If this works, I am beyond disappointed.

I can't help it, I have to add my voice to the chorus of dismay responding to the NRA's utterly cynical new TV ad condemning President Obama as a hypocrite because his children get Secret Service protection.

As a citizen: While I have my opinions, I understand that the gun control debate has some good arguments on both sides, and I know that as a country we take both the safety of our children (and adults) and our Second Amendment rights seriously. I sincerely believe we can find middle ground that works. One article I thought expressed this well came from a small newspaper in Vermont, where hunting and thus guns are a way of life.

The NRA has a voice in this debate, like 'em or not. Which they have misused and - I hope - squandered.

As a marketing business owner: I want our profession to have some honor. Don't laugh. Many of us bring our ethics to work, and care about the messages we send out into the airwaves, cyberspace and print.

With this ad, the NRA has:

• Broken the unspoken rule that the President's children should be pretty much off-limits for this sort of publicity - and especially for such a smear.

• Feigned ignorance in an ugly way. Anyone with half a brain knows that the President's children are in a much different position than Joey and Janie Average. (Our children, by and large, are not specific targets for terrorists and anti-government activists. Nor are we. Threats are a terrible downside of being president, so it is not elitist to benefit from the Secret Service protection every President and his family get.)

• Made some nasty insinuations that the President is thus misusing his power.

• Exposed the Obama girls to dangers in addition to the ones they already face, by spotlighting them in this way for every deranged person in the country.

I would much rather that the NRA simply make its arguments for Second Amendment rights using the platform on which they stand. I hope that, by and large, Americans are repulsed by this ad. No matter where they stand on gun control.

I fear that I will be disappointed.

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.