Reality 2013: Face up to fast change

This morning I heard a news clip about politicians in Vermont seeking a moratorium on the building of new larger scale wind turbines.

I am still shaking my head. All the talk we hear about renewable energy and... we don't want to look at it? Have it near us? I found that story (from a purportedly environmentally progressive state, no less) disappointing and another example of politicians more concerned about re-election than making positive change.

Later in the morning clients were talking with us about their business prospects for 2013, which we realize are positively influenced by the bad news that severe weather trends and increasingly powerful storms are probably going to continue. The clients were not gloating in the least, just looking at reality and incorporating it into their planning.

My takeaway? This world is changing faster and faster and those who face reality, and then make positive change or provide value, are the people I admire most.

A firm grip on reality is one of the most important tools one can have in dealing effectively with life and work challenges.

You and I certainly may not like some of the changes taking place - or the ones the world needs to make - whether change involves building big wind turbines that we (or our constituents) can see from home or highway, or facing the likelihood that rising temperatures and seas and high-impact storms are becoming more common - but we need to deal with these situations.

There is a lot to think about in 2013. Are American students still the best educated and hardest working in the world? Have we waited too long to effectively stem the climate change that even the conservative World Bank predicts? Will our political leaders have the courage to reduce the U.S. deficit? And/or provide social programs that will help build a stronger country? Can we regulate Wall Street before the next big implosion? Do we know how to cope with the technologies and processes we are developing, from drones to clones, artificial intelligence to factory farms? What should we do about guns and the public?

In 2013, external change comes faster than ever before, and that change is more global.

For businesses, government and non-profit organizations, new problems of course provide ample opportunity to provide better solutions. For businesses, there is opportunity to make money as well. Let's be decent and optimistic and look at ways to have a positive impact. From roofing products that stand up to hurricane winds and water to less violent video games that worried parents can give their children, from technologies to support roads with self-driving cars to flexible careers for seniors who still have energy and need income, and to a myriad of other ideas, our changing world offers ripe opportunity for good, useful and even revolutionary innovation.

A resolution worth making... eyes open, avoidance reflex turned off. Imagination and resolve in gear. Happy new year.

Native advertising: What you need to know for 2013

What is it?

Native advertising is basically advertising that follows the format, style, and voice of the venue in which it appears. On Facebook, perhaps it is a sponsored story rather than a display ad. In a print publication, it is an ad in article format. On Twitter, native advertising could be a promoted tweet.

What are the benefits?

People are sick of intrusive advertising. They get tired of being interrupted, disrupted, delayed, and sold. But businesses still need to reach these people. Advertising that looks and feels less like advertising in many cases does the trick.

What are the downsides?

At the risk of repeating ourselves: People are sick of intrusive advertising. When native advertising isn’t done well, it’s just one more intrusion.

Any words of advice?

Native advertising needs to be good… really good. Think “Super Bowl ad quality” brand videos, articles that answer burning questions, sponsored posts that genuinely interest the viewer. Otherwise, native advertising can be a fly in the soup of non-sponsored content.

Where can I read more about native advertising?

Start here:

Inc’s summary

Insiders' opinions on its value

Contact us for an initial exploration of how and whether native advertising can work for your firm.

 

This holiday, let's change our world.

There are few people in the United States whose past several days have been purely festive, contented or even merely productive. The tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School has shaken the nation, and in nearly every home, office, school, mall, and playground, this holiday season has been marked by a terrible sadness.

Perhaps the one thing we as a people can take from Newtown, Connecticut is that something needs to change. In fact, a number of things need to change. Because while this tragedy shook the nation, it is not the first of its kind, and it was the result of many cultural factors that we see all around us every day. American gun culture, violent and cruel video games, still-prevalent bullying in schools, mediocre access to mental health care and the tone and content of media coverage for events such as this are among the topics we need to study as we work to change - IF we work to change. The answers won't be easy, but surely we can do better than we are doing now.

This isn't just an issue for politicians. Business plays a part in deciding what products we develop and market to adults and kids. The public plays a part in not losing interest or focus on this issue two weeks or two months from now. Students play a part in not bullying and tormenting other kids, parents in reconsidering what kinds of video games their kids play - and what they learn about guns and violence. And, yes, our political leaders need to demonstrate sustained courage and wisdom.

May we all do our part. That would be the best way to make this marred 2012 holiday season worthwhile, and to honor all the people impacted by the tragedy at Newtown. Wishing you peace and love during the holidays and beyond.

Inspiration in the workplace

Inc. today featured an inspiring article, Why Everyone at My Company Has One Job Title, which included this email excerpt from a now-deceased co-founder of The Nerdery:

"Our job titles are designed to empower us, not to limit us!" Bucklin wrote. "Put your business card on the desk in front of you...This card does not define you. You are a Co-President. You are bigger than your defined role, and you are much more than your job title. Play your part—transcend your job title, be a hero."

Inspiring employees goes one big step beyond motivating them. And inspiration is of course hard to create, especially in an era when "jobs for a lifetime" seems to many people an antiquated prospect, and when even the assurance of job security is shaky at many firms.

Inspiring employees also demands a lot more than rudimentary job security and longevity. It demands some mix of the following:

-Feeling that the job matters

-Knowing that the company cares about you

-Having challenging, meaningful or exciting work to do

-Wanting to do great work

-Looking forward to what is ahead

-Enjoying the ride - not counting the hours until the next weekend or holiday

For some people, inspiration comes easily. For others, it may never come. From our own experience at vSA, a certain "pride of authorship" comes into play. We genuinely love doing things well. To each vSA associate who... created a great website, built a powerful marketing program for a client, got our internal tracking processes in line, wrote a highly original article, solved an onerous technical problem, brought in a good client, or helped a good client make the world a little better... you have inspired me. I hope in some measure you, too, have been inspired.

Consultative marketing and sales support for lonely-at-the-top executives

"We try to recommend only programs we're confident will work well for you," I assured the prospect. "Our reputation matters, and that reputation is based virtually only on how well we perform for clients."

For a quarter century, we've worked with entrepreneurs or top management of companies (of all sizes) who have both the privilege and the burden of being in charge. They may have gotten where they are because they invented or improved a product line, because they are financially savvy, because they are outstanding in understanding technology of one type or another, or any of so many reasons. Many times, the leader's expertise is not in marketing. What's more, now, many older marketing maps might as well be torn up and thrown away today.

"You can't get there from here" if you don't know the new rules.

It follows that upstream consultative marketing and sales support have become key van Schouwen Associates offerings. Rather than getting a call when a company president or marketing VP knows what he or she wants to say or do, we often start out at the business strategy level. That is as it should be.

Our clients will always understand their own products and services intimately and will know where they want to take their businesses. Our marketing expertise lets us be valuable at the very next step: drawing the road map for marketing. Sure, we can just drive the car and follow a route mapped out by the client, but that's not generally going to yield the most successful trip. In fact, the more a good marketing firm and its client work together at the inception of planning, the better and less lonely the trip will be.

A few tips for "starting at the very beginning" with a marketing partner:

-Find a good partner with experience in where you are going right now. Maybe you can work with a marketing firm you already know or trust. But maybe you have outgrown them. If so, get recommendations for a new partner from businesses that have done something similar to what you are undertaking now (be it product launch, new vertical market entry, repositioning, or even salvaging a troubled brand).

-Start yesterday. The right marketing firm can provide sound counsel much earlier than you might think. We've worked on product launches even while the product is still in early engineering. We've helped firms change focus just as they were first seeing the black clouds on the horizon themselves.

-Don't worry about the medium. You don't need to decide how to use the Web, advertising, public relations or whatever quite yet - not until you get the message right. Until, in fact, you get the premise behind the message right. Then and only then is it time to talk about how to conduct that outreach.

 

 

Should we be working together?

Ask me that question 26-plus years ago (when we were starting this marketing firm) and I would have said YES! Pretty much no matter what, assuming you could pay your bills, that is.

15 years ago, there would still have been a 89 percent chance of that same resounding YES.

What a change. We're saying 'no thank you' more often, whether to a client or to a project that doesn't fit, and suggesting other resources when we do. We're not going after business where we think we won't click.

Serious competition and a roller-coaster economy have, rather than influencing van Schouwen Associates to go with the "any port in a storm" method of business acquisition, inspired us to hone our focus. I noticed today, for perhaps the six-hundredth time, that we are not alone. A scan of the marketing and advertising firms that made this year's Inc. 5000 fastest growing small companies reveals some pretty amazing discipline in pinpointing and promoting expertise. From companies that serve payday loan clients, to specialists in marketing passion brands (sports and entertainment) to firms that (not surprisingly) focus on SEO, or on outdoor advertising, the best of "Marketing 2012" is a far cry from the 1980s-style ad agency that wanted to secure all-the-clients-in-the-world, including a fashion brand, a car manufacturer, a politician, and an insurance carrier... AND then insisted they could "do it all" for pretty much anyone.

Here in the otherwise peaceful Longmeadow offices of van Schouwen Associates, we've taken a long and piercing look at ourselves and revamped our messaging to say what is real today. Honing a focus is painful at times - sadly, there will be no high-end lipstick samples for us, and few meetings with rock stars (although I hasten to add that we are not ruling that out).

But let's face it -- as difficult as self-knowledge is for a marketing firm, it is no less challenging for our clients to give up cherished but flawed concepts about their own brands to focus on what really works.

Which brings us to our final point for today. If we expect our clients to come to know themselves and market accordingly, don't we owe it to ourselves to do the same?

 

(For those who care, here is an excerpt from the van Schouwen Associates website, telling the world who we are and what we do best.)

We have particularly deep expertise in several key arenas: manufacturing and related business-to-business marketing, financial services, health care and medical manufacturing, non-profits, and specialized technology products and offerings. Drilling still deeper, vSA intimately understands fire and security, facility development and management, architectural and design products and services, power and utility, safety products and services, building products, green marketing for business, products for industrial and hazardous environments, and insurance and banking.

 

 

Partnering and outsourcing... successfully.

What percentage of marriages fail?

Given that, just imagine the percentage of business partnerships and outsourcing arrangements that bite the dust.

Without the children to care for and a house about which to argue, the temptation to walk away from business arrangements can be great. Often, there are good reasons to do just that. But how can you plan and implement partnering and outsourcing relationships that last, if not forever, at least well beyond any honeymoon phase?

The ability to partner successfully has become increasingly important in many business endeavors. The need to focus on key areas of expertise, tightened finances and shrinking staffs are just a few of the reasons a businesses increasingly need to use hired guns or partner with other firms to accomplish tasks that might otherwise go undone (or be done poorly).

-Know your partner: In a company or an individual, character matters. It is arguable that more partnerships break down because of interpersonal conflicts or character flaws than because of lack of ability. But also...

-Know your partner's abilities, strengths and weaknesses: It is tempting - for an individual or a company - to stretch the limits and to "go for" new capabilities and areas of expertise. When choosing a partner, tread carefully. How expert and how experienced is your potential partner at what you need to do together? If you select a less expert partner, carefully think through the impact that choice may have on your work together. Enthusiasm can sometime trump experience - but learning curves typically cost time and money. Who will pay for that learning curve?

-Take one step at a time: A hard-learned lesson in taking on complex projects with partners is the need to phase them. Call it what you will, but an exploratory phase is a great way to test a project or a relationship. Phasing a project with a partner allows many check-points and permits you to more clearly see factors including the need for change in course, project expansion or retracting. It also allows you to see mission creep, a sometimes fatal blight for big projects. This doesn't mean you can't enter into a long-term partnership arrangement, just that you need frequent directional checks, most of which should be done as a team.

-Have some respect: When you pick the right partner and make the right arrangements, that partner will bring real expertise to the table and will become invested in working with you. Build mutual respect and always remember that "any job looks easy to the person who doesn't have to do it himself." You don't have to be blind or foolish - but be a good partner.

-Make the right arrangements: Good fences build good neighbors. Dual sinks in the master bathroom keep couples happier. (?) Solid contracts facilitate better business partnerships. Take the time to build a clear, mutually agreeable, beneficial contract.

-Win-win beats win-lose: At least in partnerships, win-win is best. Quash the impulse to triumph at the unfair expense of others. You'll enjoy stronger and longer partnering arrangements. You may sleep better at night, too.