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Marketing’s Easy Once You Do the Math

Connecting with your audience isn’t complicated. The movie American Beauty, which won an academy award, earned a decent amount for its investors and gained the adulation of movie goers, was a calculated attempt at capturing the audiences’ and critics’ imagination. The writers, producers and creatives behind the production used a set scheme of symbols to invoke the reaction the movie received.

By playing on themes of vulnerability, overcoming vulnerability and the frailty of human existence American Beauty captured the imaginations of movie goers, satisfied its investors and convinced the Academy of its effectiveness in motivating culture.

Your Self Perception

So if it’s that mathematical why all the confusion?

The problem isn’t what you’re putting out, the problem is what you see when you look in. We like to see ourselves as independent, rational creatures; unfortunately this is simply not true. Divesting yourself of this illusion is one of the first steps towards becoming effective in business.

1 + 1 = x

If you trust that you are unmoved by the mathematics of marketing then you’ll flounder about trying to find some magic key, but admit you’re deeply affected and you’ll find ample market analysis in your own reactions.

If you solidly apply yourself to learning the very basic ideas behind projecting motivation through common cultural cues you’ll find success isn’t so hard to achieve after all. Production cost was an excuse prior to the availability of digital tools. Now the only thing holding you back is your vision of what is possible and your honesty about where you stand.

Do Clouds Always Mean Rain?

A recent article by Scott Locklin provides a nice reality check for professionals panicking over IT. Whether it’s social media or information security, everything seems in a state of radical flux.

So what was the technological state of affairs 50 years ago? Is there really reason to worry, or are we just becoming victims of ‘The Myth of Technological Progress’?

*special thanks to Professor G.V. Wilkes IV for keying us in on this great article.

How Many Employees Does It Take To Stitch a Blanket?

From 2003 – 2005 Google only had one electrical engineer designing its servers . If you’ve heard of the massive data center operation Google runs this might come as a surprise. It also might be surprising that this single engineer helped design one of the most energy efficient and stable data center operations in existence.

Small and medium size businesses often find themselves in situations where it seems there’s just too much to do and too few hands, heads and hammers to do it. There always seems to be something getting in the way or slowing down crucial projects.

If this sounds like where you’re at there might be something in those last two sentences you read over too quickly… the word “seems”.

Tear Out the “Seems”

It doesn’t take an army to run a business even if it “seems” that way. As we’re fond of pointing out, with today’s technologies all it takes is a clear head and a solid plan to operate an internationally relevant SMB.

The illustrator/consultant Hugh McCleod is developing the idea of “global micro-brands”  to provide a model for this way of thinking and he’s just one of many discovering what Google discovered in 2003…even if it “seems” impossible, sometimes all it takes is one person.

Don’t mozy through the “seemingly” impossible day to day tasks of running a business, tear the “seems” out of your thinking and put your effort into the real task of stitching up a successful business.

Ask yourself, what’s makes the task seem impossible?

1. Are you focusing on something other than completing your current task? Prioritize what you are doing. It’s ok to be distracted, but be honest about being distracted and organize yourself accordingly.
2. Are you really working towards another goal? Don’t waste effort moving in one direction when you really want to be going somewhere else. Be honest about what you want and what you are willing to do to get it. Don’t try to eat the whole cow when you only want a burger.
3. Are you confident in your plans? Things move forward quickly when they’re motivated by confidence. Even if doubts linger it’s better to move forward confident in your actions than to stumble half hearted into failure.
4. Are you a dreamer or a doer? Some people like to read books about foreign countries, others like to travel them. The French poet Gerard de Nerval, upon visiting Egypt, remarked to an artist he knew “It is better that you stayed in Paris, there is nothing here of the Egypt we know, only the modern world…” Point being, it may be that you’d rather talk about success than work towards achieving it.
5. Have you applied what you’ve learned? We read up on best practices, go to seminars, networking events, webinars, the whole gamut of preparatory actions, but rarely do we put into practice the core lessons. Make sure you’re getting some ROI out of all that training and not just overlaying new words on old habits.

The Wrong Idea About Friends

If you’re trying to use new media to bolster an archaic business plan you’re in for a few surprises. The old idea that you can’t sell without lying isn’t worth much when your customer can Google your name or your company and find out more than you might even know yourself.

A recent article in the Harvard Business Review quotes Theodore Levitt from the 1960’s as saying that the average salesperson often thinks “the customer is somebody ‘out there’ who, with proper cunning, can be separated from his or her loose change.”

A Two Way Street

When those customers “out there” can get “in” through simple web searches, the salesperson quickly becomes the victim of their own cunning. Communications technology is, not surprisingly, all about communications, and this is a two way street.

How is your sales force using new media? Do they have the wrong idea about friends?

Here are a few points for SMB’s to keep in mind when trying to execute an effective new media campaign:

1. Keep in touch with your community – Yes, it is possible to reach out globally with the technologies available today, but it’s also possible to connect with your community and deepen the partnerships that are already formed by close proximity.

2. You’re helping neighbors, not pillaging the village – The social aspect of communication technology allows SMB’s to effectively leverage the person to person service that they are already good at, don’t waste this by turning technology into another means of mass exploitation.

3. Give back – Another useful aspect of communication technology is the immediate feedback loop it creates; instead of using it solely to find out if you’re marketing is effective why not use it to see what your community needs?

4. Help others prosper – You may be successful at getting the word out about your products and services, but if you’re not helping other local businesses get the word out about their offerings you’re missing an opportunity to develop valuable relationships and strengthen your community.

5. Nobody cares – Nobody cares about advertising or marketing, they care about people, they care about passionate ideas, nowhere does this become more apparent than in social media. Rather than pushing an agenda make sure you are reaching out to connect and reciprocate relationships that create value for everyone involved.

Forget the Naysayers

There are a lot of naysayers out there when it comes to emergent communication technologies. They talk about how useless services like Twitter, FaceBook and LinkedIn are, but the proof of concept for these tools is obvious once you start honestly using them.

Ramsey Mohsen pointed out a very poignant truth in an article on his blog:

“Facebook sucks if your friends suck”

There’s an old saying, “If you look for the Devil, you’ll find him”, look for people posting garbage and you’ll get garbage, but that belies the whole point of communication technology. Connect to professionals and your network will be professional, connect to creatives and you’ll have a creative network, it’s a simple concept that so many seem to be overlooking.

Feedback Loops

Feedback is important in understanding the way social media works. If you feed bad data into the system (or ask something like “What are the most useless things posted on Twitter?”) you’re going to get a response based on the nature of the input.

Those critics don’t realize that due to the input/output nature of the net they are going to get exactly what they are looking for. They cheat themselves of a valuable experience by asking questions with answers that have no worth.

Why waste time feeding bad input into the system when you could be providing positive value?

Imagine what would happen if they started asking the right questions. With the amount of horrible content they’re able to dig up, how much good content is out there waiting to be found?

Or more importantly, waiting to be created?

The Media Convergence

Social media and what MIT’s Henry Jenkins describes as the “Media Convergence” are playing a decisive role in today’s entrepreneurial arsenal.  For SMB’s the tools to connect with their communities and other local businesses are becoming easier and more accessible every day.

One of the biggest questions with all of these new technologies is how to fit them into a solid and actionable strategic plan. Thankfully it seems as the dust gets shaken from the system this question is finding an answer on its own.

The answer? It seems that the best strategy is to get out, participate, add value and realize that the results are reciprocal.

Moving With the Current

Jenkins’ work has shown that effective grass roots efforts quickly catch the attention of more established media outlets through the natural life cycle of social media. The various channels of mediated (public, private, corporate and governmental) reciprocity are being merged together, through 3rd party applications as well as the simple fact that the users themselves provide centralized nodes in the communications network.

This give and take goes for B2B communications as well. If there is a drawback to this convergence, as Jenkins points out, it’s only that each participant is now expected to act responsibly and effectively to bring value to the system. It’s up to entrepreneurs and business owners to be proactive with their own campaigns in order to reach the potential audience of collaborators that exist in the mediated web.

While Others Worry

While industry journalists worry us with tales of lost revenue, proactive SMB’s across the country are experiencing positive growth through their new media marketing efforts and the simple realization that honest and direct relationships really do matter.

The ability for small and medium sized businesses to remain maneuverable, and quickly scale their operations, works perfectly with the immediate feedback loop that these technologies provide. For whatever failings exist within the social media sphere, as soon as more effective means are found SMB’s can change course and correct themselves immediately.

Caution is a sensible reaction to change, but what are you doing as a business owner to turn your caution into a proactive plan?

Are you saving yourself from a fast fading trend or missing the bend in the road?

Lost your ticket on the Twitter train?

Here’s a helpful set of articles from CIO Magazine outlining ideas for how businesses can better utilize Twitter to help increase brand awareness, customer communication and marketing: CIO Magazine’s Twitter Bible.

One great tip to turn your business around

This is a reprint of an article Arthur Zards, President and Co-Founder of XNet, wrote for the April 9th, 2009 edition of The Business Ledger, a newspaper focused on leading Chicagoland businesses.

This is not an article on the obvious things your business can do to survive an economic downturn. Cutting down your office supply expenses, not printing as much paper, and getting rid of the free coffee are all things that will help, but lets be honest, these aren’t magic bullets that will keep your business in the black. And as a small to medium sized business, don’t expect a government bailout either!

Thriving, not just surviving

Instead of all the obvious money savers, I would like to share a great tip on not just making it though a downturn, but something that can help you completely turn your business around.

One of the challenges of running your own business is that, well, it’s your own business. You’re in control, you make the rules, and no-one knows it better then you. And that can be a problem. It’s easy to gain tunnel vision on what you think works and doesn’t work. You’re wearing blinders right now and don’t even know it.

What if you could have an extra set of eyes and ears looking at your business from an outsider’s perspective, offering feedback and fresh ideas on what you are doing? Telling you from their perspective what appears to be working and what isn’t. Asking you probing questions that you would never think to ask yourself. It’s easier then you think.

The “Unofficial Board of Directors”

What you want to do is create an “Unofficial Board of Directors.” In short, you create a small handful of trusted, experienced advisers to view your business at a board of directors level. You meet with them once a quarter, you share with them everything, and they offer you feedback and direction.

Share everything? Yes.

It’s not an easy thing for a business owner to share a full disclosure of your business, your profit/loss, even your own compensation information. But you will be surprised at the value of having different seasoned sets of eyes and ears giving you valuable feedback. I personally know businesses that have turned around 180 degrees after starting this practice and this process helped XNet weather some tough times during the Internet bust.

SCORE.ORG

Your board can be anyone, a parent, a friend, an old teacher, or a retired executive. The key is you must trust them, and you must feel that they bring a level of experience that you need. What seems to work very successfully is retired executives.

Organizations like SCORE offer easy access to thousands of retired executives who bring decades of business experience and are all aching to get back in the game. Your unofficial board will sometimes point out things to you that you don’t like, nor do you want to hear.

That’s the best part. These tough issues are the issues the very issues you must hear and become aware of. The things you choose to ignore while running your ship are often the key items you need to handle to keep your business afloat, or to get to the next level.

A Century of Experience

Still not convinced this will help?

Just three retired seasoned executives can add over a century of business experience Or imagine that all your competitors each have their own unofficial board of directors offering all their years of business experience and knowledge, and you don’t.

So instead of canceling this year’s Christmas party to save some money, get your own unofficial board of directors. After all, it works for free, doles out invaluable advice, and leaves you in full control of your business.

If you don’t know of any retired executives or trusted partners in your community check out the website for  SCORE . At the very least try using their online mentor search to see the talent pool that you can access. You’ll be impressed.

Local First

Check out a great visual representation of economic flow within a community presented by Local First up in Michigan. Although the page describes West Michigan it’s obviously applicable to any community:  Why buy local?

Phantom Partners

Everyone is a phantom partner in a local economy; you may not always see each other, but every business, professional and entrepreneur is partnered through the shared resources of the community. Small changes lead to larger ones and if SMB’s would open themselves to the possibilities offered by new technologies we’d see a transformation that would make the rising sun of the Renaissance look dim in comparison.

Putting Together the Pieces

Matching up business and technology has historically been a difficult process. This may still be true at the corporate level, but is it necessarily true for SMB’s?

While it’s difficult for large corporations to change course, SMB’s have the ability to quickly adapt to new challenges. As always, innovation happens at the local level first.

How can SMB’s utilize the current economic situation to finally fit all the pieces together?

Local Business Can Save the World

With technology available that can drastically cut costs it seems immediate adoption is the only solution.  Fortunately the very same technology that cuts costs can bring community partners together in ways that weren’t possible 10-20 years ago.

A recent article from the Financial Times by Glenn Hubbard (which we discovered courtesy of @bernardmoon via Twitter) highlights the special place that SMB’s hold in resolving the current financial crisis. One of the only ways for SMB’s to remain strong and vibrant is by quickly adapting to the partnership opportunities offered through New Media and shared service technologies.

What’s Your Perspective?

We see things from the perspective of a colocation provider and ISP so connecting businesses and communities is second nature to us, what’s your perspective?

Here are some links to TED (Ideas worth spreading) that take a deeper look at connecting communities as well as some organizations in the U.S. that are taking action:

TED, Ideas Worth Sharing
TEDGlobal 2009
Connecting Communities in New York
Connecting Museums & Communities
Even the Smithsonian is jumping into New Media
UK Official Twitter strategy

Have you heard of any other initiatives? Let us know.