Todd Ebert

Help Please! What's a good mission statement for a marketing team?

Well, it's that time of year again when we do annual plans.  This time around I'd like to clearly lay out the mission statement for my team so our role and contribution is super clear to all stakeholders [including my team].  

Toward that end, I'd like your thoughts and suggestions on my first draft. 

To create marketing programs, content and tools so engaging/educational/useful that “Premium SMBs” want to do business with us [leads], our Sales teams have an easier time turning prospects into clients, and we keep clients for a longer time. 

What do you think?  Is it clear? What is missing?

What's the Simplest Way to Differentiate Your Business?

I couldn't resist sharing this Vine video my daughter made featuring our dog Carmel [funny what happens when we're not home during summer break].  

I know that video has nothing to do with business marketing, but 1. it's cute, and 2. it reminded me that you can convey a lot in just 6 seconds of video. So why don't more businesses use video to bring their stores/services/people to life and differentiate them from all the other boring competitors out there? Many I talk to think it's too hard, or takes too much time [scripting, lighting, editing, music, etc.] but that's just not the case.  Vine and Instagram make it so easy the Geico caveman could do it.  

Here's a handy guide to get you started and a list of 10 types of videos you can create in no time.

How to Drive More Customers Through Your Sales Funnel

Every marketer leaks leads from their sales funnel so we created an ebook to help them plug the holes and get more customers. 

Consumer Buying Journey Infographic

The team took my ebook about the new consumer buying journey and turned it into an infographic.

- See more at the ReachLocal Learning Center

The Coming Era of On-Demand Marketing

As you know from reading this blog, I'm a student of the consumer buying journey.  Toward that end, I highly recommend this McKinsey report that provides great insights about the next wave of innovation impacting how consumers experience brands and buy. The future they paint is very near.

 

 

Inside Baseball for Marketers

Check out this site courtesy of Rob Baker. 

Nice way to make your point Mr. or Miss designer who built it. 

The New Consumer Buying Journey

I updated my presentation from last year -- you might say it's "new and improved" ;)

Since when did PowerPoint become the only thing that matters?

This artist perfectly depicts how my life will end - yep, death by PowerPoint.

Do you have PowerPointitis, the incurable disease that affects nearly 11 in every 10 marketers? [they told me there'd be no math in marketing ;) ] Answer these simple questions...

Do you see slides in your dreams?

Can you hold a meeting without using PowerPoint? Seriously can you do it?

Do you know every keyboard short-cut for PPT functions?

Do you use the word "Deck" incessantly?

Do you click the save icon after every slide change since you're used to PPT crashing every 15 minutes?

When watching someone elses presentation do you completely discount their information, however valid, because the slide design is not up to your level?

Do you spend more time creating presentations than talking with your team and colleagues?

Do you ever use Word instead of PowerPoint? When is the last time you actually wrote a report with real depth of analysis?

Do you spend an hour obsessing over details on a slide that will be shown for only 10 seconds?

When you're on a plane flight do you catch up on reading or work on slides?

Does it literally make you crazy when someone doesn't wrap their bullets properly?

Is Steve Jobs your hero -- not because of his product/design innovations, but because he was a master of presentations?

Are your decks such big files [50+ megs] that you can't send them by email?

Do TimesNewRoman bullets crush your soul?

Do you carry 4 different projector adaptors so that you're ready to present on any device at a moments notice?

Do you regularly have management sessions with 4-6 executives group editing slides?

Should you change your title to CPO - Chief PowerPoint Officer?

Do your graphic designers spend more time on PPT than on the website?

Did you have to install DropBox for the sole purpose of sharing presentations?

Do you think a slide presentation constitutes a real plan [product plan, marketing plan, etc.]?

Have you reached your title/level because you're great at what you do, or because you're great at PowerPoint?

Leadership Lessons from Colin Powell

The "Good" - applying leadership principles to make your team more effective

I know this is loosely related to B2B marketing, but I read a great article about Colin Powell's leadership principles and thought about how I could apply them to my marketing team.

Here are my 5 favorites out of the 18 lessons in the article. You can find the rest at Chally.com.

1. Being responsible sometimes pisses people off. My thoughts -- You have to make the hard choices because most people won't. You can't procrastinate, treat everyone equally or worry about being nice. Doing that only makes things worse for everyone.

2. Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant. My thoughts -- You have to execute the details or the strategy is worthless. Vision alone does not equate to success.

3. You don't know what you can get away with until you try. My thoughts - In today's hyper competitive market (especially in my space - online marketing) you can't be timid or sit around waiting for approvals. Better to try, fail and learn from it than to do nothing. Of course you need to take measured risks not reckless ones.

4. If it ain't broke don't fix it is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. My thoughts -- You have to constantly be trying to improve your strategy, tactics, processes and execution because the competitors are not standing still.

5. Plans don't accomplish anything. Theories of management don't much matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved. Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds. My thoughts -- You have to have the best people to get the best results. And you have to create the right environment for success - that means managing by getting into the trenches, leading by example, rewarding hard work, innovative thinking and creativity while weeding out the poor performers (see number 1 above).

Holiday eCards - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It's that time of year again when we are inundated with the the good, the bad, and the ugly Holiday eCards.  Here are some I've received in reverse order....

The "Ugly" – creating negative brand perception with a holiday eCard so unimaginative and uninspired that it turns people off.  I’ve received a lot of these this year so maybe the cost-cutting started with creative departments.  I’ll spare you the pain of seeing all of them and use MS&L’s card as the poster child for “ugly” marketing.  Clearly they get paid by the word, but do people really want to read about arcane renaming updates in a holiday card.  I expect a top tier global PR firm to be savvier than this.

 

The "Bad" – wasting the time and money to produce a boring holiday eCard.  The companies in this group at least put some effort into their cards, but clearly not enough to make them enjoyable.  They want to do a nice card but just don’t put enough creative energy into making it a positive brand experience for the recipient.  The card from lead-gen firm Madison Logic exemplifies a “bad” card with no music and some scrolling images of the staff…yawn!  Check out the screen shot below, or if for some masochistic reason, you want to see the “live” card then click here.

The "Good" – using imagination and creativity to make a holiday eCard that entertains the recipients and conveys a good impression of your company.  My favorite in this group is the one from The Loomis Agency which uses sock puppets singing a parody of The Carol of Bells.  PMSI created a cool card by mixing holiday tunes and a sketch artist drawing Santa. Check it out here.   And Eisenberg Associates offers up a simple but fun game in their card.