Is Traditional Marketing Dead?

That's what an article I read in the Harvard Business Review states. While I agree that marketing is certainly changing, and my DVR allows me to fast forward through many commercials, unless I need five minutes to take the dog out or something, I don't think it's quite dead yet. I've been flipping past advertisements in magazines for years, and yet, those magazines still sell advertising.

And the funniest part of the whole blog post was where the author pointed out that "National Instruments used an especially creative approach with its customer influencers, who were mid-level IT managers at the companies they did business with. NI engaged with them by providing powerful research and financial proof points they could take to senior management, showing that NI solutions were creating strategic benefits. That got NI into the C-suite. It also increased the reputation of the mid-level advocates, who were seen as strategic thinkers bringing new ideas to senior management." I'd really like to know who the author thought generated the powerful research and financial proof points. It certainly wasn't the sales team, not that they couldn't do it. It was the marketing team, and that's what they do.

So, no, marketing isn't dead. Any piece of paper you are handed at a tradeshow, any dvd, handout, slide presentation, and any number of things mailed to your home, are created by a marketing department somewhere, even if the marketing department is just one person. Website design? Marketing. The copy on your website? Hopefully marketing, and someone who can spell without using spell check. That white paper the C-level suite wanted so they could showcase themselves as experts in their field? Definitely marketing.

I do agree with one point the author made, and that is the fact that marketing ROI has many different calculations related to determining how successful a campaign is or was, and these calculations don't necessarily translate well to any accounting balance sheet or any other generally accepted financial metric used to calculate monetary value. The old marketing rule of thumb is that if you have a system in place to track where your customers are coming from, you can tell which campaigns work, and which ones don't. If there isn't a system in place, then yes, marketing is likely just a crapshoot.

It's getting easier and easier to track incoming customers, however, and how they came to you. Google Analytics will tell you were your blog and website readers are coming from, for instance, and they'll even tell you the keywords used to find you. And that's just one tool. I've used Salesforce.com in the past, and it's pretty easy to tell how the customer got to you, and then relay that to the sales rep so they know, too. It's teamwork, and when it works between the marketing department and the sales department, company sales are probably showing organic and inorganic growth.

Marketing isn't dead yet, and funnily enough, neither is print, despite the last ten years of everyone saying it is.

Some Days It's Better If You Don't Speak to Others

I'm having one of those days today. I vented to my husband, and picked up a client call I probably shouldn't have. Only because I was frustrated and she uses the phrase 'I don't think that's unreasonable, do you?'. The tactful answer is no, of course it's not unreasonable for you to not check your email, and call 18 times a day to check on the response, tell me the deadline is tomorrow, and you think that networking requires too much energy. On days when you shouldn't speak to others, otherwise known as #ineedavacation, the answer is I sent the email, and yes, I get that your business is important to you, but you are focusing on this one thing today, which is already completed and you have already accepted and approved, and asking about several others when we haven't scheduled a meeting even to discuss them and what you think the ROI is.

See the difference? Tact, and no tact. One is fully rested and in a positive frame of mind, and the other is #ineedavacation. There's no harm in recognizing that some times it's just not a good day to speak to others. Knowing who you are and how you communicate will help you in your day-to-day relationships. Don't get me wrong, there are some days and some situations you won't be able to control, and in those cases it may be better to follow Abe Lincoln's advice: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

In a business environment, it's hard to do that. In meetings, you're called upon for your opinion, and remaining silent is disadvantageous to your mission or goal. In the many corporate meetings I have attended, however, it's easy enough if it's not a strategic meeting to jot down thoughts and questions, give them some thought and set them aside for a couple of hours, and then discuss them via email. The method may be a little delayed, but it gives you the opportunity to figure out if you need a vacation or can speak intelligently without allowing the frustration to come shining on through.

And I do hope you have minimal days where you are in the #ineedavacation frame of mind.

If You Edit Copy, You Know What I'm Talking About

Is it just me? Or are there others out there who see instantly the bad grammar, misspellings, and punctuation mistakes that make communication unclear? Sometimes I wonder. Take for instance the corporate memo sent to all the employees of a large company. I worked there at the time, and read it with interest. It was during the run-up to all the massive layoffs, and the memo was encouraging discretion. Unfortunately, the spelling was discrete, and not discreet.

I find errors like that in a lot of my reading material, and I frequently wonder about the authors. In today's world, smart and successful don't seem to include the ability to write clearly. Based in the US, my view is likely limited, although I do work globally. I have found it very difficult to edit copy translated from another language, depending on the type of translation service used.

I have to confess to watching a lot of tennis on tv. The global nature of the game appeals to me, and as a tennis player, I understand the game so it's not boring. What fascinates me most, is that most of the tennis players give post-match interviews. they all speak English to a moderate degree, and several of the top 10 players speak, read, and write at least two languages, if not three. I mean, pro tennis players are smart, but their job is to spend as much time on a tennis court as possible, not learning how to edit copy in multiple languages. How is a copywriter able to compete with that?

Quite simply, they aren't, which leads to specialization. And I wonder if that's good for anyone. It reduces the pool of applicants for any job to native speakers, or those with good relationships with a translation service. But how does anyone who writes copy then proof the translated copy? The difference between words like discrete and discreet can only amplify when there is a language that uses intonation and and other punctuation to indicate subtle differences between meanings.

All I Can Say is Wow

Sometimes it's all you can do to not say anything at all. Then there are the wow moments. The ones that make your heart stop. Those moments are experienced by people who are willing to commit to a plan of action, take responsibility for what they do in life, and take risks. The other, frequently overlooked item, is to tell people about your goals and what you're doing.

Embrace your wow moments, commit to a plan of action today, and tell people. On your blog, on FaceBook, and on Twitter. After all, you'll be finished with your taxes tomorrow - plenty of time to plan. :)

Communication Frequency

I've been working with a couple of clients recently who have what I consider a somewhat archaic view of communication. Rule number one: if your project deadline is a couple weeks from now, you do not need to call me, text me, or email me twice a day to see if I'm finished yet. I've spoken to two clients about this because I am curious about the mindset.

The response is, invariably, I just wanted to check in and see how it was going and I thought you might be finished early. Yep, right - I finished, and I'm not going to send it to you for approval. Sarcasm intended. If I've finished your project, that's one less thing on my perpetual list of things to do. One client says they just call to check. What to do with these clients? Suck it up and #gettowork? I think I balance my day pretty well, even if I'm not working on their project every second of it. Let them go to voice mail? All that gets you is the responsibility to call them back, which sometimes leads to that age old stalling maneuver, phone tag. Email and text have made the potential to robo dial a high probability.

I'm still puzzled, though. It's almost like they don't think I'm going to let them know. I have a client waiting on a contract. We asked for a contingency clause, and this client checks in twice a day. Am I going to check in twice a day with the guy I'm expecting the contract from? No. There's a really fine line between being good at following up, and harassing someone. And as I wrote yesterday, recognizing the personality type you are dealing with goes a long way towards maintaining a friendly and professional relationship. For the record, I have asked this particular client before why they think an hour or a day at the longest is the standard response time for everything. Response: It's on my list of things to check on.

If you don't believe me, check out job postings. Invariably, they have a statement at the bottom that is the equivalent of 'don't call us, we'll call you'. It doesn't have anything to do with whether they want to hire you or not, and it has everything to do with the fact that HR simply does not have enough hours in the day to return the phone calls of desperate or misguided job hunters. They have other projects they work on, meetings to attend, and hopefully, some continuing education courses.

Bottom line: calling repeatedly to ask the same question over and over again because you have the time to do it, can be very frustrating to the person on the receiving end of all the phone calls if they don't have another second to fit in their day if they hope to get everything done. Know the type of person you are communicating with, and if you are compelled to call more than once a day, make sure you're leaving them enough time to work on your project.

Transparency in Communication

Whether you work in communications or not, at some point in time you'll have to work in groups. Groups pose some pretty unique challenges when communicating due to the fact that you're working with a diverse type of communicator and personality.

Working with a variety of personalities, particularly when you are aware of yours and your affect on people, can be fun. If you think the sun rises and sets out of your bum, or think everyone loves you, this post is not for you. Your blissful ignorance will always save you from the wrath of others.

So, there are some basic personality types, introverts and extroverts, type A and type B, and control freak and laid back. Simply put, introverts actually work well on committees and in groups, even though it wears them out. Extroverts enjoy working with others because it gives them an outlet for their energy. A type A wants to get everything perfect and a type B is content throwing things together and letting the chips fall where they may. Control freaks have to have every piece of information, need to double-check it for accuracy, and then dictate how the information is used. On the other hand, if you're working with a laid back person, you may get scattered bits of information until a decision is required.

So where does that leave you? Transparency and acceptance. Accepting that you are going to have to work with someone who doesn't work the way you do, and moreover may think they are laid back when in fact they are a control freak or an extrovert when they are an introvert, is the key to transparent communication.

No one wants to feel like the decision was made without them, particularly if they care about the issue at hand. For people with an even moderate control freak streak in them, collecting information from other sources and making decisions about what to share will drive them crazy. They will really appreciate all the information, and the ability to put it together in a way that makes sense to them. I forgot a personality type that complicates matters a bit, though. There are people, and engineers are frequently labeled with this, who will analyze every piece of information and want to discuss it with the group. It's called analysis paralysis, and it will take a committee down.

In the interest of keeping everyone happy, it's best to establish communication, and provide regular updates in the event changes occur. What kind of changes? The kind where one person takes on the responsibility of another. If it's group information, it's nice to ask the group if someone else who may be doing less, or have an interest in the topic, would like to take it on or share. Most groups meet monthly, so email is the best way to communicate these types of changes or make the request.

Creating an agenda and designating who is responsible for the information will also cut down on the level of surprise, in the event your committee or group has a laid back person on it whose interest is captured for a moment. Following the agenda is good, too, although if the committee or group gets bogged down on a topic, it might be better to designate a date to make a decision and let everyone think about the information individually. It takes the inevitable argument out of the equation, and gives some time and space to think about what was discussed.

One last piece of advice about transparent communication - honesty. If you're in a group or on a committee, and feel like you are being left out of the decision making process, you have to say something to the group. They may not realize that their side conversations or lack of communication bothers you, and the only way to let them know is to tell them. In a really nice, polite way. Something like, 'You appear to have made a decision that I wasn't a part of, and I was wondering why you didn't want or need my input.' That should open the door to conversation. If they are truly unaware, they will discuss it. If they don't care, they'll simply tell you that it wasn't anything you needed to concern yourself with, or they thought it was a decision they were qualified to make themselves.

Working in groups and committees doesn't have to be difficult. You just have to have an idea about how much or how little you want to participate, how big the project is, and how much information you feel like you need to know. And then communicate it to the rest of the group so they know what to expect from you.

When Your Advice Falls Victim to That of Well-Intentioned Friends

I have several clients, some of whom take my advice without question and some who run it by all their friends before making a decision. There are issues with both. I'm not perfect, so taking my advice solely because I'm in marketing takes my client's intelligence and vision for their business out of their hands. Great that they trust me that much, though. Not likely to argue with that anytime soon!

The second client is much more problematic. In a world where the lines between marketing, social media, and public relations are smudged and blurry to most clients, there's a good chance they hired you thinking your expertise extends further than it does. After all, their friends give them solid advice about all manner of things, so any professional must know more than they do.

Unfortunately, in the current marketing climate, particularly if you're adding a social media campaign, timing is of the essence. Thinking that the opportunity to showcase your skills using a specifically targeted campaign will always be there, or can 'wait a week or so' while the client thinks about it, is foolhardy. Nothing kills a business faster than a little indecision.

I'm sure I am not the only one with clients who get input from friends. During these conversations with clients, I always think of my parents, who encouraged, begged, and even pleaded with me to think for myself and take responsibility for my decisions. Fast forward to today. I have a conversation with my client. I lay out all the pros and cons, what the plan is, dates, what I need from said client to make it work, and if the pieces are contingent upon one another, how crucial the timing is. Client says 'Great! Do it!' and I leave the meeting to execute the plan. Going well, right? Please hold.

Two hours later, if I'm lucky, I get a call from client. Questions about how this works, what if we do this, why are we doing this. Fair enough. All goes well, until client says 'I talked to my friends and they say this does/doesn't work'. Then the conversation becomes very predictable.

Me: Oh, okay. So you'd like to do this instead?

Client: Yes. My friends tell me they've seen this done a lot and it works.

Me: Great. Do you know what kind of business it worked for? Is it a business that operates the same way yours does?

Client: I don't know, you're the professional. But my friends are sure this will work. It's the latest/hottest/coolest thing.

Me: Okay. In your business this isn't generally used because it doesn't tend to work, but we can give it a shot if you'd like. Let me re-work the plan and incorporate your changes.

Client: Well, I'd like to try it, so let's do that instead of the other stuff. My friends say that doesn't work.

Me (by now, biting tongue and wondering who the ubiquitous friends are and what they might do for a living): So, you want to scrap the plan you agreed to earlier and do this instead? We can incorporate this idea into the current plan and get the best of both worlds. Do you want me to pull together some numbers so we have an idea about the ROI for this new plan?

Client: No, let's just try what my friends suggested. It can't hurt, right? We can do your plan later if this doesn't work.

Me: Well, it was built around this event/season/need, so it may be too late. We can do both.

Client: Well, you think your plan is better?

Me: I did research the plan we discussed this morning and, as I said earlier, what your friends are suggesting has not worked in your industry, so it's your call, but my advice is to stick with the original plan.

Client: Okay, well, let's just try their plan. They've seen it work.

I'm sure you know how this goes. At the end of the campaign, client is frustrated and wondering why the marketing isn't working the way they want it to. I am equally frustrated, and wondering when a good time to fire my client (and their friends) is. Client wants to know why they didn't get the leads or generate clients for their business. I wonder to myself when my advice, the advice they pay for because I do this for a living, became less important than their friends, and if they blamed their friends for the failure, too. Don't worry, I'm not deluding myself, I know they aren't blaming their friends.

What's the lesson learned here? Those friends that my parents used to worry about influencing my decision making, are still here, and they are talking to everyone's clients and influencing their decision making. And while you may be getting paid for executing a bad plan after coming up with a brilliant one, it doesn't make it feel any better. We all want to be successful, right?