The Millennium Marketer

{Image Credit: Eric Doner}

Last Friday, I attended participated in the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association’s annual Board Retreat as a board member.

We are a group of committed marketing professionals now in planning phases to move forward with our mission: “Stay Connected, Stay Informed.” As the VP of Volunteers (fancy title for volunteer recruiting lead) I am responsible for replenishing the fuel to burn the midnight oil, or in other words, bring the team volunteers to help them drive their initiatives.

I left the day feeling really good about what we would accomplish within the next year and beyond.
***Update:Our team coach/retreat facilitator (who took the lovely picture) e-mailed me today to remind me that he didn’t just take a nice picture. Silly me–what was I thinking? So, to give credit to where credit is due, Eric did more than just take a picture. He facilitated us into the team exercises that got us to the point where we generated the ideas ourselves. That is the mark of a good facilitator, someone who gets other people thinking!” (Now back to my original musing…)***

Even though working virtually can give you great flexibility, I can’t stress enough the good feelings that come from actually meeting the people you work with. I doubt any of the jokes and discussions we shared in real time could be matched over phone conferences, e-mails and IMs.

Of course, the word “networking” is just as over-used as “social networking.” If it weren’t for SVAMA, I wouldn’t be able to refer to any real experiences…like when one board member good-naturedly confused two other members while introducing one of them during ice-breaker introductions.

We had a good laugh about it, and surely could not have had the same experience virtually.

Maybe this is also the reason for Lunch 2.0, Tweetups, Meetups and other non-virtual, non-owned and co-branded events rolling about vs. the traditional conferences and mindshare.

I just received my new Palm Centro in the mail today and I am thrilled! It is always fun to have a new toy. “Productivity” in this case is over rated because most people who use smart phones are use them for both business and fun.
It’s important to remember when to use which features–yet another reason why GTD is very useful for setting priorities, and processing projects. We are in a world where technology-created-ADD is extremely prevalent.

One thing that is really exciting about this phone is the camera feature, which will allow me to create voice interviews or web cam posts, so hopefully some of those will come on the fly if I can manage to use all of the phone’s features.

This is a good opportunity to consider Sprint’s sign-up process and look at how well they are doing at managing new customers. I joined through the Sprint Employee Referral program and got a special deal, so already I am more inclined to want to be part of Sprint than not.

GOOD
Quick service at a reasonable price: I bought the phone online, which made it really easy. The package arrived quickly just two days after it was ordered. Reps were readily available to answer questions immediately after the phone was activated.

BAD
Interruptions: In the transfer of the lines, Sprint called to activate the line, which made us suspicious about phishing. It was also an interruption of our day having to deal with the issue right away instead of when it would be most convenient.

Referral Roadblocks : I got my phone through a referral and wanted to make sure the referral went through. Once my phone was activated, a customer representative answered to verify the address and other information related to the phone line. I asked about getting the referral bonus, and the customer service representative said I would have to call back after she confirmed all information. That is two times I have to dial, although I can see how it would be beneficial for the rep to be available to answer any questions about the new service.

Sprint, as your newest customer as of today, I give you three stars. Two off for the interruption of my work with the shiny new toy and three for a nice phone that arrived promptly and the activation was easy.

I would have preferred to have the referral and activation information in the box, though so I can feel more empowered as a customer to choose the time of day I would like to activate it.

But thanks for the shiny new phone and a much affordable phone plan!

Photo source: TechFresh.net

Continuing on my last post on marketing metrics, I discovered a very valuable post to add to my knowledge base called “The Real ROI of Blogging.”
Traditional Marketers typically ask, “How do you know if social media has a high ROI?”
Lewis Green suggests that ROI does not have to be measured in terms of revenue.

Well we all know that revenue is not the only driver of marketing success. Green lists the following as terms of measuring blogging ROI:
* Create great customer experiences as measured by the happiness levels of our customers?
* Result in loyal clients?
* Result in revenues and/or profits?
* Result in leads and referrals?
* Result in getting us noticed?

I imagine it would take some very tight processes and collaboration with your sales and support teams to identify loyal clients and recognize referrals. This is great for companies who have recognized that organizational process is important from the very start and have been able to maintain a work culture of collaboration. But what about companies that are growing from a traditional, commission-based sales model where secrecy is valued to protect the livelihood of the individual rather than the good of the entire company and customers?

As I understand it, it will take leaders who are driven and committed to start addressing the sales team as a unit, change the way the sales people are paid out and create a network of collaboration across the organization–not at all an easy task.

How have you handled metrics and organizational processes within your company? Feel free to comment and discuss!

Metrics in marketing is a toughie. It is made easier by online marketing tactics, such as Facebook, YouTube pages. Still, the challenge oftentimes with a site like Facebook is that people will join groups or Fan pages, never contribute and perhaps they will not remember that they joined in the first place. Especially if there is not much activity in those places.

There are two big questions for marketers that challenge the profession:
How do you keep customers from being disengaged?
How do you measure their loyalty?

This came about as I was trying to define a set of metrics for a business. Defining a set of metrics is challenging because you have to start with the outcome and then define the issues that would explain whether your analysis is unbiased. It bothered me that it could be so arbitrary, such as “Increase sales by 20%”–and how do you know you are doing that through your marketing campaigns? And does this really matter to your customer? Even if you track page views for a website, there is no real way to know whether someone consistently visits your website, unless they consistently leave comments on your blog.

Here are a few articles that I am reading on the subject. I will update this list with more, but if you know of any good links related to the subject, feel free to comment as well.

It’s a question I get often–should I go after an MBA? Like anything else in marketing and business, it’s important to stick to your objectives.

If you’re going after an MBA program, or are thinking about going after one, here are three little morsels of advice from a veteran a year out from the MBA program.

1) Think about what you love to do. I believe that passion comes from the inside and it is developed from youth. I’ve always liked creating something and it didn’t matter what form it would come in: origami, word crafting, drawings, and ideas that solve problems. I thought that the MBA program would make me more of a quantitative finance type, and yes I did learn a lot about this, but it didn’t change who I am.

2) Don’t let class formats, teachers or classmates constrain your thinking. Stay informed. Of course, you have to balance team projects with your ego, but sometimes class formats and course syllabi ask for a lot of time and responsibility. In between operations management, finance, statistics homework problems, I didn’t find a lot of time for anything else. But it’s important to take some time to read the news and step outside of the educational realm. Just to illustrate how important this is, social media was staring me in the face at the time, but I was not 100% aware of it, because teachers recommended reading Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. Both are good publications, but they are a far cry from social media to be sure.

This goes back to knowing what you love. If you have a passion, chase it down. On the other end of the spectrum, if you’re in the MBA program to explore, then definitely take the time to listen to your classmates and get thoughts on their past experiences. MBAs do not do this enough and can present themselves with too much bravado. It’s easy to forget that we are people and we are in school to learn from each other.

3) Temptations are fierce: Know when to listen and when to reject. Sometimes people will say things that you don’t like, but accept the feedback and consider it. Be prepared to think critically, go with the flow and know when your instincts are correct. When you have three months to complete a client-oriented project, people say a lot of things under fire and under stress that they would not say otherwise. Appreciate this because it will make for some bonding moments later!

Networking is often said to be the key elements of an MBA program, so to that end, learn to prioritize and have some discipline. Sometimes you have to know when is the right time to party/network with classmates and when is the right time to study!

One last word on entitlement. In the eyes of the employer, you are not entitled to that salary that you think you deserve after the MBA program. I have heard from MBA alumni that it is still a tough sell when your previous work experience pre-MBA program highlights you in a different way from the coursework that you have worked into your skills portfolio. Help others to help you.

Consider how much this investment is worth to you, and maybe you will need a few more years before reaching the point of having another life experience such as this. Just don’t put it off if you think it is time. You may not get another chance!