There’s a revolution going on not just in politics but in other areas.
An interesting article from B&T about the new consumers who value sustainability, health and well being above therapy shopping.
http://www.bandt.com.au/marketing/marketing-mindfulness-future-holds
We need to listen to our customers.
“The upheaval of our world and the upheaval in consciousness is one and the same. Everything becomes relative and therefore doubtful. And while man, hesitant and questioning, contemplates… his spirit yearns for an answer that will allay the turmoil of doubt and uncertainty.”
So wrote Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung was also interested in and influenced by philosophy, sociology, religion and spirituality.
I
Trump, Kanye and Kimye and the blur between reality and reality TV
We are all living in a period of great uncertainty where our politicians and the major parties are no longer trusted (see the political rise of showmen like Donald Trump in the US and our own One Nation’s resurge.) The problems of globalisation, immigration, warfare and refugees, economic cycles, ageing populations, industry and technology and of course climate change have rendered us all into a state of unknowingness and sometimes fear. Trump and his often unstructured and simplistic rants wouldn’t have made it to second base in past US Presidential campaigns let alone get endorsed by the conservative Republican party if he wasn’t striking a chord with alienated, scared voters who no longer trust their politicians.
Trump is also a reality TV star so maybe Kanye and Kimye could be future Commander in Chief and his first lady. This says a lot about the pre-occupation with celebrity and branding. It’s more fun hanging out in billionaires mansions than listening to men in suits talking about fiscal policy + we get to live their lives vicariously (and escape our own) for an hour a week.
As human beings, we crave certainty around our lives as this gives us control.
In reality there is no certainty much less control. We can be comfortably off and get sick. We can be employed and lose a job through no fault of our own. Our bread winning industry can go off-shore. In a lot of ways, life is random and full of paradoxes.
It’s hard to live this way but there is no choice and often pain and hardship open doors that were not visible through the haze of contentment.
Many years ago I was introduced to ‘The shoulds.’ It goes like this:
We should have a job and do well. We should be happy in our personal lives and have rich and fulfilling relationships. We should always do the right thing and not make mistakes.
Shoulds also relate to others in our lives:
Friends should be true and stick by you.
Family should be there for you.
Managers and employers should recognise you for your work and enthusiasm.
Shoulds let us down and make us naive.
Let go of the shoulds both for yourself and others in your life.
Be open to change because it’s rapid nowadays.
Instead enrich yourself with learning, creating and thinking outside of yourself.
Have you got a coupla minutes?
My kid is 12 and he loves his technology. I don’t mean that he just likes it a lot … he loves it. I like technology too. I’m using it now. But I also love books. I am auto didactic. No not that. I have always read a lot. As a kid I just tore up history books (those illustrated ones) and began reading classics via the Classic Comics Illustrated range which introduced me to Turgenev and Victor Hugo. I knew about myths and legends from Norse to Roman and later on I discovered my mother’s books. It took me a week to get over the first time I opened The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir and Henry Miller … well he was amazing for a kid who watched the Beverly Hillbillies.
I am not anti technology because I think it’s the greatest tool of creativity and self expression since that hungarian Bic invented the biro but I’m afraid that it’s got some limitations too.
My kid showed me this video and I think it sums things up quite well and has repercussions for us all business-wise or not:
We all know about metrics. The back end of the internet. The analytics. The tracking mechanisms of sites.
They come in all shapes too. Line graphs. Dials. Segments. Bar charts.
And they are great and necessary. How else do we know ‘how we’re doing!’
This is about productivity and we all have to be productive don’t we? Work, work, work …
There’s no time in an asynchronous world to stop and think.
Why would you do that? There’s stuff to do. People are restless and they want it NOW.
I’ve spent time in organisations where metrics are key drivers, and that is fine. But when dials and graphs are key drivers, then strategy can go out the window if there is weak and lazy leadership.
Strategy is of the utmost importance. It’s the beginning of innovations. It’s the way to do things differently and better.
The fast knee-jerk get this done now attitude is a band aid solution.
Metrics can freak poor managers/leaders out because these measures make them or their area look bad, so they rush to fix something and it sets an unrealistic pace where mistakes are made and people break down or worse – feel like galley slaves, rowing to the beat of a drum.
I’m all for measurements and monitoring because I like change.
But don’t let it freak you out. Sit down and think about things. Come up with new ways of doing things.
Calm down
I love Will Ferrell and I think Steve Carell is a genius. This newish brand of just plain silly comedy out of the US is funny. And in my book, any excuse for a laugh. I was really looking forward to seeing Anchorman 2 with my family. The first Anchorman was great. And I know Will Ferrell is not to everyone’s taste.
But when I first heard about the 2nd Anchorman instalment I was kind of excited.
And then I heard about it, and I heard about it, and I heard about it again.
Transit ads on buses. The usual internet blitz. Cardboard moustaches. A hell of a roadshow. Youtube ads and trailers.
Saw the film and loved it.
But guess what?
The box office results have been disappointing.
What could have gone wrong? A stellar cast. Great script. Funny as …
No. Too much marketing!
To quote the Steven Zeitchik’s Los Angeles Times story (December 23, 2013)
‘That heaping plate of Ron Burgundy over the past few months (there was also that anchoring of news in North Dakota, the relentless Dodge Durango commercials, the Newseum exhibition, the underwear cross-promotion) made people feel like they had gotten their fill of the character.’
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being repeatedly bashed over the head.
Be strategic and subtle. Plan your marketing. Give ’em time to breathe.
But let them know you’re there.
Anyway … I loved the film!
According to an article published in the second half of 2013, this is what happens on the ‘net’ every 60 seconds.
To quote the article in the UK Daily Mail, published July 30:
‘In just a single minute on the web 216,000 photos are shared on Instagram, a total of £54,000 ($83,000) sales take place on Amazon, there are 1.8 million likes on Facebook and three days worth of video is uploaded to YouTube.
Cashback site Qmee has created an infographic that shows this information as well as how many tweets are sent, photos are viewed, Skype calls are made, domains are registered and more in 60 seconds.
The graphic pulls information and figures from PC Mag, Business Insider and other sites to create a the snapshot.’
So what does this say to businesses who are trying to market themselves in 2014?
You better get some fresh content.
Google loves new and updated content.
Content that is relevant to your market.
PLAN DO ACT CHECK
House of Cards is an American remake of a BBC drama featuring the oh so Machiavellian Francis Urquhart or old FU (BBC) renamed for the US series as Francis Underwood and starring Kevin Spacey.
Both series are well made and gripping in a politico thriller kind of way. And Kevin Spacey is just amazing playing an amoral, unethical and complex Washington power broker.
One of the main characters is a young journalist with an eye for breaking news which she isn’t even getting close to on the big, traditional newspaper she works for.
Sick of covering C grade stories, she hungers for something more.
She is also aware that traditional print newspapers are losing ground to online forms of news.
Without giving the plot away, she finds herself being a conduit for real news. She talks the editor into running her stories. She gets some recognition. She leaves the paper to join an online blog.
Here’s the lesson I learnt from A House of Cards:
“Will it get me in 8 seconds?” The blog editor asks her regarding a proposed post
“That’s all we have.”
8 seconds to hook the reader.
Can you hook them in 8 seconds or less? I’m sure I lost you in the first paragraph.
Now I don’t think that short grabs work for everything. Long copy works for some products and some stories. People still like to read.
Think it through. What are your key objectives?
And, here’s to old FU!
I’m the King of Content.
Well I self styled that one, but after working on advertising campaigns (above and below the line,) blogs, websites (static and interactive,) brochures, newsletters, flyers, trade stands and collateral, email marketing, social networking, training programs and lots in between … I think I am the King!
But I’m not a coder … yikes!
I’m a content planner and builder, creative director and project manager.
I’m also a talent scout.
I source artists & illustrators, graphics people, TV/Radio producers …
I also source web people. The people that code. They know HTML and CSS deeply, whereas I just know about it.
I need these people. And I need to get the work done.
Sometimes, but not always, these web people can be difficult. Why? could be a generational thing. Could be a time management thing. Could be a simple communications thing. Could be all of the above.
Here’s a scenario:
The project is lagging and lacking. The vision has not come together. I can’t get the person on the phone. I can’t get them via sms. I wonder should I go out on my balcony and call their name like Steve Martin did in The Lonely Guy.
Yes … they don’t always follow my timetable.
But when you get a good one it’s amazing.
Manage these people with tenderness and care.
Coach and mentor them.
Be understanding, bit not too understanding if you get my drift.
Got kids? You’ll know what I mean
Websites have evolved.
In the not too distant past, a business or organisation would have a ‘webmaster’ build a site. It had all the usual suspects: Home; About US; Contact Details; Products etc. You’ve seen hundreds of them. Maybe even thousands. Static sites with a flash animation graphic to spice things up. Looked good. Never or hardly ever updated except for new product offerings.
Nowadays, in the fast paced, quick clicking social media environment, more is required.
The big question is: why will customers visit your site? Better still, why will people who are not yet customers visit. We call them prospects from ‘gold prospectors.’ Digging for gold.
The gold you put on your site is what differentiates your business from your competition. Yes you’ve got great products. But sites need to offer value in a whole lot of other ways.
One way is to provide a knowledgebase.
Articles. White papers. Videos. Blogs. Put it out there.
But ask yourself the question. “Does this content do something for my clients, customers and all the prospects out there just waiting to find a solution to their problems?”
Well does it?
We all know how the internet has changed everything.
Now we learn, socialise, get medical treatment and buy online. It’s a revolution big or bigger than the one that brought industrialisation. Some say the industrial revolution also fostered a kind of anti socialisation. Small, close knit communities with thriving cottage industries were broken down as people moved to cities to find work in the factories and mills. Apologies here to Weber one of the fathers of sociology for this one minute noodle version of his and other’s theories.
I work in marketing and I have a background in retail. My grandfather had many thriving shops around Sydney and country New South Wales. In 1933, my Aunt, one of his 5 daughters started a fashion business called Coral Lea which lasted in one incarnation or another for almost 70 years. It was a famous ‘brand,’ and glamorous to the hilt. My mother had her turn, telling me that she left school at 15 and was in the ‘shop’ the next day. Not formally educated, she was just about the best business person I have ever worked with. I often quote her to my students and in my writings. When I left advertising (did I ever?) I went to work for her. She trained me by hand and without a volume of Kotler in sight. One day she asked me to ring Vogue. Vogue Magazine was the fashion bible back before fragmented virtual communities. I was, let’s say, more than hesitant. A young guy in a little shop with interesting things. All she said to me was ‘They’ve got an empty magazine to fill.’ I rang and they came and we were featured in an upcoming edition. It was a powerful lesson in PR and marketing as well as human behaviour. I was never afraid again to call important people or publications. We were unique and I knew it.
Now some say that retail is dead. That people are buying online and avoiding the shopping experience altogether. Why shouldn’t they? It’s easy to Google and compare. There’s billions of shops online.
So let’s do it. Find the shopping cart provider/software and follow the prompts.
Build it and they will come
Umm, I don’t think so.
We still have to tell people we have the shop, and to do that we need to find them. Where are they hiding today? Facebook? In your database? On linked In or Instagram?
Here are some questions:
1/ Do our products suit the online buying experience or are they too specialised?
2/ Do our customers need help to choose?
3/ Are they ‘freightable?’
4/ How do we lead our customers or prospects to our e-doors
We still need to use a mix of traditional and new media to promote our store and it will take some time.
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