The Engaging Brand

10 Combinations to Create Engagement

Engaging people with your brand needs you to think about combinations, not to dilute the experience to please people but to bring out the best of all branding worlds

1. Combining traditional marketing techniques with social media tools
2. Combining old timers experience with the ideas of the new generation
3. Combining the communication for internal and external consumers of the brand
4. Combining of short term tactics to achieve the long term goals
5. Combining of messages that will appeal to all the senses
6. Combining the art of listening, art of filtering information with decision making based on feedback
7. Combining on line and real world experiences. Bringing real world customers online and on line customers together in the real world.
8. Combining what we know now, with what we want to create in the future
9. Combining opposite data to create innovation.
10. Combining people with shared beliefs, shared interest, shared values...to create community.

Often we combine and dilute the offering...that is not what I mean. I mean finding a combination that brings the best out of all worlds to create an even better solution.

Often people see social media as the only answer...not at all....it is part of the marketing combination, part of the leadership tools available. When you find succeed it is when you get a combination that is stronger than the individual parts

Is social media the new stethoscope?

When business is wanting to create brand engagement either internally or externally - I believe it comes down to wonderful common sense(s)

Taste - Give them a taste of what engaging with your brand will do for them personally, how their world, life will change for the better.

Touch - Emotions are very powerful in creating engagement. You don't speak in facts or data, you speak in stories. Stories stay in your memory because of the feelings that you link to the story. Touch their heart, touch their soul...in a personal way. Personal to them not you!

See - Be present with them, be in their environment. See them interact with the brand....see first hand what makes them smile, and do more of that.....see what irritates and do less of that in the future. Creating engagement is thinking about the full experience, not just the purchase.

Hear - Listen to their feedback, listen to what people are saying, listen also to your gut feelings. Data analysis is often removing that all important intuition that leaders need....listen to your heart and listen to the heart's of your customers. Does that make social media a stethoscope?

Smell - People love the fragrance of success...in order to celebrate success inside and outside the business...you need to understand what success would looks like, smells like.... Imagine yourself as a bloodhound.....on the trail of that elusive success, sniffing out opportunities, tracking the trail of that business animal which is out there for those who have the persistence to track it down

Maybe business is common sense...however I like to see it as communal sense :)

Free - The Ultimate Sale or Return Marketing Concept?

Free is the new black, according to Chris Anderson. I love this concept however with social media it is the distinction between free and valuable which we need to fully understand.

Let me explain. I remember my one bad boss saying to me "Anna, let me give you some free advice..." Mmm it was free because it wasn't valuable. It wasn't about my growth as a leader, it was about attempting to control my development at the time.

The problem for marketing indeed leadership, is understanding that free is about giving away something of value for nothing in return, in the short term. It is not about giving away something you don't mind to give away, not about giving away something that is not valuable to the recipient. It is about delivering something of value now, in the belief that people will engage with your service/product/brand and seek a greater experience.

Free needs a new understanding in a world that is affected by social media, a kind of take now, pay later if you want to....Maybe it is the ultimate sale or return! Sell now, return later to pay...

When I think back to the "free advice" it wasn't valuable because - I didn't want it, the value was to him not me, that advice was something I would expect from my leader...I wasn't expecting to pay!

The question is  -  Has your free element got significant value, not to you but to the recipient?

Change a Childs Life on 29th March!

Almost a year ago, I was approached by Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton - two superb marketers - and asked to be a co-author of The Age of Conversation.

It was a privilege to be part of such a great charitable venture. I later had the further privilege of interviewing them for The Engaging Brand podcast which is worth listening to on the Age of Conversation and  Collaboration.

The book had 103 chapters on a single topic, conversation. The proceeds went to Variety, the Children's Charity. It was a great success raising £1,000's for charity.

The success has promoted  The Age of Conversation 2, and  Chris Wilson has organised something special, he has suggested that we do one final push for AOC this Saturday, March 29 and bum-rush the book on Amazon.

If you'd like the full story on the plans, please read Chris's post about how you can help. I would ask anyone who hasn't bought the book to please buy the book this Saturday on Amazon (using this link) and tell everyone you know to do the same.The goal is to get the book to the top of the sales chart for the day (and to continue to raise money for Variety).

Remember if you're buying more than one copy of the book, please be sure that you order each one separately. When computing rank, Amazon counts orders placed, not individual copies. Lets help change peoples lives!

Make Value, Not Money ...And Definitaly Not War!

Business is all about people creating value - the difference between what you sell a product for and what it makes you to create it.  This also works with people...the difference between their ability or CV after they work for you compared to when they joined. Have you added value to their career?

People talk about making money, but as a Chartered Accountant (!) I think that is wrong. You can make money in the short term but in the long term it is about creating value - for employees and consumers a like. 

Value brings engagement, engagement brings value, value brings loyalty, loyalty brings engagement!

It is a wonderful smiling vicious circle :)

Businesses that think about value as a differentiator, value as a "given" in order to be successful, create a brand rather than a commodity. If we think of money as an exchange of value, it illustrates the need for you to create a valuable product for people to want to exchange their money for...do your products create value or merely cost to buy?

It reminds me of my good old dad who used to say to me..the quickest way to gain promotion or to get a pay rise is not to have those as goals...instead create value in other people's lives and the outcome will be financial success. Darn it, another time he was right.....

Brand Stories Need Context For A Wow Factor

Storytelling is an important part of marketing to both employees and consumers. Storytelling gives context. Let me explain. In a couple of weeks I am going to New York to speak at Blogher on Beyond Blogging and also meet up with many online friends at Blogger Social.

I can't wait as I have never stayed in New York before...and like any tourist can't wait to see the sights such as the Statue of Liberty. Readers and listeners to the podcast, know that I have this thirst for learning and have been reading about New York. I came across these facts

• If you stood on the top deck of the QM2, sailed into Manhattan, you would look the Statue of Liberty in the eye.
• If placed in the middle of Manhattan the QM2 would stretch more than 4 blocks.

I also found out that the Hoover Dam holds enough water to flood the whole of New York state to a depth of 4ft and there is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to build a 4ft path around the world at the Equator!

The reason for sharing the above, is that these facts paint pictures that astound. Marketing too often gives information....imagine instead of sharing pure data you find a way of painting a picture that astounds. How do you display your strengths? Do you display them as information or as pictures to surprise people?

Storytelling in marketing can be powerful and when you combine that with putting the facts into perspective for the consumer, then a wow factor can be born...you start to surprise people and paint a picture of an "Engaging Brand"

Let's keep the curiosity alive!

I had the privilege yesterday of speaking to students at Leeds Met University about podcasting within a PR and marketing context - arranged by the wonderful RIchard Bailey. I say privilege because they were a wonderful set of students...I just left this comment on Richard's blog

"The reason why I enjoyed it so much, was that there was interaction...a desire to probe, to understand, to challenge...for me business leaders have a role to play in keeping that spirit alive when the students enter the world of PR and marketing. Curiosity is so often stifled and yet curiosity is a huge gift to have within the team."

With procedures, meetings, justifications, politics...it is so easy to stifle that curiosity that was there when people entered the business world.
For me as leaders we have a role - if not an obligation -  to keep that questioning, to keep that curiosity alive.
Without that curiosity you just will not evolve the team or business at the rate that is ultimately possible....you can encourage that culture by being curious yourself, asking questions, challenging the status quo. As I always say, a leaders job is not to give the answer, but to find the right questions.....

Being Extraordinary Means Being Ordinary

As a company or brand grows, it is so easy to forget the roots of the success. I believe extraordinary success comes from

• Feeling a need or understanding an issue and solving it....to do that you need to think of the problems of "ordinary" people.
• Knowing what will be important - price, design, functionality - to do that you need to think of the needs of "ordinary" people.
• Engaging with the consumer - to do that you need to think what connects with "ordinary" people.
• Growing through developing the product, evolving the product....to do that you need to think of the evolving desires of "ordinary" people.

In a world that demands "extraordinary" customer service, extraordinary design, "extraordinary" marketing," extraordinary" leadership I feel it is important never to lose the ordinary touch....the extra comes when you can think like an ordinary person and translate it into a solution, a campaign, a product.

I think that is why the best ideas are often the simplest because they come from understanding an ordinary life.

Social Media Is To Marketing What EDLP Was To Advertising

The more I think about social media and branding, the more I think that it follows the principle of Everyday Low Prices. I remember going to Asda a few years back (part of Walmart) and hearing that they didn't want promotions, they wanted, what we spent as a supplier on advertising/promotions, to be built into the ongoing price. They said that people wanted just honest ongoing prices.

When I think about it, isn't that we are talking about with social media? People don't want to be told, don't want to be "marketed to" about what the brand offers...they want an honest two way conversation. This is consumer driven, just like Everyday Low Prices.

When social media works, business is seeing it from the consumer point of view.....they are opening up channels of communication to listen to the consumer voice. The consumer voice is there already, without social media you just don't listen or you are just "ignorant" of the conversation.

So my thought is that social media isn't a fad, isn't merely a tool to use but a recognition of what is happening from the consumers point of view. To build the brand you need to roll the conversation into Everyday Two Way Conversation....it is the everyday low price of engaging consumers....

Are party organisers the new black in marketing?

I keep thinking that in todays world of on line, social media and all those other geekish phrases we can use, that we should start thinking in a different way. Maybe, just maybe we need to learn from a friends of mine rather than marketeers or sales people.

My mate is a wonderful organiser of a party - she is not outgoing, she is not the life and soul of the party but she manages every time to create an experience of enjoyment. No one ever turns down an invite, no one needs to find an excuse not to go as people know that they will love the evening. I am thinking she should be my new role model in a world that is about bringing people together. Thinking about it..

• The people she puts together are different, they do not necessarily know each other (or want to!) but they come together and feed off each other in a way that brings value to the night.
• She thinks about the group and designs the evening to suit the people. To do that she needs to know them well.
• She creates the event, but then steps back to allow the others to create the night that they want...
• She invites them, makes them feel valued, makes them feel as though they are special and wanted. She engages them, in doing that they give back to the party.
• She sees the event in 3 phases - the invitation, the event, the follow up and gives the same time to all 3 phases.
• She is passionate about people, passionate about ensuring that her friends have a good time

Mmmm makes me think that now as business people we need to learn to be party orgnanisers not marketeers..anyone know of any colleges etc running that on their program!