Lessons from a Recession

You should NOT cut out marketing when times are tough. It will cost you a lot more than you realize.

Lean and mean is more effective than bigger offices and trendy furniture.

Never underestimate creativity.

As hard at is may be at times, thinking positive-ish beats the alternative.

There is no point in listening or watching the news if their only intent is to scare you.

We are all in this together. For better or worse. The way we treat each other in bad times speaks volumes and shows our true character.

What did you want to be before you grew up?

My friend Sam is a guitar teacher. He is a great musician, but he is first and foremost a guitar teacher. He is not teaching while he waits to become famous, he loves to teach and has for 30 odd years. Sam is also one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. He spends his life doing what he loves on his own terms.  All of us are affected by conditions beyond our control, like the economy, or challenging co-workers, bosses or clients, even the weather. After taking many punches over the past two years, I have asked myself if my career is due for a new chapter. In speaking with many people, I have come to realize that I still absolutely love what I do.  Each of us has the ability to decide what we want to do with our lives, and how much we are willing to invest in order to make it happen. Some years ago we adopted a slogan at Open Skye: “Think Positive-ish.” Tongue-in-cheek to be sure, but our experience has taught us to be cautiously optimistic about business. It reminds us to be positive about the things we can control, to work as hard as we can, to be honest, creative, loyal and to work for a fair wage. If we take care of all of that, we believe that we will win more often than not.

When I started Open Skye 25 years ago, it was with unbridled energy, passion, and without a clue. We have all used the line “If I could be that young again and know what I know now…”  Well, that’s exactly the opportunity I feel I have at Open Skye. Focus on the positive, partner with open-minded clients, and work our tails off to help them grow. To not get distracted by the little things or bumps along the way. To take advantage of our 25 years of experience and push any cynicism we may have picked up along the way to the back of the bus.

I’m all in. Who wants to come along for the ride?

A better term for “Social Media”?

It seems to me that the term “Social Media” is a bit limited, and not very clear. Clients ask me about it all the time. “Why do I need a Facebook?”. “You Twitter? I don’t get that at all”. Meanwhile, they try to solve marketing problems with traditional, expensive tools. In many ways, I think that this new, poorly named tool, is doing to traditional advertising what the internet has already done to the music industry, classifieds, publishing, and almost every other industry you can think of: change it forever. Forward thinking marketers are putting this tool in their mix, or replacing some of the old tools completely, and winning. Of course, many don’t get it, and see this as a way to apply the same selling techniques they’ve always employed to a new medium. It doesn’t work, of course, so they blame the medium. We had a client that wanted to apply 1970s direct marketing tactics to everything we did. We had to fire the client and later learned that they are blacklisted with search engines, e-mail vendors, and most importantly, potential customers.

I think Seth Godin understands the sales process as well as anyone. His concept of Permission Marketing is the most concise and intelligent view I have seen regarding how to develop relationships which lead to opportunities. Godin takes such a common sense approach to this, he makes it sound easy. It’s not. Permission gets abused easily. The best example I can think of is President Obama. His “Social Media” is backward. He asks me for something at every touch point. I quickly went from being excited to seeing his name in my inbox, to deleting his email without opening, to no longer following him on Twitter.

So, is this “Permission Media”, “Relationship Marketing”, “Viral Marketing” (I hate the word viral), “Two-Way Media”, ” Interactive Marketing”, “Conversation”, or something else? Does it need a name? Perhaps. To me, it’s another tool which is part of an overall strategy. The tools get more complicated and powerful everyday. How you use them to build your business, brand or tribe comes down to creativity, vision and common sense.

It’s not really your office

Stopped at a Starbucks yesterday (hardly a newsflash) and wondered in amazement at a woman working on her laptop. Her power cord ran a good 10 feet across an aisle from her table to the power outlet. (see photo). If a visitor were to trip over that cord at my office, I am very clear who would be responsible. If a child, elderly person, or anyone for that matter gets hurt here, what happens? As the traditional 9 to 5 work day has evaporated, so have the walls of the typical office space. Let’s all just try and be respectful to everyone else. These are most often shared spaces. Keep your cell phone conversations private, don’t take up too much real estate, and use some common sense.

Don’t mind me, I’m working

What should BP do?

This blog is a result of a short online dialog which began as a result of a pointed, late night tweet by yours truly. I have been seeing the, in my opinion, transparent ad campaign by British Petroleum, and it frustrates me. An old friend, and fellow marketeer asked me “what would you suggest BP do?”. I brushed off the question by replying “I wouldn’t take the job” of helping BP try and save face after the disaster in the Gulf. This has caused me to think about crisis PR and how other companies deal with negative issues. A phone that has an antenna issue or a flight attendant looking for 15 minutes of fame seem trivial compared to a corporation’s negligence leading to the destruction of a large piece of our planet. That is why BP’s “We’ll be here until everything is cleaned up” ads bother me so much.

A little full disclosure here. I have an extreme distaste for the oil industry in general. I feel that politics and money are the only reasons that most of us still have to drive cars that run on gas. Consider how many industries have been changed by innovation and technology, and yet, our country is still held hostage by oil…

What I would like to hear from BP, and frankly all oil companies, is how a disaster in the Gulf will never happen again. Not how much money they are willing to pay out to victims. Not how they share our disgust over the lost of wildlife. What are they going to do about it? How much are they willing to invest in alternative, safer, cleaner energy sources? What policies and procedures are they improving to ensure quality and safety? What steps have they taken at all their other drill sites world wide to guarantee no similar problems? Don’t simply pay everyone off and move on. Fix the problems.

I am not a PR expert. But to watch this disaster being treated like its a hiccup is offensive to me.

Is world class marketing only for the deepest pockets?

I read the recent Business Week article about Alex Bogusky with great interest. Whenever someone at the top of their game walks away, there has to be a great story. My question is this: will Alex use the opportunity he has (means, fame, talent) to create a new type of ad firm? One that provides world class creative and marketing services but only serve worthy causes? Wouldn’t it be great for charities, alternative energy start ups, healthy foods, farmers, missing children, etc to have access to the same powerful communications tools that fast food, politicians and violent video games do?

Have you dined with us before?

When I go out to eat, I’m not looking to take an exam. There seems to be a growing trend, particularly at chain restaurants, to engage customers in instant surveys. “Are you going to need these sauces, because I need to remove anything you are not going to use from the table”? was how my friend and I were greeted at “PFC” last week. We immediately turned the tables. “Why can’t we keep everything and try them all”? “How do we know until we sample what we ordered and decide if it needs more flavor”? The waitress, or course moved on to the bonus round of questioning: “Have you dined with us before”? Are we entitled to special treatment if we have? Do you do things so differently here that we need special training? Customer feedback is very valuable, but these establishments are getting silly with the surveying. If I go online I can save $3 the next time I come in. I better start studying now.

All this chatter, but sales still stink

I was curious about the new Old Spice campaign. Not curious how they did it, or how many mentions they are getting. Curious if it is working. And by working, I don’t mean that the agency is winning awards and getting new clients as a result. I mean is P+G selling more Old Spice Body Wash? Sadly, the answer seems to be no. In fact, it is being reported online that sales are down about 7%. If they stick with the campaign, perhaps sales will eventually turn around. Maybe the problem is simply the product itself. (I personally have never wanted to smell like an Old Spice). My guess is, that once again, the creative has missed the target. Do women buy mens body wash? Not in my house. The bottom line is, creative is not “great” unless it is on target and supports an overall strategy. Otherwise, all the spice in the world won’t cover up the stench of an off target strategy.

Why do you get up in the morning?

(…or the afternoon for my musician friends). Is it for money? If money drives you, I feel sorry for you. Are you working just for the money, or would you do your job for free? Not only would I do my job for free, being self-employed I often do. When something feels wrong at work, it’s in my power to change it. I have the choice to fire clients. I can choose who I want to work with. And you know what? I believe that everyone is in the same boat. Self employed or not, you have the power to change your situation if you really want to. Unless you’re just in it for the money. Then you’re going to stay where you are, be unhappy, grate on your co-workers and turn off your customers. Think about how great customer service would be if everyone in it would do it for free. What are you going to change, and time are you getting up tomorrow?

Find inspiration everywhere you can

Sometimes you need to get away from the computer/phone/iPad/all devices and go and do anything that frees your mind. Music, comedy, nature, sex, favorite people, a nice meal, a bookstore, gallery, shooting hoops…whatever gets the clog out of that drain on top of your shoulders. My little girl comes home from camp this weekend, so I know I’ll do better work next week! You know what inspires you, so log off, go do it, then come back and do better!