brand Advocates and other consumers will quickly understand your message.  If you stray from your strategic intent, you can expect your new messages and product changes to come across as inconsistent or not true to your brand promises.  An unclear, watered down message diminishes trust and can do a great deal of damage to brand reputation.

When you have a clear strategic intent that becomes an integral part of your brand message/promise, customers will more easily become Brand Advocates because you are showing them the HEART of your vision and giving them something they are excited to share with their friends.   And you want to make certain your Brand Advocates understand what your brand is all about because they are the most trusted sources of information(Nielsen reports 92% of consumers trust WOM; only 24% trust online ads).

If you haven’t already done it, now is the time to start clarifying your brand’s “ambitious and compelling dream,” integrated with social media and woven into fabric of all marketing channels. Then you can catch the wave and ride it all the way into shore!

Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky.

Originally posted at ZuberRants

Originally posted at SheSpeaks

It’s becoming more and more clear that women’s online communities are the true powerhouses of trust.

Social networks have their place, but it’s the online communities that women trust the most for brand and product referrals.

New research not only backs up that claim, but hits it out of the park.

In a recent post atForbesWoman, Jenna Goudreaureports on a new study:

“Women were more likely to say that women’s communities better understand their needs and help them feel they are spending their time wisely. They are also more trusting of product information or advice when it comes from other women online, according to the research. Most women (74%) say social networks help them keep up with family but are significantly more likely to use women’s communities to find out about new products (51%) and make purchasing decisions (47%).”

This shows us that where we have our consumer conversations online is becoming as important as how we conduct our conversations if we want to build trust around our brands. And whowe have those conversations with should be women.

This means, though, that we marketers will need to learn the art of being part of these conversations in whole new ways.  We are being welcomed into these communities, but we need to remember that we are still the guests in these communities, even as our products become the topic of conversation.  Remember, it’s a fine line between being part of the conversation and taking over the conversation.Listen, watch, and take behavior and conversation cues from the community members!

Although the value of women’s online communities seems to be rising, don’t assume that this means social networks (like those built through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) are losing their value. They are still powerful tools for letting our consumers know about these women’s online communities, and they help associate those communities more broadly with our brands to a larger audience.  Just remember to use the right media “tool” for each “job”!  (For example, Goudreau used Facebook to follow up with ForbesWomen community members about this research — a brilliant use of that social networking tool!)

So the new formula for 2011: the right tool + the right people + the right conversations = trust.  Get your brand involved with a woman’s community and you’re on your way to recognition and ongoing customer loyalty.

What this really means… Build the Stage, Facilitate the Conversation, and then hand Women the Microphone.

Ted Rubin

 Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky. 

 

We are hearing so much now about how social media is creating a shift from ‘the wisdom of crowds’ to ‘the wisdom of friends’, but what does that really mean for brand advocacy?  A lot.  It’s this ‘wisdom of friends’that brings a new “social power” to brand advocacy.

Social power (the ability to influence) used to be determined by who had the most money, was the most intelligent, or was the most effective at impressing their will on others, but that’s changing thanks to social media.  Now social power comes through connections of friends, or the “wisdom” of friends, so Advocates have much greater influence.

Numbers still hold some power, and they always will, but the strength of connection is becoming even more powerful.   Consumers care about reviews, evaluations and what other consumers say about your product, much more than advertisements… and that is great for a brand.  What they care about even more is what their friends think about your product.  One or two friends’ opinions — the “wisdom of friends” – carry more weight than many other opinions combined.

Bring Brand Advocates into the equation, and you see the power here.  An Advocate is so impressed by your brand or product that they can’t wait to tell their friends about their experience… and because of this trend toward ‘wisdom of friends,’ their friends are primed to pay attention to those recommendations.  Friends immediately trust their friends who are Advocates, purchase the recommended product, and if that experience is everything they hoped for (and it likely will be, since Advocates won’t be excited about anything less), a new Advocate is born and the cycle continues.

Since your Brand Advocates are seeing an increase in their social power, this means your brand itself now has more power to influence.  And the more social power your brand has, the more Advocates it will create.  It’s a mutually-beneficial relationship circle, all built on this ‘power of friends.”

Advocates are an incredible asset, now more than ever, treat them as such.

Ted Rubin

 Ted Rubin Ted has a deep online background beginning in 1997 with Seth Godin, as CMO of e.l.f. Cosmetics, & recently as Chief Social Marketing Officer, Open Sky. Originally posted at ZuberRants

http://oneforty.com/pages/twitterverse

Originally posted at: ZuberRants  

Advocates are a whole new type of quality control: social quality control.

If your product is fantastic, when identified and energized, your Advocates will spread the word like wildfire. Social networks and traditional Word of Mouth will start buzzing with yourproduct, and sales will reflect your Advocates’ delight.

But your Advocates won’t try to get someone to buy your sub-par product, and they certainly won’t apologize for you or your product. Don’t try to make your Advocates do that work for you, because they won’t…and they shouldn’t have to.

The sale starts with your product, not your Advocates; your Advocates are simply the reward you get for ensuring your product is and does everything you promised it would (if not more!).  Your strongest relationships are built on trust – trust that your brand is committed to producing quality products and services – and if you don’t deliver that top-notch product, that essential trust is quickly lost.  Along with the sale.

You might be tempted to use social media to over-highlight the best parts of your product in the hopes that the disappointing parts won’t be noticed.  But even the best social media relationships can’t perform magic… they won’t make up for a less-than-great product.

However, the good news is that when your product is strong and does carry through on your brand promises, Advocates, through their social media relationships, can skyrocket your product sales.  Advocates engage, word gets out, and sales happen.  As Seth Godin said in his recent blog post, (Consider the category of ‘without apology’) “People will go out of their way to buy and recommend products that don’t require an apology.”   They will go out of their way for you.  Because they want to… because your product is what it is supposed to be and has passed Social QC.

Don’t waste your time trying to hide your product flaws.  Invest your time in making a flawless product, and give your Advocates something to get excited about!

Do you agree?  Have you had similiar experiences?

It’s a whole new year – literally and figuratively.

Social media is quickly changing the way we need to think about our brands and marketing.  We can no longer expect to be successful if we just focus our marketing efforts on telling our target market how great our own brand is.  What we – the brand – say about ourselves is no longer what matters.  It’s what OTHER people say about our brand and their experience of our brand.

Brands have a challenge having effective external conversations with consumers and then truly activating them as Advocates unless they evolve internally into a socially-focused organization.

Advocates are your goldmine!  They are the people who go out there and “sell” your product simply because they want to — by passing links around, posting product reviews, getting the word out through all of their social media channels.

A quick way to become invisible as a brand (or worse yet, highly visible for negative reasons) is to keep your organization internally-focused.  You can work 24×7 talking within your marketing group about what makes your product so fantastic … and then creating all those ads and marketing materials to try to convince everyone else the same… but unless people outside your organization are talking up your product, your work (and time!) is wasted.

In this age of social media, it’s relationships that matter:  your brand’s relationship with its customers, friends and colleagues, and with the entire social network of anyone who believes in your brand.

Why?  Because good relationships naturally lead to people wanting to share their excitement about great products with their friends and the rest of their network. Good relationships – those built on trust, transparency, and honesty – create your Brand Advocates.

And conversely, bad relationships (or nonexistent relationships) naturally lead to people wanting to share their frustration about poor products.  Be careful!

If your organization doesn’t evolve with the marketplace into a socially-focused organization, you will be left behind (if you haven’t been already).

Evolve.  Your brand depends on it.

As we start 2011, It’s a good time to step back and think about what you want to be true when you start 2012.

Work vs. Growth

If you don’t set some goals, you’ll deliver a bunch of work (which is good) but you’ll be starting 2012 in the same shape you are in now (which is not good enough).

What I mean is that you and your team will not have grown.

You will have  delivered more stuff, but have only the same capabilities and capacity as you do now.

Two things about effective leadership

1. As a leader you must deliver stuff AND get better at what you do over time.

2. It is a primary job of a leader to build a team beneath you that is highly capable, so that you free yourself up to solve higher order problems.

If your team does not get more capable, you all get stuck, and the business gets stuck in the same place.

How will you grow yourself, your business and your team?

What do you want to be better this time next year?

Here are three questions you should be answering in right now.

It’s Jan 2012…

1. How will YOU be better or more capable?

• Is your network stronger?
• Have your communication skills improved?
• Do you have a new mentor?
• Have you mastered something that the people at the top of your field are doing or thinking about?
• Have you got your ideas into the world more broadly/publicly?
• Have you become a better mentor to someone?
• Are you more fit?
• Have you been a better member of your family?

I’m not at all suggesting you try and do all of these things, or that these are even the right list of things for you to choose from.

But think about it…In what way do YOU want to be better next year?  Decide. Do something on purpose.

Hint: start by scheduling some time to think about this!

It’s Jan 2012…

2. What will your team be capable of, that they are not today?

Will you team be better at…

• Making decisions
• A Quality improvement process
• Managing the backlog of requested work
• Communicating more effectively with peer organizations
• Dealing with ambiguity
• Recognizing and developing talent
• On-time delivery
• Managing expectations with stakeholders
• Building credibility with an adversarial organization
• Engaging and understanding customers
• Internal or external use of social media
• Communicating with employees
• Selling more strategically
• Business Plans with partners
• Customer Service

This is a wonderful exercise to kick off the year with your team.

Have an off-site and decide not only what you want to get done, but what you want your team to be known for externally and internally, and what you want to be better at as  team next year.

It’s Jan 2012…

3. What major things in your business will be fixed or invented?

Every business and every organization has persistent problems that are critical to get fixed, but don’t seem to ever get fixed. (You’re not alone.)

• List your persistent issues. Face them head on.
• What did you want to get done and didn’t.  Why not?
• List your unanswered questions.
• What are the big debates and disagreements in your business and team?
• What are the most  biggest competitive threats that you have trouble addressing?
• What are you most frustrating execution issues?
• What systems and skills are your missing?
• What parts of your organization are not working right?

It’s a very productive and valuable effort, to face your most annoying business issues, and decide to solve just one, once and for all.  Then pick the next and solve that one.

It’s not just the work…

You need to be really diligent about not getting consumed by only delivering work.

You need to carve out time and energy to rise above the work and improve your game.  That is the job of a leader.

If you do focus on work plus capability, the business benefits, the customers benefit, and everyone gets a little happier – including you!

Sourced from Social2B - by Marina Shapiro

‘Out with the old, and in with the new.’  The industry of Social Media Marketing is maturing and we are predicting a new dawn for the Social Media revolution. So, what will it mean to be ‘social’ in 2011?  What aspects of Social Media will be integral to the way businesses develop and grow?  How will this impact the technology? Who will ‘win’ at Social Media this year?

We’ve compiled top 11 predictions for the world of ‘social’ in 2011.

1. “…next year is really going to be about paring down to the essentials based on proven successes and strong metrics.” http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/small-business-predictions/

2. “Outsourcing social media such as blogs, writing e-mails, answering customer service inquiries, writing web copy, social media, ghostwritten blogs, tweets. People don’t always have the availability to write, tweet, research and post their own content.” http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2011-big-ideas-for-small-businesses-0835/

3. “All signs are pointing toward a multicultural Web. By 2015, a billion people in BRIC countries [Brazil, Russia, India and China] will be using PCs. Thus, 2011 will mark the year that businesses either adapt to these changes or get left woefully behind.”
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2011-big-ideas-for-small-businesses-0835/

4. “If you don’t have a mobile version of your site today, you are already behind.” http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1934793/21-social-media-predictions-trends-2011

5. “B2B companies will catch up to B2C companies in using social media.”           http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1934793/21-social-media-predictions-trends-2011

6. “The Rise of the Marketing Technologist – Marketers for the last few years have been closet techno geeks and it’s time for them to rise up – companies need digitally fluent marketers who can apply technologies to help make marketing more measurable and scientific. Then we can really change the dynamic from marketing as a cost center to marketing as a profit center!” http://socialmediatoday.com/pauldunay/250079/11-b2b-marketing-predictions-2011

7. “Marketing and sales alignment continues to be the #1 issue impeding marketing’s ability to be perceived as a major driver of B2B business value.” http://www.b2bmarketinginsider.com/strategy/b2b-marketing-predictions-for-2011

8. “Consumers’ increasing concerns over noise and privacy will decrease the relatively open access marketers have enjoyed in social channels. The easiest tactics will be the least effective, forcing marketers to bring the same kind of creativity, audience differentiation, and strategy that they bring in other channels. www.forrester.com/rb/Research/2011_now_social_media_marketing_gets_tough/q/id/57771/t/2?cm_mmc=Forrester-_-Blogs-_-Related%20Research-_-5583

9. “Social media measurement will mature rapidly now that there is real money being spent by marketers in the social realm. http://marketingmeasurementtoday.blogspot.com/2011/01/predictions-for-social-media-metrics.html

10.  “Commerce happens in communities of interest — not social networks.
First, I’d like to distinguish between a social network and a community of interest, though the terms are often used interchangeably. Social networks or, more aptly, social networking is how we connect with people.” http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=147897

11.  “In 2011, those brands that truly embrace “social content generation” will build themselves a kingdom. The connections between brand, art or skill and visual communications in a socially connected world can create powerfully authentic appeal for brands.”  http://www.fastcompany.com/1712634/2011-back-to-the-future

So there you have it- the 11 ‘social’ pointers set to make big news in 2011.  All of which tell us that the future of Social Media is changing and evolving into a force that no business large or small can afford to ignore.   The future is bright. The future is Social (albeit a new hybrid of ‘social’). Are you ready for it?

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/07/10-business-models-that-rocked-2010/

Patty has just released her new book - Rise, which has all her best tips and advice on how to be successful in business today.  It's as relevant to those  near the top of the corporate ladder as it is for those starting out or still climbing.   So buy a book for yourself, and pass it on to your team members.  And if you have older kids starting out in their careers, get them a copy too. It's great advice on how to, as Patty says, "Do Better, Look Better, and Connect Better."

Also, for those like me who can't find the time to read - I got the Kindle version of the book and downloaded it to my Android.  It's a great alternative to random email checking (or Angry Birds) during those little bits of downtime.

By Patty Azzarello

Stand-out Leaders

What makes the top leaders stand out it is not their skills, or experience.

Once you get to compete for the top jobs, everyone has impressive skills and lots of relevant experience. So how do you differentiate?

It’s also not just about execution.

Execution is critical, for sure. Yes, you need to be able to set a compelling agenda and deliver on it, but again, that’s entry stakes — it doesn’t make you great.

Where is the greatness?

The higher up you go, your value as a leader is associated more with who you are as a person, than with your skills.

I’ve noticed that there are 3 traits that the best leaders have.

1. They are who they are
2. The communicate well
3. They pick the right people and make them great

1. Great Leaders are who they are

They are people whose words and actions match what they genuinely think and feel on the inside. This is sadly pretty rare.

Egos, agendas, fear, and politics all pull on us to say and do things that we don’t quite believe, but serve to please others, smooth things out, or defend ourselves.  Most people cave in to this pressure.

The best leaders stick to their values

They say and do what they really feel and think.  They bring the core of who they really are to work, and they talk about what really matters to them.  When you see a leader behaving this way it obvious that they are being authentic.   It’s not hard to spot.  You can’t fake it.

You can fake opinions or positions, but you can’t fake authenticity!

This authenticity builds trust and and makes people eager to follow

2. They communicate well

The best leaders communicate well, consistently, often, and to everyone.  They invite people in.  They let people know what is going on.  And to the first point, they tell people what they really think.

One-to-one communication

Great leaders listen.

They don’t just go through the act of listening, they listen with active curiosity because they are genuinely interested in learning the other person’s point of view.

Execs that go through the act of listening, but don’t actually respect the people they are listening to, nor really care to understand  the opinions they are hearing, may get some leadership points for the show, but they are not connecting and they are not learning.

Group communications

A steady heartbeat of communications from the top lets people know that you are there, and that you are engaged.  What you say is almost less important than the fact that you commit yourself to saying it on a regular schedule.

Communicate every week or two without fail.

You will score huge leadership points with steady, quality communications.

When people feel in the loop, they are much more motivated, less worried, and more productive, and they consider you to be a better leader than someone they seldom hear from.

Persuasiveness

Great leaders are persuasive.  You don’t need to be a world class public speaker to be a good communicator.  You need to understand people and how to persuade them.  That is why listening and learning helps.

Persuasive communications light the path you are asking people to travel, and sell the reasons why they should go with you.  The best leaders do this all the time.

3. They pick the right people and make them great

The right people

There is nothing more important to effective leadership than to build a team underneath you that is so capable, that you can free yourself up to solve higher order problems.

I will repeat that for emphasis. This is really key!

There is nothing more important to effective leadership than to build a team underneath you that is so capable, that you can free yourself up to solve higher order problems.

Don’t cover for a weak team

If you are personally stepping in to do the work because you have weak spots (people on your team not capable or motivated enough to step up to do more) then you are holding yourself back as a leader.  And you are failing to deliver enough value to your business.

Make them Great

Hire stars, give them big work, support them, and let them excel.  Help them be amazing.  Create an environment where the team works really well, and the individuals can grow to solve bigger problems over time too.

Why this works

I used to wonder why I was so lucky to always have such remarkable, talented, experienced people want to work for me.  What I finally realized is that it was two things:

First, I picked the right people for the right jobs so they could work where they have natural strengths and really thrive in their work. And second, I gave them the room and support to stretch beyond their current capabilities.

So the magic of why they wanted to work for me was that they felt respected and they could be proud of their work. They got to personally achieve more than they knew they could, and got recognized for it.

People like to be amazing and they like to be recognized for it.

In contrast, other bosses did not respect and maximize their gifts and give them the opportunity and support to be amazing.

This feels almost too good to be true, because you end up getting the best people and they move mountains for you.  And all you need to do is show them trust and respect and get things out of their way.

I guess the hard part comes along if you feel threatened by great people.  See also, How to hire a star, and Are you smarter than me? which talk more about this, and have some great reader comments too.

David, let’s start by framing the conversations. How should CMOs think about Customer Advocacy Programs?

Think of an advocacy program as the ultimate bridge between Marketing and Sales, providing a very tangible contribution to new revenue generation. Organizationally it usually lives in the Marketing organization, but exists to serve Sales first, then the other Marketing teams that use customer references for awareness, positioning, education, lead generation, etc.

Tell me a little about your background and then what Point of Reference does?

I’ve had a 20+ year career in high tech, in many cases acting as a change agent. My roles have been in management both in marketing and sales so I have solid insight into how the two functions interact. Eight years ago I founded Point of Reference with the goal of introducing a new approach for using customer references that works for everyone:  the customer, the prospect and of course, the salesperson. That’s evolved into something much bigger as we starting solving peripheral needs. Today, we help establish and/or support customer advocacy programs with our technology, customer content development services, staffing and expertise - the whole enchilada.

Most companies are utilizing case studies and/or recorded testimonials to support their sales process.  Does that constitute a comprehensive customer advocacy program?

This is really just the tip of the iceberg. Content is one of the “assets” of a program, but relationships are the heart, the foundation of everything. A well-cultivated relationship can yield a lot of different benefits for the organization (documented successes in the form of case studies or videos being a few examples), and for the customer. We have a client that has part of their advocacy team focused on the top 20 customers. These aren’t salespeople and don’t carry a quota. Their purpose is to make sure these customers are getting maximum value from their solutions, and to build an extremely loyal group that continues to grow as a percentage of revenue, and influences peer decisions through communities, reference calls, blogs and speaking opportunities. Clearly this is more than a customer content factory.

When companies choose to use recorded interviews, what are one or two of the best practices you would recommend?

Go for candor and authenticity first and foremost. Scripted, manufactured, white-washed customer viewpoints aren’t as credible. YouTube has changed our tolerance for flaws in favor of reality. Let customer tell their stories, not yours.

1)      We also tell our clients to map content, of any sort, to the sales cycle so it’s relevant to buyers. For example, a 30-second video testimonial isn’t going to work at the end of the sales cycle; a 15 minute, in depth interview is way too much information if the buyer is just researching.

2)      One thing we specialize in is due diligence interviews. We conduct these interviews like we’re the buyer and ask all the tough questions, including the elephants in the corner of the room. Your customers who are in the eleventh hour of a decision aren’t going to be bashful about asking those questions, why should you?  CMOs should understand and specifically have customers answer questions that the marketing team knows are key reasons when not only a company is selected, but when they are not selected.

Many CMOs are delegating customer advocacy program design to lower level marketing resources in their organizations.  Is this the appropriate place for it or is there a more strategic nature to these programs?

We think that’s leaving money on the table. There’s so much more value in the relationships with your best customers, for both parties. But getting to that value requires having professional relationship managers on your team and a vision that’s strategic and not purely tactical. Here’s how that would look:  members of your program have greater input into product roadmaps and beta programs, greater access to executives, they’re connected to their peers through a social network you champion―you’re tied together at the hip. Your success is their success and vice versa, and that’s when the sky is the limit in terms of how you can leverage that advocacy. Now, that doesn’t happen without serious executive support and a sufficiently senior leader running the program. It’s one thing to acknowledge the importance of customer references, it’s another to have a plan and an engine―an advocacy program―to mine the “gold” at the heart of these relationships.

David, thanks for your insights.  As a final question, what is the one most important point you would like to share with CMOs when it comes to improving customer advocacy programs?

If you buy into the concept of a more dynamic, thoughtful program, then put a strong leader―a strong relationship builder in charge of the program. That will change the dynamics in a hurry and lead to amazing opportunities for your customers to influence peers considering your solutions.

David, how can CMOs reach you if they have more questions?

They can contact me at dsroka@point-of-reference.com or call me at: 303-881-7041.

My latest thoughts on Forbes.com

http://blogs.forbes.com/johndragoon/2010/11/18/what-taylor-swift-can-teach-cmos/

The first most important lesson any CMO who’s ever dabbled in mobile marketing learns is this: it’s not just about cramming laptop-sized content onto a palm-size screen. Adriana Rizzo, VP Mobile for ESPN, takes a content company’s perspective. “We’re guided by the three-screen philosophy,” Rizzo shared. “You have to develop content and think about all three screens at the beginning of your process, not just retrofit it.”

Sophie-Charlotte Moatti, Head of Product Management for Nokia, says it’s also about translating the experience to the device. “Take advantage of location-aware functionality and social graph-aware applications,” advised Moatti. For example, she points to Nokia’s work with OASIS, a fashion brand in the UK, who created a treasure hunt that led consumers to their stores through the use of location-aware messages.

It’s this sort of visceral immediacy that creates such compelling marketing experience on the mobile device. Bill Gajda, head of Global Mobile Product for Visa, says being able to message to a customer when they’re in a specific frame of mind at a specific point in time is very powerful, when architected correctly. Imagine a scenario in which a shopper swipes their card at a coffee shop known to be in a shopping mall, and the shopper receives real-time coupons redeemable at their favorite stores at that mall. It’s the ultimate win-win scenario. “Real-time interaction is going to be a very valuable tool for merchants,” Gajda predicted.

But there are challenges. For example, ROI can be tricky to measure. And for B2B marketing, the promise of mobile is not quite as compelling. As Forrester CMO Dwight Griesman noted from the crowd, mobile content and service adoption is driven by location-based relevance, real-time relevance, and being away from a desktop or laptop screen. But for B2B buyers, who are more likely to take their time comparison shopping from the comfort of their desks, these factors just don’t play as big a role.

And there’s the ever-present concern around privacy and permission—never more relevant then when marketers reach consumers on a device many consider to be their most personal mode of communication. Making sure experiences are opt-in, rather than opt-out, and keeping the marketing messages as relevant and alluring as possible may help to mitigate consumer annoyance and privacy concerns, but given the privacy and security regulation already underway in Europe, the panel advised the US to get ready—because we’re next.

Like many revolutionary technologies, it’s taken the human species a little time to figure out the best uses for Twitter—and along the way we’ve discovered some glorious mistakes, as well. Twitter Product Management Head Elizabeth Weil and Cotweet CEO and Founder Jesse Engle shared their perspectives with the CMO Club's Thought Leadership Summit in San Francisco mein a discussion moderated by Jeff Rohrs, VP Marketing of Exact Target on where Twitter does—and doesn’t—drive business forward.

Nobody can deny it—Twitter is crossing into the mainstream. With approximately 175 million users and about 90 million tweets each day across its platform, Twitter has become the marketing opportunity—and threat—we can’t afford to ignore. No argument there.

So what do marketers do about it? Twitter would suggest marketers first take a look at three new advertising products they’ve launched: Promoted Tweets (which lets advertisers broadcast specific tweets to broader audiences), Promoted Trends (which lets advertisers kick-start or seed a viral discussion by leveraging a highlighted discussion trend on Twitter) and Promoted Accounts (which boosts the visibility and following of a specific advertiser on Twitter).

But even those promoted products are just the beginning. Weil was quick to note that only discussions that are truly resonant—that are interesting, organically followed and re-tweeted—will break through and achieve meaningful results for marketers. “Tweets are supposed to be spontaneous and right for the moment,” Weil commented, adding that when marketers over-think tweets and try to make them brand-compliant and on-message, “it makes it artificial and it starts to not feel like Twitter.”

According to Engle, the first task is to find ways to take advantage of conversations taking place on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, and to find the most natural place for a brand to dive into the discussion.  Weil concurs. “One of the biggest misperceptions around Twitter is that you need to Tweet,” she noted. “Such a great way to get into Twitter is to observe just what’s going on.”

Engle also points to a fundamental difference between Facebook and Twitter: the speed at which bad news travels. “Facebook is something you can choose to do or not to do as a marketer,” he noted, “but Twitter is something you have to pay attention to. A single tweet can disrupt your whole brand.” He advised being ready, knowing what discussions to watch for, and having a response plan in place.

But one thing Facebook and Twitter do have in common is the massive database of information and insights they are gathering about their ever-growing populations. What we tweet, when we tweet, where we tweet from, and what we do with other tweets all speaks volumes about our connections, our desires and our preferences. One participant was curious to know what kind of data Twitter is in fact capturing, and at what point Twitter could transform into a data targeting and research entity.

“I can’t tell you,” noted Weil, “But advertisers tell us they want to geo-target better and demo-target better ... and we have something unique.”

In the first wave of the digital marketing revolution, companies had to come to terms with the fact that they now share brand power with their customers. Consumer-generated content reigned, and some marketers began to wonder how much control they were going to have to acquiesce to the rising groundswell. But this was just the first phase in an ongoing negotiation between customer and company. The pendulum is swinging back to intelligent and shared control, and the time is now for companies to move from just co-creating to actively curating content in a way that boosts the brand.

To explore how to strike this balance, The CMO Club’s Thought Leadership Summit in San Francisco convened Dolby’s Vice President of Global Communications Catherine Ogilvie and Netflix Global Corporate Communications lead Katherine Fisher in a discussion moderated by Velocidi CEO David Dunne.

One thing to note is that this discussion was led by two corporate communications professionals. Some would argue that PR plays a natural role in content curation because the discipline focuses on earned discussions rather than paid-for discussions. While the explicit discussion of where PR and marketing overlap was not raised on this panel, the panelists’ perspectives were uniquely suited to the topic.

What the discussion did focus on were undeniable trends: audiences expect both real-time and high-quality engagement. Professionally produced content is certainly high-quality, but lacks immediacy. On the other hand, consumer-generated content is immediate (and authentic in the rawest form), but lacks quality. A fierce consensus quickly emerged: we no longer fear this change.  Better insights, free marketing, and a more elegant way to participate in word-of-mouth? What’s not to love? So the question is, how do we curate content that remains real-time, authentic and high-quality?

For Netflix, a fundamentally B2C company, the guiding principles are to engage your audiences on digital platforms where they already are (Facebook) and talk about what they’re already passionate about (movies) and find natural ways to insert corporate messages (streaming services) that feel organic.  “What works best is showing up and talking and being transparent [with our consumers],” Fisher observed. “We keep the conversation going, and they become our brand ambassadors.”

For Dolby, a predominantly B2B company, the context is quite different. Dolby is a company with admirable brand awareness, but few actually know what all the company does. So for Dolby, the challenge is all about storytelling, and to leverage the power of social media to get the word out about what the companies does. “Personalization is key,” noted Ogilvie. “You have to give people a framework to use, and then create the content and evolve it over time.”

The hardest question remains metrics. As one attendee observed, “It sounds like the content that’s the most meaningful and high-impact is the hardest to track financially. Smaller companies can’t invest in content creation that isn’t founded in solid ROI.”

It’s no secret that the paradigm shift toward digital marketing is accelerating. Depending on which research you read, offline marketing spend is down in double digits, while online marketing is up about 10% and mobile marketing is up nearly 20%. But the open question for marketers in 2011—and especially B2B companies—is what kind of digital marketing experiences to create, and what bets to make. At yesterday’s CMO Club Summit in San Francisco, Adobe CMO   Ann Lewnes   shared some views around the principles that drive digital marketing decisions and the illustrative marketing priorities at Adobe, whose self-described mission is “to change the world through digital experiences.”

A few clear themes emerged from the group discussion. First, the most viral and valuable digital marketing experiences are those that feel the most immersive to the customer. Lewnes observed that digital marketing provides unique opportunities for creating experiences that draw in customers, hold their fascination, and drive engagement all the way through funnel. Second, digital marketing allows you to measure not just engagement, but conversion  both on and off your web site (even through sales channels), which is essential for proving the ROI of your campaign. And third, the single most important bet for marketers to make in 2011 is on mobile marketing.

“Next year is the crossover year for mobile,” Lewnes observed. “Everybody now has to reformat their content and create experiences that are mobile-oriented rather than taking what you have and slap it onto a mobile device.” And after a robust group discussion around the multi-screen revolution now underway among consumers, Lewne encouraged the audience to get ahead of the digital curve, now. “Get ahead of it and mandate it at your company. Because that’s where people want to get their information, purchase products, read magazines, watch movies. That’s where the world is headed.”

What was most interesting about the discussion was the discussion around which metrics matter most when it comes to digital marketing. Many attendees seemed to be thirsting for a hard ROI argument to take to their CFO, and while digital does offer a variety of metrics miracles, which one you turn to depends on your business objective—and your culture.

“Making it beautiful isn’t enough,” Lewnes told the crowd, citing various metrics such as customer loyalty, sales conversion, brand position and consumer engagement. Even reputational standing can be enhanced through philanthropic endeavors such as Adobe’s Museum of Digital Media. “We’re not selling on this thing,” she noted. “This is just about connecting to our customers.”

And that, perhaps more than any other statement, captures where the smart bets in digital marketing appear to be right now—making meaningful, beautiful and authentic connections with your customers.

http://blogs.forbes.com/johndragoon/2010/10/14/the-orphaned-stepchild/

Moving from Traditional Print, TV, Radio to Social Media – A new Perspective

I can’t bring myself to read one more post or article on the death of traditional media and the future is social media.  Most CMOs see the value of engaging with the customers and the value of engaging them where they hang out, talk, and spend their time.  Community marketing is understood and a priority for CMOs. So who is thinking beyond this obvious next step?

Change your own company web and digital experiences in alignment of this changing landscape.  Forward thinking CMOs are looking across their global digital branding and engagement platforms and applying the same traditional vs. community trends internally.  For example, every marketer should look at their digital programs and platforms and take a hard look at all the “traditional content/push” approaches they have within these platforms and make them more engaging, etc.  Having one way web based ads and pushed content similar to “Print” media is just as unproductive then having actual investments in some print media.  Redesign and improve your digital media to be more “social networking friendly”. 

Creating Communities to Sell and Build Brand Awareness – Think beyond your Sales

Do you think consumers want every photo processing company to create a photo sharing community? Or every Furniture company to have a furniture rating community site? Some of the brightest CMOs are focused on going beyond the standard reaction to create “follower” community sites, and create new community offerings that help customers, while reinforcing their brands not selling their brands.  Nike has done a traffic job with their community of basketball players to find each other and create pickup games while in cities. One of the CMOs in the club in the furniture industry created a “used furniture” buying/selling site designed to help owners find used furniture.  A first glance getting people to buy used vs. new would appear to hurt their business.  They found, in fact, revenues increased over 10% as they helped people sell their furniture and move to new, higher priced furniture sooner. In addition their brand image improved as someone watching out for furniture owners.

 Identifying Net Promoters for improved Sales and Customer Loyalty – It’s All About your Advocates

I have been a big supporter of Net Promoter Scores from my days as CMO at DoubleClick and EVP Marketing at Avaya. I have learned however, from participating in hundreds of CMOs only dinners, that the brightest CMOs are not only looking at Net Promoters, but realizing the difference and importance of Advocates (net Promoters with influence) vs. Loyal Customers vs. Customers.  We all know the big shift today in thinking about top bloggers vs. media publications for PR/Corporate Communications programs. One CMO told me last week that she is already working on program based on her belief that Customer Advocates will be even more important and influencial than industry bloggers. 

Moving from Digital Marketing Reporting to Analytics – It’s Not about You but Customer Specific Dynamic Analytics

Analytics is another big topic at CMO CLUB dinners.  Most of the focus is on the need for more dynamic analytics to help learn and respond to customers/prospects and test/tweak/engage more quickly.  Some of the best CMOs are taking a slightly different approach. They view Analytics as another tool for their customers, not the company. Their focus is all about dynamic analytics to provide Customers what they need, quicker than ever before possible, based on customer patterns and requests.  For example, rather than leveraging analytics for B2B prospect on a company site to ensure they see the latest white paper for their industry, you send them links to other sites to help them identify their problems or answer their questions. In other words, create a “Customer Specific Dynamic Engagement Framework”. 

To summarize, as marketers, we need to look at what the best are doing. They are moving beyond a fast follower approach for social media, net promoters, analytics and communities.  What the customer wants is at the core of all these approaches.  It’s time to move beyond the lip service of “customer centric” and think differently than the rest.

http://blogs.sas.com/jimdavis/index.php?/archives/46-Should-CMOs-be-blogging.html

Implications for Aligning Social Change with Marketing and Business ROI.

As multinational companies continue to explore growth opportunities in an economic downturn, emerging economies are dominating the strategic agenda and boardroom discussions. 

The economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) are projected to account for over 55 percent of worldwide GDP by 2020.  The number of multinational companies that are based in BRIC countries more than doubled from 27 in 2005 to 58 in 2009.  Whether a corporation is targeting a BRIC, Africa, or other emerging market business growth opportunity, they are also being forced to re-consider their social investments.

This is further fueling competition among organizations who are seeking the benefits of investing overseas, as well as the increasing evolvement of the relationship between marketing and social impact.

Despite the naysayers and ongoing responses to the recent Wall Street Journal article (The Case Against CSR-8/23), Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability is continuing to evolve as a strategic imperative for safeguarding a company’s brand reputation, engaging employees, driving revenue and sparking innovation.  

According to a study conducted by the UN Global Compact and Accenture,  93 percent of corporate CEOs say that sustainability will be critical to the future success of their companies including the following business actions over the next five years:

• Shaping consumer tastes to build a stronger market for sustainable products;
• Training management, employees and the next generation of leaders to deal with sustainability issues;
• Communicating with investors to create a better understanding of the impact of sustainability.

Among the survey’s additional findings, education and climate change were identified by respondents as the ‘big issues’ they face, with resource scarcity and health starting to appear on the horizon.  Education was identified by 72 percent of the respondents as the most important development issue for the future success of their business, followed by climate change at 66 percent. 

The War for Talent Continues…

Our economic situation is also impacting productivity and creating talent shortages both in the US and abroad. Despite lay-offs and cost cutting, attracting and retaining talent remains a top challenge for global leaders as our new generation of leaders’ are flexible enough to work in different cultures.  Education systems in some developed nations, including the US, are struggling to create the talent pool needed for productivity gains and companies are challenged filling technical positions.

Corporations are poised to maximize their bottom-line growth by properly aligning business strategy with creating meaningful social impact. 

77 percent of CEOs state that embedding social engagement into business strategy is the most important action to take to prepare for 2020. Source: Pathways to Sustainable Value Creation: CECP/McKinsey.

The Wall Street Journal featured an analysis of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and found that those with a large portion of revenue abroad are expected to fare better than those dependent on the US economy. Global players such as 3M, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Hewlett Packard are cited among those poised to reap the benefits of investing overseas in fast-growing economies like China and Brazil. Source: WSJ: 9/8 -Divided by Two-Track Economy.

In this ‘low trust’ marketplace, multinational corporations have the opportunity to take a greater leadership role  addressing and providing solutions to some of society’s most pressing social issues.  For example:

The Impact of the Economy on Poverty: Despite the progress made with respect to the fight against extreme poverty between 1990-2005, (during that period, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day decreased from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion), in 2009 an around 55-90 million more people were estimated to be living in extreme poverty as a result of the economic crisis. Source: UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2009.

The State of Water: Some 1.1 billion in people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.

Poverty in India: According to a new Oxford University study, 55 percent of India’s population of 1.1 billion, or 645 million people, are living in poverty. Using a newly-developed index, the study found that about one-third of the world’s poor live in India.

Child Malnutrition in India: More than 1.5 million children in India are estimated to suffer from malnourishment and 43 percent of children under five years of age are underweight, according to the latest UNWFP report.

Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in South Africa: A high number of babies, around 70,000, are born with HIV every year, reflecting poor prevention of mother to child transmission.  HIV and AIDS is one of the main contributors to South Africa’s infant mortality rate, which increased significantly between 1990 (44 deaths per 1000 infants) and 2008 (48 per 1000), when other regions of the world saw decreases.

Local to Global..

To prepare for, properly operate and invest in emerging markets it is critical for an organization to:

-Understand the marketplace context, customs, culture and social issues

-Properly identify and align with nonprofits/NGOs that specialize in key sectors such as healthcare, education, nutrition and economic development

-Develop grass-roots programs that impact their local communities

-Further retain and attract talent under the halo of our ‘War for Talent’ via development of employee engagement programs

-Engage and build relationships with critical stakeholders

-Develop partnerships that mobilizes action among businesses, government, civil society and community

-Report social progress and impact – integral to business performance and ROI

It is critical to evaluate and focus on the social issues that are integral to their business, products and services.  Ensure that these social issues are embedded into the business strategy and throughout the supply chain.  Also, devise social engagement strategies that are aligned with corporate marketing activities, community development initiatives, foundation giving, employee giving/volunteering programs, product and resource donations.

Corporations have the opportunity to ‘turn it up a notch’ by reworking their business strategy for future development and growth – capitalizing on creating solutions that truly benefit communities and corporate bottom lines. 

Emerging-market leaders prevail.

**

By Sam Taylor, Founder of Reputation Dynamics and Senior Advisor to the nonprofit Synergos Institute. For more than 20 years, Synergos has created innovative solutions to address poverty and advance social equity in emerging markets around the world.

Resources/Links:

The Synergos Institute – www.synergos.org

The Wall Street Journal – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704855104575470202726780746.html

Accenture and UN Compact Study – http://www.unglobalcompact.org/news/42-06-22-2010

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/special-issues/CMOSpecial/e3i93d84615e6fca146e2dbdd1ff6bf552c

http://www.miptalk.com/media/MIP042.mp3

H&K Tech Outlook H2 2010

I’d been sitting at my laptop in NYC for most of the day, getting things done, minding my own business.  Then suddenly I receive an email receipt for a $260 card scanner purchased at the Apple Store in Birmingham, Alabama.  I check Google. The store is real.  Hmm. The receipt has my email address on it, but a dot is missing.  I check Google’s Gmail rules and it says that, even with a dot missing, Gmail will usually get your mail to you.  Great.  How many Stephanie Fiermans could there be??  If the receipt is real, the scanner was bought with an AmEx that doesn’t seem to match my number (insert glimmer of hope here)... but maybe I’m reading the somewhat fuzzy numbers wrong.  Am I forgetting the Alabama worm hole I'd traveled through in just the past few minutes?

Then the next number on the receipt hits me like a ton of bricks: a 6-digit number directly beneath the credit card info starting with the first 4 digits of the phrase I use for nearly all my online passwords.  Oh my G*d.  Someone has basically hacked my entire online identity!  I feel my guts clench and – while I’m on hold waiting for the store manager - I get busy changing all my passwords, worried that a thief is working faster than I can call all my credit card companies and check all the other sites.  The store seems like a good place to start, but who knows what could be happening in the meantime?!

The very nice store manager confirms that the Apple transaction number is correct. S**.  My mind is reeling. Identity theft. A stalker. How many credit bureaus are there, again?? Anyway, he and I are talking, and sleuthing, and we’re stumped because he says the card was physically swiped at the store, and he’s looking for more info, and we’re talking some more, and I’m wondering if he’s single, and then it hits me: there is another Stephanie Fierman in the United States – and I seem to recall that she’s from the South.

And now back to our online personal branding show, already in progress.

While I am certain, fellow marketers, that you think there could be no other, there is another Stephanie Fierman in the United States.  I’ve “seen” her on the Web for years.  Since I’ve been blogging and tweeting and writing and guest speaking (and she, conversely, appears to be a normal person), I haven’t seen her pop up on the first several pages of Google for quite some time, but she’s out there. 

And yet we’ve never crossed paths – until today.  So while this poor Apple manager is running through the possibilities, I type “Stephanie Fierman Alabama” into Google and – there she is.  My doppelganger lives in Alabama.  She LIVES in Birmingham, Alabama!  And the set of numbers that looked like the online password I use? It’s an AmEx authorization code – and pure coincidence. Case closed.

 I’m still a little nauseous, but I figure it’ll go away.

As for you… I decided to write this blog post because (a) the story is too crazy not to share, but also because (b) the part that made it appear as though someone had discovered my “universal” online password scared me straight.  I talk a lot about building your own personal brand (see my series, because you should anyway: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4), but the #1 most important thing about being on the Internet is staying safe – and using the same or close to the same password everywhere is just dumb. Yep: nearly the same password on all my credit card sites. Brilliant.

Do you do the same thing? Do you use the same phrase or – when you run into a site that needs a letter or a number – do you always add the same letter or number to your basic phrase?  Change them now.  Mix it up. Use truly different phrases.  Especially on all the websites related to YOUR MONEY.

I have no idea how I’ll remember the strange new brew of passwords I cooked up but – if I forget one – I can always reset them.  It’s a heck of a lot better than falling into an identity theft situation that could follow you around for years.

So change your passwords now, and regularly - and please make sure they are sufficiently different from one another.  And check Google to see if you have a doppelganger.  I was lucky, but if yours is an adult film star or, say, in prison, you may have a little online personal branding work to do.

50.7% - Apple

22.7% - Google

14.6% - P&G

9.3% - IBM

2.7% - McDonalds

A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:

“I would love to talk with Apple about their budgeting processes for all their new products vs. their ongoing branding efforts.”

“I’m interested in lunch with Google to pick his/her brain on how they continue to develop marketing programs in such a fast changing world.”

“P&G remains the kings of brand loyalty and innovative use of new marketing vehicles. I’m interested in lunch with their CMO to understand their processes for determining priorities across multiple brands.”

“Apple is the best, I want to learn from the best.”

1. Is this what you really want to be doing?

If you have to think about this question, then you probably know the answer is no. Discovery one's calling is often a journey upon which only the bold embark. Finding his nightclub gig wanting, Scott Harrison began his journey as a volunteer photojournalist in Liberia and for two years took "pictures of the some of the sickest people in the world, who were getting treated by volunteer doctors." Added Harrison, "So coming back off that experience, I was 30, pretty ambitious and bold, deciding I wanted to reinvent charity." Explaining his need to start fresh, Harrison offered, "I didn't think I could work within the system and make the impact I wanted to make."

2. Are you providing a clear vision?

The vision thing seems so obvious that it's simply overlooked by aspiring leaders, the way the rest of us simply take clean water for granted. For Harrison, the vision involved creating a new kind of transparent charity that puts 100% of public donations to work, in this case delivering clean water to those who don't have it. Noted Harrison, "Its not guilt based, this is all about presenting people with an amazing opportunity to serve people who need your help." The opportunity will require raising a whopping two billion U.S. dollars in the next ten years, "a crazy growth rate of 63%" that even Harrison admits is unprecedented. Crazy or not, Harrison's vision is as clear as a mountain stream.

3. Can you reduce your business to a simple story?

A crystal clear elevator pitch is often discussed but rarely realized by even the best of entrepreneurs. Most organizations, especially non-profits have a tendency to "lead with complexity," noted Harrison. So charity: water keeps it very simple, "If you give money, we can bring clean water to a community," offered the succinct Harrison. Supported with visual storytelling that engages on a visceral level, "as you get interested with a simple story we then let you discover the complexity as your interest level increases," Harrison explained. This progressive approach has helped charity: water attract thousands of donors from sophisticated millionaires to 10-year olds, all with a shared understanding.

4. Do you know your weaknesses?

Successful entrepreneurs are rarely geniuses; in fact many think of themselves as being too naïve to realize why their idea won't succeed so they just plough ahead. Naïve or not, they must have a keen understanding of their weaknesses and Harrison is no exception. When explaining why hire #2 was a water projects person and #3 an art director, Harrison revealed, "I'm not an executer and I'm a terrible designer." With these two critical positions in place, Harrison was able build both his brand and his family, as hire #3 Vik also became his wife. Four years into it, Harrison now laments little with the exception of bringing in systems late--systems that could help him manage hundreds of thousands of donors and related CRM activities.

5. Do you aspire to create an epic brand?

If you are too busy trying to make sales to think about your brand, think again. Perhaps the most instructive of all Harrison's initial goals was his desire to build a brand, something many non-profits considered to be a dirty word. As he put it, "to solve a problem as big as the water crisis, we would need to create an epic brand." Modeling brands like Apple and Nike, brands that sold "gazillions of product to people, charity: water would be selling gazillions of dollars of clean water and hope," Harrison explained. To achieve epic status, charity: water put special emphasis on emotional storytelling via high quality photography, beautifully produced videos, and a gorgeous Web site that is easy to navigate, all produced without a marketing budget.

6. Have you figured out how to scale your business?

A lot of entrepreneurs never build a structure that scales, preferring the hands on approach that keeps them at the center of the action. But for Harrison solving the problem of scale was essential to his vision, "We can only do this by getting millions of people involved through the inevitable math of networks." This is why Harrison and his team created mycharitywater.org and launched it in beta September 2009. In 11 months, more than 2,800 people have started personal campaigns to celebrate their birthdays, mountain climbs or Mohawk shavings and helped raise nearly $3 million. Noted Harrison, with people raising an average of a thousand dollars per personal campaign, "We only need two million birthdays in a decade to get to our ten year, two billion dollar goal." And while Harrison says "only" without hesitation, keep in mind he's gotten this far with less than 25 staffers!

7. Do you have a strategy for each social media channel?

Without a lot of serious strategic forethought, most businesses have jumped into various social media channels with little regard for the roles each might play in their business growth. Admits Harrison, charity: water wasn't much different jumping into Twitter at the outset, becoming the first non-profit to have over one million followers. "Twitter is great for awareness and getting people to watch a video but outside of benefiting from the amazing Twestival (charitywater.org/twestival), we haven't tried to raise money with it," explained Harrison. "Facebook traffic [to their Web site] stays a little longer, engages a little differently, so there's a big focus now for us to build that community," Harrison added. With 56,000 fans now, charity: water hopes to grow its fan base to over one million, perhaps by integrating Facebook Connect into mycharitywater.org in some manner. (To become a fan, click here.)

8. Who the heck are the Bayaka and how can I help?

Most entrepreneurs understand the role of passion in motivating internal staff and external stakeholders. Scott Harrison's current passion is the Bayaka people in the Central African Republic (see the video). Explained Harrison, "They're hunter-gatherers, but the logging industry has forced them into the villages where they're being treated like slaves and denied access to clean water." With the goal of drilling fresh water wells for all 16,000 Bayaka and another 70,000 other Central Africans this September, charity: water needs to raise $1.7 million. And here's how you, my thoughtful reader, can help. You can join my campaign with the goal of attracting 16,000 $20 gifts, one for each Bayaka (if Scott can be ambitious, so can I!). Because charity: water tracks where each donation goes, you'll be able to see with complete transparency your donation in action. As Harrison concluded, "This isn't our story, it's your story, it's everyone else's story."  (Note: this article first appeared on FastCompany.com)

In the attention economy, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that finite amount of attention over a rising level of noise.  In other words, it becomes increasingly important to make choices, to become more discriminating, to understand the value of our thoughts and our time.  So while I may watch reality TV because I like it, it would never dawn on me to voluntarily invite a continuous information stream into my skull that I neither want nor need. I recently wrote a post on this topic as it pertains to Twitter, one of the Web’s most popular time-devouring black holes.

Well here’s another upside-down concept from the Twuniverse:  Twitter Karma.  If you