Blog
The Social Media Marketing After-party Discussion
Posted on April 10, 2015 at 12:38 PM |
![]() |
You created a presence on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter placing your
small business on the social media party grid.
Free word-of-mouth marketing was supposed to take over and the cash
register start ringing. It hasn’t played
out that way, so what happen? A
Foundation for Growth Social media platforms can provide the foundation for growth. Social platforms can help you and your organization
be found, find, and engage your target audience. · Be Found: To
be found during the “search” process when a customer or prospect has a need or
desire for a product or service that your organization is capable of
delivering. · Find: To be
able to find and approach prospects with characteristic’s that line up well
with your organizations target markets.
To create awareness, interest, desire and action (AIDA). · Engage: To
be able to approach customers and prospects with relevant content that creates
awareness and builds trust. Also, to be
able to communicate in a way that positively impacts the customer experience
across sales, marketing, and customer service. Still, there is nothing magical about social media. Other channels can provide those same
elements including good old face-to-face meetings. But social media can be very powerful if you
remember the following six key points. 6
Key Points to Get Your Social Media Program on Track 1. Strategy: Do
you have a social media strategy? Social
media is not a stand-alone marketing strategy.
It’s a component of your content marketing program and works best when
it’s integrated through your strategic marketing plan. 2. Technology: Social
media requires technology. It means
thinking about how your online social profile looks when presented on a
smartphone, tablet and PC. It means
researching and understanding the complementary social applications that are
available in the development ecosystem that help improve efficiency and
effectiveness. It means understanding
the feature functionality of several platforms including LinkedIn, Twitter,
Facebook, Google+ and YouTube just to name a few. 3. Processes: Process
discipline will help keep your social media strategy from falling into mass
confusion. Or at a minimum, you’ll be
able to keep the opportunities that surface through your social channels from
slipping through the cracks. For example,
how often are you going to create and post content? How often are you going to login to your
profiles to check for direct messages and new connection requests? Your customers and prospects may expect you
to be online real-time in order to receive the customer experience they’ve come
to expect from your company. 4. Money: Social media is not free. The “free” versions of many social platforms
are designed as a teaser if you will.
Full functionality is only made available with the paid version. And you will need full functionality if you
are using social media for business.
That means you need to make room in your marketing budget for social
media expenses. 5. Time: Preparing for, and engaging in customer and
prospect conversations takes time.
That’s why social media takes time.
Not just time to learn how all the various social media sites and
complementary applications work, but time to prepare the content to distribute
through those channels. And if it’s not
your time, then it will be your employee’s time, and employees cost money. So, we’re back to the budget issue. 6. Training: The term “digital native” is often used to
describe individuals born after 1980, when social digital technologies came
online. In other words, social media and
other digital technologies are supposed to come natural to them. Don’t believe
it. Whether you are a digital native or digital
immigrant (old-world settlers, who have lived in
the analogue age and immigrated to the digital world) using social media for business
requires training. Social media channels
often become the “voice” of your brand.
In order to minimize your risk you will want to have well trained
individuals driving those channels. |
Why Chief Marketing Officers are thinking about HR
Posted on April 1, 2015 at 2:16 PM |
![]() |
If you are a technology vendor or CIO don’t panic. Chief Marketing Officers still love you. We continue to think about and are concerned
with technology and data. But I’m
starting to spend more time with HR this year.
Yes, I’m concerned with whether or not marketing has the “right people
on the bus.” That’s a challenge that never
ends, particularly when the business environment is constantly changing. What I’m bringing attention to, and becoming
more concerned with, is the individuals we don’t have room for on the bus. Let me set up the scenario. Think about your total recruitment this year. Based on the size of your company, your HR
department is likely to post several jobs, for several departments, across
various platforms depending on job scope and level. Some of your organizations have appeared on “lists”
recognizing your company as one of those “Best Places to Work.” That means you are likely to get tens if not
hundreds of applications for each position you seek to fill. Now bear with me because I’m going to apply
some math, logic, and then get personal in a moment. For one mid-level management job you received 50 applications. Your HR department called the top five best
choices, based on geographic location (you didn't want to pay for relocation),
experience and so on. After the Skype
interviews three were extended an invitation for personal face-to-face
interviews and one job offer was tendered.
Actually, the person hired didn't technically go through your formal job
process, they networked their way into the position. OK then, here is the tricky part, were
forty-five applicants sent the following standard HR email?
Dear (First
Name),
Thank you for your
interest in our (Internal Job Number and Internal Job Title) position with XYZ
Company. While your credentials and
experience are valuable, we have determined the credentials of other candidates
may better fit our needs at this time.
Your profile will be available to our recruiters as they seek candidates
for other opportunities. Please check
back for future opportunities.
Kind regards,
XYZ Company
Human Resources
** Please do not respond to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you will
not receive a response. ** From a math and logic perspective are we good so far? You might be thinking, yes, your math is in
the ballpark, we’d get about 50 applications for a mid-level job posting. And logically we don’t have the bandwidth to
give personal attention to the forty-five who didn't make the initial screening. Sure, several in that group were very well
qualified, but we had to make the cut somewhere. “It’s
not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly
business.” The Godfather I love that line, but it’s dead wrong.
It’s always personal. We are by
nature, an emotional being. So, let’s
take a personal look at the standard rejection letter. 1. It’s not from a person. Sorry the “HR Department” and “Do Not Reply”
don’t count. By the way, how do you feel
when you get an email concerning a subject that you’d naturally like to respond
to, but can’t? 2. The subject line “Thank You for Your Interest”
might just as well be a Western Union Death Notice. 3. The wording is very similar in most rejection
letters. It appears that all HR
departments are using the same group of lawyers for this task. Sorry, just kidding. But really, how original. 4. Your high-level feedback, “credentials and
experience are valuable” is not helpful to the applicant or the process they
are going through. 5. Your response was late. They applied for that position three months
ago. We know, you almost forgot to send
any notice. Simply terrible. I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Alan, you’re in marketing, I still don’t
understand why you care about HR. OK, here
is why I care. Forty-five (late)
standard rejections letters multiplied by how many total job postings for the
year? From a branding perspective we
have potentially upset hundreds of individuals who could very well hurt our
sales in the future. How? Because many of the individuals we passed on
could still end up in our industry. They
may end up as employees of our competitors, sales or marketing reps for our
channel partners, or buyers for our current customers. And we just dismissed their interest in our
company with a canned rejection letter.
How much do you think they are really going to like us? What makes it worse is that from a political
perspective most of these individuals will keep their grudge silent. Just like the consumer who has a terrible
customer experience and chooses not to publicly voice their dissatisfaction,
but they never return. Is there an easy, quick and cheap answer? No, this is a big problem that most
organizations have given very little attention to. I doubt the negative financial impact of these
actions has ever been researched. In
fact, such research would probably be difficult to verify. But I do have some ideas for improvement, and
I’m going to be setting up more time with HR to discuss them. |
Are You a Social Buzzkill?
Posted on March 31, 2015 at 8:20 AM |
![]() |
Imagine that you’re attending a major conference. It’s time to head over to the networking
kick-off session. You’ve got your
business cards in your pocket and your elevator speech is locked and
loaded. You’ve brushed up on current events
and read the speakers backgrounds so you are ready to keep the conversation
light and engaging. And then it happens; you run into a social buzzkill. He’s looking at your name tag now… “Welcome Alan, thanks for shaking my
hand! Now, if it’s not too much trouble
could you get out your smart phone and Like my Facebook page? While you’re at it take a look at my website,
and read my blogs and let me know what you think. Also, let’s connect on Facebook and LinkedIn. My company helps marketers get new customers. Can we schedule a quick 30 minute demo to
show you our stuff?” Just let me know
how I can help you! Well, here’s my business card, have a great conference!” What a buzzkill. Although, I’ll
have to admit; at a face-to-face networking event I’ve never had that kind of
greeting. Why does it feel like a common
occurrence when you’re on a social platform?
True networking is a give and take exercise. I learn about you, and you learn about me. We explore to see if there might be a mutual
benefit. Here are three signs that you
might be a Twitter buzzkill: 1. Social
begging: OK. It’s not really
begging. But you immediately request
your new connections to “Like” your Facebook page, read your blog, or connect
on LinkedIn. You might even do all three
through your automated direct message application you are using. Automation can be helpful, and I understand
the “call-to-action” temptation; but you need to turn it off. You wouldn’t make a frontal attack like that
during an initial face-to-face meeting, and you shouldn’t do it on a social
platform. 2. Extreme
thankfulness: Is it possible to be
over-the-top with thankfulness? I
graduated from Abilene Christian University and I don’t find it difficult to be
thankful for many things. But I’m still
going to put this on the table. When
your Twitter stream is just one long line of “thanks” or “welcomes” to your new
followers it gets kind of annoying. Even
more annoying because you are doing it with an automation tool. Plus, I’m not getting an idea of what real content
you can offer. We get it; you’re excited
(and thankful) to be building an audience.
But again, turn off the automation.
When you list me with six or seven new followers all at once, and three
of them are bots, it’s not like I really feel special. Save the thanks and welcomes for key situations. 3. Welcome,
but no follow: You probably wouldn’t
offer someone your business card, and then refuse to accept theirs. But that’s what it feels like when you
welcome a new follower, but don’t follow them back. It might be that your follower to follows
ratio is out of balance and you can’t follow more profiles just yet. If that’s the case you need to unfollow
someone who hasn’t followed you back yet in order to make room. Don’t risk losing your new follower by
telling them you’ll follow them later.
You’ll forget, or they may unfollow you if you don’t follow them back
within a certain period of time. I’ll get off my high horse now. After
all, it’s not like I’m the Ann Landers of Twitter. In fact, you may totally disagree with the
points above. I do really like the buzz
on Twitter though, and hate to see it killed. |
Social Networking Choke Points
Posted on March 29, 2015 at 11:17 AM |
![]() |
A choke point is a strategic channel which could be closed
or blocked to stop sea traffic. At the Strait of Gibraltar,
where Spain reaches for Morocco, only eight miles separate Africa from Europe. It’s a
strategic location that links the North Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea. When the world’s
economy depended on merchant ships, control of Gibraltar
meant control over the flow of products and profits to merchants throughout a
large portion of the world. Have your social networking messages sailed into a choke
point? It’s no secret in today’s
relationship economy that your prospect is in control of their Networking
Strait. And that means where rapport
reaches for credibility, a value-based relationship is built, and only then can
the flow of products and profits begin. Some
relationships appear to be no more than anonymous encounters, lasting only as
long as it takes to finish a simple transaction. Others are the prelude to a full merger of
supply and demand chains. Whatever the
duration or objective, strategic relationships generally depend on mutual value
and trust. Why you’re
not getting that demo appointment To enter an Executive Networking Strait you must be prepared to deliver
a communication experience that builds rapport, credibility and creates
value. Unfortunately, that’s not what
generally happens. Whether by email,
telephone, or through social media, the gist of the initial communication is
often the following: The usual headline or grabber statement “Quick Question” or “Follow-up” or “Just reaching
out”
Alan,I wanted to reach out because our fully oxygenated, holistic,
end-to-end digital marketing solution is revolutionary. I’d love to get a quick 30 minutes of your
time for a demo so you can see the full power and scope of our
capabilities. What time would work best
for you? Or is there someone on your team I should be working with?
or
Alan,Based on your title and background, I thought our marketing solution
would be of interest to you. Feel free
to visit our website to learn more about us.
I’d love to do a quick demo so you can see the features and
benefits. You can go to this (URL here)
to schedule a time that works best for you. or Alan,We seem to have several groups and interests in common. Would you be open to a quick call? We’re doing some exciting things here and I
think our solution would be a good fit. I’m a little over-the-top with my examples, but not by
much. Yes, in general you can assume
that the CMO has a budget and authority to buy (the B and A of the traditional
BANT qualification mechanism). And
according to a Gartner report, by 2017 the CMO will spend more on IT than the
CIO. So, of course you want to go
straight for a top decision maker, who has dollars to purchase, and jump-start
the sales process with an eye popping demonstration. If the CMO could just see the product in
action, they would instantly understand the value and sign the order. However; I’m going to assume that your days
are not completely booked with those types of executive level meetings. Whether the CMO is managing a global organization, or a
start-up, the marketing technology landscape they are facing is large and
continues to grow. Large or small, the
CMO doesn’t want to have their time wasted.
So, they’re probably not going to just stroll over to your website to
“learn more about” your company. In
addition, they generally don’t open their calendars for total strangers to talk
to them about something they are ill-informed about, or currently couldn’t care
less about. In short, you are pushing
buttons that turn them off, so it’s no wonder they rarely return your call or
reply to your digital invitation. You
want to project yourself as a “thought-leader,” someone who can be
trusted. But at this point the CMO is
not thinking of you as a thought-leader nor as a future trusted advisor. At this point, you are merely another transactional
salesperson chasing a quota. A Roadmap to Navigate the Executive Networking
Strait The networking roadmap appears straight forward, but
customer relationships are sometimes messy and emotional. In addition, customer relationships cannot be
microwaved. If your communication style
is based on “always-be-closing,” where every message must contain a
“call-to-action,” then social networks may not be the right communication
channel for your accelerated time frame.
Remember, your communications need to focus on creating rapport,
building credibility and demonstrating value over the long-term: ·Rapport: Rapport is the ability to understand each
other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well.
Without rapport, you will not get what you want - not friends, not
demos, not sales. ·Credibility: Is the
quality of being believable. Its confidence
in your competence in the topic or idea you are trying to present. ·Value: The relationship creates some form of
value that clearly contributes to the fulfillment of the customer’s needs and
desires, or helps them mitigate risk. Think about those three factors for a minute. They have a lot in common with a job
interview. Yes, in many ways when you
are trying to contact a top decision maker you are on a job interview. Have you been thinking of that initial contact
in that light? ·Making a
good first impression: There is no
room for error here. The executive you
are trying to reach is probably going to check you out on LinkedIn first in
order to understand your background and credentials. Does your presence on the major social
platforms set a professional tone? Is
the executive likely to view you … not your company and not your solution
portfolio … as someone capable of adding value to their day? ·Listen: This means listening with your full
attention. Read their blogs, review
their LinkedIn profile from top to bottom, and follow their posts on
Twitter. Show them you are interested in
understanding how they feel by listening with empathy. ·Stop
trying to close: Top executives don’t
like “being closed,” or pounced on. Just
because they followed you back on Twitter doesn’t mean it’s time to ask for a
short demo to “see if there is a fit.”
In fact, just because they followed you on Twitter doesn’t mean it’s
immediately a good time to suggest connecting on LinkedIn. Yes, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are all
social networking platforms. But
connection on one doesn’t equal immediate and automatic connection on all of
them. They probably have a different networking
strategy for each platform so you are shooting yourself in the foot by trying
to move to fast. Nurture the
relationship before suggesting deeper engagement. |
Leverage the Power Triangle to Bootstrap Your Marketing Program
Posted on March 20, 2015 at 3:02 PM |
![]() |
The other night I told my wife that I
might actually be a growth hacker. She
just looked at me and said, “You spend way too much time online.” Sean
Ellis, who
is known for helping Dropbox grow in its early days, coined the
term "growth hacker"
in 2010. In a blog post,
he defined a growth hacker as "a person whose true north is growth.
Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable
growth." In April 2012 the idea of
growth hacking really took off when a blogger named Andrew Chen
wrote a piece called “Growth
hacker is the new VP Marketing.” Of course, now that CMO’s are expected to
have a technical background my CIO counterparts don’t find the “hacker”
reference particularly funny. Is your true north pointed toward growth? Yeah, that’s what I thought … who’s isn’t? In one way or another we are all trying to
create growth with resources that are subject to being hacked or cut out
completely. In my mind, the term “bootstrap” works
just as well. Bootstrapping is often used
to describe situations of self-reliance.
It means to develop by effort with little or no assistance. In the world of marketing this often equates
to launching a new customer initiative with minimal capital or cash flow. The current anxiety over the global economy
suggests 2015 could be a bootstrapping year as chief executives, chairmen and
company presidents focus on our slow growth economy. That means CMO’s will have
plenty of opportunities to document their “how I bootstrapped the bear”
marketing stories. In a
slow growth economy, one of the major reasons businesses go under is because
they run out of cash. Cash flow is the lifeblood of every business and in order
to keep the business healthy, cash needs to continue flowing; and slow growth can
be particularly hard-hitting for small businesses unless they have plenty of capital
to ride out the doldrums. In my blog
post “You Can Support Headcount and
Share of Voice on a Tight Budget” written during the 2008 economic
downturn I presented a high-level case study in which a small business was able
to increase qualified leads by 7 percent while cutting their marketing budget
by 24 percent. And the decrease in spend
was not the result of reducing headcount.
So, let me offer what I consider a business development “power triangle” that may
help you bootstrap your 2015 marketing plans. 1. Blog: I know; you’ve been blogging for years now. But you need to get more people motivated and
involved. One person creating one post a
month means you are far behind in the content-marketing arms race. Attention spans are short and quality
expectations are high. So, keep them
short and entertaining with relevant stories.
Focus on building trust, rapport and credibility. And remember, relationships are not developed
overnight. Think long-term, not every communication
needs to blast a “call-to-action.” You
can create focused content by leveraging your in-house subject matter experts to
provide material that supports each phase of your sales cycle. As always, make sure the content is search
engine-optimized so certain keywords are likely to be picked up in
industry-specific searches. 2. LinkedIn: I know; you’ve been on LinkedIn for years. But too many people in your organization
still consider LinkedIn as a resume tool that you only think about when you are
searching for a job. They don’t
understand that LinkedIn may very well be the best business development tool on
the planet. Help your organization
understand how adding blog posts, video, projects and presentations to their
profile helps increase their credibility.
The decision makers your sales force is trying to contact are reviewing
their profiles. If they don’t like what
they see, chances are they won’t be returning any phone calls or accepting any
meeting requests. 3. Twitter: I know; it’s been a month since you logged on and you still don’t
really see the value of Twitter as a business development tool. This element of the power triangle is where
most organizations will fall short. They
don’t understand the value of Twitter to help build and nurture a targeted
audience. And they haven’t figured out
how to use the platform in an integrated way to start conversations that
actually develop into business relationships.
At best they’re probably using Twitter merely to broadcast
product-focused messages. New social
employee advocacy applications can help.
So, renew your perspective on this application and build your audience. By
integrating your social media platforms and content strategies you can create a
focused marketing program that can make a cost effective difference in both
your lead generation and lead nurturing programs. It will also help you
maintain your customer-focus while you’re doing everything possible to manage
your cash flow in a slow economy. |
How Does Word-of-Mouth Marketing Really Work?
Posted on March 12, 2015 at 9:46 AM |
![]() |
Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) today is both online and through
face-to-face interaction. At times we
think of WOMM in terms of marketing buzz,
the interaction of users of a product or service that amplifies the brand and
in some cases goes viral. In reality, regular old everyday “buzz” is not as glamorous as
we marketers like to imagine. Recommendations
from friends and family don’t often come with viral like excitement, but from a
place of more practical experience. This perspective was driven home for me during a lecture with
some senior business students during their capstone marketing course. The class had been working through a
marketing media planning session focused on a national plumbing company. The
students did an excellent job. In fact, I was impressed with their
recommendations to leverage social media in addition to the traditional media
typically used for advertising in the plumbing industry. Of course, most 22 years olds have never actually
had to call a plumber, and that fact came out in the following exchange: Alan: “What I would like for you to
do is to close your eyes and imagine that you have recently purchased your
first home. You walk down into your basement and you notice water on the floor
because your hot water heater is leaking. What’s the first thing you are going
to do?” Student: “I’ll probably still live in
this area, so I’ll pick up the phone and call my dad.” Alan: “You’re not going to leverage
one of your social media communities, or go online and do a search on plumbing?
… Is your dad a plumber?” Student: “Well – no; but he will know
who to call.” When I think about it, it’s not hard for me to imagine that the
situation above would play out the same in my home. I can hear it now: My 24 year old daughter: “Dad – my hot water heater is
leaking!! Can you help me?!” Alan: “Yes, don’t panic, I’ll be over
in a second and we’ll figure it out.” So, which plumbing company do you think will get the
business? Well, when is the last time I
used my plumber? Do I still have their
number? Should I do a quick online
search? Should I grab my yellow pages
directory? Didn’t I recently get a direct
mail coupon from a plumbing company? Should I send a tweet asking my followers
for a local recommendation? Perhaps I should
grab some tools. No, I definitely should
not do that because I’d create a disaster! |
6 Steps for Asking Better Questions
Posted on March 6, 2015 at 10:42 AM |
![]() |
Does your company encourage questioning in any substantive way? If
so, does your company provide any training programs focused on guidelines and
best practices for questioning? In
truth, many companies, whether consciously or not, have established cultures
that tend to discourage inquiry in the form of someone’s asking “Why are we
doing this?” The impulse is to keep
plowing ahead, doing what we’ve done, and rarely stepping back to question
whether we’re on the right path. According to Socrates, “Wisdom is limited to an awareness of your
own ignorance.” Socrates used his Socratic Method as a means of uncovering this
ignorance by challenging the completeness of thinking. His series of disciplined
and probing questions brought his students to a deeper and more comprehensive
understanding of the subject matter or issue. Can a business leader use the Socratic
Method to build a learning organization that is agile, adaptable, and creative?
Is there a business benefit to creating a culture that not only encourages
independent thinking and sound reasoning, but also accepts the responsibility
of their decisions? The Socratic process can be broken down into a series of 6 steps of questioning: 1. Clarification: Why are you stating that? What do we already know about this? How does this relate to our discussion? Can you give me an example? 2. Probing assumptions: What could we assume instead? How can you verify or disprove? What would happen if (blank)? How did you choose those assumptions? 3. Probing rationale: How do you know this? What do you think causes (blank)? What evidence is there that supports (blank)? How might it be refuted? 4. Questioning viewpoints: What are alternative ways of looking at this? What are the strengths and weaknesses of (blank)? Explain why this is necessary or beneficial and who benefits from it. 5. Probing consequences: What are the consequences of this assumption? How does (blank) affect (blank)? How does (blank) fit with what our experience tells us? What generalizations can we make? 6. Questions on the question: What is the point of the question? Why do you think I asked the question? What does (blank) mean? The year ahead is going to be challenging for many organizations. When your business is faced with a combination of resource limitations, personal insecurity and demands for greater productivity, emotions will run high. For a business manager this represents a significant challenge, and that’s why helping your team stay focused through logical questioning will help them keep on track. One important thing to remember though is that Socrates, while an excellent teacher, also used this method of questioning to “shred” his opponents. That means the Socratic Method can be used both for both building up and tearing down - so remain mindful of how you use it. |
How to Lead Your Marketing Organization through Uncharted Waters
Posted on February 24, 2015 at 1:20 PM |
![]() |
The advertisement above is Sir
Ernest Shackleton's recruitment notice for his 1915 Antarctic expedition. His entire crew of 27 men did return. But their adventure is one of the greatest
survival stories in the annals of exploration.
Shackleton, his ship Endurance
crushed by ice in Antarctic’s Weddell Sea, led his crew to safety through a
series of impossible journeys over land and sea. What began as a journey of exploration became
a 20-month battle to stay alive, demanding ingenuity, courage, and leadership. I’m guessing the 5,000 applicants who were
rejected were glad they didn’t get the job. Years ago I used to welcome my new
marketing classes with this recruitment notice.
It was an attention grabber and a thought provoking way to get the class
started. Marketing as a business discipline requires endurance; it’s also a
functional area that often faces hazardous conditions in relation to various
business environments. In years past you
could count on at least one speaker in all marketing related conferences to quote
the statistics from the most recent Spencer Stuart CMO survey. The average tenure for a Chief Marketing
Officer is now 45 months. Compared to
previous years the CMO’s tenure is now solidly on the rise: ·45.0 months - 2013 ·45.0 months - 2012 ·43.0 months - 2011 ·42.0 months - 2010 ·34.7 months - 2009 ·28.4 months - 2008 ·26.8 months - 2007 ·23.2 months - 2006 ·23.5 months - 2005 ·23.6 months - 2004 Does increasing tenure suggest that
the danger of leading a marketing organization is fading? Probably not, changing market conditions will
continue to throw many marketing leaders into uncharted waters. Are you prepared to lead amid uncertainty and
doubt? Sir Ernst Shackleton
distinguished himself as a hero, not only among the masses, but also among the officers,
scientists and crew members on his expedition.
How did he do it? 1. Trust: While Shackleton was called
“The Boss” by his men, he did not differentiate himself from them. When the crew had to move off the ship and
camp on the ice Shackleton ensured that neither he nor his officers received
preferential treatment. Trust is the
foundation of leadership and Shackleton’s crew trusted him during their journey
because of his consistent and fair management and communication style. 2. Servant Leadership: In order to help
his crew get over the trauma of abandoning the Endurance, Shackleton literally
served his men: “Rising early in the morning, he made hot milk and
hand-delivered it to every tent in the camp.”
Unlike top-down leadership approaches, servant leadership emphasizes
collaboration, trust, empathy, and the ethical use of power. Servant leadership is designed to help
enhance the growth of individuals in the organization, and increase teamwork
and personal involvement. Shackleton’s
servant leadership style helped pull his crew together and secure their rescue. 3. Vision: After selecting five of the
toughest and best crew members, Shackleton announced that this select group
would seek help by sailing a lifeboat over 800 miles across the most dangerous
ocean on the planet in order to reach a whaling station on South Georgia. The plan worked and the rest of the expedition
party was eventually rescued. True
vision goes beyond what one individual can accomplish. It pulls the entire team forward. Of course there are additional factors
that could be added to the list above; but amid your current challenges what
leadership characteristics are you counting on to help position your team for
“honor and recognition?” |
CXO Conversations before the Company Meeting
Posted on February 12, 2015 at 8:02 AM |
![]() |
A trim
balding man in khakis with a button down shirt, the CMO looks the part he has
played for so many years – the affable, hardworking executive who gets the job
done. It’s the 2015 sales kickoff
meeting and he is setting in the front row with the rest of the executive team
getting ready to address the troops. He
could still remember a time when these meetings required full business attire, there
was no PowerPoint, and there were no smart phones or facilitated hashtagged social
conversations with the audience. The
business world had changed, and he loved it.
He had been one of the first to join LinkedIn back in 2002, and could
tweet and blog with the best of them.
Social media and mobile devices were changing the business landscape, and
his company was determined to meet the transformation challenge. The prior year had involved several
one-on-one meetings with his counterparts.
They were productive, but at times he could still feel a little tension
and some apprehension. Information Technology - The Chief Information
Officer The prior
year had begun with several meetings involving the Chief Information
Officer. In late 2012 Gartner analyst
Laura McLellan had published a report that contained the statement “by
2017, the CMO will spend more on IT than the CIO.” Of course a sound bite like that raised some
eyebrows in both marketing and IT. It
was time to check their facts and see if that prediction could be supported
with their own data. The CMO and CIO had
already been working closely together over the past couple of years as a result
of the organizations ongoing social media and mobile marketing
initiatives. And what did they discover? That
technology spends of 17% was indeed the second largest part of their marketing
budget. But for their company, the
associated dollar value was not more than the IT budget or likely to overtake
it. What was actually becoming of
greater concern was the number of applications, programs and platforms the
small marketing team was being tasked to learn and manage. In fact, across all the marketing functions,
the number currently stood at well over two dozen. 2015 CMO/CIO View: Marketing departments
are often responsible for several technical applications. They can include
aspects of CRM, marketing automation, email marketing, website analytics, data
analytics, marketing research, creative applications, webinar-meeting, and
more. This doesn’t even begin to touch
on all the new social media and mobile marketing related platforms and
applications that are now part of the strategic marketing plan. The CMO and CIO need to focus more on
matching talent and headcount to the applications that are actually being used
and bringing value than worrying about who has the bigger budget. Sales – The Chief Sales Officer Like many
CMO’s he had started his career in sales.
He had carried a quota and covered a territory just like the CSO. That background brought great credibility and
helped them agree on many strategies; but they could still have their moments
when it came to lead generation. Of
course sales would like “qualified,
ready-to-buy right now” leads. But
they both know in complex solution selling environments that’s not a realistic
expectation. Marketing was providing
support through the entire sales cycle, but their main focus – including the
budget – was on the front end. Creating awareness,
generating interest and building greater industry credibility had been
important to helping them engage with prospects and customers. And the fact that over 60% of their marketing
budget was dedicated to lead generation activity supported that point-of-view. 2015 CMO/CSO View: There will always be some degree of tension
between sales and marketing when it comes to lead generation activity. And that’s OK, the key is not to let it
spiral out of control. One area the CMO
and CSO agreed needed more focus was on helping the sales teams understand and
make better use of social media, particularly LinkedIn. Many sales people still viewed LinkedIn as a
resume tool. They were not leveraging it
as a business development platform.
Subject matter experts from the marketing team will be spending more
time training the sales teams, one-on-one if necessary, in order to make
improvements in this area. Legal – Chief Legal Counsel A few
years ago the CMO and Chief Legal Counsel had a difficult relationship. At one point the CMO had actually said “I’d rather go to the dentist than have a
meeting with our legal department.” The
reason is that Legal and HR had formed an alliance to band all corporate social
media activity. Employees were not
allowed to access LinkedIn during its early years and later on blogging, Facebook
and Twitter went through similar review processes. That was now in the past, the legal
department was onboard. 2015 CMO/Legal View: Legal understands the value of social media and
recognizes the fact that there will always be some degree of risk associated
with those media channels that cannot be totally mitigated. However, that doesn’t mean marketing gets a
free pass. The marketing department will
work to make sure all “Social Media
Policies and Procedures” documentation is always up-to-date and
communicated throughout the organization.
This will be very important because new “Social Employee Advocacy” software applications are likely to
expand how marketing leverages social media throughout the company in order to
help employees feel comfortable in the role of brand advocates. Human Resources – Chief Human Resources Officer Like
legal, HR has been fully engaged with marketing as it related to the new social
media channels. Sure, in the beginning
they worried about employee productivity and whether or not social media was
even relevant to their functional area.
At times they still wonder about the productivity, but they definitely
see the recruitment value. 2015 CMO/HR View: There is one important area the CMO would like
to see a change made as it relates to HR and how their current processes impact
the corporate brand. This project will
also involve IT. Current
HR applications and processes offer prospective employees the ability to connect
their LinkedIn profiles and or upload their current resumes. Either way, the process still requires them
to enter the same employment and education history that can be found in those
sources. This duplication of effort is time
consuming, frustrating and leaves a bad first impression of the corporate
brand. 2015 CMO / CEO View: The Chief
Executive Officer came up through finance and is pretty much a numbers
person. And, as you might suspect, the
CEO takes special interest in things that increase revenue, decrease costs, or
mitigates risk. In short, that means the
question “What’s the ROI?” is never
going to be far from the surface. The
CEO is taking the stage now to kick off the meeting. Let’s listen… “What is currently
impossible to do that if it were possible would change everything.” That’s an
interesting question to open the meeting with… “Well, use the hashtag
#ItsPossible for today’s meeting because we’ve got big news!” OK, the
CEO is more than just a numbers person!
The CEO understands the importance of leading by example and is not
afraid to leverage the new social platforms.
It’s going to be a fun year! |
Disruptive Strategies for Winning Customers
Posted on February 9, 2015 at 1:02 PM |
![]() |
I grew up in Grinnell,
Iowa, a small town in the rural Midwest. It’s not exactly the place you would
expect to find one of the most prolific scoring basketball teams in the nation.
The “Grinnell System,” Grinnell College’s
run-and-gun offense is considered unorthodox, even chaotic, but it is fun to
watch. Grinnell
teams
have led all playing levels in scoring for 19 of the past 21 seasons, while
ranking first in the country in 3-point shooting for 17 of the past 21 years. According to Head Coach David Arseneault’s
book titled “The
Running Game: A Formula for Success,” his strategy is based on five basic
principles: 1. The team must take at least 100 shots in a game. The goal is to attempt a shot every 12 seconds and try to get
the ball back within 10 seconds. 2. More than half the shots need to come from the three-point range. A sharp-shooters dream. Thirty-six different Pioneers have made
a record-setting 6 three-point shots in a game. Most schools are lucky to have
one player with that record. 3. Shoot 25 more times than their opponents. This requires discipline and a complete understanding of the
overall strategy. In the words of one player, “you need to keep jacking it up.” 4. Offensive rebounds need to be garnered on 33 percent of the shots
the team takes. This requires high
energy and complete focus on positioning. 5. Finally, the team needs to create 32 turnovers with their press
defense. This requires a steady
stream of fresh players. Grinnell uses all its players in every game, and
five-player substitutions are not unusual. In
short, Grinnell shoots before they can turn it over, and they create a tempo of
play that fosters confusion and frustration with their opponent. By doing so,
it often gives the Pioneers an opportunity to win with lesser talent. That’s an
important point because as a Division III school, they do not offer athletic
scholarships. Grinnell’s strategy is
creative, innovative and fun. Is there an application for smaller organizations
as it relates to customer acquisition and loyalty? I think so,
because when tiny Grinnell executes on their strategy they win at a 95% clip.
Innovation is often disruptive to larger existing organizations and this
provides smaller enterprises with an opportunity to level the playing field.
Possible applications in the current economy include: 1. Take more shots. Translation:
Break large marketing campaigns into several highly targeted micro campaigns
based on continuous selection of the best customers. 2. Take the big three-pointer first. Translation: Do your P&L
homework upfront and structure the best offer immediately. Don’t hold back,
consumers with cash and a willingness to spend it are in short supply right
now. 3. Shoot more often. Translation: Monitor trigger
events (contract dates, service calls, etc.) closely and nurture two-way
relationship-building conversations. For example, if a service contract is set
to expire don’t wait to begin renewal conversations. Stalling is not the best strategy
in today’s economy. 4. Position for rebounds. Translation: Monitor social
media and understand how your brand is positioned. 5. Press to force turnovers. Translation: Leverage and
engage your entire organization as it relates to customers and prospects. Your
opponents may drop the ball and you’ll want to take immediate advantage. The run-and-gun isn’t without its
flaws; particularly on the defensive end. For example, Grinnell once scored 148
points in a game and still lost the contest. Even so, you can bet the entire
audience was fully engaged. |
Categories
- Social Media (41)
- Human Resources (10)
- Content Marketing (18)
- Social Selling (2)
- Teamwork (1)
- SEO (1)
- Public Relations (6)
- Social Media Marketing (1)
- Sales Process (1)
- Social Networking (5)
- Word of Mouth Marketing (1)
- Strategy (51)
- Marketing Resource Management (2)
- Leadership (66)
- CMO (35)
- Customer Experience (36)
- Consumer Privacy (1)
- Learning (8)
- Personal Branding (19)
- Twitter (1)
/