Tag Archives: marketing

September 10, 2008 · 7:52 am

MIMA

The Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association does some interesting things.  One of them is to run an annual interactive summit which, over the past seven years, has become a premiere interactive marketing event in the Midwest.  They’re running a program now which is the topic of today’s screed.  This program – a blog carnival – asks folks to post on certain topics and the one I’ve chosen is “Where does content start and marketing begin…or vice versa?”

I’m not sure if any of you watch Mad Men but it’s well worth the time or some space on your DVR.  This week, a coffee client – Martinson’s – was presented with a new campaign designed to market his product.  The ad team offers the client a “song,” a mixture of a Brazilian or French guy singing about a “coffee-colored exotic girl” and an “exotic brew.” “Is this a jingle?” the client asks. The response is “It’s a song and it’s a mood. It’s definitely more than jingle.” Content? Marketing?

I don’t believe there is any differentiation between content and marketing any more. As stated in the Cluetrain Manifesto, “networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do.” Creating content is part of the conversation these days – heck, it IS the conversation. When a commercial entity creates content, it’s marketing.

This post is a fine example. While I certainly have a point of view and want to convey it, I also have a consultancy that advises clients about issues such as these. MIMA’s readership, (hopefully), likes this content and emails me to begin a conversation about how I can help them. Voila! Marketing!

One needs to be mindful that “content”, in my mind, goes beyond advertising. It truly is something of value that advances and enhances the particular conversation. Cluetrain again: “markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.” Part of that intelligence is the ability to distinguish 1.0 companies from 2.0, especially in the digital media. Marketing is content, content is marketing.

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September 9, 2008 · 8:40 am

The Four Questions

Every Passover, someone at the table, generally the youngest, asks the Four Questions.  For me, these questions do a good job of putting the entire evening into perspective and make everything which follows them relevant to the overall purpose of the holiday.  They are meant to be asked from a child’s perspective (hence the youngest inquires), which is often a combination of innocence and ignorance – without preconception.

I thought of the role questions play while working with a client of mine.  We were reviewing a presentation we’re constructing to raise a funding round and the pitch felt too cluttered and unfocused.  So I asked my own version of the four questions:

  1. What is the problem we’re solving?
  2. Is this a big enough problem that it can support a business that solves it?
  3. Is our solution unique and has anyone ever tried to solve this problem before?
  4. Who the hell are we and why should we be entrusted with anyone’s money?

You’ll notice I didn’t interject any mention of the client’s company or executive team until the end.  Like most things in business, I like to try and keep ego out of it.  Business is, at its core, about problems and solutions. It’s not about you – it’s about your customers (or potential customers).   Odds are if you can answer the four questions I’m asking above, and remain focused on them, your business will be on the right track.

Fortunately, we already had the answers although they were buried deep within the current version of the presentation.  A little editing and a lot of attention to some simple questions, and we’re a lot closer to some funding (we hope!).

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September 4, 2008 · 7:51 am

Crowdsourcing Andy

My friend Andy Nulman is conducting an interesting exercise to help promote his book about surprise.  Andy is a brilliant marketer and his blog about surprise is one I read regularly.  Despite his inherent skill in marketing, or maybe because of it, he’s crowdsourcing the marketing plan by encouraging his blog readers to send in “those ideas that you always wanted to do, but for some reason couldn’t and didn’t.”  A firm believer in The Wisdom of Crowds, Andy is

looking to embrace, and put into play, your way-way–way out-there ideas for it; the type your employer was always too conservative to go with you on, the type that you may have been afraid to bring up, the type that nobody in their right mind would ever even contemplate.

I have some “out there” ideas but I think I’ll share those with him directly.  I also have some thoughts about doing things this way and they’re mostly positive.  Mostly.

Even the guy who wrote the aforementioned Wisdom of Crowds notes the shortcomings inherent in the process.  The crowd can be too homogeneous (not enough perspective to weigh all the factors), too emotional (if you’ve been watching the political conventions the last couple of weeks you understand…), unable to reach consensus, and other factors.  That said, I’m a believer in the process but I prefer to use the crowd’s output as an important factor in decision-making, not the only factor.  Businesspeople often rely on research as a crutch and not as a tool.  Don’t make that mistake!

So Andy, this post is my surprise to you today.  Hopefully someone who is smart enough to read my blather is also “out there” enough for your purposes.  Help Andy.  Send him your ideas (I’m starting to sound like Jerry Lewis) – Andy@AndyNulman.com and please tell him I sent you!

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