Have you read your organization’s financial statements lately? Chances are they tell you more about the business your organization is in, ie what its success depends on, than its mission and vision statements. Ask yourself: what’s the biggest asset my organization has? And what are its biggest costs? Where does its profit come from?
You might just be amazed.
I recently took a 5-day management course at Schulich School of Business. It was a very good course. I learned some things, validated expertise and I particularly enjoyed seeing profs who work in my field, marketing and strategy, teach.
The program consists of five parts: leadership, marketing, strategy, finance, HR. It is left to the participants to put this all together into a holistic thought pattern for themselves.\
In my view, this is essential.
For instance, marketing is not merely something other people do in your organization. ‘Marketing’ is what everyone who wishes to influence decisions – at any level – needs to do. The processes of getting consumers to buy product A vs product B are remarkably similar to what it means to leverage one’s hard won influence.
Indeed, in my view, influence is best defined as your personal brand equity expressed in the willingness of others to follow you. Frankly leadership is not about leading – it is about giving others reasons to follow.
Case in point: As an external consultant I never have the authority to change anything, I also have no way to reward my clients’ staff with more money. Yet, I lead and we make good things happen. My success is tied to how well I infuse projects with meaning, communicate appreciation, and generate desired outcomes. Naturally, with each successful project my brand equity grows and my capacity to do more good work increases. That’s why leadership (inspire) is such a powerful concept, as compared to management (perspire).
With 2 successful conferences behind me, I went on vacation to Germany: we had so much fun seeing friends and family.
Coming back, I was fortunate to have several interesting projects brought to me. This attests to the effectiveness of my primary business development activity: deliver great work and invariably more interesting work results (so far, so good).
Over the last 2 months I have been working on projects as varied as branding-related research for the Stem Cell Network, a Nokia for Business marketing project, focus groups testing NAC Orchestra programming under consideration, developing a 5-year plan for NAC Music Education program evaluation and editorial work on defining 10 new thematics for Canadian Geographic’s Canadian Atlas Online Phase 3 (based on the 3 volumes of the Historical Atlas of Canada).
As I am observing politics, the economy and ‘nature at work’ in Canada and the US in particular, I am wondering about the new strategic moves that will be required both in my own and in my clients’ businesses. I know diversity of skills and continually honing my capabilities are important to my success – I already have a minimal environmental footprint in terms of my business. For my clients the answers will run the full gambit of business strategy: from investing in customer experience to attracting and keeping the right talent, from creating new products to becoming more effective and savvy communicators.
The Media Strategy Conference in Toronto set out to “change minds and change models.” In my view, speakers most successful at pushing the mind were Rishad Tobaccowala in his key note on “Imagination, Reinvention and the Future of Media” and Marian Salzman’s “Brand Sluts”. Nancy Vonk presented on her agency’s remarkable work for Unilever’s Dove – Campaign for Real Beauty. A 4-year-old initiative, it seems this has become a calling for the brand. Cool.
Ad agencies are trying to structure themselves to respond to the irrevocable shifts in market dynamics where community and collaboration are far more important, than traditional agencies can possibly deliver.
The bottom line is value has to be real, and the only judge of value is the consumer. Not a segment, but a person. Hard to fool anyone these days, even though advertisers and their agencies create so much noise by bombarding us consumers with thousands of unwanted messages every day.
That’s why I now spend my time on developing precise customer insights that enable relevant, valued conversations. And I work on the mechanics – and thus the backbone technical requirements – so that these insights become actionable. In my view, these will be the strategic moves that matter.
I’ll be at this conference on September 27 in Toronto. I went to the first one in 2005 and found that my observations on the advertising agency world I was living in were confirmed: agencies were struggling to be relevant in an environment where customers had become vastly empowered, largely through the web and online media. This year’s theme “Changing Minds. Changing Models” aims at the roots of a reinvention. Should be a fascinating day.
In my view, connecting with customers takes a different mind set today, and in future, than the one that was honed 30 or 40 years ago when brands were powerful and consumers followed.
With my own independent consultancy, I can step out and up in search of customer relevance and creative business solutions. These solutions aren’t going to be about marketing or advertising per se; those are tools that can serve a greater purpose, though. The business solutions that will matter are the ones that are about connection, about meaningful relationships and understanding what an organziation can do, uniquely, to build them with its customers. I think, authenticity, not spin, matters.
Over the last few months I’ve worked with a team from Banfield-Seguin on the City of Cornwall Economic Development Department’s rebranding and business / resident attraction programs.
We gained a great deal of insight from the research process, where we talked to a lot of people in Cornwall about Cornwall, conducted a review of economic development success stories as well as a reputation assessment based on news media and web coverage. Based on the findings, we felt that the next strategic move would be to give the people in Cornwall even more of a voice in shaping the city’s new brand story. We thought the benefits of that approach would be considerable: we would shift perceptions about Cornwall, earn the residents’ trust in the work, make it real and foster buy in to the process and its outcomes.
In close collaboration with the team, we came up with the It’s My Cornwall contest. With great local media support, and direct, on-the-ground engagement, for instance through a day at the mall to solicit on-the-spot video and audio submissions, we got more than 130 entries in 19 days. Then we short-listed the 20 best entries, and promoted voting: 5,071 votes were cast.
The energy and enthusiam generated was palpable. We even got CTV Ottawa coverage for this initiative. All that bodes well for the next steps in rebranding and marketing Cornwall.
Last night, the NAC Orchestra got its new concert season underway – it was amazing: sold out concert hall, a fabulous Beethoven Festival kick off program, great energy on stage and in the hall.
Over the last year, I’ve led the NAC Orchestra’s Audience Development project. Working with many talented people at the NAC from music to marketing to production to management, I’ve provided research, analysis, insight as well as strategy process facilitation. Together, we’ve been plotting the strategic moves needed to build larger audiences.
The following is an excerpt from a press release the NAC Orchestra issued a couple of days ago – the kind of news that truly endorses the analytics, strategy and facilitation work:
“Subscription revenues have surpassed the $2 million mark with more than 13,000 subscription series already sold – over 800 more subscriptions than this time last season. The Beethoven Festival, led by Pinchas Zukerman – which includes several concerts in the classical series – has proved extremely popular with six of the ten concerts sold out in advance of Opening Night on September 19. Continuing strong sales bode well for the entire Festival and the full season of classical music programs. The TD Canada Trust Family Adventures with NACO led by Principal Youth and Family Conductor Boris Brott has seen a rise of more than 46% in subscription ticket sales compared to this time last season, while the CTV Pops Series under the artistic direction of Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly has increased by 10%.”
“Success is attributed to a comprehensive Audience Development Programme on which the NAC Orchestra embarked a year ago using extensive research into its audiences’ interests and priorities together with analysis of 20 years of sales trends. Initial improvements include implementing a wider range of (and in some cases lower) ticket prices throughout Southam Hall to offer greater access; increased flexibility in packaging the classical, pops and recital series – a move that has resulted in a 37% increase in “pick-your-own series” sales; and adding more access to artists through post-concert talkbacks and live NACOcasts (podcasts) to complement the traditional pre-show chats. Other initiatives include additional interactive web features, starting with the Beethoven Festival; more comprehensive house programmes, and special appreciation events for new and long-time subscribers. And this is just the beginning.”