Is your networking not working? Try this.

 

In the immortal words of the Rolling Stones’ Shattered, with apologies to Mr. Jagger and and Mr. Richards, “All this chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter, chitter-chatter ’bout
Shmatta, shmatta, shmatta! I can’t give it away on 7th Avenue. This town’s been wearing tatters (shattered, sha-ooobie, shattered).”

My town has been wearing tatters for years. Yours too, I bet. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you live in Upstate New York or Northeast Pennsylvania. Sha- oobie. We know what it’s like to be shattered, don’t we?

But we also know how to pick up the pieces. Rebuild. Reboot. Regenerate.

It comes with the territory. Momma and Daddy told me it wouldn’t be easy. Thankfully, they taught me to eat my P’s: persistence and perseverance. In marketing and sales, I have found they are invaluable resources.

One great thing I learned about persevering, from my father (a banker), and his father (a grocer) before him, is the importance of genuine, relationship-building networking, or put another, simpler way: reaching out to others. In life as in basketball, it’s important to keep your eye on the whole court and keep the ball moving. Nobody scores without a good set-up pass. (Ok, it’s March, give a guy a March madness analogy. Humor me.)

The dirty little secret I want to tell you about networking is that I used to hate it. Sometimes, when it’s forced, I still do. Maybe you do, too. But I’m learning that if it’s done right, in a way that honors everyone involved, it’s actually kind of fun to connect the dots between and among people. I do not pretend to be an expert networker. I simply enjoy bringing good people together. Some folks like to bake a cake. I enjoy making a good connection.

I have learned, mostly from doing it the wrong way, that doing it the right way means giving of myself to others and not expecting something in return. When I put positive energy into the world, it does tend to come back. It may take months. Heck, it may take several years or even decades. But I’ve seen it time and time again. When I give someone a hand, make an introduction, or facilitate a connection, it feels good. It’s exactly what I’d hope someone would do for me if they could. Plus, first and foremost, it is the right thing to do! Any good karma or ROI that I realize later is icing on the cake. But so many times I’ve seen it come through. Networking is not a zero-sum game. Everybody wins.

A colleague recently loaned me an excellent little NY TIMES bestseller called “Never Eat Alone.” It’s a book squarely in my sweet spot of self-help and business. Keith Ferrazzi, a guy you might call a serial entrepreneur, has done networking right and built multiple businesses into hugely successful enterprises before spinning them off and moving on (pick and roll, anyone?). He is now a successful author and speaker, spreading his “secrets of success built on the power of relationships, one relationship at a time.”

Building relationships with people is messy. It takes time and effort. It always has. Making connections in the digital era is faster, for example it’s a lot easier to “ping” connections with emails or texts to stay in touch than it is with hand-written notes and phone calls. But no matter what the tools, communicating and relationship cultivating still takes planning, intentionality and follow-through.

We all buy into the fact that we need to make connections to make the business world go ‘round. That is a given. Even if we rail against it, the overriding evidence still shows that who you know is always going to be important no matter how much you know, right? So what kind of relationships make a difference in business and how do we get busy building them? Well, what we’re not talking about right now is building deep, personal relationships, the kind reserved for loved ones and close friends. That’s a different blog and section in the bookstore. And we’re not talking about connecting with thousands of social-media friends or followers, though that may be part of the answer for some people. I tend to agree with Ferrazzi that it’s the relationships in the middle—those connections that are not overly deep but are strong enough to matter—where business people and professionals need to focus their efforts and grow if their businesses, careers and lives are going to flourish.

Want to learn more? I highly recommend the book. I’d also be happy to connect on Linkedin. Or better yet, let’s get together over a cup of coffee in one of the hip, new coffee shops sprouting up like daffodils all over our shattered but hopeful little town.

Now, get out there and connect. Create a better future. I’m pulling for you.

By Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

In branding, as in life, say what you mean and mean what you say

Have you heard the one about the brand manager who said she wanted to rebrand, but what she meant was, “I’m bored with our logo.”

Your brand cuts way deeper than your logo. Just as a fresh coat of paint on a house may improve its curb appeal, a logo refresh may be something that is needed periodically for your brand. But, wait a second. Just as there’s more to a home’s value than its exterior, there’s much more than meets the eye when it comes to your brand. It’s the whole house!

Brands are 3-dimensional. In addition to your logo, your brand includes visual cues like your digital presence, sign, trucks, uniforms and forms. Your messaging matters. (Copy is important! You’re reading this and it’s not even that important. Or is it?) The third and arguably most important factor is the consistency of your brand. Many a logo/slogan that you may not think of as great, used consistently over time to establish a unique positioning in the minds of consumers, still works, still sells.

There’s equity in a good brand. According to Forbes magazine’s annual review, “Brands get their value from how customers perceive them,” says David Reibstein, a professor of marketing and branding expert at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “What makes it valuable from a company perspective is that customers are willing to pay a higher price or are more likely to buy.”

How much are the top five brands worth?

1. Apple’s brand is valued at $154 billion
2. Google $82.5 billion
3. Microsoft $75.2 billion
4. Coca-Cola $58.5 billion
5. Facebook $52.6 billion

(Forbes, May 11, 2016).

Your brand is a promise. Do your products, your services, your organization and your people all deliver on that promise? Harmony is where the magic happens. When your mission and your message are singing the same song, there is strategic harmony. That is gold. Apple is the New York Philharmonic of brand harmony. Volkswagen, with its falsetto promise of German engineering being drowned out by news cycles filled with emissions-control corner-cutting, not so much. Customers don’t just hear brand harmony, they sense it. When you say what you mean and mean what you say, it’s only natural for customers to appreciate that harmony and reward you with their business and referrals. Conversely, if you don’t walk the walk, people won’t buy your talk.

Be careful what you promise. Avoid these four tired brand clichés like the plague:

1. Trust in us (Aren’t all brands essentially about trust?)
2. Our people make the difference (Can you prove it?)
3. We solve problems (Who doesn’t?)
4. We care (This is subjective and trite anyway.)

Instead of hackneyed hype, try showing people why they should trust your brand. Answer the question they’re all asking: “Why should I care about your brand, and what can it do for me to make me feel better about me?” That’s right, the real secret to branding brilliance is self-esteem. If the brand makes you feel good about yourself, you’ll buy into it.

Go beyond brand features. Make the effort to go beyond mere reasons people should buy your product or service. Take the brand to an emotional level that connects with basic human emotions such as self-esteem/guilt, altruism/narcissism or fulfillment/fear. You’ll quickly see that the real brand drivers are the feelings behind the features.

In the marketing communications world, seemingly contradictory emotions often reflect two sides of the same coin and drive an awful lot of consumer behavior. Consumers, we all, are equal parts dark and light.

So watch what your brand says. And mean it.

By Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

Is Marketing to Millennials really that different from GenXers or Boomers? Yes, but…

If you need to stay on top of trends and technologies impacting marketing communications, as I do, this post is for you. Consider it a support group for anyone who toils in the vineyards of sales and marketing, advertising or public relations.

Hello, my name is Steve and I’m an avid newspaper reader. I also live in email (M-F anyway), read magazines, watch broadcast TV news and cable (especially during baseball season), and listen to radio stations (both FM and AM) in my car.

Now before you shovel dirt over me, know that I also use my iPhone to text all day long, check my Facebook feed a few times a day, surf at least a half-dozen websites daily, listen to music with Pandora, use other apps, watch YouTube videos and stream a movie now and then.

Demographically, I live in the sandwich generation, smack between GenX and Boomer. My parents are what you might call leading edge Boomers, while I’m on the trailing edge of that cohort. My kids are Millennials. Believe me, I get it that there’s a huge generational difference when it comes to media consumption and hence content delivery.

My kids do not touch printed newspapers. They look at a magazine only rarely. They eschew cable for Roku and a rabbit-ear antenna (talk about TBT, but I digress). They and their cord-cutting friends live 24/7 on and in their phones, not computers or tablets. One gets “hard news” from Facebook, the other from Reddit.

So yes, of course, reaching and motivating different generations requires different communication strategies and tactics. Millennials proactively decide what they want to know and set alerts for it to be fed to them. GenXers seek info all over social media. And Boomers still like their mass media served up with great production value and fanfare.

But we all do have something in common, I would submit. We all like things that work. Marketers and media that connect us to useful products and services—ones that truly meet a need or scratch an itch—will do well.

The media are changing. A lot. But the message still matters. Communicators take heed: make your message matter, too. Make it useful. Make it authentic. Make it pragmatic.

And your product or service? If it doesn’t matter, please try again and make one that matters. Make it relevant. Make it a good experience. Make it work. As advertised.

Digital or analog. Screen or printed page. Apple Watch or stone tablet. Whatever and wherever you communicate, create a passion for your brand. Make each impression and experience count. Align the promise of the brand with the performance of the product. Walk the talk. And you will do well.

As one marketer with a pretty good little brand started saying to consumers of all ages in 1988 and continues to say with success in 2016: Just do it.

By Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

A day in the life of an ad man

 

On days I like my job, I do it better. When I do my job better, I like it more.

If I bring a good attitude to work, it usually makes for a better day. If I have a good day, it usually improves my attitude. Life’s funny that way, isn’t it?

Often I can’t control any of it. The job deals out the cards, and I play the hand I’m dealt. Sometimes it’s not a great hand, but sometimes an ace appears. Someone like Mr. K shows up.

Mr. K’s story

So on this given day, I was working with colleagues and a client on a TV spot. We were at their location, shooting video and recording audio of their staff interacting with some of their clients.

Into the room, in a wheelchair, rolls Mr. K., wearing shorts and a bright blue shirt (and matching blue socks with no shoes). He’s also wearing a grin as big as the room. And he’s singing, loudly: “You ought to be in pictures, you’re wonderful to see; you ought to be in pictures, oh what a hit you would be!”

In between release forms that need to be signed, shots that need the client’s approval, and generally doing whatever it is I do, I engage Mr. K. in conversation. He is a big man, with a Big Personality to boot. He’s in a wheelchair, in rehab, yet I feel his positivity. I want some of it. I feel good when I talk with him. He seems to feel good when he talks with me. He speaks to me about his kids and I chat about mine. He goes on cheerfully about his grandchildren and the second chances he’s been given is his life. I relate, looking forward to having grandchildren some day.

He finishes his small but positively beaming role in our commercial, entertaining the staff and the video crew all the while, then turns to me and says, “Thanks for the memories.” We trade another story each about our kids, then he recounts how he couldn’t be at one recent family gathering due to his health. He recalls for me exactly what his grandson told him. “It’s okay, Gramps, we’ll see you next time. But we missed you. You were the missing piece of the puzzle.” With that, he welled up and his eyes went wet with the happy tears of an old and wise man. He thanked every one of us on the floor and told us all to “have a glorious day.” I was moved. I had done my work that day. And Mr. K. had fixed any attitude problem I may have had.

The good stuff

Sometimes the really good stuff—the tug at the heartstrings stuff—happens to the people we put in our commercials. We reach them, they feel good about their brand, and they reach us when we least expect it. Mind you, this is all before the commercials ever reach their intended audience.

All I know is Mr. K. reached me that day. He was indeed the missing piece of the puzzle.

Hey, Mr. K., thanks for making my day. This one’s for you! “You ought to shine as brightly, as Jupiter and Mars; you ought to be in pictures, my star of stars.”

 

Happy Thanksgiving, and have a glorious day.

Written by:

 Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

Where do ideas come from? Knowing your brand, observing the world. (Post #3)

Another way to get started on seeing your strategy through the insights window is unearthing those real insights about your brand. If a brand is a community of users akin to a club, try thinking about the aspirations of that club’s members. Is the brand a Badge Brand? Think Mercedes or Coach. Their “members” want others to know what they bought. Ever notice how big the nameplate is on that Mercedes? Yes you have.

Some brands sell a Lifestyle. Think Harley-Davidson. Whether the Hog owner is an authentic rough and tumble type or a wannabe weekend warrior/dentist by day, they’re both cut from a cloth that wants to show people, “I’m a tough cookie—don’t mess with me—I’m a Harley.” The key with the lifestyle brand is to sell the emotional appeal to the tribe. They may be independent thinkers, but they want to belong to that group.

What about a Challenger Brand. In this corner is David, the smaller, weaker contender vs. the powerful Goliath. Lots of folks today can relate to that narrative. Lots of real people root for the underdog. Remember #2 car rental company Avis with their “We try harder” campaign. Avis, a Challenger Brand, was pretty darn successful at taking market share from the big Goliaths up top.

Perhaps the best way people in advertising “do” strategy is when they work hard at being good at being observers of the world. The best at it are identifiers of ideas. Cultivators of culture. Students of the art of persuasion. Want to be a painter? It’s smart to study Van Gogh. Want to be in advertising? It’d be wise to study the best in the business. That’s how the best get there and how they and stay inspired. It’s how they repurpose old ideas into new applications. It’s how they make good work. Work that inspires others. Moves the needle. Sells stuff. Even, sometimes, changes the world.

Written by:

Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

Where do ideas come from? Insights! (Post #2)

So, it’s time to develop a strategy. How to start?

There are several pump primers, said Robin Hafitz of Open Mind Strategy in a recent webinar for members of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As). Riger participants learned about using insights, rather than pure information, to form strategies. Information leads to “Oh, ok, ho-hum” reactions, while insights trigger more visceral comments. “Oh, man, I never looked at it quite that way!”

Insights represent a true understanding of the target audience. Not just: “New moms are blogging” (that’s information). But rather, “New moms are blogging as they are trying to understand motherhood in this age and time because they can’t re-create or even relate to how their own mothers did it.” Now there’s an insight on which a strategy can be based.

Where do ideas come from? The singular truth. (Post #1)

Far be it from me to try to speak for fine artists or famous novelists and the genesis of their ideas. But in the commercial creativity business called marketing communications, ideas come from strategies.

A strategy is a single-minded direction. What is the one thing an army needs to know to act? Go that way. Yep, “thataway” is pretty much all they need to know. Now that’s a strategy. It’s direction that is simple, unadorned, and essential.

Those of us who do battle in the marketing communications arena need to remember that kind of simplicity when generating strategies and ideas. Strategy equals sacrifice. Find the one truth. The singular direction. Give up on the other 11 directions. Boil it down. Yes, that means even sacrificing those sacred-cow strategies #2 and #3. Don’t try to jam everything in!

Written by:

Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

The suggestion box goes digital: Whack a mole or share a smile

Nothing beats some pure, unfiltered feedback.

So I had to smile, share a smile, and go back and take a picture with my iPhone when I saw the 2015 version of a suggestion box in a financial institution’s lobby the other day. It cuts right to the chase: either they made you smile or they made you frown. The customer votes by whacking the button on their way out the door.

Businesses will do well to remember the customer is always boss. So whatever you can do to keep lines of communication open with your boss is a good thing.

Whether it’s the “Happy or Not” service buttons or a more comprehensive survey, market research (perhaps with the help of Riger?), in all forms, is very helpful. Use it to stay customer focused, understand customer needs and get service right.

Written by:

Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

A fun AND healthy event: too much to ask?

This will not be a popular post. It does not represent the views of The Management. But it is my opinion.

I did not enjoy The Color Run. Gasp! There, I said it.

Billed as “the happiest 5k on the planet,” this event is the run/walk where participants get sprayed (pelted is more like it) with fine, dust-like, rainbow-hued powders while running/walking a 5k course. Colorful, yes. Fun, meh. Healthy, I think not.

For years I have dabbled in 5ks and even used to compete for running PRs (personal records) before getting too out of shape to run, er jog, for anything but fun. I remember a guy watching one of those 5ks saying, “I don’t need to run to prove anything anymore,” and I thought he was a grouchy old man. He was. I am not.

It’s just that in today’s society’s zeal to make everything “fun,” we have turned 5ks into a competition in gimmickry. Mud runs, dirty girl runs, obstacle course runs, inflatables runs, and yes color runs may get a few more people to try a 5k. That’s a good thing. I’m in marketing. I get it. It may even raise a few more dollars for the cause of the day. But trying to improve one’s health, or happiness for that matter, by simultaneously running and breathing in stardust does not make a lot of sense to me. Like many of my co-fun-runners, I found myself covering my mouth and nose with my t-shirt and the headband provided.

With all the airborne pollutants and allergens we face already, do we really need to spray one other with party-time glitter particulates while we run in the name of “fun,” gasping to the finish line?

This grouchy young man says, no, thanks! Me, I’m trying my hand at swimming the swim leg of a relay triathlon this summer. Jeepers, I hope I don’t get Giardia from that nice, pure clean lake water.

How about you? Let’s hear the counterpoint. I know most of my family and friends thought the Color Run was a blast.

Written by Steve Johnson, Managing Partner

Rebranding a Local Legend

When an institution with the history and stature of Corning Museum of Glass sets out to change its identity and add a new wing, simultaneously, it is not something to be taken lightly.

It is something to behold. And, of course, it’s always interesting to learn more about branding.

CMOG’s new addition and brand were on magnificent display when we visited with Rob Cassetti, senior director of creative services and Yvette Sterbenk, senior manager of communications, at our Finger Lakes PRSA meeting at the museum in Corning, NY.

Riger has always espoused to our clients, “Your brand is a promise.” In CMOG’s case, they have stayed true to their brand promise of leading visitors to see glass in a new light. In fact the new tagline to go with the clean and stylish new addition is: “New Space, New Light.”

The new space is, to my eye, a brave new light: both inviting and futuristic. One tour guest remarked the conference room reminded him of the movie “Contact.” I had to agree it felt like we could be strapped in and hurdled into outer space at any moment.

According to Cassetti, the overall aesthetic was driven by a desire to use black and white as the backdrop and allow the museum art (glass creations), gift shop items, or café food to provide the color. It works. The glass pieces pop!

So if you’re getting the image in your head that the new space looks a little like an Apple store, you’re not far off. Bright white is everywhere. Except the demonstration area. In a deft homage to the tradition of glass blowing, the demonstration amphitheater is all black. We learned many of the designers of the artwork found in today’s museum cut their teeth in the Steuben Glass factory, the precise location of the new demo room. That’s a nice symmetry, good PR, and an effective connector of generations for a place that’s been making glass for over 150 years. Besides, an orange flame looks really cool against a black background.

As for the logo design, it was a labor of love, according to Cassetti and Sterbenk. Their team did the research, knew what they liked, and hired three different designers to get them where they needed to be. The result is a new typeface, black-and-white motif that works well in both positive and negative, a squared-off stacked logo and a linear (unstacked) version for applications where the block logo won’t work. Square but unboxed, it’s clean and elegant, and its simple, powerful design communicates that creativity should not be put in a box. This logo shouldn’t either. What it should do is show off Corning glass in a favorable light for generations to come.

Kudos to Corning Museum of Glass. May your new light burn brightly and shine clearly for another 150 years.

Written by Steve Johnson, Managing Partner