The Marketing Year

So...its 2010. Does anyone really care? I don't. Did anything change when the date went from 12/31/2009 to 1/1/2010? Other than the date, not really. I'm still a thirty year old married male with a degree in marketing and a retail job. My wife is still my wife, and so on. I woke up the morning of 1/1/10 and went right back to work, I didn't have the day off.

So if you're expecting a retrospective on 2009 based on the title of this post, you'll be dissapointed, because that's not what this is. 2009 was good to me, and that's all there is to it.

I don't really understand the whole restarting everything on New Years Eve/Day bit. Why do we do that? Most fiscal years aren't calendar years. Most birthdays are not on those two days - IMHO, a year begins and ends on your birth date. There is an actual marked transition there, as tied into the calendar as it is.

So what the hell is a marketing year? Its nothing, its an arbitrary term I just made up. There really is no marketing year. Marketing is measured by projects, campaigns, promotions, and a whole host of other things, many only loosely tied into date of any sort.

That's the way I choose to live my life. Birthdays and anniversaries are important dates to remember, because they actually symbolize passage of time in a relevant way to that person.

What's marketing got to do with it? Everything and nothing, both at once. Marketing is what I do, so its obviously tied into my life and its evolution and creation. But marketing has nothing to do with what date it is, or what time it is.

If you get all excited by the new year thing, good for you, that's great. But if you see me celebrating wildly on some other day, I may have just made a useful or realistic transition, on my own terms, and with my own skills and abilities. I didn't do it because everyone else did, I did it because it was time for it, and it felt right.

So go ahead, be one of those people who tries through February, and fails in March. Come see me in April, or July, September or December, I'll still be at it and kicking ass...because I want to be, not because of some weird tradition nobody really knows anything about.

So why'd you make your resolutions? What do you want to accomplish? Why didn't you do it before? Why now?

Change Happens.

Things change. There's no way around it. Its life.

Sometimes change is good, sometimes change is bad. But there's no way to stop it. Sometimes its big. Sometimes its small. People thrive on change. People hate change. People want good changes, and want to stay away from bad changes. I could go on forever, but I won't.

Recently, Twitter made a big change. The retweet function was added as an option along with favorite and reply. When this was announced, almost everyone thought it would be a great change. Then the code went up as a random chance beta. People disliked it, and it was pretty buggy, and only those who had the new feature could see it. It was taken down in short order.

Then a few days later, it was back, going out to more random people, and apparently everyone has it now, sans bugs. People hate it. People like it. Its typical change. There are good arguements for both sides, which I will not get into, because this isn't about the validity of the change itself. Form your own opinions on it.

Twitter execs have included a link to send feedback on the new feature, which many people have used. Will it make a difference? Time will tell, as there has been no notice from either @ev or @biz or anyone else involved with Twitter in regards to anything.

So its up to time now. Will the new format for retweets on the Twitter website be New Coke? Or will it be Google?

I'll leave it up to you to make your decision... (hopefully below...*hint hint*)

Thanks for reading!

Bring Up The Past, Or Move Forward?

Almost every time I write, I have opportunities to mention past blog posts, past tweets, questions...whatever it may be. Sometimes I do, most times I d not.

Why is that?

I'm really not sure. But I think I have a good idea...

Have you ever seen a current advertisement mention one from the past? It happens very rarely, mostly because companies always want to move forward. When it does happen, it is always a company referencing or bringing back a great moment in their history.

Nobody wants to be reminded of what they did in the past that wasn't up to par, no matter who they are, no matter what they've done.

On the other hand, showing off your past let's people see that what you do has gotten better...or IF it's gotten better. It may open someone up to something they didn't know.

Is that worth the risk? What do you think?





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Many Angles Of Truth

How is it that two companies that sell the same product can tell you the exact opposite things, and still both be telling the truth?

They can't...but they also can, often both at the same time.

This all goes along with a two part blog series I wrote on Blellow, about your personal story. Products have a story too. Everything in the business world has a story. Otherwise it wouldn't be where it is.

Many products or services can do more than one thing. I'd wager that nearly every single one can, actually. The thing is, most of them only tell you what they want you to know. Is that dishonest? No, not really - they're not lying (well, some might be, but thats a whole separate post for another time) and they want you to use their product for their intended purpose. Their intended purpose may be vastly different from some other product that does some or most of the same thing, but if the people behind it have different ideas on what you should do with it, they'll present different stories. They're both telling you the truth; but its the truth they want you to hear, not necessarily the full truth.

Some people would say that is dishonest. I wouldn't. Why shouldn't I be able to tell you that my product, while similar to yours, does some different things? Why would I put out a product that does the same stuff as someone else and say exactly that? I wouldn't - because I would fail, damn near immediately.

From a business perspecive, telling you what someone wants you to know is the way that it's done. Some people on the outside don't like it, and do think of it as misleading or distrustful, but many of them can't really tell you a coherent reason why they don't like it.

Most of what seems to be the problem is the whole concept of "story" because when people hear story, they immediately jump to fiction. Your story within business MUST NOT be fiction, otherwise you're going to be found out, and you'll be done. Probably out a lot of money, too.

Crafting your story, while still telling the truth and not being misleading isn't exactly easy. What are some of your favorite product stories? What are some of your favorite product stories that differentiate very similar products?

Thanks for reading...

No.

You're not good enough.

There, I said it. I'm not saying it to myself, I'm saying it to YOU. Hearing the word "no" sucks, because that's exactly what it means, in just about any situation in our marketing and advertising world...heck, in most of the world in general.

Does it make you mad that I just told you you aren't good enough? Yes? Good, now calm down and prove me wrong. No? Both good and bad; Good, because you don't take things that may be out of your control personally. Bad, because you may just not care. I'm going to assume you care for the rest of this post. You're welcome to stop reading if you don't care about hearing no, because chances are that you don't particularly want to hear what I have to say to begin with. Lets take a moment and let those people take off.

...


...


Okay, everybody that wants to be here, are you still reading? Good.

Let me start by taking what I said earlier back. You are good enough. You wouldn't be doing what you are doing if you weren't. Hearing "no" from a client you're trying to sell to, or from a client that asked you to design something, or from your boss who asked you to do a task for them is not the end of the world. Hearing "no" basically means "try again, do it better" for the most part. If you learn to not take "no" personally or learn how to harness your anger into productivity when you hear "no", you will be much better off than most.

The biggest effect that "no" can have on a person will actually extend OUT of the current project. If you only ever learn one thing from reading my blog, this is what you need to learn. A "no" on project 1 CANNOT affect project 2. You cannot let yourself be gun shy, or be hesitant to step out of the box on a separate project or idea because you were told "no" on something else. Separate projects may as well be in separate worlds, even if they are both to be presented to the same person! Someone who would hold something from one project over you during a completely separate project doesn't deserve to be in the place they are in, in the first place.

I'll admit it...sometimes a "no" can really hurt. There is not a universal cure or workaround for a "no". I wish there was, and I honestly wish someone was making a crapload of money selling that cure, because never having to even consider fearing rejection would be amazing.

Please don't attempt to avoid "no", because that will be even worse for you. Do what you have to do to be able to UNDERSTAND "no" and you're on your way to greatness, I promise.

Anyone have a good story about overcoming a "no"??

Thanks for reading...

Web 2.0 = Marketing 2.0??

For some reason, lately the need to classify things has been bouncing around in my head. Not trying to classify my own stuff in my house, but why its done. Of course, general classification is obviously and correctly used to differentiate things that for the most part are blatantly different, with small variation.

Animal. Vegetable. Mineral. Mammal. Fish. Arachnid. Whatever, they're for the most part useful.

But what is Web 2.0? What is new marketing? For that matter, what compromised Web 1.0? What exactly is included within traditional marketing? Who's traditions? Mine? Yours? Nostradamus? Bill Clinton? Dave Chappelle? Where do you draw the lines...is it really necessary to draw them?

No.

To concentrate on marketing for a moment...how do you know when to draw the line? Was it when the first spam email went out? Was it when the first banner ad was clicked on? Was it the first television commercial? Was it the first magazine ad? The line is useless....marketing is marketing is marketing. The music industry is full of the same bullshit...everything has to have a label to make it digestable to the latest and the greatest of whatever. Fuck it. Music is music is music. Its all music....leave it at the general classifications that you see in a record store. I don't need new this, or post that, or cross genre classifications. Its music. Get over it. Its marketing. ITS ALL THE SAME! The method of delivery is the difference. Since day one, marketing has been about getting your product or service in front of as many of the right people as often and as cheaply as possible without pissing them off. Thats what it is, thats what its been, and thats what it will always be.

Same with the internet. If you really want to get technical, Web 1.0 was the millitary defense network before any of the concepts of the internet beyond BBSs was even a thought in Al Gore's mind. Which would mean by classification of evolutionary ideas, we'd be on like Web 9.2 at this point. So why aren't we? Because the classification doesn't mean a damn thing. Its subjective, its made up to pigeonhole stuff, much like what I spoke about above. Its the internet. It has a wide variety of uses and has gone through a wide variety of generations...but its still the internet. No need to call it anything else...no more classifications needed. Just leave it alone.

What are your favorite useless classifications?

Thanks for reading...

Keep EVERYTHING...I mean it

Its pretty sad when not having anything to write about actually reminds me of something to write about.

That said...if you've designed it, written it, drew it, thought of it, whatever...KEEP IT...especially if you couldn't do it. You never know when stuff may come in handy. You may need inspiration, for a blog post...or a design layout, or a new kind of muffin. Whatever. When I was younger and used to write poetry, I kept it all. Even the horrible crap. I had folders and notebooks full of all kinds of stuff, gems and garbage alike...because I never knew when a good idea might strike. I wasn't one of those guys who kept a notebook by the bed and would wake up in the middle of the night to write something down, but after several things were lost because of missing earlier material, I resolved to keep everything from then on.

I still have outlines of stuff I did in Marketing 101 in college. I still have completed assignments from Audio Production on tape. Why? Because you never know. Something I said on air once back in 2001 may be the perfect slogan for something next year...but I won't know if I didn't still have that tape so I knew exactly what I said.

Will I ever need any of it? I have no idea. But it's there...and I'm happy it is.

What's some random stuff you've kept over the years that's helped you do whatever it is you do?

Thanks for reading...

Step Outside The Box - Literally

Going along with my previous post about coloring, is this one, that was slightly inspired by it.

Why stop at coloring outside the lines? That is a figurative excercise, which is indeed important, but sometimes you need to be literal. Step outside the box.

Why should you do something the same way it's always been done? Tradition? Bullshit. Because you know it'll work? Bingo. Try something different. Take a look around where you are now...chances are a lot of the stuff is there because someone took a literal step outside the box. Putting your product in an unusual place...changing its form factor....changing what it's used for. Selling music at Starbucks. Selling food at a bookstore. Writing a diary on the internet. Email.

Each of those was done because someone thought outside the box. Most of those we take for granted today...what will we take for granted tomorrow?

Thanks for reading...

Outside The Lines

Remember when you were little and started learning how to color? Take one crayon, and just go all over the paper without even realizing that the lines were there for a reason. I am getting to witness this kind of thing firsthand, because my nephew is starting to flex his creative muscles with scribbles and such. It looks like such a joyous experience, I wish I could remember that time in my life.

Why do we stay in the lines now? Isn't marketing and advertising about drawing outside the lines? How else would we come up with anything new? Please remember that time in your life when it was a joy just to scribble purple over Santa Claus, or make a black Easter Bunny...and put that into your work.

Thanks for reading...

When You Fail

It will happen. Everyone fails. Everyone drops the ball.

Obviously recovering will depend on what exactly failed, whether it was an entire campaign, or just a particular part of one. It may not even be your fault, or even your company or your product's fault. That failure may even lead to something good....revolutionary, even.

Think of how many things in marketing, advertising and even product packaging have evolved over the past.

The saying goes, that for every warning label you see, some idiot did what it says not to do. I hope you're not that idiot, but maybe we should thank those idiots.

What are your favorite failures and/or recoveries in marketing or advertising?

Thanks for reading...