One of the many things I love about working at Go East is that I have lots of colleagues who enjoy reading and learning as much as I do. So when I heard Carla and Ric talking about Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, I knew I had to read it.

It was fabulous. For those that haven’t,  I highly recommend reading it. It’s a new way of thinking about what defines success.

In the beginning of the book, I wasn’t sure where Mr. Gladwell was going with his theory on how to be successful. For instance, one of the examples he used is that an overwhelming majority of “successful” hockey players are born in either January, February or March. Something as arbitrary as this makes a person feel helpless in paving their own success path. But as the book progressed, he dug deeper and revealed that there are ways to influence success in our lives.

Translating the core of the book’s message to the marketing communications world, the question becomes: Why do some brands succeed, while so many more never reach their potential? Gladwell would say that successful brands don’t rise out of nowhere. Instead, “they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot.”

Putting the theories outlined in this book in the context of marketing communications, it totally shifts the way I think about planning for my clients. The tried and true is not so relevant. In fact, it’s sure to lead to mediocrity. How can we make our brands true outliers?

1. Practice. To truly stand apart from the crowd it takes 10,000 hours of practice, according to Mr. Gladwell. What does that mean for a brand? First and foremost it means that marketing can’t be viewed as an expense. It needs to be an investment. A serious investment with experienced professionals leading the way.
2. Seek opportunities. Not only that: Take advantage of them. This is almost a subcategory of practicing. Get out there. Listen to what your customers are saying. Maximize those opportunities. Had Bill Gates not snuck out of his house every night between 3 and 6  a.m. to get in extra time on the computer at the nearby university, he would not be the man he is today. Breaking the rules to take advantage of opportunities is what will truly set your brand apart.
3. Surround yourself with like-minded team members. Both internal and external partners. Those that support your desire to drive the brand towards true marketplace dominance. People who not only say “good job” but also work with you to meet that goal. An “I’ll do whatever you tell me,” partner is not going to make your job easier. Seek true thought leaders.

Thinking of Gladwell’s book in the context of marketing communications is super exciting. There is so much potential for so many brands and the formula for success is clearly spelled out.

Who is your favorite risk taker?

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When I Googled “What is integrated marketing communications?” I received several fairly similar results. For fun, here are four definitions, in no particular order:

1. “Integrated marketing communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing communication. It aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing channels.”

2. A different way of saying that is: “The practice of blending different elements of the communication mix in mutually reinforcing ways.”

3. “A strategy in which a company coordinates advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, and publicity in order to present a single consistent image for the product and the company.”

And my favorite:

4. “Where all aspects of a company’s promotional efforts work together with a unified purpose to deliver a consistent and positive message; [integrated marketing communications] recognizes that all contact points with customers and prospects are important, from the truck making a delivery to the CEO in the news.”

I have a favorite, yet I don’t believe any of the above definitions are 100 percent accurate. Here’s what I consider my perfect definition. It’s worked well for me in my experiences at Go East. It’s an amalgam of the above, with new content as well:

Integrated marketing communications is a holistic approach to marketing communication. It aims to ensure consistency of message and the blending of different elements of the communication mix in mutually reinforcing ways. The goal is to present a consistent message to the core audience(s) in a variety of channels, including online and offline efforts involving advertising, personal selling, sales promotion and PR. It recognizes that all contact points with customers are important and that while the way in which a company should communicate is different from tactic to tactic, the same key message can and should be delivered.

What do you think? I’m especially fond of the last sentence. How do you define integrated marketing communications?

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Working at Go East, I have access to the brand platforms for many different corporations. Big companies and small companies. We’ve either helped develop the brand platform for our clients, or we reference it as we work on marketing communications projects. In either case,  it’s always interesting to me to see what companies list as their values. And then it’s even more interesting to observe how companies behave and try to determine if they are in line with their values or not.

It’s refreshing to see companies walking the talk, so to speak. A value like “innovation” is easy to demonstrate. Which is great. On the other hand, how can companies demonstrate an intangible value such as “integrity”?

Recently, I heard that a potential client had commented on Go East’s integrity. As one of our core values, it’s good we’ve found a way to demonstrate something intangible. But what is it? What did we do in that meeting that demonstrated integrity?  What does integrity really mean?

The word “integrity” is a noun that means “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” I think the most obvious way to demonstrate integrity is to do what you say you’ll do and if you don’t do what you said you would do, then take ownership of the mistake. It’s an important value, especially in a service business such as Go East’s.

But in the case of a potential client — where you haven’t even had a chance to make a recommendation, much less fullfill the promise — how can you exude integrity?  Thinking back on the meeting we had with the potential client, I can think of six key things that indicated we could be relied on to be an agency of integrity:

1. Make eye contact. You’d be surprised how many people cannot (or do not) do this. Right or wrong, when I meet new people, I make some initial judgments on a person’s quality of character based on their handshake and their ability to make/keep eye contact.
2. Answer questions directly.  Avoid dancing around the question. Avoid buzzwords. Just answer the question. Embedded in this point is to always be truthful in your answers. People innately know when you’re jive-talking.
3. Ask questions. The point here is to clarify and demonstrate interest in the other person. But you must be relevant and your questions must be authentic. You have to truly want or need to know the answers.
4. You can probably guess what this is based on #2 and #3 above. Listen. Listening skills aren’t natural — a person really needs to practice. A good listener uses all their senses to really absorb the full impact of what others are saying. (Ok, maybe they don’t smell the speaker.)
5. Don’t kowtow. This goes back to being authentic. There’s nothing less authentic than ass-kissing.
6. Be gracious. Thank your contact for spending the time with you. (Don’t overdo it though, then you’re back to kowtowing).

I believe that integrity can be demonstrated and the items above are ways to do so when you’re in a situation with a new person. But I also believe that integrity can’t be faked. So much of integrity is authenticity, which to me is something you just “feel.” (That’s a whole different philosophical topic…)

Integrity is important to many people and I know it made a difference with this particular person because she is now an actual client rather than a potential client.

What are your thoughts on this? I informally polled my friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter about this topic and received a lot of passionate results ranging from “integrity is everything to me” to “integrity is doing the right thing even if it feels wrong and yet, doing the perceived “wrong” thing because you know it’s right!”

How do you think this can be carried over into relationships with others, personal and business? How do you demonstrate integrity as a professional? Do you think anyone can demonstrate integrity? How important is integrity to you?

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Thanks to everyone who took a few moments to answer Go East’s informal poll about planning.

This is the time of year that strategic planning happens in all types of organizations and, while marketing communications plans typically measure out 3-5 years and are important to the big picture, the reality is that day-to-day planning is just as important. That’s probably why many of you responded “a week” or “a month” in answer to the question, “how far in advance do you plan?”

See for yourself how others in the marketing and marketing communications field are planning.

What are the implications of these results? Well, frankly, this is good news for our Post-it® Brand clients! Lists are still the primary way many people figure out what they have to do! There’s a note for that! (Even the “Magic 8-Ball” answer likely indicates something on paper!)

Whether you’re planning strategically or day-to-day, it’s important to have a process that works for you. The lesson in this poll is that everyone’s process is different and that’s OK as long as it works. But let’s not dismiss day-to-day planning as something that can’t be foreseen or planned for. A well-written marketing communications plan will align with the strategic plan and give you the opportunity to be efficient with your time and budget.

After polling our clients, we decided to look at how Go East-ers approach planning — watch the video here.

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From a marketing standpoint, social media is about engaging with customers in a meaningful way. “Engaging” and “meaningful” being the two key words!

Engaging: To cause someone to become involved in

Meaningful: Having a serious, important or useful quality or purpose

We can plan for meaningful content, but when we engage with our customers, we don’t know what will happen. Planning for social media almost seems like an oxymoron, right? How can you plan for something that is dynamic and kinetic? Well, think of how kinetic it would feel without a plan!

A good social media plan is created with a strategic, proven methodology. It’s about setting clear and measurable objectives. It’s about ongoing engagement. It’s about listening. It’s about reporting. It’s about being relevant. It’s about a lot of things, but it is not about creating a Facebook page and it’s not about you.

One other important thing about social media strategy is that it’s integrated with your brand strategy. All of your consumer touch points should be aligned with the same objectives. After all, social media — although a beast with its own set of rules — is just another consumer touch point.

How challenging is it for you to integrate your social media strategy with your brand strategy? How have you overcome those challenges?

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It’s been said that I am a dork — most often by me. (Don’t worry, my colleagues at Go East and I embrace my dorkiness.) My latest proof point to dorkdom is my passion for writing marketing communications plans. I love it. I love it because it’s a tactical manifestation of my organization skills, it’s strategic, it’s creative and frankly, I love the written word.

To be clear, a marketing communications plan is the alignment of specific tactics to marketing strategies. Very often, communications plans are incorporated into marketing plans — but they each serve a different function and likely are formulated and referenced by people in different roles.

At a bare minimum, a stand-alone marketing communications plan should include a calendar that outlines tactics that are in alignment with business objectives and audiences.

Obviously that is not as simple as it sounds. The tactics could and should include everything that a brand is involved in from a marketing standpoint: trade shows, speaking engagements, FSIs, print advertising, product launches, etc. It should also include the seemingly smaller touch points: website maintenance, coupons, sales meetings, etc. These are all events or activities that are going to require attention from a marketing standpoint. It should also include social media strategy.

A 12-month marketing communications plan is the most common. Yet planning a year in advance can seem completely overwhelming. Take a deep breath, though. It can be done! When I develop marketing communications plans for my clients at Go East, I find it very helpful to start by literally mapping out on a calendar big things such as industry trade events or a known website redesign initiative. After that, the little things tend to fall into place. For example, if there is a large industry trade event in November, I know that there will be a need for pre-event activities in September and October. And I know that product enhancements or new products are often introduced at trade events, so I include efforts in May or June related to key message development, etc.

When you take the time to document a strategy, you have a road map to success. Of course, I am no stranger to reality. I know that the unexpected pops up. But that’s when the marketing communication plan is most effective! We can easily ascertain if the “hot need for a new sales tool” is in alignment with the marketing objectives or not. Either it doesn’t — and you’ve quickly ascertained that you can save time and money — or it does. If it does and you didn’t plan for it, just roll with it and make a note to include it in next year’s plan.  In the end, you save time and potentially money. What’s better than that?

So I’ll say it again, if having a passion for effective communication makes me a dork, then that’s what I am. What are your experiences with marketing communications plans? Please share the good, the bad and the ugly and join me in my kingdom of dorkdom!

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Go East is interested in the different ways people approach planning. Specifically, what sort of tools they use and how far ahead they plan.

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Minimalism.

I can’t think of any circumstance where minimalism doesn’t make for a good print ad. Can you? I want to know about it.

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