We’ve become so afraid of ‘failure’ – the pressures of work, the lack of job security. And it seems every non-sweeping success is immediately dubbed #FAIL by pundits, armchair quarterbacks and assorted ne’er-do-wells.

Beware the hype 

First of all, watch you don’t step in the b.s.

Talking about so-called scandals, Tyler and I agree that missteps are often publicly branded as scandals and failures when in reality, it’s us fueling the failure machine, adding fire to the flame.

Add ‘gate’ to the end of anything and Presto, instant “controversy.” Ratings sell. Scandals get links. Hype gets clicks.

Second, understand what really is a ‘failure.’

Example: McDonald’s. Even though 97% of tweets and chatter regarding McDonald’s recent Twitter campaign were positive, it was the less than 3% of negative tweets that got all the hype. It was dubbed failure by many when their only mistake was that they did an involvement campaign, without being ready for involvement.

FWIW I did a little backseat tweeting, questioning the expectation of ‘controlling’ such a message campaign. The lack of plan for the trolls, the negative; how hard would it have been to block them, tease back “ok, you’ve had your fun,” reclaim the conversation, show genuine engagement? Would it have made a difference, I still wonder aloud.

Mark W. Schaefer calls it the Vanilla Web, our negativity bias. In a world when one tweet can kill a career, everything has to be perfect, appeal to all while offending none, never straying into dark territory or taking a risk, being human.

Who the hell bats 1,000?

Just went to my first Braves game this season, so I must remind folks that while yes Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, he also struck out more than 3,000 times. And for those who don’t know baseball or never seen Bull Durham, a batting average of .300 – you successfully hit only 3 out of 10 tries – is considered outstanding.

As you look to hire new employees or outsource your small business PR, social media and marketing communications (Waves Hi!) let me tell you something, you want the ‘failures.’

Someone with an impeccable, safe resume or optimized LinkedIn profile may seem the ticket. The firm with pretty white papers and cases studies may seem the right option. Or perhaps the “Big Name” with the social badges, book deals and List status catches your eye.

Consider the road less traveled.

• Someone who’s failed – they know from getting back up off their ass, starting again.
• Someone who’s struggled – they know from obstacles and how to overcome them.
• Those who make mistakes and do right by them, they learn not to make them again – and possibly turn those ‘failures’ into opportunity while they’re at it.
• Someone who hasn’t had it easy knows from hard work. Much as I hate the ‘do more with less’ mentality, I also know how to get big results with small budgets.
• Someone who’s been unpopular doesn’t worry about kissing middle management’s ass. They know how to use their lack of cool – and get things done.

Take a Risk

We laud risk takers in the media, but so few of us really think along those lines. We praise the successful failures – the ‘once lived in car but now have business empire’ stories – but what about on their way up, or those who never quite get there?

It’s one of the reason I enjoy the TED series, that approach to education. Want more innovation, critical and creative thinking? Be more real, more human – and stop punishing ‘failure’ in school and at work.

Insert [pithy quote on how failure is key to success] here. Got a fave? Do share.

Tags: Communications | leadership | success

Old school, new school – we see it all. Luckily we can learn something as we watch others use new tools and tactics to make the same old mistakes.

Trickle down leadership.

Employee relations is about more than getting your company listed as a ‘great place to work’ and the ‘suit-n-tie office types’ vanity mentions in the business paper. Bottom lines are key; ignoring those that get you there – the front line – is a huge mistake. Success starts on the front line, not in the executive lounge.

HR is sometimes thisclose to PR says Leon Noone; your employees often ARE your brand. How will you hire or retain any employees worth a damn if you don’t effectively recruit, motivate and train them?

Lesson: Communications; if you don’t know what your USP or elevator pitch is, you can bet your employees won’t either. Train your employees. Make sure those on the front lines – with customers, vendors, investors, other employees – are empowered to do their jobs, know they have a voice in making positive changes.

Duck and cover. Run and hide.

Ignore your competition and critics. When ‘no comment’ is rarely an effective communications strategy, you stick your head in the sand. You don’t answer the frickin’ phone because really, there’s nothing anyone likes more than talking to machines. Oy.

One of the biggest customer service mistakes ever – ignore the negative feedback and the opportunities they can bring. Firms charge big money for marketing research. Your naysayers on Yelp and your blog are working for FREE; zap the trolls and can spam for sure but don’t dismiss their constructive criticism.

Lesson: Step up and face the firing squad. Make things right, reshape your story; learn something that can help grow your business. I still think about how well the Red Cross handled a mistweet; they admitted it, apologize, accepted responsibility – sans panic – and moved on; would that more companies would do the same.

Follow the leader.

The other day I was at Lenox Square (Atlanta mall) and I actually shook my head all ‘tsk, tsk’ as I passed by the look-alike Microsoft store. I cannot think of a worst message to send than “if they can do it better, we can follow and do it our own, crappy way.”

It’s quite sad that one of the wealthiest, most successful companies on the planet is copying a company who was once just nipping at their heels. Hell Apple still only has a small (but growing) share of the PC market. They managed to pull ahead by creating new industries – portable music made easy, the mobile-app world made easy – by looking ahead, by driving what consumers will want.

Lesson: One way to beat the competition, stop trying to be them; be you, only better.

Do less, Cost more, Live in the past.

So Facebook changed their rules. Again. Some more.

Facebook isn’t betraying your business; you are if you don’t find ways to adapt to those changes, make them work in your favor. Manage the tools, don’t let them manage you.

Someone else found out how to make/sell what you do 1) better 2) faster 3) cheaper and with 4) better service. You can complain about ‘big chain’ this or ‘bad economy’ that when the reality is: the way you’ve always done it ain’t working anymore. You lost.

Lesson: Improvise, adapt, overcome. When was the last time you updated your independent store, made it brighter, cleaner? Offered something the ‘big box’ didn’t? Created a loyalty program? You play the Game of Thrones to win or you die.

Mistakes happen; hopefully, we learn something.

 Photo credit: Despair really gets business… and earns mine all the time.

Tags: Communications | Marketing | PR | Social media

Search Google for infographics and they never, ever end; even Infographics to End all Infographics.

Pretty pictures

I’ve seen posts on how to pitch infographics and lists of reasons to use an infographic as a media release and lots of fun NSFW diversions, etc. etc.

For the record, I like me some chart porn. Graphs and pictures make great educational tools to help readers understand complex sets of data; used properly, images and pictures can be powerful communications tools.

As a designer, I know good infographics take time and talent, and therefore money to produce. Benefits to a brand or start-up business include exposure, branding, reach. Make a clever infographic and there’s chance for national pick up or blog coverage, luck that maybe Mashable shares it; awareness.

Inside baseball much?

Visually appealing, with easily digestible, statistical data, a good infographic is designed to be 1) easily, readily shared with others and 2) get your brand name and message out there to your target audience.

Who’s really reading and sharing? And what’s the business benefit besides the aforementioned awareness?

I know people from all walks of life – healthcare, education, law, engineering, counseling, construction, etc. – some social, others not; all of whom are online daily and few really know what an ‘infographic’ is.

I remember discussing iPhone predictions with a few people last year – all iPhone, iPad wielders – and told them to “just look for the infographic, it’s on Mashable.” Lots of blank faces and blinking.

Maybe it’s me.

I started this post one place – collecting good infographics, maybe starting a “week in infographics” quasi-regular feature. I ended someplace far different – not seeing the value, the ROI – especially to small businesses.

Of all the cool infographics I’ve clicked, read, tweeted, I don’t think I’ve even paid attention to who designed it or what brand was behind its creation.

Look at this cute Ode to Beer Infographic I just happened across. Two problems I have with it:

1. I had to look, REALLY look for the sponsor; and I was actually looking for it. It was nothing more than a URL that blended in – too well – with the overall design, violating a rule of getting more value out infographics, being well-branded.

2. The brand – something about online bachelor degrees – seems a mismatch. YES the youngsters will be drinking of the beer, but will they really be Googling, sharing little charts about it? Thinking “Beer, I need money for beer, time to go back to school” and clicking away? IDK.

Tell me I’m wrong

The chance that the infographic will go ‘viral’ isn’t enough. The hope that it gets shared enough and eventually makes its way to the right audience doesn’t do it for me; hope is not a plan.

So tell me I’m wrong. Give me some examples. Show me how your company got great success with creating your cool bacon infographic. Thoughts?

Tags: branding | Communications | infographic | Marketing

“You’re not Apple.” That’s ok… you don’t have to be. (Though of course, it’d be nice .. shiny new iPads.)

Business 101

Apple’s stuff flies off the shelves, they have an unpaid army of fans and supporters building up their products and it seems everyone wants to write/talk about them. They also spend the $$, as Apple markets themselves brilliantly via retail, advertising, strategic PR, carefully planned events.

Look at their ads: they don’t talk specs and features, they’re not selling. They offer more than just solutions and benefits, time savers and fun, time wasters like Siri, games and social media. They communicate ideas, feelings, usefulness relative to the users.

If you have a good product or service, offer value to others.. then you’re in business, so long as you can communicate that to the right people.

Who, What, When, Where, How, Why?

Answering these questions will write your marketing, PR, communications plan. Hell, throw in a few spreadsheets, sprinkle on the Excel pixie dust, you’ll see a business plan forming.

• Define your brand, focus on your strengths, minimize your weaknesses. Identify those you can help with your boffo products or whiz bang services and go find more of them.
• Don’t run from the competition, study them, learn from them, find ways to do it better. Fat and lazy gets beaten by small and quick, the big guys can get it wrong with terrible customer service story telling – that ignores the customer.
• Figure out where you were, where you are now, and where you need to be. Determine where the fish are biting and what bait to use; if nary a customer is using Facebook, then no you don’t ‘need’ a FB page no matter what some pundit tells you.

It’s all relative

You can have the bestest thingamabobs in the tri-state area, but if no one hears of you, no one ‘gets’ what your doodads can do for them, it won’t matter. Customers search to solve their problems, not to find your solutions.

You can be a great place to work but unless you are involved with your community and people understand your business is more than a line on a resume, you’ll have a hard time recruiting top talent to work there.

Yes start up businesses can not only afford PR, IMO they need that comprehensive approach to communications – focusing on more than just the media. It’s public relations for a reason, because it’s about relationships and communications, relating to the various strategic audiences businesses need in order to succeed.

Stories are for the audience

Who cares from memory chips and data speed when they can have a “so easy, even my techno-challenged F&F can do it” FaceTime chat?

There’s only one Apple. There’s also only one you. Grow your business by telling your story in a way your audiences  - customers, as well as media, employees, investors, vendors – can relate to.

Photo credit: History, humor .. also relative, especially for a dork like myself. Very Demotivational.

Tags: Advertising | Communications | Marketing | Public Relations | storytelling

Per my resolution to do something different, a book review.

Hitting the Books

Thanks to my iPad, the library’s ebook system, I’ve caught up on a few novels – that left me yawning for my TV. I tried a couple social media and marketing tomes that sadly seemed dated, obvious and frankly, no more insightful than a collection of ‘above average for a Wednesday’ blog posts.

I did enjoy Daniel Pink’s Drive, though still a bit scholarly and academic for me. Think maybe it was all the footnotes and probably some malingering schoolhood trauma.

I like blunt, real world and Raw, Medium Raw

I don’t set the DVR around it or anything, but I’m a fan of Anthony Bordain’s No Reservations. So when his book (haven’t read Kitchen Confidential) was available from the e-library I went for it.

Turns out, there are good business lessons to be learned from Anthony Bourdain and book reviews make decent blog posts. Lessons learned:

“Luck is not a business plan.” Too many businesses skip on the plan, the strategy, think they can coast on luck and a decent head of hair – and until it bites them in the ass.

“People will continue to pay for quality. They will be less and less inclined however, to pay for bullshit.” The jet set do not fare well in the book but then, Mr. Bourdain makes some excellent points about going too far with ‘luxury’ pricing no matter who your customer is.

You can bank on the ‘whales’ – until you go broke.  Interesting explanation on the fact that it was the big wine spender the restaurants banked on – until the big fish (mammals actually) stopped biting. “Chefs and restauranteurs have to go back to their original business model: sell people food they like and make money doing it.” Adding 20 related product lines may seem a good idea at the time, but better to stick with your core strengths; it’s what got you there.

Heroes, villains, circles and cliques. Mr. Bourdain names names as well as calls out what he considers douchey practices, but it’s clear – there are creativity-stifling echo chambers and inner sanctums in chefdom, just like everywhere else.

There can be too much of a good thing. The tales of ADNY with overdone fine dining service, oy. See above, charging for bullshit. Taking things to the next level is one thing; putting on airs and affectations in order to sell overpriced crap, that’s another.

Burgers and tees. People who can’t afford Gucci can buy a t-shirt with the Gucci name on it – at top dollar. Very smart, rightly-cynical look at branding, at marketing and things like burgers, Starbucks coffee – what people will pay for things, how to market ‘down’ without devaluing the luxury brand or market ‘up’ the everyday and mundane.

There was also a nice anecdote about a friend who’d never eaten in his own restaurant. You need to think more like, be more like the customer.

“Belt tightening implies a bad thing. But it also means you’re getting thinner.” Lean, nimble vs. clunky, lumbering – in today’s fast-paced market, the leaner, faster organization is often a healthier business model.

“There is no lying in the kitchen.” A lot of businesses I suspect are very much NOT marketing-proof and have to walk the talk because bullshit like ‘personal branding’ and credentials mean jack squat. You can’t hide, you can’t fake it; you either suck or get it right.

Being a child of the restaurant industry, I know there is tremendous marketing, communications, business sense to what Mr. Bourdain – and I’d suspect other chefs – have to say. There has to be, restaurants are one of the toughest gigs going. In any economy.

What’s something you’ve learned from a different business/industry that still applies to what you do now?

Tags: Business | management | Marketing