Not Your Father’s Way of Buying an Oldsmobile

Buying decisions have changed in the last 20 years because, thanks to the Internet, the tools consumers use to make those buying decisions have changed. In the old days, a consumer could only research a product or service by getting into their car and driving to the brick and mortar store that carried the item to ask the sales staff about its features and benefits. Those days are long gone. Today consumers are more likely to show up to a brick and mortar store only after having done their online research on the product or actually do their research in real time while standing in the store with their Smartphone in hand.

Also, consumers are changing the way they tap into referrals and reviews in making buying decisions. It used to be that folks would ask their next-door-neighbor for a referral or recommendation, “Hey Harry, who did you call last year when you replaced your water heater? Were you happy with their work and the price they charged?” Today the practical need for a referral is the same, but the conversation has gone virtual. Instead of knocking on Harry’s door, customers are tapping into everything from niche blogs to Yelp and Amazon for answers from the Harrys of the world.

The Science of Buying Decisions

Back in the 1960’s when Procter and Gamble was devising strategies to sell us all a box of Tide, they defined a consumer’s decision to buy a product or service as “the first moment of truth” (FMOT). The FMOT was triggered by a stimulus of some kind (e.g. like a rat being aroused by the smell of cheese). The moment the customer actually decided to use the product for the first time, P&G defined as the “second moment of truth” (SMOT). That’s often why you see a note of affirmation inside the box an appliance you purchased saying, “Congratulations, you have just purchased the highest quality toaster made by human hands.” The manufacturer is trying to stroke you and tell you just made a good buying decision in hopes that you won’t change your mind and return the product after you get it out of the box.

According to Google, however, the old P&G consumer marketing model is incomplete. Google, purveyor of the most widely used online search engine in the world, says that after the mental or emotional stimulus that tells the consumer, “I need to buy a new water heater,” is the “zero moment of truth” (ZMOT). The consumer comes to the realization, “Hmm, I have an upcoming buying decision to make so I better start doing some research.”

This is key in the Internet age because if consumers are always connected, any moment could be a ZMOT – - a moment to do research and lead them closer to making a buying decision. They could take a moment to open up a tab on their browser at the office and Google “water heater reviews.” They could post a question on Twitter while waiting in line at the Post Office, “Does anyone have any good recommendations on water heater brands?” Or they could visit the blog of an HVAC expert to gain wisdom related to this upcoming purchase.

As you might expect, traditional marketing has spent most of its energy on reaching consumers in the FMOT and SMOT. In contrast, the ZMOT is all about helping consumers define purchasing decisions and brand preferences before they are ready to make a buying decision – - whether that buying decision is one month away or one year away. (The larger the price tag, the longer period of time consumers typically spend doing research.)

So every day, people are using their moments of downtime or in-between-time to move closer to a buying decision. To capitalize on the ZMOT, marketers need to create a large online footprint for their customers to discover their brand on the highways of HULU.com and the back-roads of the HVAC blogging community.

What Exactly Does ZMOT Behavior Look Like?

So how exactly is this new technology and access to anytime content on demand changing the science of consumer buying decisions? Take a look at the growth of online search activity. This new ZMOT-related consumer behavior is driving a dramatic surge in the growth of online search volume:

+188% growth in online reviews

+288% growth in online coupons

+209% growth in online recipes

+140% growth in local searches

Looked at another way, you could say that online search has amplified the volume of offline conversations consumers used to have about products and services with their friends, neighbors, and relatives. Right? “Hey Harry, can you recommend a ______ (insert the word baby-sitter, mechanic, mattress, car, or cardigan)?”

So who are the power-users in this new landscape? Believe it or not: Moms. With the myriad of things a mom does and the places she goes related to her daily To Do List, moms are able to leverage the power of their traditional and online networks to capitalize on their ZMOTs on the way home from dropping off little Susie at school or while waiting for a white chocolate mocha at Starbucks. Moms are combining the power of their online and traditional networks with their buying power to lead the way in this new landscape.

Winning at the Zero Moment of Truth

Woody Allen used to say that 90% of life is about showing up – - and the same applies to winning the ZMOT with consumers. Following are seven recommendations on how to show up in a powerful, yet relevant way.

1. Choose a Czar of ZMOT – Put someone in charge of the ZMOT at your organization. Listen and find out what are people saying about your brand online.

2. Peer Through the SEM Microscope – Find the zero moments for your product or service by looking at searches related to your brand online and online reviews that have been written.

3. Be the Answer Man – Answer the questions that your customers are asking. Own relevant keywords, own AdWords, provide the content and resources to consumers in the outlets where they are searching. Have a bounce rate of no more than 30% so there’s no disconnect between what people are looking for and what you have to offer.

4. Optimize for the ZMOT – Only 21% of marketers are optimizing for mobile, yet there are 91 million mobile users in the U.S! Don’t wait to get there perfectly, get there before your competitors do. Understand the role that social media is going to play in your customer’s search (e.g. with Google+ you can see how your friends rated all the content you are searching to make a buying decision).

5. Be Fast and React Quickly – Speed beats perfection every time as evidenced by Steven Colbert’s fake advertising campaign featuring Miracle Whip vs. Mayo, and Michele Bachmann’s attack ads related to Rick Perry’s stand as governor on the HPV Vaccine. Bachmann’s campaign bought key words related to what was discussed during the debate (Rick Perry & HPV, etc.) and came up high in online search results that occurred right after the debate.

6. Pump Up the Volume with Video – Video is becoming the most important facet in online search and buying decisions. Every minute, 48 hours of video is uploaded to You Tube. Product videos and how-to-videos are becoming the most popular content on the web on content related to cutlery, cars and jet engines.

7. Might as Well Jump – Don’t be afraid to jump in and try it. You can always make changes afterward and revise and repost your content, message or approach.

Just as Oldsmobile tried to reinvent itself 20 years ago by repositioning its brand for a new generation of drivers, the Internet is reframing how consumers are making buying decisions in this decade. Gone is the reliance on the retail store and its sales people as the source of information for the consumer. The Zero Moment of Truth means that any moment is a moment when consumers might be researching a pending buying decision. Will you be ready with a compelling message to engage them?

Is Social Media All Sizzle and No Substance?

THE SKINNY
Everywhere you look, people are banging the social media drum. “You need to be on Twitter. How many Facebook Fans do you have? Do you have a blog yet?” Is it all sizzle without substance, or can it be leveraged as a practical way to market your brand to customers?

THE SCORE
Shawn Jones from Edelman says that to be successful in social media marketing there are 10 principles you should consider:

1. Establish Measurable Goals: Track key performance indicators: Awareness, impressions, sales and advocacy

2. Community is King: Engage with and take the community seriously in a two-way dialogue. Invite participation and user-generated content, not just push out your own content.

3. Make Everything Shareable: Make things that are of interest sharable with your target audience. Don’t make it difficult for them to find the content they need. Popularity = quality content in the mind of Google.

4. Embrace Your Blog: Don’t take your blog for granted. This is an important source of content. Make postings frequent, fresh, and relevant to your audience. Establish trust and authority. Use multimedia when possible.

5. Foster Relationships: Speak to people directly and interact with them. Respond to comments, postings, and reTweets. You want to cultivate brand ambassadors.

6. Engage Your Audience Offline Too: Don’t put all your eggs in the social media basket. Use a blended approach that includes traditional marketing and live events.

7. Optimize Your Content: Your content needs to be findable online. Use keywords that your target audience cares about and Google will find through search.

8. Have a Social Embassy Strategy: Use each online tool strategically rather than duplicating content across all social media channels. Use it for what it does best.

9. Leverage Partnerships: Think about who you and your audience know and care about. What partnerships are a natural match for co-branding, promotion, and storytelling.

10. Prepare for the Worst: Think through how you will respond to crisis communication if and when it happens. And respond quickly when a crisis does occur.

Joe Strupek, State Farm Insurance says that often in the mind of corporate executives, social media is a bright, shiny object that attracts people’s attention because it’s what’s new. If you think about it, prior to the Internet, other early forms of social media included things like CB radios, Ham radios, party telephone lines. In each of these technologies, people shared information on more than a one-to-one basis. To be successful in social media, Strupek suggests the following:

1. Engage your customers in a conversation: listen and respond. Don’t just try to push content out to create buzz. It’s about the conversation as much as the content.

2. It’s not about your online content, but your customer’s online conversation. You have to be prepared to respond to your audience in both long-form blogs and press releases and 140 characters on Twitter on their terms.

3. The online influence of customers: The average person has 300 Facebook friends and 150 Twitter followers. This gives their voice influence for or against your brand.

4. Listen often enough on social networks to know who to engage or not engage with online.

5. “We’re all public figures now,” says Tom Friedman at the New York Times.

6. Social media has turned everyone with a mobile device into potential reporter about your brand (for better or for worse.)

7. “You are who your follows say you are,” says Steve McKee. Find out what people are saying about you and your brand.

8. Net/Net: Listen, Educate, and Help your customers online.

Matt Gibbs shared his insights about social media from his experience managing Playboy’s Smoking Jacket Web Site. His challenge And adult brand that is not safe for the workplace. Moving the Playboy brand from “I read it for the articles” vs. “I read it for the tweets.” They’ve adopted the CERT model: Celebrity, Engagement, Revenue, Traffic.

1. Celebrity: Providing a platform for maximum exposure and development. They had to deal with the reality that the fame of monthly celebrities fades over time. To adapt, they trained the celebrities Playmates on how to post on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

2. Engagement: Constantly connecting fans with the brand. If you didn’t work for your brand, would you follow it on social media? Post content frequently and on schedule. Don’t rely on advertising. Make your social media outlets a destination rather than leaving it up to chance. Treat fans like VIPs and give them exclusive content. Ask their input on what content you post.

3. Revenue: The key is to monetize without weakening the brand.

4. Traffic: If you follow the first three steps of the model you will generate traffic that you can analyze and monitor to learn more about your customer’s needs and preferences while building a relationship.

THE SCORE

Social Media can be a bright shiny object, but it loses is luster if it isn’t leveraged effectively. Social Media needs to be an integrated component of a marketing campaign. Once implemented as part of an overall strategy designed to connect with you most important audiences, you will start to reap the benefits of attracting fans and creating engaged customers. Like all marketing strategies, through social media customers are looking for compelling content, and a relationship with a brand they can trust.

Source: Chicago AMA Meeting on Zen and the Art of Social Media, October 6, 2011.

From Geek to Cool: Me, Steve, & the Mac

Reflections on Growing Up Macintosh

My first experience with an Apple computer was using the original Macintosh in Journalism school in the late 1980s. It was a uniquely fun experience compared to using the IBM computers in the computer lab with their mind-numbing green CRT screens.

When you powered on the Mac it made this happy mantra-like sound of someone taking a deep breath and exhaling. The mouse made the experience interactive and visual instead of having to memorize DOS commands to get work done. There were games built into it. You could name your hard drive and your disks whatever you wanted them to be. What was not to like?

After college, I worked for a year in a grueling inside sales job selling Macintosh II computers to schools. It was a thankless job, but working with Macintosh computers made it bearable. It was a tool that was fun to use and aspirational and innovate for schools and kids.

Later, I worked in another sales job as the "demo guy" to show off what desktop video editing systems in the 1990's could do, and of course the Macintosh was the nerve center behind many of the early video editing systems on the market. Capturing video to a computer. Cutting and pasting it. Adding music and titles. It was fun and cool!

So you could say I was part of the "Macintosh Generation." I grew up with the Mac like a fond friend. We spent a lot of time together. Did some cool stuff. And grew and matured as time went on.

Today I'm a grown-up doing grown-up work on the Mac. I,m the proud owner of an iMac with a 27" plasma screen and a 64 bit Dual Core processor. These days when so much of our lives is about using computers and being connected to the Internet, the fun and ease of use of the Macintosh has never gone away. It's become a nurturing relationship for me.

Steve Jobs, through it all, was the icon behind the Macintosh's coolness. He represented the fun we all wanted to have with computers. He was the guy in the neighborhood with the all the gadgets that you wanted to hang out with. He made us feel good about the computer geek inside us all.

He made it cool to be a computer geek, instead of a nerd. He rebranded us all in a sense and liberated us from this old stereotype, and that felt good.

So thank you Steve Jobs for being you. Thank you for impacting me. And thank you for the Macintosh (and all it's recent siblings). God bless you!

Eight Keys to Successful Change Management Communications

THE SKINNY
The keys to successful change management communication boil down to having an engaging message, and leveraging leadership, sponsors, and data to keep your audience abreast of all activities - - before, during and after the change.

THE SCORE
Corporations like Navistar, The Boeing Company, and Kaplan, Inc. wrestle with change management issues every day. Here are eight of their best practices related to change management communication:

1. Get Good Data Upfront – Do baseline surveys and focus groups to get good a handle on the current state.

2. Engage Leadership - Engage leaders to help communicate and sell the change through key messages as ambassadors. Explain the business case and explain its impact relative to the larger marketplace and competitors.

3. Leverage Sponsors – Have the right sponsors in place, and leverage them to win over audiences, address objections, and knock down barriers.

4. Select Local Change Agents – Select influencers in the organization and brief them on the project during regular touch points. Don’t just rely on the push of traditional corporate communications but rely on local influencers (or champions) to drive success.

5. Manage the Customer’s Image – Acknowledge what your “current state” image is in your audience’s mind and define what the “desired state” image is that you want to project and achieve in their mind.

6. Manage Employee Communications – Write your internal corporate communications as if they will end up on the front page of the local or national newspaper - - because it very well may!

7. Be Flexible – Adapt your communications plan and tactics as required.

8. Capture Good Metrics – Define how you will measure success and follow through.

Source: Compiled from a panel discussion featuring Colleen Campbell from Navistar, Michele Mazur from Kaplan, Inc., and James Warda from The Boeing Company.

Philanthropic Giving in U.S. Up 3.8%

How generous are Americans in giving to charitable organizations today? Current stats show that 41% give to charity as compared to 20% of Europeans. Overall philanthropy in the U.S. is up 3.8% over 2009-2010, for a total of $290 billion dollars.

Where do most charitable gifts come from? Individuals account for 73-87% of all giving. So while state funding in Illinois is down 50%, individual giving has been relatively stable. Despite the bumps in the economy, most individual donors continue to give even as their income and assets decline. In particular, individuals with family or start-up businesses give the most to charity, more than double those with inherited wealth and assets.

To cultivate individual donors, non-profits should involve them in key volunteer roles in the organization so that they feel personally connected to the organization’s mission. Why? Nurturing that connection with your donors can pay dividends. Statistics show that board members typically give the most financially of organizational volunteers. Especially in these economically tumultuous times, cultivating individual donors should be the primary focus of a non-profit’s fundraising efforts.

Why Nonprofits Need a Video Strategy

Why a video strategy?
Whether it’s news, social networks, or shopping, more and more people are getting their information on the web. How will they discover your organization’s message? Video is what’s hot on the web today and You Tube is the most popular search engine - - more popular than Google. So non-profits need to leverage the power of video to reach their constituents in an engaging way that promotes their brand and mission.

Where should you start?
Should you go out and buy a camera today and start shooting video? Not exactly. Your organization’s mission should drive your video strategy. Your mission should drive the who, what, and why of how you communicate online. Once you have a communications strategy that’s aligned to your mission, decide upon the stories you want to tell, and ensure you have the time and money to produce them. Video, however, is no magic bullet. There are other ways to communicate information effectively on the web besides video, so your strategy should consider those tactics as well.

What should you say?
Marshall Ganz, a noted Harvard professor, says you should, “Tell the story of us, the story of now, and the story of the organization.” In other words, tell people why the organization matters, the difference it makes, and the people you help.
Video should tell a story and create a strong emotional connection with the audience. Find the story you want to tell and create a signature video on you web site that tells that story. Don’t just put a video on your website to put a video on your website, however. It needs to be compelling.

What about video quality and length?
In general, video quality is more important that quantity. Producing high-quality video can, however, be daunting when you have only consumer equipment and non-professional staff using Flipcams, so striking a balance is important. Arm your staff with the basic skills and tools they need to tell a video story and give them the time to learn how to do it.

Short and sweet videos are the best. The reality is that people decide if they like a video in the first 5-6 seconds of watching it, so an awareness video should be no longer than 1-2 minutes long and a more in depth video should be a maximum of 5-6 minutes in length. Also, think about repurposing your video and using it in different ways on the web to reach different audiences via your home page, Twitter, and You Tube.

How should you equip your staff?
Put video tools in the hands of your staff by investing in basic equipment and software for shooting and editing (e.g. camera, tripod, iMovie, Final Cut Express, etc.). Also invite others, when possible, to produce advocacy pieces for you that help tell your story.

If you already have access to quality still photos that tell your organization’s story, you can use a number of software programs to bring them to life as videos. Programs like Final Cut Express and Animoto.com are two examples of these types of tools.

How should you promote your videos?
Promoting your videos online can be as easy as mentioning them in your e-mail signature (e.g. “Check out our new video.”) Also, get your video out into cyberspace so people can see and blog about it. Post it on sites like Tube Mogul, Vimeo, Kaltura, and YouTube and spread the word to your stakeholders and constituents. Google has promotional program for non-profits that’s worth checking out. Finally, try collaborating with other online groups and partners to help get your story out.

How should we measure success?
How do you know your video was successful? You can measure success by a number of metrics: the number of online views, length of views, donations, and audience feedback on the video. Remember when it’s all said and done, however, video is just one communications tactic for building awareness for your organization. Make sure you are leveraging a variety of tactics to reach your target audience.

Source: From a panel discussion on “Why Non-Profits Need a Video Strategy,” featuring Marissa Wasseluk (Moderator), Nasser Asif ( See3 Communications), Becky Schneck Allen (Urban Gateways), Jill Geiger ( Environmental Law & Policy), and Ben-Hur Uribe (Cine Productions).

How Much of a CEO's Job is About Communication?

THE SKINNY

What makes a good CEO a good communicator? How do good CEOs communicate well? Over the years, technology has changed, the workplace has changed, even office attire has changed, but importance of executive communications has not. According to Brad Whiteworth from Cisco, sixty to seventy percent of a CEO’s job should be communication. Whiteworth recently presented the collected wisdom from CEOs of the last 50 years regarding what good executive communications looks like. The CEOs noted were winners of International Association of Business Communicators’ Excel award.

THE STORY

Based on his analysis, Whiteworth suggested there are thirteen tenets of successful employee communications that CEOs should practice:

1. Share your vision. According to John Ryan, CEO of Farm Credit in Canada, “Strategy is one thing, but if you can’t communicate it in a way that people will understand it, you’re not going to be able to execute.”

2. Reach out and touch someone. CEOs can’t sit in their office and wait for problems to come to them. You have to be active and be out in the trenches like managers at Hewlett Packard who practice “management by walking around.”

3. Walk the talk. Your actions have to match your words. According to Jean Pierre Garnier, Exec VP of Smithkline Beecham, “Employees are going to observe, then they will see if my behavior matches what I tell them.”

4. Listen, then speak. People want to hear you speak, but you need to listen to your employees. According to Brian Dunn, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy, “The old saying about having two ears and one mouth and using them in equal proportion holds true in the business world. We try really hard to make listening a priority.” An effective employee communications program must always be two-way.

5. Communication must be constant. Communications is the river that flows through the entire organization. According to Jerre Stead, CEO of Legent “If we aren’t keeping our people current and constantly up-to-speed and sharing the facts - - we aren’t allowing them to be accountable to making a difference.”

6. Understand you audience. Make sure everything you are doing outside the organization matches what you’re doing inside the organization. According to Larry Weinbach, President and CEO of Unisys. “The first and foremost public is your own employees.” Also, Brian Dunn, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy says, “The lines have blurred between external and internal communication, in fact there really is no such thing as internal communications anymore.”

7. It’s about the story. Content is king. You need a story to tell. According to Rajesh Subrammamniam, President of Fed Ex Canada, “People tend to focus on the channels of communication. I think more focus should be paid to the front end of the process.”

8. Tell it like it is: Deliver bad news as well as good news. According to Larry Weinbach, President and CEO of Unisys, “Whether you’ve got good news or bad news, you’ve got to give it directly. There’s no question an employee asks that doesn’t deserve an answer.”

9. Simplicity rules: Be direct and simple. Today Steve Jobs is known for delivering simple yet powerful product introductions for Apple. For example, when he introduced the new iPhone, his message was that this device does three things: it’s a phone, an MP3 player, and a ?

10. Practice makes perfect. Steve Jobs wasn’t, however, always a slick, cool presenter. Steve had to learn and perfect these presentation skills over his thirty years in the personal computing business.

11. You can’t over-communicate. People rarely complain that you’re telling me too much.”Don’t be afraid to over-communicate. Resist every temptation you have not to communicate to people” Rick George, CEO, Suncor Energy.

12. A never-ending lesson. Communications is a skill you learn to master it over time. We can always learn something that will help us improve the way we connect with others.

13. Be authentic. You don’t have to behave differently as a communicator when you become a leader. Be consistent and authentic with who you are whatever your leadership role.

THE SCORE

As communications professionals we need to learn the way our CEOs learn so we know how to coach them. To gain insight, ask the CEOs support staff and family how they operate to understand their style, strengths, and habits.

As accomplished as they may be in business, ask them practice and rehearse on videotape. Everyone can use practice. Be their advocate in helping them become a better communicator.