July 22, 2013 · 8:48 am

Liar Liar

The phone rang the other day and it was someone asking me for more information about the services I can provide. That’s not really unusual. Sometimes they’ve read the screed, sometimes they’ve seen my business website, or sometimes something from a past life – an article, and interview, or another client – will send them my way.  I’m thankful for those calls – some turn into business and each is an opportunity to learn about another perspective on the business world.

The call I got the other afternoon was much like many of the others.  It was someone  – Mary was what she said her name was – who had seen my site and wanted to know more about how I could help them.   I asked about their business and they said they were selling shoes.  We chatted about the differences between selling online and offline, about website optimization, content creation, and analytics.  It was a pretty typical chat and it went on for 10 minutes or so.  Typical, that is, until “Mary” came clean:

So we’re a marketing company too and I’m wondering if maybe we can work together because our services would fit well with the ones you offer.

My response was about what you might expect.  Yes I do on occasion team up with businesses that offer services that I don’t but no, I can’t work with anyone who begins our relationship with a lie.  Then, I hung up.  But it got me thinking about how many businesses do just that – sometimes without malice, sometimes on purpose.  We engage with potential customers under false pretenses, promising to solve their problems when our primary motivation is self-enrichment.  We might think a little hyperbole is OK as we’re selling and maybe it is.  But lies aren’t.

In this case, I don’t have a clue what this woman was thinking.  Why would anyone want to continue the dialog after you come clean?  But it’s a great example of what NOT to do.   Do you think I’m being unfair?

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July 19, 2013 · 9:41 am

Start Wine-ing

This Foodie Friday we’re going to talk about wine.  I realize some of you are not fans but I think a good glass of wine can enhance a meal much as finishing salt enhances the flavor of a perfectly ripe tomato (I have those on my mind these days as well!).  I don’t think of myself as being very knowledgable about wine but I do know what I like when I’m drinking it.

Wine

(Photo credit: Uncalno)

One other thing I like about wine is the simplicity of it.  You get a bunch of grapes, stick them in a solid container, crush them, and wait.  In theory, the natural yeasts that float all around us should find their way into the juice and begin turning the sugar into alcohol.  Strain it and it’s wine.  Of course, it if was that simple, we wouldn’t refer to a winemaker‘s art.  In fact there are lots of decisions the winemaker needs to make – what kind of grapes, what kind of container, at what temperature to keep the juice, what kind of yeast (if any) to add, how long to let it ferment, how long to age it, and even where to make it. All are factors that affect the final product.  Which of course got me thinking about business.

Business at its core is equally simple.  Create a product or service and sell it for more than it costs to make.  Just as with wine, however, it’s all the decisions you take on the way that dictate how the final product turns out and what sort of success you have with it.  Do you do what some wine makers do – try to create a flavor profile that is “popular” and go for big sales or do you make something that might sell less but be of a higher quality?

One thing about which you’ve heard me rant is being authentic.  Bad wine uses wood chips and artificial flavors.  Great wine coaxes out and maximizes the flavors inherent in the grapes.  Be transparent too.  That doesn’t mean giving away all the secrets about why your business – or your wine – is better.  It does mean, however, that you don’t hide bad reviews and you admit when a vintage (or an outcome) isn’t everything you want.

Simple isn’t easy.  Wine – and business – are simple at their core, but translating that simplicity into success is much harder. When it’s right it’s incredibly satisfying to me.  To you as well?

 

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July 18, 2013 · 8:15 am

Meet HAL, Our CMO

Anyone remember HAL? Or more specifically, the HAL 9000, one of the great screen villains of all time? Sure you do – it’s the computer in 2001. Throughout the course of the film the computer runs almost everything, including the humans. When the humans rebel, it murders them (trust me, that’s not a spoiler and you MUST see the film if you haven’t).

Hal 9000 D - Chrome

(Photo credit: K!T)

HAL is on my mind this morning because of something I read in Media Post:

Adobe Systems released an updated version of its social media platform Thursday allowing marketers to predict the effectiveness of posts before they are published.  Using predictive analytics, the feature in Adobe Social learns as it goes, refining recommendations and increasing intelligence with each action. The platform pulls in historic data from similar posts and integrates it with image data on Flickr, check-ins on Foursquare and videos from Instagram, to determine the outcome for sharing, comments, and likes.

I’m well aware that many companies use testing to plan advertising.  Focus groups are a tried and true method and I’ve used them myself.  Copy testing is part of that.  What I find creepy, however, is when this moves over to social media and it points out a flaw in many companies’ thinking.  Part of using social is being real.  It’s why I have an issue with any sort of programmatic content in general.  There needs to be a human on the other end, and not just a human running an algorithm.

Another problem is in the last sentence, above.  Programming to generate likes and sharing is specious reasoning.  That’s the sort of goal that someone looking to impress a boss who has no understanding of social media would have.  After all – things can go “viral” and generate a ton of comments when they’re used as the butt of a joke or as something negative.  Nice metrics, horrible outcome.

I don’t know about you but I can feel when it’s a computer on the other end.  It’s the digital equivalent of those nested phone menus where you type or say a response to a series of questions.  Those infuriate me .  Maybe they do you as well.  As marketers we need to have the courage to be human in social media.  Auto responders aren’t as good as human responders (properly trained, of course).  Letting a computer dictate what does or doesn’t get posted over the nuanced judgement of humans is not going to be as effective in the long run.

What do you think?

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