Eric D. Brown » Marketing

CIO’s need to fascinate to survive

Eric D. Brown — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:30:15 +0000

Hey CIO – if you want to survive, you need to figure out a way to fascinate your organization.

I’m currently reading “Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation” (affiliate link) by Sally Hogshead.

I picked the book up on my kindle on a whim while waiting to board the flight from Dallas to Chicago.

While this book is focused on approaches to marketing, the concepts in the book could easily be applied to other aspects of the business….and I can easily think of ways that CIO’s and IT leaders can apply the concepts of the book in their organizations.

Question for all the non IT folks:

When’s the last time you were fascinated by your IT group? When was the last time you were enthralled with what your organization’s IT team were doing?

I’d wager you’re answering ’never’.

Why is that?

The answer has to do with the focus of most information technology groups being an operational one.

But….what if, in addition to an operational focus, the IT group begins to use some marketing approaches to improve service and understanding within the organization?

What if we were able to use the 7 triggers outlined in Sally’s book to fascinate the organization?

Add a Marketing focus - 7 Triggers applied to IT

The 7 Triggers and brief explanation of each are:

Lust – creates a craving for sensory pleasure

Mystique – lures with unanswered questions

Alarm – threatens with a negative consequence

Prestige – earns respect through symbols of achievement

Vice – tempts with “forbidden fruit” causing rebelling against norms

Trust – comforts us with certainty and reliability

Now…don’t get all puritan on me when you see ‘lust’ and ‘vice’ and the like. Think about the triggers above….are you using any of these in your IT organization when communicating?

You probably are without really know it. Think about the last time you had a person within your company ask for a new computer and told them no. That person then notices the Director of IT (and many other people within IT) with brand new top-of-the-line computers. What does that tell that user?

That user doesn’t realize the IT folks have these new computers to test them out before ordering 1000 more to outfit the company…that user only knows that they have a 3 year old computer and can’t get another one and “everyone” in IT has new computers.

You’ve just used Lust, Mystique, Vice and Prestige negatively. And you’ve damaged the trust that the user might have had for your IT group.

What if you used these 7 triggers to develop a better message for that user? What if you showed them the new models you’re testing and how cool the new features and operating system is and that they’ll have one of these new machines within a few months? What if you let that user (or at least a subset of users in the company) help test these models with the IT group? You’ve now just used Lust, Mystique, Vice, Prestige and Trust to help that user better understand why they can’t have a new machine, when they can expect one and how that wait will pay off for them.

In scenario one (using negative triggers), you’ve got a user who has very negative feelings toward IT. Using scenario two (using positive triggers), you’ve got a friend for life in that user.

According to the author of Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation, these triggers are meant to assist in creating a fascinating message and Sally provides a glimpse into he hallmarks of a fascinating message are:

Provokes strong and immediate emotional reactions

Creates advocates

Becomes “Cultural Shorthand” for a specific set of Actions of Values

Incites Conversation

Forces Competitors to Realign It

Triggers Social Revolutions

Think about those hallmarks….do you find any of them in any messages from your IT group to the rest of the organization?

I think most IT groups already provoke strong and immediate emotional reactions…but for the wrong reasons!

Has your IT group created advocates throughout the organization? Have you been able to incite positive conversation about IT and IT’s service? If not, it may be time to rethink your approach and begin using things like these 7 triggers to help change the perception of your IT group.

Fascinate or Die?

Of course, you won’t die if you don’t fascinate your organization, but you may be out of a job.

Think about your approach to communicating with the people within your organization? Are there ways you can use the 7 triggers to create a fascinating message?

Or…will you continue to enforce IT processes and procedures using IT language and continue to evoke the negative reactions?

Perhaps these 7 triggers aren’t perfect for you and your IT team…but some method of changing how you communicate with your organization should be reviewed.

I’d highly recommend picking up Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation and take the message within the book to heart…you might be surprised to find that you can communicate better with your organization.

We’re Fascinated with Sally Hogshead (800ceoread.com)
How to add fascination to advertising message (thestar.com)
Do You Fascinate? (ducttapemarketing.com)

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

About the Author Eric D. Brown is a Technology Consultant, Doctoral Student and Entrepreneur focused on helping businesses and non-profits merge business, marketing and technology. He writes extensively about technology, strategy, people and projects at ericbrown.com. In addition, Eric is an avid & passionate photographer who's work can be seen at Photography Minute and on his flickr photostream. Read more about Eric...

Links for April 18 2010

Eric D. Brown — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 12:48:11 +0000

How to Defy Newton’s Laws of Motion in Marketing by Valeria Maltoni on Conversation Agent:
Quote: Emerging media allows you to develop laser focus in your marketing, act small while you take advantage of the following forces to scale as necessary, and thus gain momentum.
How to make your ideas connect by Ed Brenegar on Leading Questions
Quote: Making connections with people is a communication process. Work at speaking and writing in a context that people can understand. Connect with them on both an emotional and an intellectual level. Be clear by making your language and sentence structure as simple as possible. Do this and you’ll find that you’ll understand what your thinking better than you use to.
To Steve Or Not To Steve? by Glenn Kelman on TechCrunch
Quote: A company’s personality is the most profound innovation of a founder and her team, as ubiquitous, unnoticed and essential as air. It becomes a source of meaning for employees and consumers, and then it becomes a source of revenue.
Freemium – A Word of Caution by Ben Kepes on CloudAve
Quote My advice closely follows that of Murphy. Build a product that businesses will value and charge for it accordingly – the way things used to be done in the bricks and mortar days.
The Tyranny of Consensus by Jill Dyche on Inside the Biz
Quote: It’s surprising how many people actually cede to the tyranny of consensus. They rationalize their decisions in unexpected ways, blaming corporate politics, industry best practices, the lack of decision rights in their organizations, or quirky corporate cultures
Lessons from Richard Branson’s “Business Stripped Bare” by Matt on 37signals)
Quote: As a small-business person, you must immerse yourself 100 per cent in everything and learn about the ins and outs of every single department. As you get bigger, you will be able to delegate, and when people come to you with their problems, they’ll be surprised how knowledgeable you are and how much practical advice you can offer.
Not disruptive, and proud of it by Jason Cohen on a smart bear
Disruptive is good….but useful can be better
David Foster Wallace On Leadership by Samuel Bacharach
Qoote: But the main reason leadership worries people is because it lacks a consistent definition. When Wallace argues that leadership is a “mysterious quality” it’s easy to be skeptical of leaders since we don’t even know where to begin trusting them or perceiving them. We’d be able to support the right leaders if we were able to measure their ability to get things done and execute. It’s crucial that we define leadership as a real set of skills rather than a hazy combination of personal qualities.
Why Startups are Agile and Opportunistic – Pivoting the Business Model by Steve Blank
Quote: Startups are inherently chaotic. The rapid shifts in the business model is what differentiates a startup from an established company. Pivots are the essence of entrepreneurship and the key to startup success. If you can’t pivot or pivot quickly, chances are you will fail.
Relationships First by Jon Gordon
Quote: To build a winning team, organization and family I’m convinced that we must create engaged relationships. Engaged relationships are interactive, collaborative, and meaningful and they are essential because to effectively lead, coach, work and live with someone we must truly know and have a strong bond with them.

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

Links for April 4 2010

Eric D. Brown — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:00:11 +0000

Happy Easter everyone.

Last week was the first published post using Delicious to manage links for my Sunday links post. I used a javascript from Delicious to insert a certain set of tagged links and their notes.

As I found out (thanks Maddie!), that script does not insert the links into my RSS feed, which is a bummer because I don’t want you to have to come over here just to read a post. So…I fixed it. Enjoy my Sunday Links from the comfort of your RSS reader!

Here’s this week’s links:

Reputation and Game Mechanics Are the Future of Social Software by Hutch Carpenter on Spigit Blog
In this post, hutch looks at the very interesting aspect of games and game mechanics for use in social software (and business).
“Simple vs. Complex?” No. “Simple, THEN Complex” by Justin Kownacki
Start with the easy problems, then seek out the hard ones. Excellent advice
Shoes and software by Jason Fried on 37signals
Sometimes we all forget that what people want/need are oftentimes the simplest of things. But simple has to be delivered well to make a difference…and to make a profit.
A real person, a lot like you by Derek Sivers
I can’t say it any better than this quote: “It’s too overwhelming to remember that at the end of every computer is a real person, a lot like you, whose birthday was last week, who has three best friends but nobody to spoon at night, and is personally affected by what you say.”
The CIO’s Dual Roles – Will the CIO Lose the C? by Chris Curran on CIO Dashboard
If the CIO is only an order taker, service manager and operationally focus, the role will diminish in the future.
IT R.E.A.D all over by Mark McDonald on The Gartner Blog Network
McDonald provides an interesting argument on the future of IT….he says IT may just go the way of the newspaper (and dodo).
Learn the Business, Deliver Business Results by R.J. Morris on Fistful of Talent
Written for HR pros, the concepts here are easily applicable to all aspects of the business. In this article, R.J. Morris argues that you need to step out of your comfort zone and make yourself more valuable to the organization.
Optimize the Whole = Measure at All Levels by Jurgen Appelo on NOOP.NL
On why measuring the whole is important: “What you measure (and constrain) has to cover everything, from start to finish, from top to bottom, or else the unmeasured and unconstrained parts in the system will self-organize toward sub-optimal results.”
The Importance of Balance by Jeff Cornwall on The Entrepreneurial Mind
Jeff Cornwall provides a good argument as to why balance as an entrepreneur is important.
Instead of focusing on the image, focus on everything around the image by Taylor Davidson
Quote: Creating rich, immersive and scalable experiences is the biggest opportunity in marketing today, and “experience artists” are going to play a large, rich role in marketing going forward.
Marketers Must Lead Agency Change by Sean Corcoran on Forrester Blogs
Quote: First we believe marketers need to step back and rethink what they should be outsourcing to their agencies. Forrester identified three fundamental services that agencies provide: Ideas, Interaction and Intelligence (agencies can provide other needs like infrastructure and man power, but we believe those are means to these three ends). By no means are these three I’s new, but their role in the adaptive marketing landscape is changing.

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

Sitecore Implementation Notes

Eric D. Brown — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:24:00 +0000

: Image by Frédéric Harper via Flickr

I’m coming up on 2 years of working with Sitecore, a .NET Content Management System (see my post titled “Some Thoughts on Sitecore CMS” for previous thoughts on the subject). These two years have been interesting, challenging and exciting and educational.

Since I’ve written about Sitecore in the past, I wanted to take some time to circle back around and share some additional thoughts on Sitecore CMS implemention. While my experience has been with Sitecore, these are general types of CMS questions, thoughts and strategies and could be applied to any other platform.

Before I get into Sitecore, let’s look at CMS implementations in general.

CMS Implementation – 4 questions

For a few minutes, forget about the technology. Don’t even think about tthat until you can answer these questions:

1.) Why do you want or need a CMS?

This seems like a simple question…but if your answer is to ‘manage web content’, you haven’t completely thought through the strengths of a CMS. Content Management Systems provide much more than just content management; they provide a means to push content ownership out to the subject matter experts. This holds true for all CMS platforms, whether Sitecore, Ektron, Umbraco, Interwoven, Drupal, WordPress (yes..it is a great CMS) or one of the many others.

2.) How will you allow content owners to actually own the content?

When you get your CMS in place, how will your organization push out ownership of the content? What processes can you put in place to allow you to open your CMS to the all content owners. And…yes…i used the word ‘process’. Don’t overdo it though!

3.) Who “owns” the CMS?

This is a loaded question. While the CMS is a content platform, is it owned by the IT group? Sure, the platform itself is an IT platform and needs IT services to keep it running, but should the IT group ‘own’ the platform? {My answer: No – the business unit(s) should}

4.) Do you have a web & marketing strategy? Who “owns” this strategy?

This is one of the questions that seem easy..but it isn’t. Does your marketing department own the web? IT? PR? Who sets your web strategy? Do you have a strategy? How does your CMS driven web fit into your marketing strategy?

Answer these questions before you move into your CMS implementation program and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble. I’m working on another article that addresses these questions (and others) that should be part of an organizaiton’s technology selection strategy plan…look for that article in the future.

Sitecore CMS Implementation Thoughts

Now, its time to look at the technology. For those that don’t know, Sitecore CMS is a .NET platform. If your organization is a Microsoft shop, Sitecore is a great fit for you. You do have other options (Sharepoint, OpenText, etc) but my experience has me recommending Sitecore over all others in the .NET world.

Pre-implementation

Prior to selecting Sitecore (or any CMS), you’ve got to take some time to think about your processes & workflows. Determine who will have the ‘final word’ on how content is published and where it lives. Set some web standards (if you don’t have them already) and determine your content architecture & strategy. Will you be reorganizing your content? How about a new design? Easy decisions right?

You’ve answered the four questions above and figured out the high-level stuff…that was easy right? Not really…its harder than it seems but determining this stuff up front will help tremendously once you start implementing Sitecore CMS as it will driving your implementation strategy and plan.

If you’ve got the budget, hire an outside consultant to help you with this step in the project. If you bring in the right consultant, they could also act as the overall CMS Program Manager (more on this later).

Implementation

Now that you’ve worked through the pre-implementation phase, what now? Time to get your Sitecore CMS platform implemented.

What’s the first step? Grab your development staff and get some Sitecore Training to get certified. This certification is much more than just a piece of paper…it gets your team to a point where they can understand the Sitecore terminology and best practices. This often overlooked step in CMS implementations tends to come back around and haunt the organization at a later date. Spend the money up front and you’ll save money in the long run.

Implementing the basic Sitecore CMS system is a fairly straightforward process. The hardware requirements are well documented and installation is straightforward. Sounds easy right? So far, it is.

You’ve found the hardware, configured it and run the Sitecore CMS installation program. Now it’s time to look at splitting your CMS implementation efforts into three parts: Development, Content & Training

Development – Developing for Sitecore CMS platform isn’t too different than any other .NET development effort. Using .NET best practices, development isn’t too difficult, but the architecture of the platform is extremely important. Take some time to think about your content and IT infrastructure at this point.
Content – You’ve got a Content Management System (or at least one that is being implemented). Time to start implementing your content architecture plans and filling your sitecore tree with content. This initial Content work should be done by a single content team…do not leave this work to your content owners. Take this opportunity to reorganize your content as necessary.
Training – In addition to developing out your website, applications and content, you’ve got to start introducing Sitecore CMS to your organizations’ users. This means lots of meetings, training and discussions of what the CMS is and how it can help them. One of the often overlooked pieces of a CMS implementation is end-user training. Not only do you need to train the organization in the use of the platform, but also in the organizations web & content strategy.

As you can see, implementing a CMS platform like Sitecore is quite a large undertaking even for a smaller organization, but with proper planning and knowledge of Sitecore CMS, you’ll do fine.

Managing the Implementation

CMS implementations are much more than a ‘project’…you’ve got a Program here. From my experience, an implementation in a medium to large organization requires a Program Manager to lead the different projects with project managers heading up each of the main thrusts of the project (Hardware, Development, Content, Training).

There are many different pieces to an implementation. You’ve got to worry about IT Infrastructure, Software development, web design, web content and other topics. Spend the money upfront to get a good Program Manager (use an external consultant if needed) and Project Managers (you could use internal PM’s for this). If you approach this right (and have the budget), you can bring in a consultant to help throughout the project (from technology selection through final implementation).

While a CMS implementation is a large undertaking, it’s fairly straightforward if you have some knowledge in web strategy, technology, content, marketing and Sitecore CMS. While there are a lot of technical issues to work through, the most difficult part of a CMS implementation is really the content strategy, user education and user adoption aspects…this is where experience and thought leadership comes into play.

If you’re looking to implement a CMS (Sitecore or otherwise), forget about the technical aspects of the CMS when you start out…look at the business first to make sure it is capable of sustaining your web & content strategy. Understand the business needs first then find your CMS and implement the proper workflow and content architecture to meet the current and future needs of the organization. This is a common sense stuff, but often overlooked when it comes to CMS projects.

There are many people & organizations that can help…I know many of them and would be happy to help you find the right person or organization to help with your Sitecore (or other platform) implementation. Give me a call or email and I’ll do what I can to help.

Getting a Handle on Your Content Types (tc.eserver.org)
Economist/Drupal Publishing Tools – Sprint One Update! (disambiguity.com)
Microsoft finally uses SharePoint on its own public site (cmswatch.com)
Open Text Web Solutions 10 Debuts, Makes Delivering Content-Rich, Personalized Websites Easier Than Ever (newswire.ca)

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

Branding gone wrong – SciFi to SyFy

Eric D. Brown — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:00:03 +0000

In my new role in the marketing department at the Boy Scouts of America I find myself in the middle of conversations about branding. I find these conversations extremely interesting and have been reading through blogs and books about the subject.

In my web travels yesterday I was pointed to a story about branding and jumped over to The Chief Storyteller blog and saw a headline that said “SciFi Channel Changing its Name–I Don’t Understand Why“.

Catchy title. I had to read it.

Apparently, the SciFi Channel has changed their named to SyFy….their reason? According to TV Week:

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.

So…they wanted to NOT be associated with geeks and antisocial boys? OK…how about start another channel not focused on Science Fiction!!

They decided to change their name to SyFy…OK. How did that go over with a focus group? Again..according to TV Week:

“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Mr. Howe said. “It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.”

Ugh. It made them feel much cooler. That’s what you want your brand to do…make YOU feel cooler.

The SyFy press release is a doozy too. Here’s an excerpt (from The Chief Storyteller Blog):

By changing the name to Syfy, which remains phonetically identical, the new brand broadens perceptions and embraces a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction. It also positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and non-linear digital platforms, new international channels and extend into new business ventures.

Oh…ok. So it sounds the same. And its ownable and trademarkeable. Gotcha.

Note to SyFy PR firm: ownable and trademarkable aren’t real words….my spell checker is spilling little red lines all over the screen now. Want to hear something funny? When I right click on these two words to get suggested fixes from my spell check, I get the following:

ownable -> tenable
trademarkeable -> unremarkable

Anyone want to bet on what happens to this ‘brand’ over the next few years?

If I’m surfing the TV and see SyFy i’ll wonder “what is that” and keep going. If I see “SciFi”….I may keep going but at least I know its the Science Fiction channel. Anyone want to start a new science fiction TV brand and show the SyFy folks how well their branding efforts are going to pay off?

Branding is about creating an experience. It is about creating something memorable for your clients, customers, loyal followers and critics….all SyFy has done is create something memorable for their critics now.

I’m not that knowledgable about branding, but I know bad branding when I see it. Take a look at the related articles below for more info on the topic.

SciFi Channel Changes to ‘Syfy’ — Insults Entire Audience in the Process (cinematical.com)
The Sci-Fi Channel Changes Its Identity (screenrant.com)
SciFi to rebrand its Network SyFy (themovieblog.com)
SyFy is the New Sci-Fi [Television] (gawker.com)
The Crime of SyFy (erikstell.com)
Sci-Fi Channel Renames Itself After an STD (jossip.com)
Sci Fi Channel Becoming Less Geek-Centric “Syfy” (entertainment.slashdot.org)
Sci Fi Channel Co-Founder Hates the Name Change, Too! (wired.com)
SyFy – Yet Another Bad Idea from NBC (lockergnome.com)
Sci-Fi Channel to become SyFy Channel? Fail (threeminds.organic.com)

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

A techie in a marketers world

Eric D. Brown — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:08:12 +0000

For those that haven’t heard the news, I accepted a full-time position with the Boy Scouts of America in February. I work for the Brand Management Department as part of the Marketing Group. My role is multi-functional – I do a little bit of everything; Project Management, Technology Management, Strategy, Processes (yeah! {sarcasm}) and in general poking my nose into things that I think I can help with.

I’d been working with the Boy Scouts since August 2007 assisting them with implementing Sitecore. Late 2008 we began discussions about me starting full-time and we finally made it official in February.

Working in this new role is interesting for me. I’m a technologist working in the marketing world…and I really like it. I’ve preached for years that IT needs to get closer to the business and now I have the opportunity to bridge the gap between our technology group and our marketing group.

I think its going to be a lot of fun. The first month has been fairly busy and has kept me away from the blog more than I’d like but I’ve gotten settled in a bit now…should be back to posting more regularly.

I’ll keep everyone posted on the job.

Brands Reach Out To Generation Ñ (ypulse.com)

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

Ramblings on Social Media

Eric D. Brown — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 20:45:16 +0000

I’ve been lurking around the social web for quite some time experimenting with different systems and learning a tremendous amount from all of the ‘experts’ out there.

I’ve been on LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Technorati and many many other systems. I liked some and didn’t like some.

I recently started using Twitter (@ericdbrown) and Friendfeed (find me here) to get a good feel for what these systems are all about. Twitter seems to be all the rage these days and has gone from a small-ish audience to a large mass-market audience. I think Friendfeed has a lot of value but think it will take some time to catch on.

The more I interact on these systems, the more frustrated I get with the proclamations that “Social Media” is the answer to our problems. The first real issue that frustrates me is that we all have different problems…but let’s ignore that for now.

Let’s assume that we have a marketing problem and need a better way to reach our clients. This is a perfect use for the tools in the Social Media toolbox. But we need to remember that they are tools…not the answer to the problem.

Back to the use of SM in your marketing problem. You’ve heard about Facebook. You’ve heard about Twitter. So…you open a Facebook account and a Twitter account.

Now what? Well…you’re on Facebook and Twitter. You’ve done what “they’ve” told you to do….you’ve opened an account. You’ve made ‘friends’ and you’ve posted some things. But you aren’t seeing much from your efforts. Why aren’t your clients knocking your doors down?

Well…if you did it ‘right’, you would have people knocking down your door….but most organizations & people don’t do it right. Most people get on these platforms and post promotional material and links back to their websites or marketing-speak laden material. If you are going to get on these platforms, you’ve got to be real and interactive. You’ve got to embrace the community out there.

This blog post isn’t about ‘how to do it right’…lord knows I’m not a Social Media expert. Go read Chris Brogan, Giovanni Gallucci or the many other experts out there.

This blog post is just a reminder to the few folks that stumble upon it that Social Media is a tool. Social Media should be part of your overall strategy for reaching your clients. Social Media isn’t the answer.

Let’s look at Twitter and Friendfeed again as examples.

Twitter is fun. There are some great people on there and some great content being shared. Heck, Twitter has turned into a citizen journalism tool (note the recent US Airways crash in NYC…news first broke across Twitter with the first pic from the scene – more here). Twitter is going mainstream fast. If you aren’t on Twitter, you will probably will be before end of 2009.

Friendfeed may be the next ‘big’ SM tool but the jury is still out on it to see if the mainstream users pick it up. Scoble loves Friendfeed, I like Friendfeed too but I still see a lot of people trying to grasp what it can be used for.

The thing that many people miss with Twitter and Friendfeed and all other Social Media is that they are tools.Tools to be used to communicate with people who wish to receive communication in that manner. What about the millions of people that aren’t using those tools. How will you reach them? How will you reach through the noise on these platforms to reach your target(s)?

These tools, and all other tools, are great as long as we remember that they are tools. Tools to be used to share your message. Tools to build your brand and client base. Tools to communicate with your community.

Social Media isn’t the answer…its a tool to be used to find the answer. Social Media is a tool to be used to share your message. Just remember to make your message simple and honest. Make your message authentic and it will connect with people regardless of what tools you use. Authenticity will reach through the noise and connect.

This post was written by Eric D. Brown

IT Marketers – Five Reasons we aren't listening

Eric D. Brown — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:15:58 +0000

Paul Dunay over at Buzz Marketing for Technology wrote a post titled “Sin of Inclusion” that pointed me to some commentary on the IT Services Marketing Association (ITSMA) website. The ITSMA article, titled ‘Why Our Customers Aren’t Listening to Us“, lists five reasons that customers aren’t listening to IT marketers.

These reasons are:

Customers aren’t just confused-they’re offended

Big prices + lack of specificity = frustration

The sin of inclusion

All marketing-speak sounds the same

Marketing-speak makes the purchasing decision more difficult

You aren’t surprised are you?

Everyone’s been subjected to ‘marketing speak.’ From my experience, when a vendor talks to me in plain English and addresses my issues without any marketing speak, they tend to get much more of my time than the marketing-speak that spews from some vendor’s mouths.

I’m sure there are many of you that have been involved in creating marketing-speak too. I have. Think about the last time you were in a meeting and someone asked you how you could help them. Did you speak clearly and simply and describe how you can help them? Or did you revert to the marketing material you memorized? I know there are times when I’ve reverted back to marketing-speak and within seconds I regret it.

The difficulty of marketing is that it is tough to use one approach to market your product/service these days. I think this is why so many people/organizations are excited about using social media…you can target your message to your audience (theoretically). Even with this ‘new’ approach to marketing, you’ve got to listen to your target market first, then market to them.

Regardless of what your message is or who you are speaking to, you’ve got to communicate in a simple, real and honest method. In other words, have an Authentic Conversation with your customers/clients and you’ll find that they’ll listen intently….after you’ve listened to them.

Get Closer to Your Customers Now

Eric D. Brown » Marketing

CIO’s need to fascinate to survive

Add a Marketing focus - 7 Triggers applied to IT

Fascinate or Die?

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Links for April 18 2010

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Links for April 4 2010

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Sitecore Implementation Notes

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Branding gone wrong – SciFi to SyFy

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A techie in a marketers world

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Ramblings on Social Media

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IT Marketers – Five Reasons we aren't listening

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