Bloghound

On Friday, June 27 at 1 p.m. EST, I’m going to be sharing what I’ve learned so far about marketing, social media and word of mouth marketing over at Learn From My Life. (And answering calls and email questions.)

There are some great interviews over at Learn From My Life from people like free-agent author Daniel Pink, former CNN reporter Daryn Kagan, legendary basketball coach Dale Brown, and Dan Ariely, author of the must-read new book, Predictably Irrational.

Hope you can make it!

Naming your organizations’ beliefs can guide decisions and inspire talent much more effectively than the traditional mission statement, which is usually pretty flat, descriptive and, well, boring.

Here are some examples of organizations’ beliefs.

Google

1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.

Zappos

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

And my firm, Beeline Labs:

1. Deliver the wow and the whoa
2. Activate change
3. Go fast
4. Try new things; OK to fail
5. See new possibilities early
6. Don’t compromise; the work needs to be meaningful
7. It’s all about delivering business value
8. Bee vs. me
9. Integrity rules

What are your organization’s beliefs? Please share!

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.

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the annual Parnu Marketing Conference where 550 of Estonia’s marketing professionals get together to learn and talk about new marketing ideas. The theme of the conference: “Marketing Without Advertising.”

See the blog postings by fellow presenters David Phillips and Robin Gurney of the Estonian internet marketing firm Altex for more.

Marketing Estonia

During a word of mouth marketing workshop 50 people came up with more than 300 ideas in 45 minutes about how to talk about Estonia to attract tourists and businesses to this Baltic country. A great testament to what can happen when you bring smart people together and remove all the traditional “branding” rules. Some of the ideas:

For toursim:

Estonia is like a fantasy land – beautiful old medieval architecture, Hansel & Gretel-like countryside, pristine beaches and forests with bears, wolves, wild mushrooms; and it’s safe, inexpensive, and almost everyone speaks English.

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is the largest and best preserved medieval capital in Europe. More beautiful than Prague.

The White Night winters in Estonia are magical, where you can really chill: pure silence amid the snow and ice; walking from island to island on the ice; barrel saunas.

And for the high testosterone crowd, Estonia is a great hunting spot – wolves, bears, wild boar; or you can tour former top-secret Soviet Union military bases.

Now here’s a sport you don’t find everywhere: While the Estonians did win Olympic medals for cross country skiing this year, they also took the gold medal in the world wife-carrying championship last summer.

For economic development:

Estonia is the Silicon Valley of the Baltic – totally E, and far less expensive than other European cities.

Estonia is the safe, friendly gateway for companies that want to do business with Russia, – but be based in Europe and not Russia.

Estonia offers all the benefits of Scandinavia for businesses – educated population, high quality of life, great technology infrastructure – with a MUCH lower flat tax rate.

Having spent two days as a tourist in Estonia, I can tell you that it is a gem of a country. Despite Soviet occupation until 1991, the country has preserved its national identity and the beauty of its environment and rich architectural history.

Aitäh Estonia!

Estonia Parnu Marketing Conference

Attention PR directors and agencies: positioning and messaging is not an option.

This week a global company asked us to troubleshoot some marketing problems,
including its public relations agency’s performance. The national
agency has received numerous national awards and been named one of the
best in its class, but the client is disappointed after working with
the agency for six months.

We looked at the agency’s recommendations and plan: the “core” program includes all kinds of tactical things like “media outreach” and press tours and press release
writing. The fifth option of the “optional” programs was positioning
and messaging, after a list of things like awards, product reviews, and
speaking circuit.

The client had opted for the core program, and no messaging or story lines or point of views were ever developed. The agency has been pitching nothing, save for a couple of uninteresting product announcements. Who cares? No one.

If you don’t have a story — lessons learned, insights of value to customers, predictions,
customer stories, a contrarian perspective of industry trends — you
don’t have the ingredients for a public relations program.

You have to be interesting for people to be interested in you.

So don’t buy or sell a heap of PR tactics without positioning and ideas
that make the company interesting. Idea voids only lead to failure —
and another black eye on what executives think of public relations.

Forget March Madness. It’s Message Madness time. Still smarting from
November’s loss, the Democrats know it and are stuck. In wake of the
Pope’s death Friday, the Catholic Cardinals are tackling it. How to articulate a clear message that is relevant and influential to your audience.

Consider the advice that’s being published:

• “If
  we want to make progress we need to focus on constructing a set of
  clear and concise principles and values that centralizes and
  homogenizes our message, but not our members.” Letter to the editor, New York Times, Sunday, April 3, 2005
• “The church is self-consciously struggling to make its message relevant.” Page one article, New York Times, April 4, 2005
• “The
  major challenge facing the church is to articulate the message of the
  faith in a way that’s actually influential and convincing to people.” Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tuscon, New York Times, April 4, 2005
• “Democrats
  Getting Lessons in Speaking Their Values” Democrats believe that the
  absence of a unifying theme or clear message cost them the election
  last November. New York Times, Feb. 11, 2005

Overcoming the obstacles to great messages

Creating
relevant and influential messages is hard work, which is why so few
organizations and companies have effective ones. My advice to the
Catholics, Democrats and anyone in the corporate world wrestling with a
“message makeover” is this:

Do a listening tour among your most influential and committed members. Then talk with influential former
members. Ask for their advice and opinions. Really listen to their
words and emotions. Why do they still belong? Why did they leave the
flock? Tape record the conversations so you can go back and listen
again for the nuances and language. That the Catholics are locking up
Cardinals in the Vatican to select the new Pope and discuss associated
implications to the Church’s messaging is a bad sign. That the
Democrats are enlisting a bevy of diverse consultants and perspectives
is more hopeful.

Beware of copycats and fraidy cats. When you’re losing votes, members and revenues, it’s time to take
calculated risks to turn around the situation. Don’t try to copy your
competitors’ messages. They’ll still be their messages and
not yours. Ban fraidy cats from the messaging process. At best they’ll
support incremental change; more likely they’ll suck the energy out of
the process. (Note to Democrats: Beware of quoting the Bible and
talking about moral values – despite some of your consultants’ advice.
That’s the Republican angle. You need your own platform. I vote for
“Personal Freedoms. Community Responsibilities.”)

Go to the organizational attic and review the founding vision and values.
You just may find some insights worth re-exploring in context of what’s
most relevant today. While my religious training was quite limited
having preferred Carol Ann’s donut shop to Sunday school, I do remember
being taught that Jesus was forgiving, nonjudgmental, and lived by few
rules. Maybe there’s an angle here for the Catholics if the Unitarians
and Congregationalists haven’t already co-opted that message. As for
the Democrats, remember that Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic
Party in 1792 to fight for the Bill of Rights.

Take a hard look at the issues that are most relevant to your members today.
Map them out to really see what issues are increasing (or decreasing)
in relevancy, and take a look at what issues are most closely
connected. A visual view may help you see informative, new patterns.
Then adapt your message – without altering your values – to today’s
context. (Note to Catholics: preaching against birth control and condom
use makes your organization appear outdated and highly irrelevant –
even in areas like Africa where membership is growing.)

If your
message isn’t relevant, it won’t be influential. As Louis B. Mayer once
said, “If people don’t want to come, there’s nothing that we can do to
stop them.”

What can real estate developers do to avoid negative media coverage and protests by community and environmental groups?

First
and foremost understand the opposition’s point-of-view: they believe
that real estate development projects are the community’s projects, not
the developers’ projects. Without understanding this perspective,
developers are highly likely to face delays, protests or have a project
killed altogether.This was one finding from a study, “This Land
Is My Land…But Could Be our Land: Developing Influencer Relationships
to Accelerate Developer Success,” that Northeastern University communications professor Walter Carl and I recently completed for the NAIOP Foundation.
We interviewed 30 commercial real estate developers and representatives
from environmental, community, government and Smart Growth
organizations to learn what it takes for developers to build effective
relationships with influencers.

We also uncovered the seven most
common characteristics of effective relationships between developers
and those influential people who can affect a development project,
positively or negatively. Here are highlights, most of which apply to
all businesses that must build effective working relationships with
external constituencies.

1. Early engagement:
for most influencers the most irritating practice of developers was not
involving the community early enough in the project process.

2. Effective listening:
people want their viewpoints to be acknowledged and respected, even if
those viewpoints can’t be accommodated. They need to feel listened to.

3. Education & understanding:
educating friends and potential foes pays off. The more knowledgeable
people are, the more likely they are to have realistic expectations,
engage in construction discussions, and brainstorm ways to work around
sticky points.

4. Trust and credibility: trust
is based on the principle that each person feels like the other person
truly understands their point of view. To build trust, present the
whole picture, candidly discussing drawbacks as well as benefits. And
always deliver on promises.

5. Accommodation:
Be flexible and willing to give up some control. Adopt the 3Rs: respond
to criticisms, redesign if necessary, and reach accommodations. If you
can’t accommodate all requests, explain why.

6. Adapting:
Adapt your communication style to the other party to foster
understanding. Avoid industry jargon. Adapt the professional skills of
coalition builders and educators.

7. Transparency: Always communicate in an open, direct and honest way.

A
final point to note: building relationships isn’t about asking for
influencers’ approval, but creating understanding. Similarly, it’s not
about getting 100% consensus, but determining whether people can live
with the proposed project.