Bloghound

Pope Benedict plans to text thousands of young Catholics during World Youth Day in Sydney in July; the church plans to also set up a Catholic social networking site and use digital prayer walls. The goal: make the Catholic church more relevant to younger churchgoers.

Good for the rather conservative Catholics to use new ways to connect — especially in view of the declining number of members of the Catholic Church in many Western countries like the United States and Belgium. According to a recent Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life study:

Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes. While nearly one-in-three Americans (31%) were raised in the Catholic faith, today fewer than one-in-four (24%) describe themselves as Catholic. These losses would have been even more pronounced were it not for the offsetting impact of immigration.

The question for the Pope, as it is for all marketers,  is whether using social media tools can help  attract and keep members without also changing the message and experience.

Jerry Yang of Yahoo yesterday blogged (“OK, so now what?” ) about Microsoft’s decision to withdraw its offer. I give Yang credit for writing something and allowing comments, which is more than most CEOs do.

But Yang’s post doesn’t sound genuine; it sounds like something the corporate PR folks wrote in a committee. Too bad. In today’s world, people want the real language of the person behind the ideas. After reading the post my reaction was, “Does Yang really care — or is this just a PR move?”

A better approach would be to give the CEO a few of the major points that communications thinks should be conveyed — and then let him express it in his own words and style. Who cares if the words and grammar aren’t perfect. Neither are real people.

The novelty of blogging is about to wear off, said Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz at this week’s Web 2.o Expo in San Francisco. It’s becoming just another way to communicate.

The bigger point, said Schwartz, is having something provocative to say.

“If you say undifferentiated things that are expected, then you shouldn’t expect anyone to care.”

Amen. So many businesses are obsessed about how to use blogs or social networks that they overlook the fact that you have to have something interesting to say. The point of my book Beyond Buzz is just this:

in today’s “talk” world — online and in person — having an interesting or provocative point of view is as essential, maybe more so, than traditional marketing and communications “messages,” elevator statements, value props, etc.

A provocative point of view gets attention, gets people involved, and speeds understanding. As Schwartz knows, if you want to get interest, be more interesting.

  After a hectic week of meetings and presentations I was reflecting on why so much of the communications fell flat, failing to motivate or influence. The speakers and meeting leaders were smart, experienced people yet they failed to connect.

Maybe they forgot to act like five-year-olds. When I was researching my book Beyond Buzz I learned that adults learn with their five-year-old minds. Here’s what it means for communications and marketing.

The five-year-old likes to argue and reason; uses words like “because.”

Explain why and why not.

The five-year-old uses five to eight words in a sentence.

Keep it brief; use short sentences.

The five-year-old is interested in cause and effect.

Explain, “if we do this, then this is what will happen. If we don’t do this, these are the likely consequences.”

The five-year-old understands and uses comparative terms.

Use more analogies to help understanding.

The five-year-old enjoys creating and telling stories.

Storytelling remains one of the best ways to make meaning and help people understand, remember and repeat ideas.

The five-year-old uses swear words to get attention.

Use more disruptive ideas and language.

The five-year-old likes simple rules.

Don’t make things too complicated.

The five-year-old has a good sense of humor.

Keep a perspective; lighten things up.

J.Crew’s CEO Mickey Drexler is a great example of a CEO who lives conversational marketing, passionately listening to customers and incorporating their ideas into the business strategy.

In his Saturday N.Y. Times story, “A CEO Sells the Store,” Joe Nocera wrote:

“Visiting stores, quizzing the staff, critiquing everything in sight — and most of all, meeting customers, is at the core of how Mr. Drexler runs J. Crew. It’s also what makes him happiest.”

The story also talks about how Drexler personally follows up with customers he meets in stores. He’s intent on hearing their ideas — positive and negative. The customer is his muse, his energy, his grounding.

While CEO of the Gap Drexler lost touch with the customer, as many CEOs do, and lost his confidence. At J.Crew he’s intent on doing what he does best — visiting stores every day; reading, responding and acting on customers’ emails; and asking customers for input. He told Nocera:

“People want to be listened to and they want to be respected. Besides this is how you learn what is on their minds. What can be more important than that?”

Probably nothing. While most clothing chains are struggling, J. Crew’s 2007 revenues were up 14% and the company is profitable.

I think I’ll have to check out J. Crew’s new line of suits….and tell Mickey what I think. I know he’ll listen, and that’s a most powerful marketing strategy.

There’s one big thing holding companies back from innovation, growth, attracting and keeping amazing talent, realizing the possibilities of emerging trends like social media: obstacles. (aka fears)

Reflecting on some recent experiences I see it everywhere.

• I spoke with a small group of Fortune 500 executives about social media and they zeroed in on what don’t like about social media: losing control.
• A group of brilliant IP attorneys got really involved in a session about conversational marketing, but suggested I spend much more time on one particular slide: overcoming obstacles.
• A workshop for a Fortune 50 company resulted in a powerful point of view that management, sales and marketing collaboratively created –and loved– but a then decided to stay with a safe, bland message platform. Why? The official reason was “internal politics;” the real reason was fear to have a point of view so different and evocative from the industry norms.
• A pharmaceutical company hired actors to pose as customers because they feared what real customers might say to their employees.

Going to fear school

Every year I do one big thing for my own professional development. There’s only one criteria: it needs to scare me, shake me out of my comfort zone so I really learn something.

This week I’m taking a workshop on how to design and develop transformational workshops at Kripalu. I’m the only business person among medical professors and educational activists, healers and shamans, ministers and coaches. Dropping into this touchy-feely environment where people chant in the morning instead of firing up PowerPoint made me feel very, very uncomfortable — so much so initially that I wondered whether I could learn anything at all. My own obstacles and judgments kept whispering in my ear, “Get in the car and get out of Yogi Dodge.”

Then in a session called “Going Beyond What Usually Stops Us,” David Silberkleit led us through an exercise where we had to articulate those obstacles (and the fears lurking behind them) that stop us from pushing forward to accomplish more, reach higher, take risks. Unarticulated fears/obstacles are what usually stops people. Acknowledge the obstacles, then you can go forward faster. (And David should know; he acknowledged his professional obstacles and walked away a sizable family business and inheritance — Archie Comics.)

During the program I thought about how thrilling social media is, opening up new business models, changing product development, innovation, customers service, CRM, marketing, public relations and leadership communications. Yet for so many companies and people the first step in realizing the possibilities will be acknowledging the very real obstacles of social media: eliminating job types and functions, reallocating budgets, losing control, lacking new skills, feeling irrelevant. I’m sure you can add more as there are many.

Mindset vs. toolset, human change vs. program change

Just as social media is a mind set as much as a tool set, success will require human change as much as functional and program change.

Just as we marketers know strategy and creativity, so we will need to learn how to guide our organizations through tremendous behavioral change.

So for my final project tomorrow morning I’m trying out a new workshop: “Burn Down the Obstacles.”

Oh yeah.

PS — warmest thanks to teachers Ken Nelson and Lesli Lang and my brilliant fellow workshop participants for teaching more in a week than I’d learn in a year of business conferences.

Watching Steve Jobs present is watching a master. What makes him so effective? Carmine Callo, author of Fire Them Up!, offers this 10 tips in an article over at BusinessWeek.com

1. Set a theme. And then deliver it several times throughout the presentation.

2. Demonstrate enthusiasm. Don’t be afraid about injecting some passion and personality.

3. Provide an outline. Start by saying there are four thins I want to talk about today.

4. Make numbers meaningful. Frame numbers within a context.

5. Try for an unforgettable moment. Have one scene that people will remember and talk about.

6. Create visual slides. Go big on graphics and short on bullet points.

7. Give ‘em a show. Think entertainment not lecture.

8. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Glitches happen. Don’t fret, move on.

9. Sell the benefit. Answer the question in the listeners’ minds, “What’s in this for me?”

10. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli ’s poor communications judgment and skills hurt Home Depot’s reputation. But communications still doesn’t seem to be a priority for him. Rather than having corporate communications report to him, last month he put the organization under the human resources department, and the VP of communications resigned. ( I don’t blame him.)

This move signals that Nardelli doesn’t value communications — or thinks that he knows enough not to need a direct report in that function. Leadership is communications. Inspiring employees to act on ideas. Instilling confidence in partners. Building trust with the media and customers. Listening to disgruntled employees dealers and customers to get to root causes.

As Chrysler tries to make a comeback communication — not advertising — will be crucial. Methinks Nardelli is living in a bubble and when the bubble bursts he will again have egg all over his face.

This video of Bill Gates’ last official day at work at Microsoft makes the person and the brand seem human, approachable, and not at all like an impersonal, corporate behemoth. Plus it’s really funny, Go Bill.

On the eve of the NH Presidential Primaries my friend and talented marketer May Kernan has an interesting observation:

“Big question on this morning’s news was whether “just talk” was a sufficient enough demonstration of the ability to be president. If you heard Obama’s Iowa victory speech, it was truly unbelievable. As people (Hillary) question whether inspiring people is enough, you have to ask, isn’t that what leadership is? The ability to inspire and motivate others. Obama’s authenticity and his ability to connect with young people and get them to act (thru social media networks) could revolutionize the way we elect people. Talk about conversational marketing.”