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Today’s customers demand simplicity, even in complex matters.
Seth Godin reminds us in a recent blog post, "You can't sell complicated to someone who came to you to buy simple."
You can't persuade "masses of semi-interested people to embrace complicated answers," Godin says.
So don't try.
Instead, he urges, break down the complex. Communicate baby steps. "Teach complexity over time, simply."
And don't aim for masses. Aim for the few. "Teach a few people, the committed, to embrace the idea of complexity."
Find more tips in my special report, Path of Persuasion.
While paying lip service to "social" in the virtual world, far too many organizations remain decidedly anti-social in the real one.
Whenever I'm the victim of such an outfit, I recall the motto of W.C. Fields, "Never give a sucker an even break."
Truth be told, the anti-social organization holds this motto dearly. No matter what it spouts on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
"The customers are just suckers. Let's never, ever give 'em a break."
On Social Media Today, guest columnist Alexis Karlin takes anti-social organizations, deservedly, to task.
She's a tad more generous in attitude than I.
Forget what the social media gurus advise, Karlin writes. "Organizations need to start by indoctrinating every employee with a customer support mentality before they even begin to think about social anything."
She offers her own example of anti-social corporate behavior.
Recently, Karlin cancelled a license for software she'd been using.
Two months later, she received an email from the vendor. It claimed Karlin was four payments in arrears.
Karlin shot back an email. Why hadn't she been notified earlier?
The vendor's reply: "someone else" in her firm had been notified.
But Karlin's was the only name ever given to the vendor. She then asked to see copies of the late-payment notices.
There has been no response.
Karlin feels anger over the incident. "Even though we spend all this time talking about engaging, energizing, supporting, and embracing," she writes, "I strongly feel that companies are forgetting to do this in the day-to-day dealings through email, over the phone and face to face.
"My guess is that this vendor has a great social strategy and plan in place, but didn’t bother to instill the prerequisite customer service mentality."
My guess is slightly different.
Yes, this vendor has a great social strategy and plan in place. But it doesn't have a lot of scruples.
Engage. Energize. Embrace. And never give a sucker an even break.
What do you think?
Potentiate is a boss word that people outside the medical sciences rarely use any more.
It means to strengthen something; to enhance its power or effect.
I just wrapped up a week at the annual meeting of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events.
More than 2,000 people were present.
All 2,000 didn't share the same agenda.
Some came to study; some, to sell; some, to job search; and some, to schmooze.
But all shared one purpose in common.
All were there to potentiate their personal brands.
Maybe that's the ultimate reason we convocate in large groups.
It's an awesome thing to behold.
What are you doing to potentiate your brand?
The fellas in MetLife's marketing department wouldn't have known "Brand Journalism" from a Bronx Cheer.
But that didn't stop them from issuing nifty booklets, free to customers throughout the 1920s and '30s.
The Metropolitan Cook Book opened:
"It is sometimes difficult to feed the family nourishing food and at the same time give it the variety which quickens the appetite.
"This book has been prepared to help the housewife in her ever-lasting question, 'What shall I have for dinner tonight?'
"We hope that you will find it useful and helpful."
Brand journalism, as the boys at MetLife instinctively knew, gives customers value and spares them the product pitch.
In 2010, smart marketers are still using booklets like The Metropolitan Cook Book to provide customers value.
But they're also using blog posts, Tweets, ebooks and mobile apps to accomplish the same end.
Imagine if the MetLife boys had Facebook.
And while we're on the subject, what shall we have for dinner tonight?
The rise of social media marketing has prompted Advertising Age to suggest it's time to redefine "relevance."
"Relevance has long been a central tenet of effective advertising, but the rise of Facebook and Twitter are forcing a redefinition of the term," writes reporter Matthew Creamer.
"There's increasing evidence that the most-effective kinds of marketing communications on these websites are simple, random, even banal statements or questions driven by the calendar or the whim of a writer that may not have anything to do with the brand in question."
"Conversational posts" in fact produce 8 to 12 times the response of "brand-oriented" ones, according to Creamer.
As an example, he cites a Facebook post by Blackberry in November. The company posted a simple Happy Veteran's Day message that received 8,000 likes and 500 comments. The response far outran reactions to other recent posts concerned with Blackberry products and product tips.
