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I'm always frustrated by marketers who say they need new tactics, but reject every recommendation with the expression, "We tried that—it doesn't work."
Marketers like these are "old men," no matter their age or gender.
The Trappist monk Thomas Merton once wrote in his journal, "For the 'old man,' everything is old: he has seen everything or thinks he has. He has lost hope in anything new. What pleases him is the 'old' he clings to, fearing to lose it, but he is certainly not happy with it. And so he keeps himself 'old' and cannot change: he is not open to any newness."
In the words of Bob Dylan, "May you stay forever young."
My buddy Gary Slack is about to launch Bizy, a new Website offering small businesses the same bargains on business products and services you'd find on consumer goods and services on Groupon.
Businesses can procure things like payroll services, janitorial services, trucks and vans, meeting rooms and retreat facilities, smartphones and more.
The projected average savings will be 50 percent.
Gary heads the Chicago-based B2B marketing firm Slack & Company, which helped launch eBay Business.
So he knows what he's doing.
When launched, the site will serve Chicagoans, although most of the deals offered will come from national companies. It will roll out beyond Chicago afterwards.
Bizy will be a great way for B2B sellers to introduce themselves to large numbers of buyers.
Good luck, Gary!
Inc. reports this month that machine-to-machine (M2M) connections soon will "rock the Internet."
M2M refers to automated devices—instead of people—connecting to the Web.
Devices like cars, major appliances and industial equipment.
In fact, there are already more machines than people using the networks run by AT&T and Verizon, according to Inc.
"For people, the conveniences are limitless: empty pill bottles that request their own prescription refills with the drug store, tracking devices for lost pets, cars that upload the latest engine diagnostics to the service department before actually going to the service department, etc."
M2M data mining is also coming our way.
"Forget spam," Inc. warns. "Your biggest worry to come won't be the latest phishing scam. More likely, it will be something like your refrigerator or home alarm system ratting you out to marketing companies."
A friend of mine, Dan Bailes, has launched The Vision Thing, a blog devoted to "innovation, creativity and vision."
Dan's particular interest is the visual arts.
Dan has been blogging on the visual arts for many months, on behalf of his employer, a Washington, DC-based video production firm.
Now he's blogging on his own.
I can't recommend his posts enough. The topics Dan chooses—and the wholly original ways in which he explores them—will open your eyes to the creative process.
Take a look!
I can't allow the moment to pass without noting the death last week of Don Van Vliet, who performed in the 1960s and '70s as Captain Beefheart.
Many an hour of my youth was spent (some would say misspent) grooving to Beefheart.
We toss the word around lighty, but Van Vliet was an artist.
He was the only big-name rocker I ever saw walk off the stage at the beginning of a performance, because the audience wouldn't accept his latest work.
"You don't deserve this, [expurgated*]," he announced mid-song, and stormed off.
The concert was held in 1972 in George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium. It lasted about 12 minutes, as I recall.
*Rhymes with suckers.
Twice in a two-week span, I've witnessed a conference producer slight Canadians in the course of introducing the keynote speaker.
First incident. The conference producer said, "Our keynote speaker has a strange last name. But, then, he's Canadian."
Second incident. The conference producer said, "I want to thank a first-time sponsor. They come from Montreal. Their participation today proves even Canadians can be innovative."
Do both these guys share the same public-speaking coach? What does the coach have against Canadians?
The mainstream media has surrendered all claims to serious journalism, as I noted in a recent post. (Coincidentally, that's the theme of a new movie, Morning Glory, which I highly recommend.)
Today's mainstream media news programs are entertainment vehicles.
Thirty years ago, the story was different. One example makes that clear.
- On August 16, 1977—the day Elvis Presley died—CBS Evening News opened with a seven-minute story about the Panama Canal, followed by a one-minute story about the King of Rock 'n Roll's death.
- On June 25, 2009—the day Michael Jackson died—CBS Evening News opened with an eight-minute story about the King of Pop's death. And for the next 13 days, CBS Evening News devoted more than two minutes of each broadcast to Jackson's demise.
The question for marketers: are you providing customers an entertainment vehicle?
Or are you marketing like it's 1977?
The masterful Brian Clark of Copyblogger has launched a nifty Podcast series called Internet Marketing for Smart People Radio.
In last week's episode, Brian stressed the importance of knowing who you're striving to be in the eyes of your social media audience.
Brian, for example, hopes to be seen by his followers as a "likeable teacher."
The Podcast spurred me to think about who I'd like to be perceived as.
Unfortunately, I can't decide at the moment, because of my dual personality.
On the one hand, I'd like to be perceived as social media marketing's David Ogilvy.
On the other, social media marketing's Lewis Black comes to mind.
How about you? Who do you want to be?
It's time to take a fresh look at your sales "funnel."
Only executives—comfortably behind the lines in the daily battle for market share—still believe customers are gullible.
Direct-accountability salespeople know they're anything but.
Today's customers are self-educated. And then some.
That's why Joseph Jaffe, in his recent book Flip the Funnel, insists the traditional metaphor of a sales funnel is passe.
Today's customers are "indefatigable researchers," Jaffe writes, who "will do what they can to make informed decisions that disintermediate marketing misdirection, hyperbole, overpromise and hype."
If customers are smarter than ever, what should marketers do?
In a 2009 article, "The Consumer Decision Journey," consultants at McKinsey & Company recommend marketers "look beyond funnel-inspired push marketing" and begin to cultivate customers while they're conducting their research.
"The epicenter of consumer-driven marketing is the Internet, crucial during the active-evaluation phase as consumers seek information, reviews, and recommendations," the authors state.
Wooing customers during the "decision journey" demands that marketers forego old-fashioned media advertising, according to the authors.
They must focus instead on building content-rich Websites and word-of-mouth advertising.
If you want your customer base to grow, Seth Godin famously says, you should turn the funnel sideways.
Let customers use your funnel like a megaphone. They'll broadcast their satisfaction to others.
That would take care of your word-of-mouth advertising.
But what about your content?
That's where you need to turn the funnel upside down.
You need to flip your funnel and fill it with tons of great content. And make the content free and accessible.
So when customers on the decision journey find you, they'll find not a hypester, but a helpful, trusted advisor.
Seth Godin's recent rant, Won't Get Fooled Again, hits close to home.
"The reason that people don't believe you isn't that you're a liar," Godin writes. "The reason we don't believe you is that the guy before you (and the woman before him) were unduly optimistic hypesters and we got burned."
I'm still in recovery afer promoting high-end antiques shows during the past three years. (Three of the hardest to hit the trade since Roosevelt defeated Hoover.)
The whole time I was a promoter, I wrestled with incredulous exhibitors. Not because I habitually overpromised (I didn't). But because nearly all the other promoters were "unduly optimistic hypesters."
"If you catch yourself making a promise that's been made before, stop," Godin warns. "Make different promises, or even better, do, don't say."
Sage advice. You'll find more advice along these lines in my free report, Path of Persuasion: Winning Customers in the Age of Suspicion.
It's hype free.
Almost.
I'm visiting California and on Saturday toured the Donner Memorial State Park.
It's the site of the 1846 winter camp of the infamous Donner Party.
In case you've forgotten your American history, the Donner Party was the hapless band of Westward emigrants who resorted to cannabalism when their food supply ran out.
The fatal mistake the Donner Party made—the misjudgment that led them to wind up stranded in a wintry trap in a steep mountain pass—was taking a shortcut.
How many times has taking a shortcut led to disastrous outcomes?
Consider these recent examples:
- Wall Street took a shortcut in 2000 when it gauged the risk of mortgages by applying assumptions based on "credit default swaps." The problem? Credit default swaps had only been around for 10 years. In their brief lifetime, the price of homes had skyrocketed and nobody knew how a crash in home prices might affect credit default swaps.
- On the morning of April 20, the day the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP executive ordered the engineers operating the rig to take a shortcut to speed up the drilling.
- Toyota became so determined to beat rival GM, it took manufacturing shortcuts that have resulted in recalls of more than 10 million vehicles in 2010 due to faulty accelerators and brakes.
What shortcuts are you contemplating?
Note: Beginning today, I'm introducing a regular post called Monday Monday. Readers under age 50 may not all know my title is borrowed from a 1960s pop song. That's their good fortune.)
Many bloggers worry about venomous critics (aka, "trolls").
That holds true as well for anyone who thinks, speaks or acts with a modicum of imagination.
The Tao Te Ching teaches:
"Care about people's approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity."
Forget the trolls. Forge on.
