Jeffrey Rosenberg

I recently wrote about taking time upfront to get an assignment right. To ask for more than a single briefing on the context and impetus for a given initiative. To not take for granted that the process or artifact your colleague or client is seeking is the right tool for the job.

A recent Harvard Business Review article reinforces this idea and has a perfect quote from Albert Einstein:

1. Establish the need for a solution
2. Justify the need
3. Contextualize the problem
4. Write the problem statement

Too often companies go directly from months (if not years) of sub-optimized performance to panicked/hair-on-fire need for a project to address

Please don't force technology into marketing. Please. Seriously.

Marketing execution should be driven by strategy, and vice versa. What does that mean? It means that good strategy development should take into consideration what has worked well in the past and what is likely to work well in the future, leveraging business goals, customer insights, and competitive intelligence. And good execution should be driven by a good strategy. It's an iterative process that gets better the more you do it.

For some reason smart marketers often fall into the trap of shooting from the hip, leading to head-scratching moments of "huh"? Here are two I recently experienced:

1) Cisco. I saw an ad in Businessweek's print edition - part of Cisco's "Wake Up the World" campaign. "Tomorrow Starts Here", the ad says, with instructions on how to "wake up" the ad. Simply go to the App Store, find a specific Cisco app, download it, install it, open it, tap "Wake up an Ad", tap "Magazine", (bored yet?), then hover over the ad with the iPhone's camera app. Through the absolute miracle of technology, a one-minute video rolls. And then you can share. Immeasurable frustration.

2) IBM. I saw an ad on TV with the Shazam logo, calling me (and a handful of other people who a) were watching the same show that b) saw the Shazam logo that b) knew it was a Shazam logo that c) knew enough about marketing to know that's a prompt to 'Shazam' the commercial to take you to marketing content that d) actually did just that) to 'Shazam' the commercial, which I did. Which took me to a mobile web page. Not as frustrating as Cisco because at least I could go deeper into the IBM experience, but all of that for a referral URL?

The Splinternet will continue to compound the problem. Marketing planning can solve it.

Taking a deep breath and getting the assignment right

Really like this article on the HBR blog suggesting a "slow conversation movement". It reinforces a thought I've had lately as we have conversations with clients about marketing-related challenges - big, significant, complicated challenges with huge opportunities attached: We shouldn't feel pressured to a) completely understand it and b) be able to frame an assignment to address it in a single meeting. That it's ok to say we need the time to truly understand the problem, the context for seeking to address it, the issues related to it, the stakeholders who have a vested interest in it, the audiences/products/industries/regions/etc. that the assignment needs to consider. And in practice clients need alignment as well, so ultimately it's a win-win.

It's ok to ask for multiple conversations to frame an approach to tackling enormous challenges. I can't think of one client who would think any less of us if we did. But often consultants feel the need to demonstrate they innately "get it" - all of it - in a 60-minute conversation. That's not possible with the types of marketing challenges we typically address, and we're not afraid to say it, and clients aren't afraid to iterate and collaborate as a result of it. Investing time up front in establishing the right trajectory from the start is time well spent.

Business buyers as consumers: The evolving B2B buyer...and B2B marketer

Several weeks ago Businessweek ran an interesting article on mobility in enterprise technology in which it quotes Chris Hazelton from 451 Research as saying Google's shuttering of 3LM demonstrates "they're not realizing that consumer devices are being used in the enterprise." The article also states "increasingly employees are buying their own [smart devices] and getting reimbursed for a portion of the cost of their data and voice plans."

We recently conducted custom research for a global client that supports these notions. And on top of that, we found something really interesting: Business people - regardless of role, industry, or level - are bringing their consumer expectations "from the street" into the workplace and demanding from their employer a higher standard. We heard a lot of "I can do [insert task here] with my iPhone, why can't I do [insert related task here] in my business?"

The consumer mobile space, which has already flipped the relationship between mobility and desktop (Windows 8, iMac's Magic Touchpad are perfect examples), is also beginning to drive change in the enterprise. It's convergence with an enterprise slant.

The answer to how quickly a given company will be able to leverage these existing consumer smart device capabilities is up to two parties: The business, who has to demand it from IT, and IT, who has to accelerate innovation by leveraging tool sets that already exist in the open market.

Consumers now have the power in the marketplace; employees are beginning to wield more power in the enterprise, and that's a great thing for management and shareholders because it is unlocking huge potential for automation and innovation.

A restaurateur's approach as a metaphor for business

There a cafe and bakery in my neighborhood that is overall just an outstanding experience. Food, decor, vibe, service. I had a long conversation with the owner the other day, and we were talking about his initial inspiration for the cafe and how he conceived of the concept. One of the things he mentioned really resonated with me as a marketer, which is that in addition to preparing amazing food from original recipes, he also wanted to expose customers to all of the other food he had to offer. Most restaurants do that by listing items on a menu. His approach was to bring the food out of the kitchen, put it on display, and inspire repeat visits to try other menu items.

This is not necessarily a new model: There are plenty of places all over the world where the food visible to the consumer. But I had always assumed (because I never gave it much thought before) that it was a function of a) storage capacity or b) cooking area proximity (typically food on display is prepared right in front of you). In my local cafe, the food is prepared in a proper kitchen and brought out front for display, but that's not the point. What was interesting to me is something to which I have given a lot of thought over the years, which is the notion of "content forward" and "experience forward" - front-loading and/or exposing value earlier in the customer lifecycle. This can apply to prospects (e.g., helping them understand product/service/experience value through case studies, demos, and/or free trials) as well as customers (e.g., creating better experiences my removing obstacles to task achievement, like Android where content is exposed in the app entry point vs. iPhone where everything is hidden behind app icons).

There are a wide range of benefits to not hiding value: Increased awareness, word of mouth, conversion, usage, enjoyment, loyalty. It can also be more than just about the customer experience. It can also be about how you run your business. Social and mobile capabilities are exposing more and more value every day. For instance, companies can no longer rely on a non-descript office building and a receptionist to hide and hold back its employees. Employees take to social media to talk to the marketplace (for better or worse). Adopting a content-forward/experience-forward mindset can be liberating both as a corporate philosophy and as a customer value delivery philosophy.