Author: Jonathan Barrick

A professional marketer with a passion for all things digital. Experienced in both B2B & B2C, my approach in developing marketing strategies has always been focused on providing the best possible experience for the end-user. I firmly believe that in order to build a strong brand you need to commit to people, first and foremost. Whether employees, customers, partners, or suppliers, it’s the people connected to your brand that truly make it thrive. I believe marketing should be purpose-driven, and that marketing is at its most powerful when it delivers true value and real utility.

October 26, 2010

Social Media – The New Propaganda?

I love old-school propaganda posters. Like the kind from WW1 and WW2. They’re magnificent. They perfectly illustrate how powerful messages were conveyed in a bygone era of innocence, confusion, anger, fear, and unequaled bravery.

There was no gray area in the propaganda from that time period. You knew at first glance what the message was, and you knew that they were dead serious about it. ‘Buy War Bonds’, ‘We Can Do It!’, ‘Loose Lips Sink Ships’, are some of the classics that everyone has seen as shining examples.

They played on basic human instincts and powerful emotions: Fear, Pride, Anger, Love, Hate. And they did this exceptionally well. Big bold images of happy smiling families collecting scrap iron on the home front, horrifying demonized images of the ‘enemy’ as blood-sucking creatures hovering over terrified children, powerful and proud Allied soldiers charging ahead to victory.

At the time, the world was a pretty big place. Other countries seemed like strange, distant lands filled with odd customs and a totally different way of life. It was relatively easy for people to make the attitude shift that propaganda was demanding of them, since the topics contained within them were so far away. Most people didn’t have close ties to the ‘enemy’. There was little understanding about foreign purposes or policies by the average person, and the information they did get was filtered and edited by the news organizations and by government bureaus.

But what about now? I’m going to throw in the oft-repeated phrase “Times have changed!”. Media has transformed in to a completely different animal since the advent of the Internet, world travel has become easily accessible to all and is commonplace, we are all connected 24/7 and communicate instantly to all corners of the globe. How does propaganda work now? Or does it even have a place?

Some might say that propaganda is extinct. That once the Internet makes its way in to the infrastructure of a country, the influence begins to shift from the powers that be back to the people. Information is power, and when everyone in the world has access to the same information as everyone else, the playing field all of a sudden becomes much more level. Certain governments are trying, and failing, to contain this change, but we all know that eventually there will be no stopping it. Just like radio and TV spread all over the world, so too will Internet and Social Media.

Could it be that Social Media is turning in to the propaganda of the next generation? Except instead of being controlled by government or military, it’s controlled by individuals. Individuals with reach, with influence, with charisma and with intelligence on how to persuade. It won’t be recognizable propaganda as we’ve known it up to this point, but there are indicators that it influences in much the same way. Look at how easily the Gap was persuaded to change its logo back after the ‘uprising’ that occurred? Companies change logos all the time, why should Gap be any exception? Well, there were a few key people who, through their postings/tweets/messages were able to persuade larger groups of otherwise indifferent people that the logo change was terrible. Their phrasing of tweets and message, their passion for the original logo became the propaganda tools that influenced those who may not have even cared about the change to speak up and become opponents.

Social Media has proven to be a highly successful method of influencing behaviour, and I think we can all agree that it is quickly become the default method for spreading a message. If it’s on Twitter, the world CAN see it. If it’s shared by the right people, the world WILL see it. Propaganda knows no borders now. Even though Malcolm Gladwell makes some good points about the ties made in social media being ‘loose ties’, sometimes those loose ties are all that is needed to bring about social change. If you reach enough people, with a simple and powerful message that resonates on a base level, it doesn’t really matter if your ties are weak or strong. The influence is there if you use it right. Just like how people bought millions of war bonds to ‘do their part’, many small actions can be incited through social media in order to enact a big change.

I guess Rosie was right, we CAN do it.

October 16, 2010

The Raven

Posting this for two reasons:

#1 – It’s awesome, always has been, always will be.

#2 – Tonight’s episode of The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror Halloween Special on the Comedy Network reminded me of it.

Enjoy, and hope you’re looking forward to Halloween like we are!

*******************************

The Raven – Edgar Allan Poe

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
`’Tis some visitor,’ I muttered, `tapping at my chamber door –
Only this, and nothing more.’

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; – vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow – sorrow for the lost Lenore –
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels named Lenore –
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me – filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
`’Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door –
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door; –
This it is, and nothing more,’

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
`Sir,’ said I, `or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you’ – here I opened wide the door; –
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!’
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!’
Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
`Surely,’ said I, `surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore –
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore; –
‘Tis the wind and nothing more!’

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore.
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door –
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door –
Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore,
`Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,’ I said, `art sure no craven.
Ghastly grim and ancient raven wandering from the nightly shore –
Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning – little relevancy bore;
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door –
Bird or beast above the sculptured bust above his chamber door,
With such name as `Nevermore.’

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered – not a feather then he fluttered –
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before –
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.’
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.’

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,
`Doubtless,’ said I, `what it utters is its only stock and store,
Caught from some unhappy master whom unmerciful disaster
Followed fast and followed faster till his songs one burden bore –
Till the dirges of his hope that melancholy burden bore
Of “Never-nevermore.”’

But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore –
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.’

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom’s core;
This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining
On the cushion’s velvet lining that the lamp-light gloated o’er,
But whose velvet violet lining with the lamp-light gloating o’er,
She shall press, ah, nevermore!

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
`Wretch,’ I cried, `thy God hath lent thee – by these angels he has sent thee
Respite – respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore!
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe, and forget this lost Lenore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

`Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil! –
Whether tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted –
On this home by horror haunted – tell me truly, I implore –
Is there – is there balm in Gilead? – tell me – tell me, I implore!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

`Prophet!’ said I, `thing of evil! – prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that Heaven that bends above us – by that God we both adore –
Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels named Lenore –
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels named Lenore?’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

`Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!’ I shrieked upstarting –
`Get thee back into the tempest and the Night’s Plutonian shore!
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!
Leave my loneliness unbroken! – quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!’
Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.’

And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted – nevermore!

*******************************

Credit for the text: http://www.heise.de/ix/raven/Literature/Lore/TheRaven.html

October 12, 2010

Travel Troubles

I hate connecting flights. Really, a lot. I’ve flown enough times to have a pretty good system on how to manage air travel within North America. Obviously when we start looking at crossing oceans, connecting flights are common, and almost unavoidable. However, when looking at traveling within the US and Canada, there are a few key things that are always in the ‘best practices’ category.

Such as:

• Avoid checking any bags if at all possible. Easier said than done if you’re gone for more than three or four days, but still something to strive for.

• Choose the closest available seats to the front of the plane. Be one of the first off the plane. Your legs, back and rear end will thank you.

• Aisle seats are best for those who want to be able to use the restroom anytime, as well as be standing as soon as the plane gets to the gate.

• Window seats are best for those who need something to lean against on long flights, and have exceptionally large bladder capacity.

• Middle seats suck. Always.

• Keep your passport handy. This means accessible within 2 seconds of needing it. Not rummaging through your bag or purse while making everyone else wait.

• Know how to read your seat number. It usually combines a number (your row) and a letter (your seat in that row), and learn to sit down when you get there. Those aisles aren’t two-lanes.

• Always fly direct.

That last point is crucial, and bears repeating: ALWAYS FLY DIRECT. There are several reasons why, including but not limited to:

1 – If the airline ever loses your bag, I guarantee that it will be the result of a connection.

2 – It is two ascents and two descents instead of one of each. Ears will pop twice as much.

3 – Rarely do they schedule connecting flights within North America with more than 1hr between them. This means if your first flight is running late, God help you.

4 – Connecting flights can route you through smaller, regional airports. Thus severely limiting your available options for solving the problems that make you say ‘oh crap, now what do I do?’.

It’s been a while since I’ve needed to do a connection. I’ve had some bad experiences in the past, so I’ve learned a few tricks to avoid them. Like flying in to the nearest major airport to wherever I’m going and renting a car (which is usually needed anyway) and simply driving the extra distance. This has the benefit of giving YOU the control over being late or not, instead of relying on the airlines and their less-than-reliable schedules.

Also, in my experience (depending on where you’re headed, of course) connecting flights usually don’t save you any time when compared to renting a car and driving. With the lineups at ticketing, customs, security, and whatever other obstacles you need to overcome, you typically need at least 1.5 – 2hrs time before your flight leaves in order to just make it to your gate with enough time left to hit the restroom or grab a quick bite.

So, the story goes that I attended a series of meetings, which were scheduled to occur at a resort hotel in a small-town area. The closest airport was a small regional airport about an hours drive away from the resort. Everything was fine on the way down, but coming home things went awry. First, the flight was scheduled to head out at 4pm. It was at 3:59pm that they realized there were some mechanical issues with the plane.

Now, ordinarily this would be a pretty easy problem to solve. On direct flights you just wait it out, or go to the service desk and say ‘find me another flight’. Easy peasy. However, when you’ve got connections thrown in to the mix, and a smaller airport with very few available flight options, your life gets much more complicated.

There were no other flights with room available out of this airport. None. Everything was booked solid. There was another major international airport another 1.5 hour drive away, which had a flight leaving for my destination at 7pm. By the time get the tickets straightened out and rent a car, I’d be in for a lot more money, and there was no way I was going to make it in time. Not going to work.

So, next step was to go back to the ticketing counter and see what ‘could be done’. Luckily there was no line, as the vast majority of the passengers were still at the gate, frantically calling different airlines on their cell phones. I made the choice to go back out past security and go right to the ticketing desks, even though that meant I would have to go back through security in the event that the original flight got the go-ahead, or I was able to slide in to another connection.

They gave me one option: A flight leaving in half an hour, connecting through Chicago. One seat available on the Chicago flight, and one seat available on the flight out of Chicago to come home. Looks like I’m going to be fine. However at that moment, over the radio held by the ticketing agent, the news came through that the original flight was good to go, and boarding immediately. Dammit. Gotta run back through security to make this one, but fortunately all was fine and I boarded the plane.

Now, I quickly realized that the chance of making my original connection was becoming very low. But, I figured if I don’t make that one, at least I’m in a much larger international airport with many more possible flights home. Pulled in to the gate at 7:30pm, with my connection leaving in 20 minutes. Luckily I only had to run past about 3 or 4 gates to reach my flight home, but I had zero time to spare. I was the second last person on the plane. Just made it.

Looking back, it’s still hard to believe that I actually made the connection. It was cut about as close as you could possibly get, short of jumping on to the plane as they are closing the doors. I tell you though, when I booked the flights, I had that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I really should have just booked a direct flight to the nearest major airport and drove the remainder. Normally that’s what I do, but for some reason this time my usual diligence in not being stupid seemed to be absent. Ah well, that’s one mistake I won’t make again.

September 29, 2010

Trade Shows – A Chance to Experiment

We all hear the same things about B2B trade shows: Trade shows are dying, nobody buys at these things anymore, they’re too expensive, what a hassle, etc. While consumer-oriented shows like E3 and CES are massively popular, and attract both consumers and businesses, many industrial and manufacturing shows are mere shadows of their former selves. Of course there are a few shining stars left that still hold massive sway in their specific markets, but in general attendance is way down, exhibitors are going with smaller exhibits and sending fewer representatives.

All too often B2B trade shows are viewed through a very narrow lens: Lead Generation. This focus tends to completely overshadow any other reason to be at the show, and if attendance is down then leads will be down, therefore the show will be branded as decreasing in value.

This is bad for the organizers of the show, since they’re dealing with smaller revenues from exhibitors and fewer reasons to give attendees to show up, but for the B2B marketer these shows can be the perfect little test site to conduct real-world testing on small, very focused groups of existing or potential customers.

I’m scheduled to attend three very different B2B trade shows in the next month, and for each of them we’re conducting a very specific ‘test’ effort to see what we can get out of these shows aside from just leads.

One of these efforts is centered around our social media programs, and trying to get a better feel for the kind of content that will elicit a conversation among our followers, as well as generating an increased follower base.

Another effort will determine our customers needs for product education, and what types of materials are most desirable for them to educate themselves with.

The third effort will look at what kind of joint-branding activities our customers would be willing to engage in, and how we can best provide mutually desirable results from connecting our brand with theirs.

So, for each show we’ve set a small, achievable goal. 1 – Increase social media activity, 2 – Improve our product education materials, 3 – Determine what methods of cross-branding are appealing to our customers. These goals are each significant on their own, but to get results in all three over the course of a few weeks IN ADDITION to the leads you would have received at the show anyway? Now you’ve dramatically improved the value of those shows for your company without any additional out-of-pocket expense.

Typically, the ROI for trade shows is measured according to the # of leads obtained at the show. While it certainly is an important metric, it is in no way the only tangible benefit to exhibiting at a trade show. You can also measure the amount of competitor info that you have gathered, how many people have liked/followed you in your social media efforts, how much feedback you get on your products, or even the number of media reps you speak with. Anything you do to benefit your business and customers needs to be identified so that you can get a true evaluation on the value of your presence at the show.

Basically, what I’m getting at is to try and not view trade shows through one single lens of ‘hope we get lots of leads’, but rather to look at all the different ‘little experiments’ you can conduct while you’re there. Set forth two or three small, achievable goals for yourself that will provide a tangible result, and you’ll find that your company’s attitude toward trade shows will improve dramatically, along with the beneficial results you’re obtaining in exchange for your cost of exhibiting.

September 16, 2010

Social Media – Electing not to participate?

@MitchJoel‘s latest Blog post discusses those companies who question whether social media is ‘right for their business’. While traditional marketing thoughts might be ‘well, not every channel is right for every business’, one must realize that social media is not traditional marketing. It’s a fluid, ever-changing series of communication channels that are not managed by agencies or corporations. They are managed by their users, and the content available in these channels is maddeningly unpredictable at the best of times, and horrifyingly predictable at the worst of times.

This being said, you can easily see why some companies are apprehensive about participating in such a different method of communication. It’s tough to realize that you need to rely on the general public to make your efforts successful, but once you make that leap of faith, it’s incredibly liberating if not a bit overwhelming.

So, while Mitch points out quite effectively that ‘yes, social media IS for every business’, one thing that is missing from the discussion is that EVENTUALLY your brand is going to appear in social media channels regardless of your action or inaction. Sure, it might not happen tomorrow, next week, or next month, but one day it will and it will be at the discretion of whoever decides to mention you. You’re never going to be able to completely control what people say about you, but you can be at least involved in the conversation and the longer you wait to speak up, the quieter your words will be.

Your decision to start participating now can be one of the most crucial decisions you make for the future of your brand. This is not to say you need to jump in haphazardly just to ‘be there’. You first need to figure out what your brand is all about, because there is no other media where your real story will come out faster than it will in social media. If you try to whitewash your story in to what you ‘want it to be’ rather than what it ‘really is’, you will be sniffed out by the community and labeled a fraud.

The key to participation in social media, as has been repeated countless times by social media gurus, is to be genuine. Be transparent. Hide nothing, and be not afraid to talk about everything. Look in every nook and cranny of your business for the ‘good news’ that you otherwise might pass over. Sometimes the most seemingly insignificant thing can spark an excellent conversation, and net you some extremely valuable insight in to your customers, competitors, and community.

The time to begin is now and the longer you wait, the longer it will take to get your own voice heard.