Creative Times: Leading Creative People - it's like herding cats!

Leading Creative People ...
                                       ...."We say it's like herding cats!" was a comment about leading and managing creative people when I was a guest speaker at the Munich meeting of MAGNET - the Marketing and Advertising Global Network.

My presentation to the owners of advertising agencies from around the world was on the subject of Leadership. One aspect they were particularly interested in was how to lead 'creative' staff.

Link to full article: Leading Creative People 

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Creative Times - The Message Must be right for the Medium

The Message must be right for the medium - and vice versa.

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The Message must be Right for the Medium

The message must be right for the medium - and vice versa.

The "3 Ms of Marketing" are the Market, the Message and the Medium (in that order!).
In other words, firstly be clear about the Market you are targeting, secondly decide the precise message for that particular market segment or customer type, and thirdly, select the medium which is the best vehicle for delivering that message.

It's common sense, really. There needs to be a harmony between the target market, message and medium for any marketing campaign to be effective.And so the message must be right for the medium too.

Having selected a medium, the 'style' of the message must be appropriate to it. We all know that email allows a different 'etiquette' or writing style than a printed letter. Similarly, social networking media tend to be very laid back and informal. The message might be the same but its style should fit the medium.

For example, my photo on my website is different from the one I use in facebook. They are both true images of me, to show people how I look, but the one in facebook shows me bathing in the hot volcanic waters of the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. (Not a photo I would have chosen for my official website!)

Graphic Designer Leanda Ryan uses an informal photo for social networking purposes, and in a separate article she discusses the benefits of social networking for business, using the informality of social networking to make business contacts. See Online Social Networking for Business.

Don't Advertise! Let your customers do the plogging

Advertising is so last century!
Advertising doesn’t work any more.
Instead, customers talk – like never before.

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Let your customers do the Plogging

Advertising is so last century!
Advertising doesn’t work any more.
Instead, customers talk – like never before.

It used to be the case that the advertiser was in control of the message. That was when the advertiser had more power than customers and could control the message. Nowadays, customers are in control. Customers have always talked, of course, and word of mouth has always been a factor. But in this century the power balance has switched. Customers don’t just talk, they communicate big-time. Using email, text messaging and various dimensions of the internet (websites, forums, blogs) customers are connected and word of mouth is mega.

The marketplace has gone global – we can now reach more customer than ever before. But that goes for customers too. Customers can talk to other customers like never before. Customer power is awesome. Word of mouth – both positive and negative – can spread like wildfire, and will.

Would you dare to hand over the management of your advertising campaign to a bunch of the most talkative of your customers? Does this idea make you nervous – or excited? The reality is that these talkative customers will control your marketing messages anyway. The truth about your products and services will be found out and customers will talk – and talk, and talk. So why not accept that the customers are in charge of your communications and help them a little? You won’t get away with telling lies – you’ll be found out and punished. But the truth should be good enough. (If it’s not, your business is in big trouble anyway.) Tell your customers your story and let them talk. Tell it directly to the gossips because they talk more and more people listen to them. And make the story interesting – interesting for the gossips, that is, not for you.

Word of mouth advertising is back – and it’s more powerful than ever. The combination of people’s timeless need to talk, combined with the timely arrival of new digital communication media, means that word of mouth is back at the top of the marketing agenda.

Professionals talk about ‘viral marketing’, ‘buzz marketing’ or ‘community marketing’ etc. Whatever term you want to use, it’s all based on the recognition that our customers are better connected and better respected than we are.

The best marketing never was about talking at customers (monologue) but talking with customers (dialogue). We’ve progressed from monologue to dialogue but now that customers are talking with each other as never before, we need a third word for it. Based on the Greek, we should call it ‘poly-logue’. It’s hard to say but could be shortened to ‘plog’. Let’s call it ‘plogging’. Yes, customers talk – and are talking like never before. Marketing has moved from monologue to dialogue to plog. Word of mouth has just gone global. Talkative customers + the internet = Plogging.

Customers are in control of the messages about your business, not you. Work with them not on them. Don’t advertise. Don’t shout your slogan. Instead, tell customers your story.

Let your customers do the plogging.

They will anyway. So help them.

Download article (PDF. 92KB)
Download let_your_customers_do_the_plogging. David Parrish. T-Shirts and Suits. 240407.pdf

* Contact me with your own experience of how customers plog about your products and services.

Identify the Important Few from the Trivial Many. The '95:5 Rule'

Creative Times. January 2007

The Pareto Principle, also known as the "80:20 Rule", states that 80% of results flow from 20% of  causes. In practice it's more like the "95:5" rule. For example, 95% of business may come from just 5% of customers.

Read more about the 95:5 Rule

Your creativity - hobby, job or business?

Creative Times. October 2006

It's natural for creative people to want to make a career out of their creativity. But it doesn't necessarily follow that creativity automatically qualifies a person for a job - or guarantees they can build a successful business from their creativity.

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Say No - and achieve success...

Creative Times. May 2006

Being prepared to 'Say No' is one of the keys to success for creative entrepreneurs.

Business strategy is also about deciding what not to do, according to "T-Shirts and Suits: A Guide to the Business of Creativity".

More about Saying No

Why you should help your competitors...

Creative Times. October 2005

Sometimes your creative competitors can be ideal collaborators.
By imaginatively combining co-operation and competition we can create 'Co-opetition'.

More about Co-opetition

Creative Times - creating Interprises

Successful collaborations between creative enterprises –‘Interprises’ – are formed when there is an alignment of several factors between the businesses involved in the Interprise.

Read more about Creating Interprises.