There Are No New Ideas in Marketing ...

... just new methods and technologies for expressing (insert marketing/branding idea here).

I challenge any marketer to demonstrate they have come up with a truly NEW IDEA in how to market a product, person, company or concept!

About 20 years ago I came across a sales and marketing training manual dated circa 1917. Darned if that manual didn't emphasize everything I was pouring into my latest marketing campaign – a campaign my company thought was "groundbreaking!". The only difference was the methods and technologies I employed to get potential buyers to sit up and pay attention.

"Marketing" is all about causing people to desire what I am offering. Marketers have been performing this task for thousands of years! We are simply trying to apply tested and true methods within the framework of evolving tools and audience behaviors.

I encourage you to look closely at how your audience receives information, and meld your marketing to their preferences. While there are no new ideas on how to compel an audience to react, there are plenty of new methods and technologies that separate the the winners from the losers.

Job Choices for Well-Seasoned Marketing Veterans'

Being a "well-seasoned" marketer (meaning fast approaching 60 y/o and more than 35 years as a marketer), making a choice on what to do next is narrowed by time, experience and consideration by potential employers. As an incredibly experienced marketer there is no marketing position in my industry I could not perform well – yet most positions are no longer a good match; in challenge for me; the perception of potential employers; or how I'd like to complete my career (whether in 4 years or 15).

The list of choices as I see it are:

• CMO at large department company (which for me is at a professional services firm)
• Marketing, Networking or Leadership consultant
• Professional speaker or author
• Leadership/firm mentor
• Create a training program or trainer for an existing training company
• Sales and/or marketing for a company selling to the professional services industry
• Freelance marketing contributor (such as writing, graphics, project management)
• Doing something completely different and maintaining a satisfactory lifestyle

There may be other directions, but to stay specifically within the professional services industry these are the most choices.

Each choice comes with advantages, limitations, skill sets and an individuals desire. For instance, being an account or sales executive has never been attractive to me. No gonna happen. On the other hand, being a trainer or mentor feels like a great fit.

For me, a choice is at hand – what is next? If you have ideas, let me know, or wait to find out which direction I choose.

One Way to Make an Annual Sales Meeting Incredibly Engaging

Merit Property Management held their annual sales meeting this week at the Irvine Marriott — about 570 of their people in the room for the day. The program held the usual content of company updates, awards for successes and a fun series of videos we helped them produce. And mid-afternoon they did something that really blew me away!

The Chief Administration officer took to the stage and asked everyone to clear their tables of all content as a score of people started passing out gift bags to each table. As part of their annual meetings, beginning last year, they have determined to make charitable giving a part of the program. This year’s activity — care packages for military men and women serving overseas (last year they made blankets for children in need).

First they honored the existing veterans within the room and launched into preparing the care packages. Each table created a Hero’s t-shirt (drawing or writing whatever they wanted on a white t-shirt with colored markers), wrote personalized messages on provided thank you cards, and then filled a shipping box with multiple items purchased by Merit specifically for the packages. They had even done their homework and spoke with military representatives to find out what items a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine would want to receive.

Maybe this is something other companies are already doing … it was a first for me and I was moved. The activity was energizing, people were really engaged, there was a lot of laughter and I witnessed how it drew their workforce together.

I look forward to recommending this type of activity to everyone of our clients. I hope you pass it forward with your company.

Your Reputation is Your Brand

Its been said you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat waiters and waitresses in restaurants -- and I agree that is a pretty accurate barometer. In the business of professional services the brand of a firm is so closely linked to the personality and character of its partners that it can be said the reputation of one partner will be the brand for all.

At one firm I've worked with there was a partner that was smooth as silk in his treatment of client executives yet, was a caustic, rude man to everyone else including the non-executive staff at his client companies. When a client would finally say (and eventually most of them did), 'enough is enough,' and went looking for new representation, there was nothing we could do as a firm to salvage the business. We were told quite often that any firm that allowed that type of behavior was not the firm they wanted to be with....

If you struggle to understand how to create or affect your firms brand, just look to its smallest parts; the reputation of your individual partners. What is their reputation both inside and outside the walls of your office? Ask your clients for their opinion of the people in your firm and then ask them about their opinion of your firm in total. You’ll find the two sound very much alike.

Your reputation is your brand.

Technorati Tags: Legal Marketing, Branding, Marketing, Professional Services Marketing, Reputation

The Dangers of Reading from a Script or Teleprompter

I helped produce an awards event this evening -- each presenter was reading from a teleprompter. And each presenter sounded like he/she was reading from a teleprompter -- flat delivery, stumbling over complex sentences and dry humor delivered like a news story. OOF! The best moments of the evening came when award recipients were given the podium to make a few off-the-cuff comments (no script).

A truth is that most business and community event presenters are not professional actors or Emcees. It's just us regular folk. Someone hands us a script or tells us to look at the teleprompter and off we go hoping not to look the fool.... Here are a few suggestions for injecting a bit more personality and fun back into scripted events:

• Hire a coach to work with your presenters for an hour or two. A good coach will offer valuable instruction on voice modulation, engaging the audience and working with the script, not for it.
• Don't put humor in the script word-for-word. Instead put a placeholder in the script and have the presenter practice his/her delivery.
• Place reminders in the script for the presenter to look at and talk with the audience.
• Have the presenters read through and rehearse BEFORE the day of the event.

A great presenter, to me, is one who sounds like he/she is using his/her own words to engage me in the importance of what is being said. This can only happen with coaching, preparation and passion.

MC Joins The Showpros Group

I have joined The Showpros Group -- in a more real light, I have joined with John Brown, an exceptional individual!

This is quite the move for me. After more than 16 years marketing law and accounting firms I have chosen to go over to the other side and become a vendor -- and am happy for the move.

What John does is create exceptional audience experiences. John has been my go-to guy for a long time and I'm so excited to be a part of what he creates. What we can create together is yet to be seen, but I have to say, I am so excited to be back on the creative side of performing extraordinary!

Stay tuned for more.

One Relationship is Better Than One Hundred Acquaintances

What is the price of one great business relationship? Could it be worth the cost of your annual marketing budget? I bet the answer is, "YES!"

Who Do You Know That Needs to Know Someone Else?

Everyone I know needs to know someone else I know. Everyone.

There is no time like right now to get started on making introductions.

What Clients Want

Matt Homann posted an incredibly insightful graphic about what potential clients look for when hiring an attorney (seen here). I absolutely agree with Matt, except when the decision maker is another lawyer (i.e. corporate or outside counsel). One lawyer measuring another still comes down to what is represented on the left of Matt's chart.

Social Media is All About Being Social

Thom Singer delivered this post yesterday; "Is Social Media Really Social?" He offers great thoughts about how social sites are becoming entertainment outlets and we are starting to sit back, not participating, as we wait to be entertained.

It is true we are entertained and instead of turning on TV many of us are turning on our computers (and smart phones) to veg-out -- but we still NEED to talk and that is evolving too.

I am someone who wants to be a part of a conversation. In my personal social media journey I have migrated from viewing the entertainment to scrolling to the comments segment of a page. On Amazon I pay more attention to reader reviews, on Digg I read the commenter blather, on Twitter I follow thought-posters and un-follow product pushers and on FourSquare I read the visitor log to discover more about where I am currently standing. As soon as any favored social site jumps the shark and becomes a corporate shill I am out the there.

Some of the social sites that started this revolution have become more entertainment than social -- it is bound to happen... but Thom is right about this; Keep being social! It is the conversation that matters.

Take a Chance -- Say Hello to Someone You Do Not Know

Some habits are hard to break... like hanging out with whom we know at an event with hundreds of new relationship opportunities.

Tonight was the first ever Orange County Business Journal General Counsel of the Year Awards gala. To the credit of Executive Editor Rick Reiff and Publisher Richard Reisman the attendance was stellar and thank you for recognizing the rock stars behind the scenes that make the wheels go fast (i.e. general counsels).

The habit I witnessed at the event this evening is our propensity to migrate and remain within the circle of relationships we already have. In a room filled with unknown people (decision makers we should get to know) we sought out any person that provided a safe haven -- no risk, nothing uncomfortable. In a room filled with opportunity we choose not to take a chance at a cost of $150.00 per ticket.

I know most of us (me included) are not extraordinarily extroverted people and feeling safe is important... but if I could encourage you to meet just ONE new person when you venture out. It really is worth it.

Bringing It vs Winging It

I have worked with a lot of professionals at all points of their careers. Some exceeding all expectations and others just getting by on their effort. Along the way I've formed a few thoughts about who is authentic and who is not. That the basis of the list below. What I hope for is to work with professionals that know how to bring it -- and not endure people that are winging it.

1. People who bring it don’t worry about anything. They have truly done everything they can do, so worrying is a complete waste of time. People who just wing it constantly wonder what they could have done better, or what they need to do tomorrow to make up for today’s shortcomings.
2. People who bring it may be scratched, beat up, bruised, or bleeding, but they go to bed knowing that they truly fought their best fight, and they are at peace as a result. People who just wing it are masters at coming up with reasons (excuses) for why they didn’t make an all out effort.
3. People who bring it live up to their personal integrity every single day, even if it means a lack of security, or if it means taking a risk. People who just wing it always take the safe route, and they die just a little bit inside each time they give up what they truly want in order to settle for what they believe they can have.
4. People who bring it realize that every 60 seconds of their life is another 60 seconds that they can take action towards their goals. People who just wing it always have reasons (excuses) for why they haven’t yet finished a project, or accomplished a goal.
5. People who bring it understand that their position of power is something that they create internally, and that it has nothing to do with the outside circumstances. People who just wing it can always justify their willingness to give up control of their lives with lots of “real world” reasons for why it’s all out of their hands.
6. People who bring it also know that they are bringing it, and even if they live in a cardboard box, their cardboard box is the best one on the block because it was built with confidence and pride, not lack and despair. People who just wing it are well aware of the fact that they are winging it, and no matter how successful or unsuccessful they are, the voice in the back of their mind never stops reminding them that their life isn’t what it could be. They are also quite proficient at ignoring that voice.

Look People in the Eye

I have met thousands of men and women for the first time on countless business occasion. Whom I've remembered is a pretty short list. To a person whom I remember are the individuals that looked me in the eye as we spoke -- they were focused on me. Even more importantly, they made me feel like I was the most important person in the room in that moment.

A simple thing like eye contact made all the difference.

If you can develop this one skill, looking people in the eye as you speak, you will be amazed at how quickly you gain new friends and business allies.

No Compromise = Change

The business of creating change is an uncomfortable place to live... and exciting as all get-out!

Working at a law firm I witness the attorneys of my firm accomplishing incredible change for their clients almost every day. The lawyers of my firm push innovative ideas, dismantle old beliefs and make risking everything seem easy... and it works!

So, when I can bring the lawyers at my firm to a similar point in marketing related ways I am elated! It means I have brought them to the brink of change. Either my attorneys will take a new (marketing) step forward or choose to retreat back into their comfort zone.

This is the risk I accept as a marketer at a law firm. If the attorneys accept the challenge of change I have much to do. If my attorneys retreat toward a comfort zone I had better start considering my longevity.

My challenge for myself, and for all law firm marketers, is that I/we never stop challenging our firm to move forward, in the same way my lawyers never stop challenging our clients.

Can we do anything less?

Being the Lawyer People Expect to Meet

When meeting someone for the first time we have nanoseconds before we are judged and cataloged. We either fit his/her expectations and have an opportunity to continue toward a relationship, or we did not fit... and the relationship has already failed.

Attorneys face a double whammy! First, a lawyer is judged as a person and in that same nanosecond, judged and cataloged as a lawyer.

Most attorneys I've ever known are incredible people and in most cases will pass the first test with flying colors. Unfortunately, many I know do not pass the second -- the reason will surprise you.

Growing up in a media age your clients and prospects eat a continual diet of images and personalities via television, media outlets and movies that leaves an imprint of whom a lawyer is, performs and acts. It's a stereotype. Whether you project the stereotype, or not, will impact first impressions -- the nanosecond before judgment.

In general, everyone who is not a lawyer expects you (the lawyer) to act like a lawyer. What that looks like is this:

• Composed
• Eloquent
  
• Serious
• In control
• Successfully attired (fitting to the occasion)
• Appropriately opinionated
• Poised
• Aggressive
• Smart
• Successful
  

In other words, a leader with class and distinction.

None of this whole stereotyping stuff is fair, but it's real and everyday. If you wish to succeed as a lawyer I encourage you to act like one!

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Social Networking, #LMA10 and Law Firm Marketing

I did not attend the 2010 Legal Marketing Association Conference in Denver this year, but I definitely know what was going on there and more importantly, I learned some of the key bits of knowledge being transferred there by expert speakers and panelists.

The conference planners created #LMA10 via Twitter -- throughout the conference attendees were tweeting live about what they were witnessing, experiencing and learning. The share was awesome and I learned along with them! Certainly it was not as robust an experience as being there in-person but I caught enough to find real value.

I am not sure what lesson to take away from this experience that will be relevant to creating opportunities for my law firm, but there HAS to be a gem in this moment.

Being part of the (social networking) conversation absolutely matters... how social networking will create opportunities for my lawyers still remains just outside my grasp. But I am working on it... my epiphany is moments away.

Bring The Gift -- Never be a Wallflower Again

Going to a business mixer can be intimidating, especially if I don't know anyone. "Meeting people I don't know -- who is going to want to meet me!?" "They already have great relationships and don't need to have another lawyer trying to buddy-up with them!" "Who am I kidding... I'm uninteresting and will make a fool of myself."

Man! The voices in my head are vicious! If I allow these internal voices to keep talking I WILL become the next well-dressed wallflower milling about on the borders of the room!

But I've got a secret, and will never be a wall flower again!

The secret is that most of everyone else in the room has the same darned voices saying the same darned things inside their own heads! Amazing! So, "How do I use this secret knowledge?" you ask.

The answer is: to bring the Gift to every networking event. The Gift is knowing there are many people there, listening to the voices in their head, in need of saving. They're crying out for someone to talk to them and I can be their ambassador. Instead of being a wallflower, I seek them out! I walk right up and start a conversation, listen to their story and help them become a part of the event. WOW!

It feels so wonderful to go to every event with a mission -- with a gift to give!

Dress and Etiquette Really Matter for Lawyers

Lawyers have an expectation to uphold -- be different at your own risk!

I had a most wonderful conversation at lunch today with another business development professional for lawyers. We discussed the appearance and demeanor of different lawyers and how that was working for them, or against. It was amazing to us how many attorneys have a total disregard for how they look, the quality of character they project or the social skills that draw people into wanting to know them.

Here is my opinion: Corporate executives stereotype lawyers. It's not fair and it is true. Lawyers need to appear composed, sophisticated, successful and competent in all of the best ways. A lawyer should display good taste in apparel, be a graceful communicator and have impeccable etiquette.

"This is who I am" may work in other professions but lawyers are held to a higher standard. Either meet expectation or suffer consequence. If you have no clue what I am talking about than you need an immediate adjustment.

If you do not have a tailor, get one. If you do not have a coach, find one right now. If you do not know which fork to grab first in a dinner setting, make the effort to figure it out. You are a lawyer! Meet the expectations of your potential clients!

What Does Low Hanging Fruit Look Like for Law Firms

It is easy to identify companies I would like to have as clients of my firm -- it is another thing to gain an opportunity to pitch our services. In most cases the companies we target already have counsel performing at least adequately and in many cases, counsel that are taking good care. The only thing that might upset their current relationships is -- change.

Buy-sell, unexpected litigation, rapid growth, new regulation, change in leadership, etc. Instead of pursuing any company, I focus on companies facing change. Change is the moment when executives are most likely to consider new counsel.

Consider this. Instead of going after every company you desire focus only on those in a state of change. It could dramatically change the return on your effort.

Dear Law Firm Marketing Experts,

Please stop resting on the laurels of ten years past and repeating marketing lessons that have been repeated like lyrics a million times before.

I listened in on a conference call this afternoon -- marketing experts talking about performing client surveys. The call was advertised as providing answers for law firm marketers challenged to make client surveys part of their firm culture.

What actually happened was a shoot-from-hip moderated conversation covering "lesson 101" cliches we've all heard before. Things like, "attorneys are challenged to do these things" and "an unhappy client will tell ten others".

Look, at some point "the experts" have to move on and start covering truly rich, deep, specific examples of real, transforming experiences. They need to start relating stories of true movement and stop saying what has been already spoken at every conference or confab many times before.

I make no claim to having any answers, I don't, but legal marketing experts need to WAKE UP and start taking some risks.

At my firm, like any other, we are constantly challenged to do more, be better, produce astounding and create magic. And I so blessed to be in the company of such amazing marketers at my firm....

For all of you "experts" out there, stop being lazy. If you want to teach, take a risk and give us rank and file workers something new to chew on. Challenge me! Create, invigorate and motivate. BE ORIGINAL!