What You Do and What You Deliver!

Many years ago, I tried to distill my role as a marketer down in some way that was simple to understand yet robust enough to be truly descriptive. I came up with the following chart:

The chart worked. It worked for me. It worked for others. How does it work for you? Chime in!

Really, I got it down to five “buckets”: opportunity identification, strategy, facilitators of action, actions that deliver results, and the results that matter. I’ll try to take on each bucket as a topic in the future. And I hope you’ll add your voices to the discussion.

For example, what results matter to you as a marketer? I came to the conclusion that three results reign supreme in the pantheon of key performance indicators: revenue, profit, and market share. To be sure, there are other measures which add value, but I believe they measure precursors to sales (or revenue), profits, or market share. They indicate likelihood of delivering the results that matter and are hence relegated to the role of demi-measures, inferior to the Big Three.

I’ll stop here for today and we’ll dive into details of the buckets over the course of other posts. Hope I’ve got your brain engaged and ruminating. After all, how often do you actually indulge in thinking about the process of doing what you do? Take a little time to do so now. It’s worth it. For you. For anyone you coach. And, as a result, for your company.

The Update: Not a Pro... Yet

For those who picked up on the fact, my oldest son did have a multiday trial with Fortuna Cologne, a soccer club in Germany. Unfortunately, he picked up a minor injury during the workouts, so it looks like he'll have to try again later. Not the end of his soccer adventures by any means!

Crowdsourcing to Success?

A couple interesting items today…

First of all, it was announced publicly that my son will be trying out for a position with a soccer team in Germany. This particular team, Fortuna Köln, has an experiment underway. For the price of €39.95/year, anyone can become a member of the club with voting rights. And all important decisions related to the club are voted on – from starting line-ups for a match to the design of the uniforms for the team. Can this use of the wisdom of the crowd manage a soccer team for success? Over 13,000 paying members surely hope so.

Well, that gets me to the second interesting thing from my day, a talk by technology product guru, Marty Cagan of the Silicon Valley Product Group. Part of his mantra is “lead your customers” as opposed to being “led by your customers”. Although I quibble with some of his perspectives, on this topic we are aligned: breakthrough innovation nearly never comes from letting your customers specify solutions.

There are proponents of crowdsourcing who squawk at the mere mention of skepticism about it as a model for decision-making. To be sure, there is merit in using consensus-based choice tools for refinement of an existing product or to reduce risk in choosing a path forward. For these tasks, the input of many will take off the sharp edges espoused by the few.

The many, however, can’t refine what they’ve never imagined. And it’s through imagination that innovation is delivered. Ask, “What if?” and go from there. Crowds don’t do this. Standing up against the crowd is what’s required.

For many businesses, even the ones that started from the spark of innovation, getting to a stream of on-going mold-breaking, transformational innovations is a huge challenge. Customer-centricity can help, but not in the sense that “customers will tell us what to do.” Indeed, to think in this manner is to abuse the idea of insight leading to inspiration.

Listen to and observe customers, consumers, users. Figure out what problems they have, what desires they express; these are the key insights. Use the insights as touchstones in the process of inspiration, ideation, and evaluation of options. Make sure not to lose the insights; they ensure that the innovations will be valued.

So, how are Fortuna’s fortunes these days? Well, the wisdom of its crowd has guided the team to 10th place in a 19-team league, hardly the height of success. And, it begs several questions: How long will voting members stand for their own mediocrity? Will folks choose over time to drop out and go back to a less-expensive, less-empowering option? Do fans truly want on-going middle of the pack performance, or would they prefer the risks required to reach lofty heights occasionally but mixed in with moments of bitter disappointment? Whether in soccer or business, I prefer to take those risks.

Competencies and Customers: The Case of TuneCore

Ever hear of TuneCore? It's the service that Trent Reznor and other musical talents have started to use instead of traditional record labels. It's also a company that understands where it adds value and where it doesn't. The firm classifies itself as an "enabler" for digital distribution, the creation of promotional items, and the production of CDs.

TuneCore just scored a deal with Amazon (Thank you, WIRED, for the news!). It will charge $31 to create a 10-track CD. That's $31 to get your music available on Amazon, so folks can order a CD. And, with on-demand duplication of the CD, you won't have to sell many discs to turn a profit. TuneCore makes its money on the up-front transaction, passing along Amazon's payout directly to you.

One of the things I love about this deal is the long-tail model activation. So many artists will now have a means to distribute that the selection from which to choose will be staggering. Yes, yes, the paradox of choice comes to mind in this circumstance, but that's where the promotional and evangelical moxy of the musicians can make a difference. Promote yourself or your band aggressively at shows, via word of mouth, YouTube videos, etc. and you could drive some sales. Seriously, even bad bands can sell a few dozen discs to friends and relatives. That's a pretty small conversion percentage on the tens of millions of Amazon shoppers.

TuneCore also exemplifies a delightful distinction between competencies and customers. In this case, it's not trying to take credit for the creative capabilities of music makers. These folks are TuneCore's customers. With a business model that enables its own customers to profit more than under a more traditional record label distribution arrangement, it's creating evangelists. The barriers to entry for music distribution have dropped nearly to the floor. No wonder TuneCore cranks out so much new music so regularly (150 to 300 new releases a day)!

Bolt this burgeoning catalog of music to the merchandising and suggestion engines within Amazon and shazam! you've got lots of good stuff happening. Talk about an incentive for musicians to market themselves? This is it. Instead of relying on the record labels and the traditional model of pumping up consumption, bands will bootstrap their own awareness-building.

My mind starts racing a bit when I consider the evolution here. Think of the continuing disaggregation of the old music distribution model and where it could lead... More PR or ad agencies marketing their talents directly to artists, perhaps for commissions on the sale of music (pay for performance!).

Or, apply the TuneCore Amazon model to another disc-based industry: film. Could a similar commodization of production take place for DVDs and Blu-ray discs over time? TuneCore gets that popping CDs out isn't where the value-add is, per se, in the music value chain. But it's an area of competence outside the capability of most musicians. And therein lies the opportunity. Let the talent focus on optimizing its product and promoting it - writing, creating, and playing great music. TuneCore takes care of manufacturing.

Think some budding film students wouldn't like the chance to actually sell their creations this way, too? The financials behind filming a feature-length movie and recording an album are very different, but the cost of creation for both types of content are much altered from prior generations. Ah, the digital age!

As you can tell, I'm excited about this bit of news. It's fun to think of how an old, out-dated technology like CDs might get a bit of new life from an on-demand model, how more musicians may be able to find the means to earn money from their creative inclinations, and - most importantly - how I might finally fulfill my rockstar dreams!

The news also gets me wondering about the lifestage of other industries and the questions of "Who is my customer?" and "Where, specifically, does my firm add value?" Many, many of us are faced constantly with the choice of defending the established means of capturing value, but it's in the moments of change that the greatest opportunities and risks are to be found. Ignore the inevitability of change at your own peril!

OK, gotta go now... It's time to work on some new riffs for my next hit song.

Twitter the Video Network?

Over the past few weeks, I've had several conversations about how Twitter is "like a new broadcast network". Well, now you can add video capability into the conversation, thanks to Twitmatic. Here's a nice overview of the service:

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/use-twitter-like-a-television-network/

And be prepared, there is definitely more to come as folks dig into the Twitter API and play with it.

Transparency = Truthfulness + Timeliness

Following the on-going news coverage about House Speaker Pelosi, waterboarding, and the Republican comments on the whole situation, I am reminded of the benefits of transparency when communicating about big issues.

Let me make it clear, I believe waterboarding is torture, but it's not the issue I'll focus on in this post. Rather, let's look at the current hubbub as a notable example of why coming clean isn't good enough. Coming clean quickly is the key to keeping relationships solid.

In Speaker Pelosi's case, the passage of time has created a lack of consensus on what "the facts" might be. Memories can and do fade over time. Notes which seemed so complete now prove to be inadequate. The recollections and statements of all parties involved are colored by bias towards specific desired conclusions. The issue is further complicated by the classified nature of the meetings and updates in question.

With the exception of "classified status" reports, how many of us have dealt with these precise issues in our work lives? It might be better to ask how often we've dealt with these issues, so pervasive are they. And, though the internal wranglings over who said what to whom when are indeed frustrating, when it comes to relationships with customers and consumers, the stakes are at their highest.

At one point or another, most of us in the marketing profession are going to deal with crisis. I have. In one instance, a hurricane flattened the factory of a component supplier, disrupting assembly of my company's products for weeks. While with another firm, we had to inform our consumers of potential tampering with our products. The response to both situations helped turn these potentially dire circumstances into net positives to the particular customer and consumer relationships.

The belief that transparency is the sum of truthfulness and timeliness spared us the second-guessing, wondering, and criticism that inevitably arise from delay. Even if companies respond with full disclosure but delay the response until "the dust has settled," relationships with customers are undermined. "If there really wasn't any risk, then why didn't they tell us right away?" is a common question in these circumstances.

The makers of Tylenol have long been lauded for their response to a dire crisis in 1982, but there are other examples of good corporate behavior, too. The Consumerist applauded the handling of a credit card skimmer incident by redbox in April of 2008 (Full Disclosure: I was at redbox at the time). But not everybody has learned.

Domino's is the latest brand to go through the painful lessons of a delayed response. The company took two days to respond to the firestorm created by a YouTube video showing employees willfully engaged in public health violations while preparing food at the Domino's where they worked. The video was viewed millions of times. Somehow the leadership at Domino's seemed either to want the whole issue to just go away or was so tied up in strategizing that it forgot to act.

Even the apology video eventually posted by Domino's on YouTube rang hollow. In it, the President of Domino's USA, Patrick Doyle, states, "There is nothing more important or sacred to us than our customer's trust..." If taken at his word, then why not respond immediately and forcefully to this circumstance? It seems apparent that Domino's leadership didn't trust its customers, and in turn customers' trust in the company eroded. The video apology was less than emphatic in addressing the issue.

I'm sure someone in a corporate affairs job would say, "But nobody wants to shout 'Fire!' in a theatre or disseminate wildly inaccurate information." True enough, but it's still crucial to get the word out as quickly as possible.

In the equation of transparency, timeliness trumps perfect truth. If all the facts aren't in, say so, but keep people informed. In the age of YouTube and Twitter, the trust you show in folks will likely pay itself back as they help spread the word and fill in the details for you.

If you could change just one thing...

... for your business or brand, what would it be? How significant would the effect be? Is there anything that would have a greater impact?

Are you devoting enough attention, energy, and resources to this change? If not, why not?

Dell-ay

I recently wrote about my experience with a crashed hard drive in my Dell laptop and the lack of delight in my customer service experience. Despite the best of intentions, Dell has further soured me based on my experience this week.

After my informing the company of my issue, I was told a new hard drive would be arriving in the next three to five days. So far, so good. I could wait. This conversation took place last weekend, and I thought, "OK, a few days is reasonable."

On Monday I received a call to inform me my new drive would arrive by Tuesday evening. Yay! Thanks for the update, Dell! How redemptive to have this kind of proactive communication, except for the one tiny detail: the drive did not arrive on Tuesday.

Wednesday I received a second call from the fine folks at Dell, inquiring about my receipt of the drive. When informed that said arrival had not occurred, a quick inquiry was conducted. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lancina, it appears there was a problem on our end. The drive did not leave the warehouse. It will be shipped today and will arrive by the end of the day tomorrow, Thursday."

Somewhat skeptical, but still hoping for the best, I waited and checked and checked and waited all day Thursday. No drive. No nothing. Frustration, anger, disappointment... But no drive.

On Friday, I did not receive a call to check on the delivery of the drive. I finally did receive the drive after dark. Instead of the relief and pleasure of having a new part to get my laptop back to functionality, I was simply angered at the repeated hope/disappointment cycle I'd been put through.

What's the lesson? Make commitments you can deliver. I was actually ok with the "three to five days" timeframe originally provided, and indeed Dell delivered the drive within the five days (just barely!). By delighting me with news of quicker delivery, my hopes were raised only to be dashed. And by then repeating this cycle Dell lost much of its brand credibility with me.

The credibility topic is something I'll pick up in another posting. It is one aspect of the on-going stream of "moments of truth" when brands either delight or disappoint. The stakes are high for brands and businesses because disappointment can lead to long-term rejection, on-going bad word-of-mouth commentary, and worse. On the other hand, on-going delight in each moment of truth can turn a customer into an evangelist... and we all want evangelists supporting our efforts, right?