Deliver Some Happiness -- and some Shoes!

It might be easy to think that just because you sell shoes, you're nothing more than a shoe store. But that kind of limited thinking has never been a part of Tony Hsieh's world. He's a dreamer -- and a dangerous one because he has a significant dream he wants to share with other business leaders to not just make it a better place, but a happier one.

Tony is the CEO of Zappos -- the once online shoe store. Now, as a part of the Amazon.com umbrella, they're a full on retailer. But though they've been purchased by another dreamer (Jeff Bezos), Tony and his dedicated team are pushing boundaries others dare to even acknowledge.

Tony is one of today's most successful, young business leaders. In 1996 he co-founded LinkExchange which sold to Mcirosoft for $265 million, and in October of 2009 he sold Zappos to Amazon for $1.2 billion. But aside from these -- which I doubt Tony would put at the top of his list of accomplishments -- Tony has a belief that workplace morale has been sacrificed to the pressure cooker at most companies. He's going against the grain of today's cutthroat tactics by employing a more humane and simple approach. In one word, it's happiness. By creating a radically different culture committed to making employees and customers happy, Tony thinks that the world could become a better place.

At the core of Tony's happiness philosophy are elements such as perceived progress, control, connectedness, and being a part of something bigger than yourself. When combined, these create an environment where employees, and ultimately the customers, have a greater sense of pleasure, engagement, and meaningful contribution.

What I like about this approach is that it is not just lip service. Tony puts his money where his mouth is and actually works hard to get his new employees to quit, and to keep his long term employees engaged and progressing up the ladder. About midway through their new employee orientation, each participant is offered a cash reward to quit. Tony shared they're not getting as many takers as they used to, and are thinking about raising the amount -- again. The point is not to pay off short-timers, but to ensure that the people staying are there for the right reasons. "We need to hire more slowly, and fire more quickly," said Tony. Unfortunately, it's too often the other way around."

But the key take away here is not to financially incent your new employees to quit. Nor is it to focus only on the hiring, firing, and career track of your staff. Rather, it is about discovering the deep truth all of us share -- that we desperately want to be known, and to know. Combine this with a sense of purpose and an engaging environment and we thrive. Take away any of these and we start to wither and our worst comes out of us.

Tony is not the first person to have a happiness philosophy -- and let's hope he's not the last. And what is remarkable is that it isn't that hard to have one, either. As marketers we have the best opportunity to embark upon this type of journey with our companies and customers -- the trick is finding the right way to do it.

The book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose might just be one of the most important books you read this year. Take a listen to my interview with Tony and decide for yourself. But, whatever you do, don't walk away from this idea that the business world can operate with a different set of rules -- ones that value all people, all ideas, and purpose over profits.

-- David Kinard, PCM

The Law of the Harvest

I was at a foundation event a few weeks ago, meeting new people and was introduced to a young man who is early in his career, very talented, and obviously a doer. We chatted briefly about what he wanted to be doing and I said something to the effect of him taking the next few years to build up his experience and credibility. His reply caught me off guard.

"Hell to the no! I am not waiting that long. I am making it happen now."

I smiled a knowing smile. I know in my own life, there are far too many instances where I thought I could speed things up a bit, take a short cut, or even skip to the end and hope that the results would be just as good as if I had worked hard the entire time. And I know that each time I've ended up short of the goal.

There is a universal truth called the Law of the Harvest -- masterfully articulated by Stephen Covey, it says two key things: you reap what you sow, and it takes time to cultivate meaningful results. The easy example is the person who wants to lose weight and goes on a crash diet only to gain the weight again a few weeks later versus the person who commits themselves to a changed diet and lifestyle of exercise who earns their weight loss. Or the student who skips classes, crams the night before an exam, hoping to do well on the test versus the person who attends all the classes, regularly reviews their notes, and gets a good night's sleep the night before the test.

How many times have I said, "Hell to the no!" and decided to jump to the end result only to find my victory shallow and short lived...too many.

I think many of today's non profits and cause-related organizations are dealing with the Law of the Harvest in two ways. First, they are constantly battling the expectations of their communities to get to a solution and achieve results all the while knowing that the most effective and permanent solutions are ones that require the long view. Second, these same organizations often operate with a mindset that they can skip certain steps, cut corners, and achieve amazing results.

When it comes to marketing causes, all too often I see organizations skipping the essentials: Customer segmentation, brand positioning, core messaging, and strategy. Rather, these organizations toss out into the marketplace brochures, flyers, advertisements, and donor requests hoping to increase their ability to do more and get more. Most likely, they'll see an increase in need but not in resources.

If your cause is the field you're planting in, and the impact you want to see in the world are the seeds you sow, do you honestly believe that you can skip the growing season, skip the weeding, skip the watering, skip the fertilizing, skip the pest control -- and still reap amazing results? I didn't think so.

As you work in your business, I encourage you to take time to work ON your business. Build out those fundamentals and properly plant/prepare/and work the field of your cause. Pay attention to the Law of the Harvest ensuring that you'll reap what you've sown, and that your harvest is as full as possible.

- David Kinard, PCM

What Are Your 2010 Priorities?

Believe it or not, we're quickly approaching the telltale time of the year where marketers start peering into their crystal balls and try to predict what's going to happen in the coming year -- or otherwise known as the annual budgeting process. The challenge, however, is knowing what is going to be important, and what should be culled away as chaff.

According to a survey by virtual events provider Unisfair, your priorities are simple: Grow customers (or members), show how smart you are, and serve your customers in richer/fuller ways.


But while marketers may all think those are reasonable priorities, how to achieve those results vary widely. Not surprisingly, all things social media and online continue to drive to the top of the tactic list for most marketers.


But before you go out and plan your online strategy, build your budgets, or even set in stone your own priorities for 2010, ask yourself a simple question -- WHY DO YOU EXIST? And please, don't write the generic answer that's quick and easy to come by. Write a detailed and specific answer, one that defines your reason for being. Then you're ready to ask yourself the burning questions related to 2010 priorities such as:

1. How do we do this better?
2. How do we reach people who need what we have?
3. How do we find resources that match our vision and goals?
4. How do we engage in dialogue and communication to generate conversations?
5. How will we know if we made a big-damn-difference at the end of 2010?

Or, you can take the easy path and just do more of what you did this year -- more of the same -- hoping for a different outcomes (isn't that the definition of insanity?).

-- David Kinard, PCM

11 Rules for Today's Marketer

In today’s competitive world, there are many different beliefs about how to market a product or service. Regardless of approach, however, there are some core concepts that are found in every successful marketing program, effort and plan. By incorporating these traits into your marketing activities, you will increase the effectiveness of your marketing communications.

Commitment: No matter what your produce or service is, a solid commitment to the marketing process is required for success. Fervency, passion, and dedication are all essential.

Investment: Famous author and critic of his day, Mark Twain once wrote that if you can’t afford to advertise, place one last ad saying “Going Out of Business.” Rather than thinking how much you “have to” spend on marketing, consider “what investment” you want to make to ensure your organization’s future.

Consistency: Keeping in front of your customer’s eyes and in their ears ensures you’re also in their minds. Marketing is not effective when it is here today and gone tomorrow. A constant stream of messages increases top of mind consumer awareness.

Quality: Ensure your marketing is top quality. Your ads, newsletters, brochures—whatever you do—sends a message about your organization, product and service. If the visuals are poor, so will be the reader’s perception. Your marketing must confidently go head-to-head with your competitors.

Patience: The rapid rate of technological advancement has tricked us into thinking that our marketing must be an instant and huge success. On the contrary, since our marketing is building a relationship and perception in people’s minds, success comes much more slowly.

Assortment: Effective marketing uses a variety of tools to get the job done. There are many traditional mediums everyone uses, so sometimes doing something a little bit different may provide you the edge you need. Don’t get fooled into believing that one size fits all.

Adaptive: Because our world is changing on a daily basis, so must our marketing efforts. Stay away from the “We’ve always done it that way” mentality and constantly ensure your marketing efforts are focused on today’s customers—not last years.

Convenience: Elaborate and complex marketing programs or efforts tire people out. Make sure your communications or programs are simple and easy for the recipient to use or read. Successful marketing and red-tape don’t mix.

Amazement: Seek to astound, amaze and surprise through your marketing efforts. Today, successful marketing is about differentiating yourself by the experience you provide your customers. Don’t just try to satisfy, but amaze!

Measure: Successful marketing employs clear evaluative tools and check points to measure its efforts. Most everything we do in business has clear goals and evaluation processes tied to it. Measuring our marketing allows us to make course corrections as needed and provides confidence in the investment made.

Change the Rules: Jerry Garcia, formerly of the Grateful Dead, once said, “You don’t want to be the best at what you do. You want to be the only one doing what you’re doing.” When companies compete, they lose their focus on creating and delivering value for their customers. Instead, their focus is on the competition. Make sure your company’s focus is on providing value, not trying to beat the competition.

These are my rules. What rules would you add? For more rules, listen to my interview with David Meerman Scott, author of the New Rules of Marketing and PR...he's got some ideas on what rules we should be following today. I'd love to hear what rules you're trying to follow and live by.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Lessons Learned are Not Rocket Science

I was reading through the April 15 edition of the American Marketing Association’s magazine Marketing News; sifting through their coverage of the Mplanet marketing conference held in January of this year. Luminaries of all types were present as speakers. I didn’t attend, but the special section listed four key lessons marketers need to learn for 2009 and beyond.

1. In a tough economy, innovation is king.
2. Effective marketing must begin with customer engagement
3. Nurture and build your brand
4. For B:B, engagement and retention are key

I’ll admit, I was surprised that this was the list of key takeaways. I mean, duh! Any marketer who has been paying attention for the last 2-3 years could have pulled these themes out as important. In fact, I would guess that about 50 books have been written on these four subjects in the past five years, so none of these lessons should be a surprise.

However, what strikes me as notable is that these key lessons CONTINUE to be key lessons; which means either marketers are not getting it, or the playing field keeps changing and we are having to reboot back to the basics. Or, it’s a bit of both.

I am reminded of a book title by Harvey McKay, Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty. In his book he is primarily referring to building your network prior to needing it, but in many ways that thought is the umbrella lesson for the four noted above. This tough economy is NOT the best time to begin working on these issues. If you’re just now starting on innovation, customer engagement, brand building, or retention strategies, you’ll be pushing rope uphill and against the tide. Those companies and marketers who did this important work before the economy tanked are much better suited to the situation and may just be the ones to knock you out of the game.

You can click here for more Mplanet wrap up coverage.

-- David Kinard, PCM

[photo: screen shot of Mplanet 2009 Web site.]

10 New Year Resolutions for Non Profits and Cause-Related Organizations

This time of year it is not uncommon to write down resolutions for the next year – things that we might do better, do differently, or just plain do. As you consider your organization, whether it be a non-profit, cause-related community, or a for-profit company with a socially responsible initiative, here are 10 resolutions to consider making as you head into 2009. They’re in no particular order, number ten isn’t the least and one isn’t the most important. But all will add to your ability to make a significant difference in the important work you do.

[NOTE: If your organization excels at any one of these let me know. I'd be happy to highlight your work in an upcoming blog.]

1. Competitively define your mission.
   Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead said it best, “You don’t want to be considered the best at what you do. You want to be the only ones doing what you’re doing.” How is what you do unique, special, and essential. If there are too many providers of the same thing, people will see most of them as unnecessary. What is it that only your organization does? What will the one big thing that your organization will do in 2009 that sets you apart as different from all the other causes?
   
   
2. Showcase your success stories, not just your needs.
   Consumers expect that non profits have needs and that cause-related organizations are usually scarce on resources. It’s okay to ask for things, but make sure that you also showcase your successes. What is the outcome of the work you do? What is the outcome of that? Sure you may serve meals to homeless, provide medication to the poor, or even find childcare for single parents who need to work. But what happened because you did all those things? Showcase the outcome of your work – what happened because you did all those things you do – and give consumers a bigger picture of your organization’s performance.


3. Create single-shot service opportunities.
   According to ASAE, Americans devote more than 173 million volunteer hours each year - time valued at more than $2 billion - to charitable and community service projects. But for as much as that amounts to, there are untapped millions of hours still available. Create opportunities for service that don’t require more than an hour, or a particular task. Let people dip their toe in the water before you ask them to dive in to the deep end.


4. Create ways for your entire community to engage in conversation.
   Technology has changed the way we interact with one another. Twitter grows by an estimated 3-5 thousand new users each day, there are an estimated 70 million blogs, and 8 billion text messages are sent every day. Not participating in this online conversation leaves your organization out in the cold. It’s not so much that you get reporters talking about your organization, you need to get every day people talking about you. Your organization needs to find ways to connect the various constituents with each other – beneficiaries to donors, board to public, staff to public, public to donors, etc. Create ways for conversations to happen and let them happen. No control, no micro managing. Just get people talking and then listen.


5. Investigate relevancy.
   So much is lost and wasted by well meaning non profits because the person writing the gift request letter didn’t make it relevant to the recipient, or the Web site home page is targeted to the wrong demographic. Make 2009 the year of getting to know your community members inside and out. Research your audiences and write profiles for each group, what makes them tick, what they like, don’t like, what they respond to and why. Find out what’s important to them and validate it. Relevancy drives meaning in communications and credibility in relationships. It also drives response rates to your messages.


6. Glocalize.
   Boundaries have little meaning anymore. Technology enables connectivity between once-kept-apart groups. Thus, your cause related organization can now operate with a global mindset, tapping into peoples and organizations around the world. But in doing so, as you take your message beyond your borders – whether they be community, city, state or even country -- But in doing so, find ways to translate your messages and outcomes into relevancy. Make your cause real to those new groups by linking it to their world, their community, and their issues.


7. Fight mediocrity.
   In non-profits it’s easy to get into the mindset that doing well is good enough. That the long hours, the people served, and the low pay should free you from responsibility of any sort of mistakes or poor performance. Jim Collins’ wrote, “Good is the enemy of great.” Make sure in 2009 to raise the standard and strive for being great.


8. Deepen relationships.
   I wrote in a blog entry earlier this month about the need for non profits to build relationships with people prior to asking for a donation, and this notion ties in to the resolutions for relevance and engaging in conversations. Deepening the relationships with all your constituents is the cornerstone element for increasing your capacity to do the good you do. Your for-profit counterparts collectively spend several billions of dollars each year trying to establish the level of emotional intimacy that your organization could very easily tap in to. This should be such an important part of your efforts, you might even consider adding it to your strategic plan and creating metrics around this initiative.


9. Build out your infrastructure.
   Lately I’ve come across a few online conversations where contributors have decried the failure of non profits to appropriately build out their technology and operational infrastructures. I strongly believe that given the sparse resources in most organizations available dollars should go to people and not process improvement. But I also believe that with efficiency comes effectiveness. Taking time to build out your infrastructure can pay huge dividends down the road due to decreases in wasted time, increased effectiveness and clarity, and more powerful tools applied to your cause.


10. Train the next generation.
    Rarely do I find an organization that is working not only to reach current donors and volunteers, but the next one as well. What could happen to stem the desperate needs of the world if important messages and service opportunities were generated and sent down the pipeline to youth and young children? How much more could your organization accomplish in ten, twenty, or thirty years if you worked today to train a new generation of savvy and capable contributors to you cause?

-- David Kinard, PCM

Balanced Scorecard for Non Profits

Many organizations are finishing up 2008 as not only the end of their calendar year, but their fiscal year as well. Hopefully a new or updated annual plan is in place, but I suspect some may be looking to put final touches on one in January. Sadly, some will continue into 2009 with really no clearer definition of what they're doing than just repeating the prior year and hoping for the best.

One of my favorite tools for mapping out the strategy of an organization, and its corresponding implementation plan is the Balanced Scorecard® developed by Kaplan and Norton. There is a wide amount of literature and content available on the use (and misuses) of this tool so I'll leave it to you to Google the subject to your heart's content. You can also read my blog from November 20 on the subject. However, I wanted to provide some extra content for your consideration.

I've attached a white paper written by Joel Zimmerman, Ph.D. of Creative Direct Response, Inc. He provides a succinct perspective on how non profits might look at this tool and offers up specific modifications that focus on the unique nature of non profits. The suggestions are helpful but not required. At a minimum, a non profit should change the leveling of the four categories to have customers at the top followed by financial as second. This modification is justified given the nature of the organization. But Zimmerman suggests six additional mods that merit consideration – especially if you have a strong donor/fundraising emphasis in your strategic plan.

But a plan is useless if it's left on the table to collect dust, and so is this tool. From my experience in working with non profit boards across the country, you have to work your plan and refer to it on a consistent and regular basis. The reason I like the Balanced Scorecard is that it can also be used as a measurement tool to identify progress toward your strategies; as well as a performance plan for staff and volunteers.

-- David Kinard, PCM

The Power of a Plan

We create plans all the time: plans to go to dinner and a movie with friends, plans for an exotic vacation, we plan our household budgets and plan for our retirements. In all, every plan we make is an attempt to help us move from where we are to where we want to be in the most convenient, effective and efficient way possible.

Surprisingly, however, many organizations are operating without one of the most important plans they need—a strategic plan. As a critical business development tool, the strategy plan is a keystone to evaluating future growth and providing a roadmap on how to achieve it. It helps us to see our companies from an objective impartial manner and strategize the direction of our efforts.

Strategic plans articulate the past and present, and provide a sense of direction for companies that enables growth from better use of existing resources, and identification of needed new ones. In its simplest form, a good strategy plan will provide an objective view of the world, allowing a company to make informed decisions.

But perhaps the most important value of the strategy plan is its ability to organize a business around the characteristics of its markets. The plan brings to life the true bottom-line value of keeping customers for life and identifies the areas where customer relationships can be enhanced.

One of my favorite tools for strategy building is the Balanced Scorecard™ created by Robert Kaplan and David Norton out of Harvard. The tool asks you to look at the business in terms of four key categories: financial, customer, innovation/infrastructure, and learning and growth. Basically, working from the bottom up you identify what knowledge and skills your teams must have to generate the innovation and systems needed to serve your customers and manage markets, while providing a financial return that satisfies all stakeholders.

Perhaps the most clear and appropriate explanation of the value of a strategy plan can be found in the story of Alice in Wonderland. Alice, who is lost and doesn’t quite know what to do asks the Cheshire Cat for directions.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where…,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you do,” said the Cat.

If it doesn’t matter which way your organization goes, then perhaps creating an adaptive and strategic marketing plan is not a good idea. But, if you want a roadmap for success then there’s no better tool than a well developed strategy plan.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Meaning Matters – Adapt or Die

In 2001, the American Society of Association Executives Foundation published a seminal book on Exploring the Future. In it, authors Olson and Dighe reported on fourteen trends facing non profits, especially associations. Those trends represented seven strategic conversations that any enterprise benefits from engaging.

Charles Darwin is often attributed with the phrase, “Adapt or Die.” He was referring to the survival of the species but his comment applies to all organizations that are facing relevancy issues. And with today’s troubling economic times, those who survive will be the ones who are most effective and efficient in creating meaning for their customer communities.

Meaning matters. In the marketing world we know these words as customer value. However, there is a much richer interpretation of the words when looked at from a non-profit’s perspective – and an application of them that could mean increased customer loyalty and competitive positioning.

The competitive company will create more than just the traditional supply of products and services laden with various feature sets that are an attempt to beat out the competition. From a meaning matters perspective, the competitive company will create an opportunity for belonging and identity on behalf of the customer. Social networking sites are attempting to do this, some with more success than others. But when the formula is right, they become the enduring qualities that drive customer loyalty and create brand evangelists.

Meaning matters suggests we stop looking at our customers as transaction channels. It demands from us a perspective that treats customers as members of a community. Their payments to us are an act of investment into the community, and we then serve as stewards of those dollars. We take their investment and strive to make the community, and it’s value, richer and more meaningful to the members.

It’s a different perspective, but one that has been working for non profits and associations for more than a century now. And if you think there’s no money to be made by thinking this way – just consider the tens of billions of dollars raised every year by non profits, and the seven-figure incomes of their senior staff.

Meaning matters.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Yeah, so?

People who know me know I believe in courageous conversations. Typically these happen in personal relationships when it takes courage to approach someone and talk about an uneasy subject. But the same is true for business situations. Those courageous conversations happen when creating strategy, thinking about the competition, or evaluating the power of your value proposition.

Posing the right questions gets to the root of issues and assumptions about ourselves and our competition. They are the "bare-naked truth" questions often avoided not because the questions are offensive or even complex, but because we don't have the answers we should. The quality of a question determines the quality of the response. When we ask easy questions of ourselves or our competition, or questions that can't be answered, the answer gives us exactly what we put into the question--easy answers or no answer at all.

What powerful questions do is give us a broader range of exploration. They lead us to examine possibilities and develop scenarios that can lead to competitive advantages. Powerful questions do not have to be complex or sophisticated. My favorite one is: "What would happen if we did nothing?" And another: "Why?" "What is this for?" and "So, what?" These questions cannot be answered easily or quickly; though beware the people who promise that they can. Questions like these require thoughtful consideration of all the possibilities. They allow the us to create different scenarios leading to innovation and leadership within the marketplace, which is what competitive intelligence and positioning is all about.

The Accidental Marketer

There is a great movie called The Accidental Tourist (1988) starring Gina Davis and William Hurt. It's about a guy who is a travel book writer. Though he doesn't realize it in the beginning, he's written about how to travel with minimal impact and fuss. As a result, the traveler ends up going to amazing places without letting what they're experiencing really make an impact. There's far more to the story, but this is the part I wanted to eek out in my first blog entry.

It's easy for us marketers to go through the motions of marketing and not really make an assessment of what we're doing. When we fall into this rut, this routine, we end up not letting our marketing impact us, teach us, change us. We become stagnant, valueless drains on our organizations and deserve the criticism of being cost centers, repetitive, and meaningless.

I've taken a long, hard look back at the last two years of my life. Each is so different from the other. Two years ago I fell into a rut, becoming complacent and giving up. Organizational mindsets toward the role of marketing vary and for me I had four bosses in four years all with very different views. Rather than be tossed by the whims of this executive only to have them replaced by another made it easy to minimize my input, thus minimizing my impact.

But this last year I began the journey of taking back the mantle of what good marketing is and what marketing should be. I've done away with the complacency and have reenergized myself. Yep, its pretty much a daily struggle sometimes, but one that is worthwhile because there is power in what we do. As marketers we weild powerful tools to shape opinions, promote ideas, sell value, and build empires.

Thus, the beginning of MarketAbility -- the blog about how marketing and the real world collide, and what to do when it happens.

Let the journey begin.

-- David Kinard, PCM