Shape of Things

Ever hear of Bill Simmons? I hadn’t until last week when I saw that his The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy was number one on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller’s list. 

Simmons’ success in traditional publishing stems from his millions of followers on espn.com, where he made his name as The Sports Guy. The appeal is that he’s like any other sports fan, except perhaps a bit more obsessed and a better writer and self-marketer.

Simmons doesn’t write in-depth analysis, go on the road with a team, do psychological profiles, or any of the other things great sports writers have done in the past. He’s not a reporter; he’s a fan. He taps into the common obsessions of fans. Who’s the best basketball center, Wilt or Russell? What football player do you hate the most? He’s fueled by lists, emotions, biases and statistics– just like every other fan.

Like it or not, this is where communications is going — think of twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs.  The majority don’t want an authoritative voice; they want someone like them, or at least, someone like the best vision of themself.

What does this mean to the PR person, the marketer, the publisher, the corporate communicator?

It means you have to stop making proclamations from on high and communicate from the trenches.

You have to speak with your customer’s voice, in terms he or she can relate to.

You have to bring customers’ stories to the forefront of your communications.

You have to establish an ongoing dialog with customers and help make them part of a community.

You have to forego marketing generalities and get into the nitty gritty of your customers’ everyday jobs. 

You have to elevate conversational approaches and downgrade pronouncements.

In short, you likely have to change everything you’ve been doing for the last couple of decades. 

Future posts will deal with how corporate communications and marketing can be revamped to get in synch with how customers want to be engaged. This isn’t theory anymore; it’s a mandate. In the words of David Bowie, “This ain’t rock and roll, this is genocide.”

I thought it would die a pleasant death, like interest in Paris Hilton after she became a good girl, but it’s not: Authentic is still embedded in the minds of the American business world, especially among PR and marketing people.

The way authentic is being practiced reminds me of a Mad magazine cartoon from the late 60s. A guy’s walking down the street while kids snicker, “What a schmuck!”  Guy gets home, looks himself in the mirror and says “People think I’m a schmuck because I dress like a schmuck.” In the final frame, he’s walking down the street dressed for success like Hugh Hefner (tweed jacket with elbow patches, ascot and pipe) while kids snicker in the background, “What a schmuck!”

What authenticity ain’t

Authenticity isn’t about dressing yourself in new clothes or describing yourself as authentic.  It’s not saying “honestly” or “truly” in your press releases and speeches.  And it’s definitely not posting a picture of your CEO on the website wearing distressed jeans and a retro t-shirt or pursuing his or her rock-climbing hobby.

What it is

Authentic is what someone else feels instinctively about your organization.  What your customers say because all of your dealings with them are embedded with integrity. What the media says because you’re honest and upfront with them. What employees say because they are valued and treated fairly.

If you are doing the above, your company will automatically benefit from word of mouth. But, if you want to extend that, here’s five ways you can ensure authenticity in your communications.

1. Remove adjectives and cliches from your marketing and PR materials, unless you are quoting third parties such as customers and/or analysts.

2. Use clear prose and illustrations to help customers, partners and media understand what you do — don’t hide behind bloated corporate speak.

3. Communicate openly with your customers and employees; take what they suggest, consider it, act on it and thank them for the input.

4. Care about the community of people who use your products and services; provide programs and forums that help them improve professionally and personally.

5. Don’t take yourself so seriously. Show a sense of humor in your communications whenever appropriate.

No amount of rhetoric can buy authentic. If your organization’s values are not strong, no matter what you say, you won’t be able to hide the inner schmuck.

Time management can be the difference between mediocre and brilliant.  The frazzled and the composed.  The confident and the insecure.  Most of all, the incredibly productive and the average.  Here are some tips to make time your friend and accomplice.

Schedule, schedule, schedule

Schedule everything.  Things get done when they are scheduled, sometimes only when they’re scheduled.  Start with a rough monthly schedule, then drill down to weekly and daily.  Write it all down and live by it.

Prioritize everything

Everything you do should be prioritized.  This creates order for your day.  Don’t make a laundry list of activities to accomplish during the day.  This causes problems with feeling you haven’t gotten enough done, putting off less savory tasks, and not taking care of the most important things.  Make a realistic daily list and assign everything you need to get done as “A” priorities.  Further prioritize your A’s in order of importance, from A1 to A8, for example.  Create numbered B priorities for things you want to get done, but that aren’t essential to complete that day.

Don’t react, manage

All too often, activities are dictated by reactions.  There are always going to be situations where you need to react to immediate needs.  But, don’t assume that you need to react just because you’ve received a phone call, e-mail or tweet.  Remember, you have priorities – guard these zealously.

Avoid email knee-jerks

Because it is an immediate form of communication, managers often feel they need to react immediately to e-mails.  Remember: e-mail is here to serve you.  Make sure you manage it, not vice-versa.  Prioritize your responses.  Don’t respond unless you really need to.  Set aside given times for responding.  Show e-mail who’s boss.

Take care of the big stuff

It’s natural to procrastinate with big projects.  It’s easier to take care of a bunch of small housekeeping chores than to launch a project that’s going to take 10 or 20 hours.  But, these projects must be done.  Set aside a block of time each day – 2 or 3 hours where only nuclear holocaust will disturb you.  No e-mail, twittering, phones or other interruptions.  Just you chipping away at that big challenge.

Heed your environment

When’s the best time for you to take care of certain tasks?  Is it better, given the workflow of the office or your home life, to set aside a block of time first thing in the morning, later in the afternoon, or during lunch-time?  When is it best to knock off the little things?  Pay attention to what patterns are telling you.

Pay attention to yourself

When are you most creative or efficient?  Do you hit the floor running or need to do some easy, slam-dunk tasks to get going?  Notice what things you do best at what times and manage your time accordingly.

Get help

Nobody wants to be a nuisance, but it’s better to ask than waste time trying to figure something out or doing circuitous googling when someone else knows.

Be quick, but don’t hurry

These are the words of legendary basketball coach John Wooden.  Do things efficiently, but don’t rush.  Don’t draw projects out, but be thorough.  Don’t get frantic because it leads to mistakes.  Be a killer at executing your time-management skills.

Seek closure

This is not psycho-babble, but a real strategy.  See the finish line and get there in the most direct way possible.  Don’t tinker as you get near the end, unless you’re onto something great.  If you need help in closing, get it.  A project is only great if it’s done on time.

Jealously guard your time

Make a firm resolution not to be sidetracked.  Your mantra: My time is valuable, my time is valuable, my time is valuable…

Listen to inspiration

Inspiration is divine, but fickle.  It’s fleeting and sometimes doesn’t return.  When it hits, forget all the rules, drop everything and go with it.

Good writing has rhythm and flow.  Read your’s aloud.  Does it swing like a pendulum do or like Duke would do?

Before finalizing, read over that press release, case study, memo or planning document as if you are a complete idiot in the subject matter.

Provide information before it is requested.  Turn things in before deadline. Clients, peers and supervisors will love you for it.

I’ve been away from a traditional corporate structure long enough that I get surprised when things I thought died with the fax machine pop up again like some strain of indestructible weed.

The latest is what I call the stingy expert.  You know this person: the genius with all the credentials from 10 to 20 years ago who can tell you exactly what is wrong with your business or strategy, but won’t offer any concrete information on what to do to improve things.  You are supposed to sign on to that five- or six-figure retainer based on the guy’s (and it’s almost always a guy) charisma and guile.

It takes a lot of nerve, chutzpa, to do that kind of high-end carnival barking today.  But, in the last week I’ve seen a couple examples of it.  And, intelligent people being swayed by it. The cult of personality lives, and evidently in some quarters it still thrives.

I grew up with this philosophy of “don’t give away anything unless someone pays for it,” but when I started my own business 20 years ago, I rejected that notion.  I figured I would have to prove – in very specific ways – that I can plan and execute a project for a potential client.

From the outset, I gave potential clients detailed descriptions of what I would do, how I’d do it, and what kind of results they could expect.  It might seem like giving away the store, but I’ve had very few cases of people stealing my ideas.  Those that did were not the kind of people I’d want to work for anyway.  And, of course, there’s always the fact of execution – let’s see them fulfill my plan after they’ve ripped it off.

If you’re good at what you do, ideas and plans should not be a limited quantity – something to hold close to your vest.  There should be more from where that came from.  If someone is trying to sell you secrets that can’t be revealed until a contract is signed, it’s probably for a very good reason: He has something to hide.

If you know you have good ideas, be generous with them to people you respect and trust. Give them out for free, and you’re likely to get more than your share in return.

Target is doing a remarkably effective advertising campaign based on a simple premise: Expect more, pay less.  The ads list examples of the diversity of products available at Target and how easy it is to shop in one stop.  Seems obvious, but they are the only retail store I’ve seen promoting this message really well.

My local wine retailer, Great Grapes, gets it.  They have more than doubled their selections in the $8 to $12 range, and increased the quality of wines in that price range by cutting deals with desperate distributors.  They are offering their normal case discount for 6 bottles and highlighting weekly two-for-one deals.  This isn’t window-dressing, but real value for money.

Three of my clients — Geomagic, Red Gate and Blue Ridge Numerics — do well in tough financial times because their technologies enable customers to do more for less.

Red Gate has the best “try before you buy” policy in the IT business.  Geomagic has just added a Geomagic Labs website where customers can test out new technologies under development.  Blue Ridge has a new HPC module that can generate 100x speed increases for upfront CFD simulation.

I don’t have any official “more for less” policy.  I’m just trying to make it business as usual to go beyond what is required for clients, friends and colleagues. At certain times, this is called value-added.  In today’s economy, I call it essential.

My brother-in-law, Jim Spillane, is a professional photographer.  He’s currently in Nepal, where he’s photographing people going about their day-to-day lives.

Today, he sent an email about his motives for photographing local brick workers:

“It’s the expression on their face(s).  They don’t hide their feelings.  If they’re sad, they show it; happy, you know it.  Unlike the business class I had left in Kathmandu with their masqueraded friendliness, they are not trying to sell you something.  The difference is so stark you notice it immediately.”

This got me to thinking about why I was uncomfortable when I first started in business and what still makes me itch when I see it today: People putting on a mask and playing a role.  In a world of greater transparency, I hope that business people can learn to become more humane and less deceptive – that feelings can be expressed and respected.

Call me a dreamer, but I’m seeing the best companies on the planet being founded on the premise of helping people – both employees and customers – get better.  It’s a fairly clear corporate choice: be a genuine company with a conscience, or a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

A few years back, Douglas Rushkoff wrote a book called Get Back in the Box: Innovation from the Inside Out. In an article in Fast Company, he posited that most companies would benefit from sticking to their core competencies.  Key line:

“It’s as if companies can’t fathom that the most powerful link they have with their customers is their products themselves.”

Some examples he cites:

• Volkswagen of America abandoning minimalist “people’s” cars for luxury sedans and SUVs.  I’d add Porsche to the list for its foray into SUV land.
• The dubious wisdom of Hardee’s running a commercial featuring Paris Hilton eating one of its burgers while washing a car.
• The ex-CEO of the Gap focusing not on the clothes themselves, but on a hugely expensive, untargeted ad campaign.

A recent example is Noilly Prat. The venerable vermouth maker is reportedly changing its U.S. formula in an effort to gain traction as a standalone, light alcohol drink. Here’s what one expert said about Noilly Prat’s importance to the martini:

“Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini. Without it you can make a Sidecar, a Gimlet, a White Lady, or a gin and bitters, but you cannot make a dry martini.” — W. Somerset Maugham (1958)

Now, Noilly Prat, the perfect Tonto, the Robin of alcohol, the quintessential wing man, wants to go solo.  Note to NP: Before doing anything rash, think Art Garfunkel.  Think John Oates.  Return to the box and jump back in. Quickly, before too many people notice.