Location based services such as Foursquare/Gowalla/Whrll/Places/SCVNGR continue their relatively slow adoption rate. Some see it as an important precursor to social shopping, yet some are worried about security or just don’t see why they should spend time with these apps.
Where do you land on this? Do you use an LBS app?
–
[poll id=”6″]
photo credit renjith krishnan @ freedigitalphotos.net
In her April 25th 2011, Wall Street Journal article, Put IT where it belongs, Susan Cramm makes the case for IT decentralization. What I found interesting was that the largest differences in survey responses from IT and Business leaders were in regards to business requirements.
What are your best practices around business requirement gathering?
Jay Baer’s story Is Twitter Massively Overrated? put it in a way that finally made sense for me. If Facebook is vanilla ice cream, then Twitter is IPA beer. Of course I had heard the statistics Jay mentions but I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what the meaning was. Certainly Facebook has the eyeballs, but I don’t think it has the “juice“.
Personally, I’m not a fan of huge fan of Facebook or vanilla ice cream. I don’t feel I learn anything new or interesting on Facebook, it’s a mentally bland experience. On the contrary, at least once a day I see something awesome on Twitter (like this).
My take away was “know your audience”. Where are your customers? What content would they value most? (and in what context)
If you’re B2C you know you need to understand how to leverage Facebook. If you’re B2B, Facebook is a much less clear. LinkedIn and Twitter may also be key networks in your social strategy.
What is the Language of No?
At it’s worst, the Language of No are the words used to shut you down. To make you stop believing. To belittle your ideas. At best, it’s used to make sure you know what the hell you’re talking about.
The Language of No can be used by people who honestly don’t understand. They try to understand by putting the idea in their terms: value, cost, risk. Their inquiries have honest intentions. Let’s call them the lambs.
Others use the Language of No to defend turf, to ridicule and diminish. The questions are used to find weakness that can exploited. Let’s call them the lions.
Consider the context.
What’s the ROI?
Here’s the key –> What does success look like?
It’s entirely possible that your nascent idea doesn’t have a monetary return, at least not in the short run. Some activities are deemed “business as usual”. Your website doesn’t have an ROI. Nor does your business card nor cell phone. You just need it. The thing is, business as usual changes over time. Until recently fax machines used to be mission critical, so were typewriters. Soon being involved with your customers on social networks will be mandatory.
Consider the context of the question. Is the person trying to understand the value of your initiative or are they trying to blindly state that your work is without merit?
This isn’t how we normally do things
Here’s the key –> Is your organization focused on not changing things or are you trying to differentiate?
There are certain rules that shouldn’t be broken: regulations, laws, systematic controls. But for the most part organizations need to continue to innovate. If you have metrics, use them. Look for areas where tactics are not delivering results and point to these as areas to improve. Institute A/B testing to challenge the status quo. As many have said, try new things and fail fast.
You will have people in your organization that are inclined to try new things and those that hold on to tradition. You need both to have a successful company, but be able to tell the difference.
Where will resources come from?
Here’s the key –> Actually, there’s no key here.
Innovation without execution is pointless. If you don’t have a budget or resources you may have to hack the system. Look for a project that’s been cancelled and see if you can claim those resources. Or attach your initiative to a project that’s already accepted. Can you get pieces from the cloud? Can you change the process? I’ve even heard of people that have kept the title of an approved project but swapped out the actual project! <tricky>
The sound of the Language of No can be deafening. Teach the lambs. Fight the lions.
photo credit: Salvatore Vuono
George Colony’s keynote challenged Marketers to step up and innovate. Perhaps it’s easier said than done. So how can Marketing Leaders get to it?
Kraft’s Dana Anderson had the best advice, “everything is a pilotâ€.  Why?  Because no one gets in trouble if a pilot fails.  People don’t freak out about pilots. Even better than a pilot project is an exclusive pilot, which just means you pretend it’s all very “hush hush†and “in the knowâ€.  Soon people are asking to be a part of your exciting venture, not fighting it.
Dr. Pepper Snapple Group’s EVP of Marketing, Jim Trebilcock partnered with Ross Martin of MTV Scratch and reinvigorated the Sun Drop brand. The results are phenomenal both in revenue and brand awareness and reach. It was the partnership of an old brand with a young MTV agency that provided the oomph of the campaign. The take away is look for partnerships outside of the norm. Bring in fresh ideas from outside your company and industry.
Mary Beth Kemp presented a session titled “What Is The Secret Sauce Of Marketing Innovation . . . And How Can You Get Some?â€. Some take-aways:
Here are Mary Beth’s “Top 10 behaviors which distinguish the most innovative marketing orgsâ€