June 14, 2016 · 10:10 am

You Always Hurt The One You Love

There is an old song made famous by The Mills Brothers. The first two lines are:

You always hurt the one you love
The one you shouldn’t hurt at all

Today’s screed is the unbelievable tale of a media entity that is doing just that. Why unbelievable? Because if I asked you to tell me the absolute dumbest thing any company could do you just might respond with exactly what this company is doing. Let me explain.

The Walking Dead is AMC’s (and maybe TV‘s) biggest show. Not unexpectedly, there are many fan groups that interact via social media. One of the biggest – about 400,000 strong – is a Facebook group called “The Spoiling Dead Fans.” As you might guess from the name, part of what the group does is to make predictions about what will occur in upcoming episodes, and lately, it’s about who was killed by a barbed wire coated baseball bat (named Lucille). These fans, as you might guess, would be classified as “hard-core.” They watch the show, the discuss the show, they pick apart every episode for clues. In short – they’re what every media entity wants: engaged, excited consumers.

So how has AMC rewarded these loyal fans? In their words:

In the past two years, AMC has filed several wrongful DMCA notices against us with full knowledge that we could not file counter-notices, hired investigators to intimidate our members, and threatened our local members with arrest, among other questionable acts.

Yep. They’re threatening to sue them. AMC believes “the predictions on the board are based on copyright protected, trade secret information about the most critical plot information in the unreleased next season of The Walking Dead”. If you’re not shaking your head about now, you should be. It’s not as if the fans have released footage or are torrenting purloined episodes. All they’re doing is keeping the show top of mind while it’s off the air between seasons. Is suing them for that really the best response?

If you’re over the age of 30, you’re old enough to remember when the music industry spent a lot of time and money suing consumers rather than using those resources to come up with a better business model (Steve Jobs did that for them). I think that alienation persists to this day.

I can’t imagine any instance where suing your best customers – hurting the ones who you shouldn’t hurt at all – is the best solution to a problem. Frankly, I’m not even sure that in this case there even is a problem. You?

Leave a comment

Filed under Huh?, Reality checks

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

June 13, 2016 · 11:45 am

What’s In It For Me?

There are an awful lot of demands made for consumers‘ attention. Think about how often you’re assaulted by someone or something that’s begging you to pay attention. Nobody can pay attention to every one of these things so how can you have a better shot at being one of the chosen few? It’s by answering a simple question for the target- “what’s in it for me?”

I’ve written on a number of occasions about the need to solve someone’s problem. In fact, if you’re not identifying the problem you’re solving in your marketing materials, there is a high likelihood that those messages are being ignored by the people you most want to respond to them. Think about walking down the streets of a crowded city.  There is a lot of noise around you and yet it’s possible to have a quiet conversation with someone who is walking beside you.  You’ve both learned to tune out what’s unimportant.  That’s what consumers do to messages that don’t pique any interest. You need to engage consumers in a meaningful way.

One way to do this – and hopefully I’m doing it now – is to give those consumers something of value.  We humans have a strong need to reciprocate so by giving people something of value you encourage a more open mindset.  It can be information (Free Whitepaper!).  It can be a discount or a nicely targeted product (a free shirt to people buying shorts, for example). The point is to give them something to let them know what’s in it for them.  What you want back can be as simple as an email or something more complex.

Solve problems.  Give value.  Do both from the customer’s point of view.  Pretty simple, right?  Then let’s go!

Leave a comment

Filed under Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , ,

June 10, 2016 · 10:31 am

Sous Contrôle Régulier

This Foodie Friday I’d like to revisit the subject of sous vide cooking. I blogged about this (you can read that post here) 18 months ago after I received an immersion circulator as a gift. I’ve come to love cooking this way. Not only is it easy but the results are amazing.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, sous vide (literally “under vacuum”) is a cooking method in which the food is placed in a container of some sort (I generally use a Food Saver bag) from which the air is vacuumed out. The sealed bag is then placed in a water bath which is held at a constant temperature by the immersion circulator. It can’t overcook since it never gets hotter than the target temperature you set. While, for example, the center temperature of a steak you cook on a grill might be perfect, the outer 40% is probably overcooked (that gray layer is overdone, friends). That doesn’t happen using sous vide, although you do need to sear the outside of anything you cook briefly once it’s done.

During the earlier post, I made the business point that sous vide thinking in business is dangerous because it might lead to complacency since the method is very “set it and forget it.”. I failed to mention, however, the good things we can learn in business from sous vide. The key to this method isn’t really the vacuum – it’s the steady temperature control.  This sort of constant environment provides a couple of advantages.  Not only does it prevent overcooking as mentioned earlier, but it also is very repeatable. Maybe instead of being labeled “under vacuum,” this method should have been called “under regular control.”

The analogy to business is pretty clear in my mind.  Having worked for bosses who are very hot and cold (much like an oven’s fluctuating temperature), I can tell you that I much preferred working with managers who were more on an even keel.  I’m sure your staff, co-workers, partners and clients feel the same way.  Fostering repeatable results from our team is one of the role roles any manager plays. The fact that the food is in a bag, a closed environment, plays a role as well.  The bag keeps all the moisture in so the food braises.  If you’ve ever had a nicely braised short rib or lamb shank you can appreciate how wonderful the results can be from this method.  In business, keeping an inclusive team mentality is the equivalent of a closed bag in my mind.

I’ll repeat the warning about complacency, but I can’t recommend using the regular, even control of sous vide strongly enough, both in the kitchen and in business.  You in?

Leave a comment

Filed under food, Thinking Aloud

Tagged as , , , , , ,