What you can learn from Tom Cruise about managing your brand

This post is dedicated to my good friend Jackson Wightman, blogger, retail entrepreneur, master of all things PR and known the world over for his lists posts.

It is also dedicated to my love of celebrity gossip, but that's something you can ask me about if we ever meet.

I came across this article about Tom Cruise's "comeback" in The Ottawa Citizen recently and couldn't help but think of a great list post about we could all learn from TC about managing a brand, whether it be your personal brand or your corporate brand.

1. Avoid Nepotism: Back in 2005, Tom fired his longtime publicist and hired his sister.  His previous PR rep kept a firm grip on his image and wouldn't allow questions about his religious beliefs.  The big lesson here is that you should always hire the right person for the job, because investing in people is the single most important investment you can make.  Your employees are your brand and they represent you every single day.
2. Hire People Who Challenge You: As a follow-up to the point about nepotism, I also think that Tom Cruise didn't hire people who challenged him.  I bet that he said to himself "I'd like to talk about my beliefs more" and hired somebody who was going to let him do exactly that - and look how it all turned out.  If you're hiring people who simply nod and agree when you propose something then you're not getting any value out of having them around.  Innovation is often the result of conflict and is the result of overcoming conflict.  If you don't have anyone challenging you, then you're never going to innovate and move things forward.  
3. It Doesn't Take Much: Tom Cruise's image was destroyed by a few key events but the most popular one was the jumping on the couch incident from Oprah.  A lifetime of goodwill can vanish pretty quickly so it is important to remember that it really doesn't take much to ruin your brand.  A few bad days or even one bad moment everything people perceive you to be is forever changed.  If you're company doesn't have a social media policy then maybe it's time to think about drafting one.  I am completely in favour of trusting and freeing employees to be who they are but as you can see from the issues with Tom Cruise...  one jump and you're done.
4. You Gotta Know When to Shut It: Just like knowing when to fold'em, you have to know when to shut your mouth.  This is an important skill and one that can be very difficult to learn (trust me) but knowing when to shut your mouth will save your behind time and time again.  In Tom's case, he should have backed off getting involved in the private lives of other people (Brooke Shields). 
5. Go to the Box, Feel Shame:  This is a classic line from the hockey movie Slapshot, and it means that there will be times when you need to give yourself a timeout.  In Tom's case, this was a two year break from the intense glare of the public spotlight.  For corporate brands, this might not be possible and may require a re-branding exercise but I think that more and more, brands should be asking themselves if they need to take a break instead of constantly thinking that everything they do is magic.

Tom Cruise is still a fantastic actor who makes entertaining movies.  I have also heard that he is a genuinely nice guy but I think the the rough path he has taken in the last few years is paved with lessons for all of us.  The question is whether or not we both to listen to them...

Related articles by Zemanta

• Tom Cruise Returns to 'Oprah' in May (tvsquad.com)
• Is Tom Cruise really enjoying a comeback? (cnn.com)

Book Review: Buy-ology

For months I had been waiting to read "Buy-ology", a book by Martin Lindstrom about the science behind consumer behavior.  I first heard about the book on Duct Tape Marketing's podcast, but had to wait for it to be delivered to my library branch before I could check it out.

Martin Lindstrom is a well respected branding expert.  The book is an exploration of what Lindstrom and his researchers learn when they use brain scanning technology to test consumers' reactions to marketing messages... so it's not hard to see how this book is interesting...

What Lindstrom finds is rather shocking.  We learn that most of the traditional anti-smoking ads are ineffective because they actually trigger cigarette cravings in the brains of smokers.  We also learn what I suspect most marketers have always had a hunch about, that consumers buy products for different reasons than they say.  For example, a consumer might say they purchased a product because it had all the features they were looking for when in reality, they bought the product because they thought it would make them cool.  I won't spoil all of the great nuggets in this book for you, but trust me, you'll have a hard time putting it down.

The book is very well written.  Each chapter flows into the next and the research questions are laid out like a mystery that the reader is working through with Lindstrom as he receives the results for each of the studies that are conducted.  It was for this reason that I found myself reading upwards of 50 to 75 pages each time I would pick it up.

Worth a read for anyone interested in what REALLY happens when we shop.  You can learn more about the book and Martin Lindstrom on his site.

What Every Marketer Needs To Do: Take Risks

The concept of risk taking in marketing is something that I believe every marketer must do.  I came to this viewpoint after hearing over and over in various different things I have read/listened to.  In marketing, there really is "death in the middle".

Most recently, the idea came up in Mitch Joel's podcast, Six Pixels of Separation in a discussion he has with Sally Hogshead around her book Fascinate.  Long story short, the conversation boils down to the fact that in order to influence people and change behaviour, we need to fascinate them.  In order to fascinate, there 7 triggers, which are explained a bit more in this Globe and Mail article. 

For example, if you want to fascinate somebody you need to trigger lust.  Not love, not like - lust.  And like all of these triggers, they are not "middle of road" type emotions.  They are extreme and they live on the outer edges of the human experience.  As a marketer, you need to push to the edges in order to realize the gains of that trigger. 

Seth Godin also talks about this concept often and it is one of the cornerstones of his new book, Linchpin.  If you're going to inspire change in people and organizations, then you need to stick your neck out and take a chance.  You need to push the envelope.

This is exactly what makes marketing fun.  This is why I believe people get into marketing in the first place.  You can do all the research you want, you can segment the market as carefully as you want but in the end, you need to stick your neck out and push for the edges. 

The idea also came up again in a Duct Tape Marketing podcast I listened to back in December.   The podcast is a discussion with Martin Lindstrom who wrote "Buy-ology" which looks at why we buy things.  One of his findings:  You need to slap people in the chin.  Doesn't sound too safe to me!  The idea there is that people need to be "slapped" in order to sit up and take notice of what you're offering. 

It is important to say that I am not advocating for needless risk taking.  And there is a distinction that needs to be made between pushing for the edges and p*ssing people off with your delivery.  For example: Sending a message with strong imagery versus sending that same message over and over until the respondent opens the message and unsubscribes.  There must be a distinction between tactic and delivery. 

Here are some suggestions for how you can incorporate all of this into your marketing activity/process.

1. Check your pulse.  Does what you're doing make your heart beat fast?  If not, I suspect you're not pushing it enough.
2. Ask your co-workers.  If everyone likes it and sees it the same way, then you're probably not going to cause a strong reaction among your audience.  
3. Brainstorm.  I suggest coming up with ideas and then ranking from 1 (safe) to 10 (risky) so that you can see and understand how you can ratchet things up a little bit.
4. Start Fresh.  Scrap everything you have done before.  Forget about it and see what new ideas or approaches you can come up with.  If somebody suggests something similar to your old work, toss it out and keep going.

Is "Direct" going directly into the garbage?

I drove to Toronto and then onto Guelph this weekend for a friend's stag and doe.  Normally, drives of that length would be insanely boring but I was able to download a bunch of archived shows of my favorite podcasts.

I tweeted about this episode of The Beancast (link directly to mp3 of it here) and I can't say enough about how much I really enjoyed the discussion.  It really spoke to something I was thinking about back in the fall and something that came up recently in a job interview.

I was interviewing at a software company for job that was going to be very much focused on direct marketing, particularly email marketing, which something I have a strong background in.  The interviewer asked me what "levers" I believe that I can pull as a marketer.  My answer centered around segmentation, offer, presentation, pricing and the like.  He countered that he liked to think of it as audience times response.  So if you need more sales, just get a larger audience or increase the response rate.

I replied saying that I felt that it was too simple to look at things that way because you're forgetting that not everyone is going to respond directly to the promotion.  Essentially, you are forgetting about the entire marketing ecosystem that exists out there, which is something that if you're using analytics, you can actually see.  For example, I worked at a company and we noticed that email marketing campaigns led to increases in search volume... meaning, email recipients would receive the email and then to a search engine to find the company or search for products.  I suspect in some cases, they might have been looking for deals elsewhere (hence why you need to have your channel strategy well planned out in advance folks).

And that's why I really enjoyed the discussion on that particular episode of the Beancast... the panel was talking about how marketers are all too quick to think about direct marketing something as simple as audience times response rates.  I think these marketers are the same ones that often play really loose with permission levels.  They say to themselves "hey, if somebody isn't an open or a click or a purchase, the message didn't register and I can hit them up again next week".  This is the type of attitude that I think is all to pervasive in marketing and one that I believe gives the field a bad name.

Worse, who wants to work at a firm that likes to market itself in this manner?

In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

I went to my first Marketing in Ottawa Meetup today.  The group is organized on Meetup.com and is made up of people in Ottawa that either work in marketing or run a business and need marketing help.

There was only about seven people there but everyone seemed to have a slightly different background and that is what makes these things so interesting.  You never know what you're going to hear or what you're going to pick up.  After spending time studying marketing at the MBA, I found that I really enjoyed talked about marketing strategy at a more grass roots level.

In formal marketing programs, you often talk about marketing with large budgets (or at least some budget).  When you get in the room with small business owners, you are often talking about marketing with NO budget.  On top of this, you are often taking about marketing with limited expertise.   For example, I may suggest that somebody set up a blog, and while this isn't too difficult, it does take some knowledge and time (money) to start.  In the end, I just found that I walked out with a much great appreciation for what marketing really is to most of the people that do it on a daily basis.

Here's some of the people that met:

Elaine from Wild Pigments, an Ottawa art studio.   Elaine teaches art to people of all ages.

Caroline from Evolv.  Evolv is a new fortified water product that increases stamina, energy and endurance.  

Judi from Judi's Studio.  Judi has a number of things on the go from the Kids to Be and Me show, to a few other businesses based out of Judi's Studio. 

Marie from Trusting Yourself.  Marie specializes in helping all sorts of people live better lives.  Powerful stuff!

The meeting was organized by Linda.  Linda is an interior decorator.  

We also had a real estate agent in the group, which is always interesting as I find the real estate industry is one that is really embracing e-marketing and particularly social media strategies.  Amie is a real estate agent who specializes in all kinds of property all over the Ottawa area. 

In all in all, it was a great lunch and I'm glad I got to meet and get some feedback from these people.

Death to Ambiguity

I have been thinking about this one for a while.  I suppose the debate happening in the Canadian House of Commons about euthanasia got me thinking it was time to post about it. 

I'd like to propose an end to ambiguity.  We should hunt it down and offer a bounty on it. 

Ambiguity is the single biggest threat to our productivity and our way of life.  Every single day, ambiguity and the need to eradicate it from our lives forces us to waste large amounts of our time and effort (and by extension $$$).

I am not proposing that we stop brainstorming or sharing ideas but we must ensure that people are always concerned with ambiguity.  Ask yourself  "What's next?", "When?", "Who owns this?".  Nail it down and then write it down and make sure everyone understands.

But that is just the beginning.  I can't tell you how often people fail to share the fact they have made a decision.  You ask for something, somebody makes a decision on it but never shares the answer.  Maybe they are afraid the answer is NO.  Maybe they are afraid the answer is YES.

I tend to care more that there is answer made rather than what the answer is.  Sure, I would often prefer something go in my favour but still:

As long as I know the answer, I can move forward.

Without an answer, I stuck calling or emailing you back an hundred times to find out.  Without an answer, I am forced to keep you in my inbox.  Without and answer, I am forced to keep you in my "world".

Perhaps if we focused a little bit more on getting rid of ambiguity, we'd all have more time to do the things we really love in life.

When a telemarketer calls (which happens rarely these days), I don't waste my time (or theirs) making them go through a long speech only to say that I'm not interested.  I tell them I'm not interested and move forward.

If a potential supplier is trying to sell me something and I am not interested, I may ask for more material from them but then I don't ignore their follow up emails and phone calls.  I tell them that I have reviewed the material and decided against moving forward.   No harm, no foul.

Think of all the time we'd have back over the course of our lives if we put as much effort into getting past ambiguity as we do in trying to slack off and hide from giving answers.

What a tangled world wide web

I was thinking the other day... it was back in the fall of 1995, when I first saw the Internet, in the form of the world wide web. Mount Allison, where I did my undergrad, was the first school wired in every room. I remember getting my computer hooked up a month or so into school.

I had email and everything, including a direct to server hookup...no slow modem...no dial up... back then, Yahoo was THE site where everyone went to find things. A band I was into, Phish, had phans that really grabbed a hold of the medium in order to keep in touch about shows. If you go to Phish.net and poke around, you can read all about it, it's pretty interesting how early they were on that train...

Even back then, the web fascinated me. I remember trying to learn HTML and make a simple html page for myself that was basically just a few links - but never hosted anywhere. Oddly enough, I took a marketing class that had a few sessions in the cpu lab where we made pages and spoke about internet marketing. When it came time for a project, my group created web portal for baby boomers called 50something.com. This was about 1997, I think and our biggest hurdle was convincing our class people would buy stuff on the 'net....

I moved off campus in the third year and my web access diminished severely. I had to unsubscribe from a few of the e-newsletter I was on...and never did much but send a few emails... I got side tracked into other things, like finance... and didn't come back to the net really until about 2000 when I quit TD Watherhouse to work at Flonetwork, a email marketing company and ASP with a product called Flo.

I always wonder what would have happened if I hadn't moved off campus, or if I hadn't gotten side tracked by finance... or if we had actually moved on that business plan for a web portal years before the tech boom.... and subsequent bust.

This past week, as I entered back into the web marketing world I was struck once more by just how far the web has come... and how diverse it is... In 2000, email marketing was just getting started and we had to convince people that it worked. These days, it is a given in any e-marketing mix - even to the point of being "old" and tired.

Even search marketing and pay per click... where you bid or pay for keywords/ads that are placed on pages where people find them... is getting tired... Now, the big new thing is viral stuff... where you hand the content over to the customer and they run with it... so you see pages being tagged with delicious, digg, stumble.. heck, go to any site and you'll see tonnes of little icons for these types of sites... I counted twenty on a site just today.

Each day that I sit down at my desk I have about 10 different channels to check on... it's insane... but at the same time, super fun and dynamic... but the times, they are a changin'..

So what does this all mean?

For marketers, or as some say, marketeers... it means that we have to be:

Smart: You have to know your customer, how they behave and what they think about. You need to know what sites they go to and how they use the web. Then you have to figure out how to get there efficiently because if you don't do the second part, you will choke on opportunity. Evaluate everything that comes down.. does this fit with my value proposition?... my target market?

Vigilant: You need to be constantly monitoring how you're doing. It is not 1960, when you filmed an ad and put it on TV.... you tweak search copy see how it works, tweak it some more... you need to keep your head on swivel at all times. What are your customers saying about you? Where are you in the search engines... how are your affiliates doing?

Gutsy: If you're going to get into the viral stuff, then you have to be ready to turn your content over to the public. That takes massive guts because you can't control it anymore and you might not be able to stop it or turn it back.... you need to do your best upfront and hope that you don't hurt your brand. Not many people in upper management have the balls to do this and go all the way....

But this is what makes marketing so fun... how many people get to say that they are required to be smart, vigilant and gutsy on a daily basis... heck, I am usually required to be all three over 1o times in one single day... what more could you ask for?