Time to stop falling for the latest fad

One of the great weaknesses in marketing, or any aspect of business for that matter, is when a certain technology or skill is seen as unassailable and/or beyond criticism. A very worrisome trend is that social media is beginning to approach those standards in some respects. When any media vehicle is seen as a cure all that every one is in love with then it is time to take a step back and wonder if we're really doing something intelligent, or if we are like a herd of lemmings about to plunge over the cliff.

Now to be absolutely clear this is not by any means an assault on the viability of social media. Quite the opposite it is in my opinion a rare attempt to assess it based solely on its merits and avoid repeating the errors made when the web first came on the scene. For those not around or of short memory the Internet was seen as a magic cure for all that ailed the organization. Of course when this proved false organizations were forced to scramble because now they had to rely on more traditional marketing methods which had been largely shelved if not forgotten.

There was an insane posting I saw lately that I think demonstrated just how much the disease which is the passion for social media has infected marketing. One blogger actually referred to social media as marketing on steroids. So if I understand it clearly, and I think I do, social media is being compared too a drug which provides very little short term benefit, no long term benefit and ultimately kills its user? This is yet another brick in that wall of why PR, communications and basically marketing are not taken seriously as disciplines. We fall in love far too quickly and seem to completely lack any sound judgment or discipline.

Marketing people need to learn the art and science of self-discipline. We need to remember that gorging on appetizers will not allow us to properly enjoy the main course. Instead we need to focus on building a well balanced, well formed plan which combines the best of the old and the best of the new. That means that we will use some elements of both and that we will not use some. To act as if one program is completely without fault because it is new is as foolish as disregarding it for the same reason. It is up to marketing people to get their heads on straight and to think long term and constructively and deliver results which will build a brand!

Shaping Marketing and Communications During the next Recovery

As the recession lingers on we often wonder if we will return to a period of prosperity. History tells us we will and it also tells us that we struggling with the dark areas of recession and feeling sorry for ourselves when all of a sudden we find we are in prosperity again. In fact a recent study showed that most analysts and pundits are as correct in their guesses on the economy as a bench warming ball player is about getting a hit. That's roughly 20 percent.

The big question I am wondering is if we will emerge a little chastened or if we will jump right into more excess and create another warped bubble where it's a party train and we think the good times can never end. Marketing and communications have a lot to do with creating bubbles and excess and of course we bear a lot of the costs when the bubble bursts. I am often reminded of the person who parties to excess on Friday night, only to swear off it Saturday morning and then goes out and does it twice as hard.

One tool that is rarely exercised in marketing and communications is the tool or restraint. Sure we hear the old cliche about striking while the iron is hot and so on. What we rarely see is marketing to step up and try to guide the brand so that rather than being some rickety old roller coaster, we are a high speed thruway where our top of the line sports car can cruise easily along. Marketing needs to guide and not just tag along for the ride.

Another tool to ensure marketing survives the next great wave is to make sure we are a council to the C-level executives. The C's like to go on a spending spree when their is a few extra dollars and they tend to spend like sailors on liberty. Marketing should force a strategic focus on spend money on what is most important and not necessarily what is fashionable or even worse, what is transient. While we all know that companies who spend more on marketing and communications during a recession often emerge stronger, we have to make sure that the position of strength is not squandered on either an early celebration or a bunker mentality.

Good times are destined to return that much we know. Sadly, I don't have a crystal ball which allows me to say when it will end, but when it does marketing and communications need to be ready. It's time to get off the crazy bubble train and bring marketing and communications into the world of manageable and strategic partnership within the organization. Rather than be a cost center we need to prove, yet again, that we are a premium revenue producing arm and, through our management of the brand, a vital component of the organization.

Let marketing drive the company

This is a very obvious statement so please forgive me if I insult your intelligence. An automobile needs a steering wheel, accelerator, gear shift as well as brakes to operate properly. A bike, needs much the same things with the big change obviously being that it doesn't need the accelerator as that is the person riding. In the world of business, communications is what provides the acceleration and to some degree provides warnings of the course corrections and changes required as well as providing warnings about the crazy drivers in the other lanes and even the speed limits.

What's the reason for this automobile analogy? Well marketing and communications are far too often seen as entirely functional or tactical tools and far too few organizations see the value they bring as strategic assets to the organization. Can you imagine for a minute if you reacted when the person in front of you slams on the brakes or when the other driver runs the red light? Just like in marketing, a great driver needs to be in command of the situations, needs to know the course and needs to be able to predict, with a high degree of accuracy, what is likely to happen soon.

Now the key thing to see here is that accidents will happen and perfection is impossible. Sorry, C-Level executives seem to think we are perfect when in fact we are not, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. The fact remains however that the true guidance of the organization should be the domain of the marketing and communications department because we are the ones who understand how to chart an organizations long term voyage through the various ups and downs the organization will face. In addition, the marketing and communication team will be one of the few groups who do not live from quarter to quarter and have a more long term, strategic outlook.

So the long story short is that the guidance and acceleration of an organization who sees itself as a leader should be run through the marketing and communications group. Unlike most of the business world marketing and communications, when done properly, are long term strategic departments. That is necessary in order to help an organization survive the temporary hurdles which will come across its path from time to time. The organizations' who pursue other courses may succeed but it's like driving with a blindfold on. As long as there aren't any disruptions in the road, you will do fine. If you focus on marketing and communications as the leads for the organization, you should be able to avoid a number of pitfalls and in doing so, leave those organizations who choose another method of guidance well behind you.

Where do we set the bar on ethics?

One of my favorite shows is Mad Men. It has won the Emmy for best drama three years straight. Besides presenting an engaging and enlightening view into the early 1960's. It combines strong characters with intelligent dialogue and just a dash of dark humor. I particularly liked the most recent episode broadcast on Sunday night here. For those who don't wish to know the plot skip the next few lines. As we know, Don Draper, the head of creative for Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce paid to have an open letter in the New York Times where he renounced any future intent to do advertising for cigarettes.

I find this interesting because it raises a rarely discussed part of marketing and communications and that is the aspect of where do we draw the line when it comes to marketing and communicating in an ethical setting. Now I will assume that no one believes that it is in anyway ethical to market a product which is illegal. The big gray area becomes whether or not it is unethical to design a marketing campaign for a product which is perfectly legal, but is certainly unhealthy.

Obviously the biggest market to consider is what Don Draper was considering and that was cigarettes. While they remain perfectly legal products, one has to consider if doing marketing for these products is unto itself unethical. While I do not smoke, and I am a huge proponent of preventing smoking, and it will kill you, the fact remains that it is a legal and highly regulated product.

Another industry to keep in mind is the fast food industry which sells meals which are extremely unhealthy and a leading cause of obesity today. But once again the fact remains it is a legal product and one whose risks, while not as sharply defined as cigarettes, are clear and distinct.

The final industry to consider is defense related industries. These people make weapons and let's be honest, weapons kill people. That is their purpose. If they fail to do this then they have failed! But having worked with that field the logic is that their products, if well designed, will save lives by making the other fellow less likely to start anything!

So now we're at the crux of the argument. Is is necessarily unethical for a marketing person to do their job in a field where the product is unhealthy. While some people may not like my answer, I believe there is nothing wrong with working for a company who is selling a legal product. Granted, there perfectly acceptable reasons to be upset with the products themselves but that does not render the product themselves unacceptable provided they meet the appropriate regulatory requirements.

Kudos to Don Draper for making a stand and deciding that his company will draw the line at cigarettes. Notice that the writers did not put McDonald's in the script. If someone wants to take a stand and would not wish to work for a company which makes a product or promotes a lifestyle they object to, that is their right to refuse. Just remember, as Don Draper learned, nothing happens in a vacuum and there will be ramifications. Stands are very brave and should be respected, let's remember the old quip that in physics, every action has an opposite and equal reaction while in business that reaction is 20 fold!

Time for marketing to learn from failure!

There is a well known and time worn statement which goes, those who can not remember the past will be doomed to repeat it. The worse are attributed to the poet and philosopher George Santayana. These words are as true today as there were when they were first spoken. In fact they seem to be even more relevant because our periods of remembrance seem to be drawing shorter and shorter with each generation.

I bring this up today because there are direct ties into business and specifically marketing and communications. Another cliche that is often used is that success comes from many fathers but failure is an orphan. Both of these statements define what is wrong about business accountability in this day and age. More often than not if something goes wrong, the first thing organizations try to do is look for a scape goat and eliminate that person to keep the baying of the legal wolves in check. This quite honestly is stupid and in many cases counterproductive. If there is a complete and total violation of a companies policies as seems to be the case with Hewlett Packard, then dismissing the head of the company makes some sense. However I am here to talk about the lesser examples that often times do not make a lick of sense.

Having been around the block in marketing a while, I notice that many times senior level executives will wonder why their initiatives are not producing the desired results. More often than not marketing and communications people will look for an excuse or a reason to give as to why they are not. In most cases there is a simple explanation such as marketing conditions or even lack of support from other elements in the organization. It is not improper or unprofessional to refuse to fall on your sword because some other party has failed to participate in the successful development of marketing and communications strategy.

So what's the point here? That is simple. marketing, corporate communications, PR etc need to OWN the communications function and the message. We need to let the C-level know when they are not being reasonable and we need to both educate other groups in the organization and help them understand what marketing and communications is all about and how to work. What is very interesting is that organizations who view marketing and communications as a strategic tool, similar to finance or sales, find the greatest return on investment for their marketing dollar. They tend to stay the course and spend their marketing dollars wisely.

Organizations who are struggling or failing tend to share a common trait as well. They see marketing and communications as purely tactical weapons. Elements to be used only in reaction to market condition and not as a strategic weapon. A perfect case is how McDonald's reinvented itself to offset negative publicity as well as changing marketing conditions. This required a difficult reappraisal of their operations from top to bottom and included a major revision to how they went about marketing their products.

The lesson to be learned from all of this is that in marketing and communications, as well as in any aspect of business, failure is an excellent teacher. This is not a call for everyone to fail, rather it is a call for us to stop treating failure as something that requires a quick trip to the gallows and then carrying on as if nothing has happened. Use marketing as a tool to build brand and build sales. You will fail along the way that can't be helped. What you can help is taking the setbacks, learn from them, and come back even stronger and assume an even strong position in your market.

And, if failure is an orphan then it can join, Nelson Mandela, Alexander Hamilton , Dave Thomas (who founded Wendy's) and Louis Armstrong. So being an orphan is never easy, but can lead to great things!

Time for Marketing and CorpCom to Grow Up

There is an interesting study out that claims that in a dictatorship, fear is less an issue than greed. What one often finds in this type of regime is that a select few are given access to power and its benefits (privileges, access to leadership, foodstuffs, etc.) that the average person does not have. This works to create a class of sycophants whose loyalty is to the organization and not to doing right.

I think of this because I believe that, unfortunately, there are far too many organizations who play the politics game and respond to lesser party's who act like a spoiled 5 year old rather than make the best decision for the organization. A classic case in point of this very usual circumstance making a rare appearance in the public forum was when AIG tried to justify the payment of large bonuses by saying the people being paid would go to other companies. Given that these people had run the ship aground this was a disastrous statement to make and show a tone deafness that, sadly, is not uncommon in corporate American today.

Now normally during one of my discussions I would offer an insight into how PR, Marketing and CorpComm could help with this. Well, the sad news is that we are actually a big part of the problem. I think I can speak for most of my colleagues who do a good job in saying we have all seen less qualified workers act like 5 year old and be treated like the spoiled children they are. I have a line that I have used many times to these children and will continue to use it. "Drama belongs on the stage, not in the workplace so either grow up or get out."

This is one area that concerns me when it comes to the long term viability of PR and marketing. We are currently fighting the battle of not being valued as true strategic partners. The lack of maturity and undeserved sense of entitlement of a number of PR and marketing people is directly causing harm to our industry. It is up to all of us to act professionally and to realize our profession needs us to act intelligently and maturely in order to achieve something beyond our own little niche.

The deadliest communications four letter word :PLAN

Last time I was talking about the need to speed things up and kick into high gear. Now is the time when I say, well we also need to slow down a bit. Are these contradictory? Now absolutely not and let me explain.

Execution is unquestionably essential to the development of a proper brand. It is often where the wheels come off the wagon and many well designed plans fall down, never to be heard from again. Execution is the time when we have to deliver. But let's step back a minute and look at what needs to be done before execution. By that, I am referring to that terrible word and something a lot of C-level's don't like to see and that is plan.

Especially in the area of communications senior executives seem to have the notion that it is simply a matter of throwing a switch and all will start running like clock work and that is all there is too it. As one CEO said to me once, "Communications should be as easy as order from a drive through." Needless to say he h ad no idea of how powerful communications was as a tool and how it could benefit his organization.

Now there is one big, enormous down side to planning and that is that it requires organizations to look three to six months out. It requires vision and it requires waiting. For a world class communications plan to work there is a need to plan out several months in advance just as there is in every category.

I laugh sometimes because my account and finance friends spend a long time working on various financial models and try to determine different scenarios which will show what cash flow will be in 3 months or 6 months or what ever time period. The same holds true for IT managers who have to plan several months in advance for upgrades and patches and security tests. As we can see planning is an essential and intelligent aspect of the organizational growth process.

Yet the communications department is expected to produce stuff on rapid turn around, more often than not to suit the temporary needs of senior management. Ironically, this is the most visible forum for the organization and unlike IT or, to a lesser degree finance, this will be seen by external audiences who will be making decisions based on what they see.

One thing we need to do as communications professionals in order to strengthen our position within the organization is to develop strong planning methods and then to stick with them. We need to do this so that we can develop a cohesive and far-reaching planning strategy but most importantly we need to do this so we can develop a system to measure and evaluate our progress. The use of planning and strategy and more importantly our resolute defense of the need to do this will ultimately benefit the organization and its brand and ultimately refocus senior leadership on the role of communications as a strategic tool and asset and one that needs to be nurtured and grown.

Sprinting to the finish line.

Now that Labor Day is behind us we start heading into the time of year when the days grow shorter and the leaves change color and the thermometer drops. In many respects this is my favorite time of year because the air is so fresh and refined that it makes the work process so much more enjoyable. It also is the time of year when we can focus on what is coming up and begin our sprint to the finish line.

Ideally, the summer was spent planning for this sprint. That was of course, in between fantasies of vacations. The fall sprint should be focused on bringing target audiences back into focus and get yourself onto the radar of major stakeholders. This is really the time of year when marketing budgets are being established and major purchasing decisions are generally being reached. This is the time of year when planning turns into execution.

Given that a lot of plans are being made for 2011 we need to make the most of this time of year. This is a great time of year to engage social media and bring your customers and potential customers in at a new level so they can see you as a more concrete partner in their business. It is also a time to use the more traditional methods and try to engage media partners in a business relationship that will result in the previously mentioned complete market penetration. Lastly, it is the time to stop being the wallflower and become the player in the industry you thought you should be all along.

The final third of the year is when you should really shift into high gear. It is the time of year when marketing and communications need to demonstrate what we can really do for the organization and how our skill and success means the organization can and will be successful. It is when our planning and drive will lead to success in the market. Of course if it is not done with the right balance of strategy, execution and team work than we will fall short and the blemish to marketing will be impossible to erase.

The Crisis in Crisis Communications Part 2/Crisis Management

While I don't like to revisit old topics, I do find that crisis communications is one that deserves a review due to upcoming events. As I write this from the east coast of the US we sit waiting to see if Hurricane Earl is going to be a major event, a major pain in the butt or fizzle out all together. Sadly, events like this often do far more damage to emergency plans than helping.

First off, when a major natural event, assuming it can be forecast, is announced, we are treated to the 24 hour media cycle in full wrath of God type mode. This will be a disaster of biblical proportions etc. etc. Of course 9 out of 10 times the event can not live up to the hype and people feel almost cheated. Public officials of course will meet in a comfortable locations with lots of bottled water and ample fresh food and calmly go through their preparedness forms as if all events will simply roll out slowly and smoothly.

If there is one lesson that can be learned from Hurricane Katrina and the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it is that there is no crisis plan that can simply be opened and followed. I find it humorous that people think that by sitting in a conference room and thumbing through a 3-ring binder they are prepared for an emergency situation. In fact the best thing to do is gather all of those binders, put them in a nice pile, strap on some explosives and blow them up. I use this metaphor because that is essentially what will happen in a true crisis.

All too often management believes that crisis are about containment and "staying on top of the situation." Trying to stay on top of a crisis is much like trying to stay on top of a bucking bronco without benefit of a bridle. The worst thing and, quite possible, the most dangerous, is that managers believe that by conducting drills or having a plan means they are ready for a crisis. This would be laughable were it not so tragic.

One year before Hurricane Katrina, city, state and Federal leaders in the Gulf region did an emergency drill of a fictional Hurricane Pam. The fictional hurricane followed Katrina's path almost to within 25 miles and its wind speeds were only 10 miles per hour stronger. The levee breeches and the failure to evacuate New Orleans were all anticipated and predicted. Yet when the storm became more than an exercise the following year, all agencies were completely unprepared. They froze, panicked and when one element of their plan fell apart they tossed the entire plan out the window and became totally reactive.

The other great example is NASA. The space agency had a great legacy of running disaster scenarios that tried to anticipate everything from a rocket disaster to men being stranded on the moon. Amazingly they predicted both the Challenger and Columbia disasters. But at some point senior management decided that it was bad for morale at NASA to think bad things and killed the project. So rather than have a check list of things to look for and avoid, NASA went blindly into each project and had multiple failures, each of which could have been avoided had some crisis review been conducted.

So then what do we do? How do we prevent the next crisis from becoming a disaster? Well the first step still works so stick with it. That is to plan, as best that we can, for an upcoming event. Granted we can not see it all, nor can we anticipate every possible outcome. But we shouldn't try too. We should also plan on how will we manage the event. In this case we need to practice keeping our cool, keeping open the channels of communication. We need to think both long term, AND short term. Ideally they will not oppose each other but we must be prepared for the eventuality they do. Lastly, we need to take action. This can be anything from a prepared statement stating an intention to investigate, (always a sensible and reasonable action item) to a full blown media offensive designed to get our message to key stakeholders and audiences.

Crisis are almost always survivable and in some cases may work out for the best. But the require planning, calm and most importantly leadership for everything to work.

Sometimes a deadline can really kill you!

The term deadline originated from the American Civil War. In the infamous POW camp at Andersonville, GA there were no real fences early on. Instead there was a line drawn in the red clay. Any prisoner who approached it would be shot dead without warning. So for those who find deadlines impossible remember that in times past, they were quite literally lethal.

I am thinking of deadlines and their nature today due to the recent flap over the Obama administration's handling of the Sherry Sherrod case. For those who don't recall her case or haven't heard of it, Ms. Sherrod is the U.S. Department of Agriculture employee forced to resign for supposedly acting in a biased fashion towards a department client some 25 years ago. There was a leaked video in which Ms. Sherrod claims she found this main to be racist and condescending towards her so she chose not to give him less than full service. Upon seeing this on Fox News the Obama administration forced her to resign.

Well the real story is coming together now and we are seeing that what was shown was actually a heavily edited video from a conservative blogger trying to not only push his own agenda but to demonstrate the Obama administration was racist. The unedited video shows Ms. Sherrod saying how she over came her feelings of anger towards this man and helped him out. In fact, she did such a good job that the man himself went to the media and called her an angel.

I find this a very interesting story for several reasons. First, it shows the absolute worst aspect of the rush-rush 24 hour news cycle. Run with the story, without first getting facts checked. Second, it serves as a warning to any and all communications people that news can not be spun or managed. The best spin is always and will always be the truth. Granted it takes longer to take the truth, but I am guessing that this mistake by the administration is not what they had planned to deal with this week.

This story also shows a break down by the communications people who failed to protect their product and in effect were made to look foolish. They acted out of fear and were in a purely defensive mode. No attempt seems to be made to check on the veracity of the story and prepare a rebuttal of it. In many respects, senior management has decided that communications people exist to answer the phones from reporters and book interviews. Sadly, this incident serves to reinforce that argument.

Lastly, we have yet another example of communication people rolling over and doing what ever management wants regardless of the implications. At some point, we need to gather together and say no that is not the right way to do things and let the CEO's or department heads or whomever know they need to trust our judgment in matters regarding communication. Sadly, too many of our brothers and sisters out there seem to think we are like that cute puppy dog who is always willing to please so I am not holding out hopes a united front will appear anytime soon.

We are the front line troops in brand protection and message development. We need to say what needs to be said, even if it is unpopular. We also need to make sure that any media opportunity is just that, an opportunity. It is better to let an artificial deadline slip and be accurate than rush to judgment and make a bonehead move. Tripping the deadline can get you killed.

Why does anyone ever see the business potential for PR?

One thing that I often harp about is how agency's make this type of mistake or corporations make t his other type of mistake. This is true! However I have discovered, what I believe is one strong commonality between the two and what is ironic is how similar it is, yet how completely different it is at the same time. Neither businesses, nor agencies, fully grasp and understand the powerful role that a good public relations program can play in growing the organization.

Let me start with corporations since I have more first hand knowledge of how they run. Let's be honest CEO's and other senior executives do love PR to a degree. They love to use PR as an ego tool to make themselves look good and show the world how smart they are. To most CEO's, especially at publicly traded companies, unless they are being quoted extensively by the CNBC's and Wall Street Journal's of the world than PR is not doing its job. Of course, who among us hasn't been told to think up a "press release" because the stock price is under pressure and we need to do something about that.

I should also mention PR agencies who by and large have no clue about the full business potential of PR. Some of the advice I have received, and seen, from agencies is similar to when my dental hygienist tells me I need to floss better because my soft tissues bleed when punctured by sharp metal objects. There is a part of me that says well that's obviously canned, prepared and something everyone hears. By and large agencies are only interested in the hit. Just like the CEO who wants to be on CNBC or in the Journal, the agency wants to place them there because when they go out to recruit new clients they want to show how they have delivered hits in big name, well known publications.

Sadly, not all companies are Apple, Coke or Starbucks who have these well known brands that are bound to generate copy in well known consumer oriented publications. Most companies are in very esoteric markets and need to be in front of publications that are read by key decision makers in that field. If for example, you have found a new way to turn the remains of corn husks into cattle or pig feed than you are not going to get a call back from the Journal but farming industry publications, read by decision makers at Monsanto or ADM, would probably be very interested in what you have to say. Sexy publications, probably not, but they will drive sales!

That's what it all comes down to at the end of the day. Public relations exists as a tool to drive sales. Its goal, among other things, is to raise awareness and then raise interest so that when the sales team comes calling they are a known quantity whose value proposition is well understood. This is not to denigrate such vital PR functions as crisis communications but these other functions of PR will not happen if no one has heard of you! The business potential for PR is huge and it should be seen as the match that lights the fuse which is marketing. It does not exist to boost egos or land trophies.

One other thing I would add is lets keep in mind that this is often unglamorous but necessarily so. I have surprised people by comparing PR to a heart transplant. They are messy, require lots of planning, lots of help, excruciating commitments of time and resources and mind numbing attention to detail. But when done properly, they can bring life to an organization.

Agencies please do your client a favor and let them know how you can help them grow their business, develop a brand and gain market leadership through the art and science of communications. Corporations, please see PR and communication as a tool every bit as important as that MBA in helping you grow your organization. Remember a smile and hand extended in aid results in a positive response.

What's so great about experience?

In looking around at the very few job postings out there, I see a lot of strange postings. One was looking for someone to work the front desk of a hotel but they had to have experience working in suburban hotels and anyone who has worked in downtown hotels would not be considered. Now I will be the first to admit that I read job postings I have no interest in applying for because I find them amusing and because job postings are often so poorly written that they are amusing. I have never found a great difference in the job skill set needed to work down town than out in the suburbs.

Yet we are conditioned to think that having some experience or familiarity with a certain market segment is essential to succeed in that market. While I can see that to be true in some areas I have to say that I believe it to be very short sighted in others. Now of course, if we have a heart condition, we all want to go see a cardiologist and not a ophthalmologist. There are dozens of examples just like this. But I find that for the majority of us who are working in service industries, we posses a certain skill set which is transferable and which in some cases may bring a fresh perspective.

There was a great example from an exercise run by the Army towards the end of the cold war. They were gaming what was generally believed to be how the war between NATO and the old Warsaw Pact forces would play out. In one exercise a group of ROTC students defeated a ground of Army War College graduates by using new tactics not previously in the planning. Many of the War College graduates had seen combat in Vietnam and needless to say were upset that they had lost. They protest claiming the ROTC students used unorthodox tactics to win and should forfeit. When Adm. William Crowe the then head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff found out about the dispute he commented that the enemy isn't supposed to do what we expect it to do. They are the enemy.

Experience often leads to a certain level of intellectual laziness and a comfort that with the experience comes a certain level of entitlement. Experience only works when it is constantly being challenged by a new and changing environment. The person who looks at the situation and claims, "that's what we have always done" is poison to the organization. This is not to argue for change for the sake of change, but it does argue for constant motion to stay ahead of the curve that is always changing.

Speaking as a public relations and marketing professional, I have to know not only what is going on in my own industry, but I need to understand how my profession is changing. I need to understand how this impacts my clients and what threats and opportunities it offers. In other words I need to keep moving. The major conclusion I hope you can take away from this is that experience itself is not anything great, it is how you evolve along with the environment and continually re-invent yourself as someone who offers a set of relevant skills. Experience is less impressive as how you react and deal with change!

Let's get this decade right

Well I am sure we all agree that the first decade of the century and millennium was a failure by even the most optimistic measure. It is pretty obvious that it was a total failure of leadership by government and business. The short sighted CEO's who managed the economy into the gutter by thinking they work for Wall-Street share the blame alongside the fat cats on Wall Street who thought their bonus checks were their IQ's and let's not forget the total lack of leadership in Washington where the idea of, "If I don't admit wrong then I am not wrong" prevailed along side a total lack of interest in the national well-being.

So now we're in a new decade and hopefully we can turn things around. It may seem highly unlikely now but with the right set of circumstances we might be able to do so but like any task it will take work and sadly thanks to reality TV, government officials and Corporate CEO's we've been taught that hard work is wrong and we should be going for the fast and easy buck. Well thankfully for all of us the days of easy money are over so let's see if we can get the teens, my name for this decade, right.

First of all the biggest change needs to come from the corporate world. Corporate leadership in America does not exist and is driven by really stupid people who think they work for Wall Street and don't care about anything beyond the next quarter. Believe it or not there was a time when companies cared about things like customers, products and yes employees. Companies like IBM and Dow used to brag about how they hired only the best and the brightest. We need to get back to the days of treating employees as valuable assets rather than expendable tools. Employees need to be treated as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet.

Companies also need to realize that they can anticipate events but can not control them. More effort needs to be put into flexibility and planning rather than trying to cover all possible scenarios are just working under the assumption that we know everything and that events will just work out perfectly because we're super smart and can plan anything again. The goal for the coming decade is an idea I call planned flexibility. Let's be ready for the changes in the marketplace but lets also keep in mind that despite all media hype, the world does not change all that quickly.

As for the other two legs of this stool of stupidity, we need to restore a sense of balance. I laugh at the concept that these firms need to pay these bonuses because if they don't they will lose these oh so valuable souls to the competition. That would be like your local baseball team looking at the player who consistently failed in the clutch and gave up home runs or struck out with the bases loaded and saying, "we really wouldn't want the competition to have this gem." Actually, I think that is exactly what you want! Strengthen the gene pool by getting rid of the weakest link. On the Serengeti in Africa if a gazelle is too slow or gets too close to the watering hole then the gene pool is preserved because the gazelle is some lion's or croc's lunch.

As for Washington, can we tear it down and start over? I think Nebraska gets it right, no parties. Everyone is non-partisan so they have to work together! Let's do that and maybe if we can get people to work together and set one seven year term for all members of congress maybe we can see some real reform.

I hope that we can see the errors of our way during the past ten years and make the changes that are necessary. Sadly, the people best in position to make the changes are the ones who got us here in the first place so forgive me if I am not overly optimistic.

Strategic communication planning for 2010.

There was a great article in the most recent Time about how the past decade was one of the worst and how we will be happy to be rid of it. Well, the new year always bodes well for new and exciting things as we shake off the dust of the old so it is time to start thinking about what to do in 2010.

There are several things you need to do to prepare for the upcoming year. The first thing is to review not just the most recent year, but the past few years before hand if your business has been around that long. You need to take an honest and hard look at what has worked and what hasn't worked. It is time for hindsight to do its thing and tell you what would you do different if you had to. It is also important to remember what went well and what you did right. Certainly there are lessons to be learned from success as well as failure.

There is also the need to find out how marketing and communications will help drive the overall strategic goal to its successful completion. Every organization plans ahead usually quarter by quarter, but there is also the need to project out annual goals for the organization as communication goals tend to span several quarters. Strategic planning of communication is every bit as critical to the success of the organization as the strategic planning of capital spending. Planning on communication and marketing is often seen as what I would call an "oh yeah," category when in fact it requires some of the most strategic planning of all the organization's groups in order to succeed properly.

Another aspect of planning communications strategically is to have both hard and soft goals. Communications tends to fluff off the concept of hard goals and that to a large degree is why marketing and communications are seen as expendable in turbulent times like this. By developing hard targets for accomplishments and then being able to benchmark these accomplishments over a period of time and versus company success marketing and communications individuals will be able to clearly demonstrate the role they play in the success of the organization.

The time for strategic communication plan is not only here but it is long overdue. Like all other professionals marketing and communications professionals need to realize that while we are relied on as creative individuals, we also need to join the rest of the management group as people who work in a numbers based environment. Doing this will solidify the role of marketing and communications as an essential role player in the organization!

Start off right when it comes to marketing

Funny thing about marketing, we are often called upon to deliver results without being given a chance to do the actual ground work to support the demands placed on us. I like to put myself into another profession and wonder, would we say to an architect that it's OK to design half the building because we want the plans done by 4 or to a farmer, hey, we want crops by June even though we only planted in May.

Of course, the big issue is that marketing has become far to compliant when it comes to dealing with the expectations raised by senior executives. All to often we wish to be the ideal of the team player and meet or exceed any demand regardless of how realistic it is. What the situation calls for, but where marketing and communications people fail to come through, is in providing and honest and fair assessment of what we can do and when we can do it. It is far better to be honest and say this will take until next Friday to do right rather than say when do you want it.

By releasing the ability to start off right in the marketing program, we are automatically in the hole. The marketing team has sacrificed the ability to become an effective team and has established that its role within the organization is to supplicate to any demand that is placed upon it. The legitimacy of marketing as a contributor to the success of the organization is virtually negated.

By establishing itself as an independent entity within the organization, capable of standing on its own and providing legitimate input to the success of the organization. By standing up immediately and expecting to be counted along with sales, finance, HR and the other departments within the organization, marketing garners a seat at the table and becomes a value added team to the group and not an expense to be corralled. The latter course, as we all know, leads to disastrous results for the long-term success of the organization.

Please don't mistake action for strategy!

In the world today where every company seems to fear losing market share and is looking over their shoulder their are two things going on. The first is that some companies are just frozen by fear. Let's call them dear in the headlights and say that they will not be with us long. You can be frozen by fear and expect to last too long. The second type of company is far more interesting and I think worthy of examination.

There are companies who believe that in order to succeed in a business environment they must do something, anything to take that next step. As a result they are taking ill advised short term steps which in the long term will cause far more harm than good and will ultimately result in a weaker brand. The usual scenario with these organizations is that someone in a senior capacity is getting restless and wants something done so he or she can feel better about themselves. This is usually ends up with a useless news release or some silly cutback that does nothing but eliminate an avenue for potential growth.

Senior executives, including the CEO, are by nature a nervous lot and generally speaking only see out one quarter in advance. They also do not see issues of branding or that a long term strategy result in anything because the current obsession is for short term results. Sadly, this leads to long term failure.

One company that proves the point that strategy trumps action is Amazon.com. Several years ago, they gave up on briefing analysts and decided that they wanted to run the organization with goals 5 years out as well as progress marks on the way to those goals. What is most amazing is that this program has been a spectacular success. As you might have guessed, there was a lot of snickering by the so called experts, but the last laugh was by Amazon. Now they can focus on how to fix any problems with their company and don't need to take the myopic view of needing to meet quarterly numbers.

From a marketing stand point this is bliss. Marketing can only succeed in an environment where there is a long term plan and a set of achievable goals. Marketing is about selling goods to the customers, not trying to please the blood suckers on Wall Street who are the greatest road block to a company's success.

So many companies need to reshape how they do business and realize that managing quarter to quarter is in fact counterproductive. It promotes myopic thinking and rewards short term gains while destroying any chance for long term success. Hopefully the success of Amazon will help promote the ideal of managing for long term success but the real agent of change will be when MBA programs learn to value both ethics and a global vision of corporate success. When that happens we may actually see a renaissance in global business.

Too Busy to Succeed!

There are a lot of feel good stories about the number of startups that began life during a recession or downturn. Home Depot and Microsoft are two examples that come to mind. So it is not surprising that a lot of the organizations that I deal with now are in fact start ups. It goes without saying that a lot of these organizations need a lot of help with developing and executing a strong branding and marketing program.

But there is one thing that amazes me about a lot of the start up executives. They all complain about not having enough time. I had one executive lament to me that he had too many things on his plate and would not be able to succeed. I have to be honest and say that I find this entire thought process laughable. If you are too busy to succeed I can assure you that you need not worry about success.

The first issue I believe is that we are dealing with people who have an overdeveloped sense of mission. They believe that the product they are selling is so important that its success is a linchpin of the future success of society. What is really required of these people is to step back and achieve proper prospective. They may have a great product, but they are also in a crowded market so it is important that they work smart more so than work hard to succeed.

I have also found that based on my own anecdotal observations it seems people who want to become successful with startups also seem to have a form of attention deficit disorder. Their minds fire off at 100 miles per hour in 100 different directions and as such they lack the focus and discipline to concentrate on any one area for too long. All to often the result of this is mixed messages, missed appointments and a failure to clearly define what they want to accomplish. I have also noticed they have achieved boredom with a project in a relatively short amount of time and are always looking for the next great thing.

Now normally, I would like to tie this up with a nice neat ribbon and say to do this in order to succeed. What I think needs to happen is that the start up staff needs to have people who think and act in the long term. Not only does the marketing person need to be able to provide the necessary brand and messaging guidance required of all reorganizations to succeed, but you need finance to have its eye on the ball regarding long term fiscal planning and designers or engineers committed to the concept of the product and service being offered. A concentrated and long-term plan is the most likely way that an organization will succeed. An organization where the founders and executives are too busy to look beyond their computer screens is unlikely to ever succeed.

Protecting the brand from internal interlopers

The organization's brand is one thing that people cant help but offer input on how to improve. In some regards, managing a brand is similar to managing a sports team. You have every person around you offering you what they consider to be essential input regarding how to run the brand. When something goes wrong, as it is bound to do, these people will see you as the person responsible since you did not follow their advice. Even if there advice was completely ridiculous and silly the arm chair brand managers out there believe that their advice was difference between success and failure.

Another key aspect for brand managers in protecting their brand is to resist the urge to react to events which have already occurred. There is an old expression that goes "you can't drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror." That is ever so true in marketing and communications. But still many non-marketing people will come up and argue that such and such an event has occurred and we need to make adjustments based on it. Now I can not argue in all cases not to make the changes, but there are times when you need to review if the change is being made based on fear or some other type of knee-jerk reaction.

If there is the need to make a change, first off, make sure that the need is solid and dead on. Don't be afraid to say no and to push back on those pushing for change. Remember, you are the guardian of the brand so it is ultimately your responsibility. Review suggestions for change with an open and careful mind. Also, remember that protecting the brand does not mean keeping it away from any changes. If someone were to argue for a particular course of action look at what they are saying and feel free to cherry pick the parts you think might work from those parts you think are not useful.

Lastly, set the ground rules for any changes to the brand. Don't forget that as a marketing and communications person it falls to you to protect the brand. Put the onus onto the person suggestion the change to educate you as to why the change is necessary. Also, keep the participants in any brand change to a bare minimum . There is no need to have a grand meeting involving everyone from the CEO on down to the person who empties the waste baskets. You and the person suggesting change are the parties to the exchange. I would recommend limiting the meeting to just that. From there you can form a solid relationship which allows for two way conversation that will build a strong brand rather than a massive hodgepodge which tries to make everyone happy and leaves no one happy.

How to handle expectations from your client audience?

I often find it amusing to be a marketing and communications professional. One of the things that amuses me the most is the reaction of other parties in the organization to how marketing, communications and public relations should be run. First of all, everyone has an opinion and believes if you follow it, then the company shall basically have a license to print money.

There is a great quote by baseball Hall of Fame member Leo Durocher. When asked to describe the fans in the stands who criticize his moves said, "baseball is like church, many attend but few understand." To a certain degree everyone believes that they can do marketing and PR. I think to a large degree it is why so many people are drawn to it and , congruently, why so many organizations struggle with it.

I remember one time when I met with this company and it had a woman who was in charge of MarCom and she was sharp as a tack but I could tell by our meeting she was feeling pressured and more than a little deflated. The company was losing sales and dropping market share. It was only after I met her boss that I realized why. First he was a lawyer who just took the job about 3 months previously. He told me that marketing was just a matter of doing what your competitor is doing but only six week ahead of them. I thought that was so silly I nearly laughed. I realized the depth of the problem when he suggested a possible PR strategy which I shared an idea and he looked at me and said, "no, that would never work, what else do you have."

The point to the story is that you have to treat marketing, communications and PR as strategic tools and let your audience know that this is not some bottomless bag of magic tricks. You have done your job and recommend the following. Just like if a doctor tells you to quit smoking or if a lawyer says don't sue, you don't sit there and say, "no I want something more." Marketing people try to please and that is a great weakness which hurts us within the organization. By being strong and passionate advocates for our beliefs, our profession and most important our ability can we elevate marketing to more than just a game that can be twisted and bent to reflect the mood of the moment.

We can only manage expectations by being strong and forceful defenders of what we do and our area of expertise. Don't be afraid to challenge a poser who thinks they understand more than you in your area of expertise but be sure you can back up words with actions. Once we do this, marketing, PR and other communications professional should be viewed in the same role as other professionals.