The Best Creative Advice

Add One Stone

This will take a little while to explain, but I promise that the payoff is worth it.

A few cycles ago, I was very concerned about the US presidential election. So my wife and I donated a vacation level of payment to the campaign of our choosing. I am also the kind of person that does not believe in half measures, so I backed up the donation by also putting my feet on the line. On weekends, I would drive about four hours to a neighboring state (yes, a “swing” state) so that I could knock on doors and help get out the vote. There was one experience in particular, from this, that has always stuck with me, and made my work as a marketing and advertising pro much, much better.

The state in question allowed for early voting, and voting by mail. So the goal of the campaign was to “bank” as many votes as possible, by getting as many of “our” voters locked down. Then, the campaign could reach out to voters who were less likely to get to the polls, or who had no party affiliation.

The longer you do this kind of work, the more you are around people who are committed to your candidate’s victory… and the less likely you are to think charitably of undecided voters, especially those who are in your own affiliation. On some level, they are worse than people in the other camp, since they are taking up more of your time and energy. As Election Day gets closer, it seems more and more irresponsible to be undecided. It is very easy to go down the mental path, especially at the end of a long day pounding the pavement, to ask who are these people, really. Maybe, even more darkly, why their vote should count as much as others, since they are clearly not willing to be full citizens.

This was all running in the back of my mind one hot Saturday as I was canvassing an undecided woman, who our records had as in her mid-60s. As she came to the door, I noticed an elderly woman in the background, and quickly checked my notes to see if there were other voters in the house that I should also try to contact… and yeah, there was. Her mother, in her late 90s. But a quick read of my voter, and the waves of fatigue that were just apparent in her body language, stopped me short. So I told her who I was, why I was on her doorstep, and then just listened.

She told me, in a polite but matter of fact manner, that she was undecided because she never decided before watching the presidential debates, and that this had been her method for decades. She also told me that her mother was unable to leave the home anymore, so she worked three jobs to support them both. My time was probably not going to be well spent talking to her mother about voting, but I was welcome to, if I liked. I told her about voting by mail, which was welcome news, as it let her vote without finding someone to cover the house on that day. I gave her the paperwork and went on my way.

Now, does every undecided voter have such an incredible humanity and reason to be that way? Of course not. But was it fair of me to put all undecided voters into my previous unkind stereotype? No. More importantly, that negative attitude could easily keep me from presenting the best face for the cause I was representing.

Now, as to how this relates to copywriting, marketing and advertising.

There is a tendency, especially when you are working in a downmarket product or service, to think unkindly of your prospects and buyers. They only buy on price, or worse yet, because of trends or fads and so on. We need to distract them with packaging, or branding, or an offer that is not really an offer. They live where we do not, care about different things, dress and eat and listen and watch to social and cultural mores that are not our own. We do our jobs mechanically, or in execution steps to statistical projections, and do not put ourselves in the shoes of the buyers.

It is, simply, the wrong way to work. It will keep you from finding the heart in your offer, keep you from acting in the best interest of the brand, and leave you feeling drained at the end of the day, or just happy to punch the clock.

Instead, have a moment of charity. Tell a different story about your prospect. Imagine them to be, as in the case of my caretaking voter, a person with a kindness of spirit, and challenges, that are far greater than your own. Consider what small moments of happiness, or relief, or comfort, could be achieved by the purchase of your products or service.

I promise you, at the end of the process, you will do better work. You will also, most likely, feel better about what you are doing for a living.

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You have read this far, so feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I also welcome email to davidlmountain at gmail dot com.

Five Points Of Wisdom From Turning Something-Something

Oh, Google, You Always Get Pixels

Today's my birthday (Thanks, Mom! You really did so much more on this day than I did!), which means I'm going to get some fun stuff and be in a kind and giving mood. I'll also reflect on What It All Means, and note that when you celebrate enough orbits around the sun and start to find yourself in a different demographic than your start-up colleagues, there are things you'd like to say to people... even if they don't work in your department. (You also get old enough to be a little brave about stuff like that.) So before you all tuck into my Google cake, the following gift requests from outside my realm.

5) HR Departments: Hire the Right Handed Purple Unicorns.

When you are short-staffed, there's a temptation to try to find new hires who can fill several small holes, or have someone fill roles that seem mutually exclusive. So the traffic manager who dabbles in design does that on the side, or the designer who writes good emails picks up some copy writing, or the receptionist does QA, and so on, and so on. So long as its junior level roles, or for low-leverage assignments, this is fine, and a good way to build redundancy, especially when you need to cover during illness or vacation.

Where it gets into dysfunction is when you try to hire for it at senior levels. And while it's understandable, especially in an age where benefits and salaries are blocking agents, and every dollar has to stretch... but, well, there just aren't so many people that get to expert level and beyond at multiple disciplines. So if you hold out for the perfect hire that isn't just ideal for your company and perfectly suited for a role -- i.e., a right-handed purple unicorn -- but also someone that can fill another box with a side skill?

That's, well, crazy. Not sustainable in the long run. Destined to keep your roles unfilled for some substantial amount of time, with missed opportunity costs that can be fatal for a start up. Oh, and with major issues if and when that *left* handed purple unicorn moves on. (And you'd be amazed just how often this mistake is made.) So just split out roles, take your right handed purple unicorn, and be happy!

4) Accounting: Stop Dragging Your Feet To Vendors

When you bill clients, how much do you enjoy having them push terms to the point where you have to spend most of your time chasing them down? Not at all, hopefully. So... if you aren't willing to pay your own accounts payable on time or better, you are, in fact, contributing to the same problem. Especially if you are dealing with small and/or dependent vendors, making their fiscal planning harder is just wrong, and hurts your ability to get exceptional service. Don't do it.

3) Sales: Tell Marketing... Something New

Every marketing pro worth their salt should be happy to hear from the people that actually talk to the leads the most... but all too often, those channels are siloed or closed. Having been on the marketing side of things, I can tell you why some in my world tune those folks out, and it's for one simple reason -- it's incredibly frustrating to only ever hear things that are outside of our ability to change.

So, by all means, keep us in the loop... but also keep your ears open for changes from the prospects, new areas of concern, and so on. We'll all be happier.

2) The Board of Directors: Resist Seagull Urges

You've probably heard the long-standing comparison of poor managers to seagulls, but all too often in start-ups, boards serve that exact purpose, especially with overly strong reactions to market trends. A responsive company is fine, but if last month's goals and means to get there rarely match next month's, you are just asking for turnover. An overly assertive board can get you there in a quickness.

1) IT: Please Don't Take IT Personally

I know that it seems like way too many of your co-workers are just here to create tickets and busy work for you on things they really should just learn how to do themselves... and if you had a dime for every problem that could be solved by reboot or not opening virus spams, you wouldn't have to come to work ever again... But honestly, if everyone at the start-up was always competent in their computing habits, you'd have a lot less in the way of life-saving thanks from your co-workers. Or, possibly, job security.

I can also tell you that some of the best people practice horrible computer etiquette. Also, that there is no corollary towards, say, prompt and diligent adherence to security upgrades and the ability to close a big deal, retain a critical account, and so on, and so on.

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It's my birthday! And you've read this far, so feel free to give me the present of a fresh connection on LinkedIn, or a share, comment, or like. I also welcome email to davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or RFPs at the top right of this page. Those are gifts for both of us, really...

Five Signs Of Fatal Start-Up Engineering

Engineering Fail

The numbers are not with start-ups. Depending on which statistics you believe, 90% of all new products fail, and even a veteran entrepreneur who has experienced IPO success, and has venture capital backing, will only succeed 30% of the time. Many factors have to be in place to make it in the long haul, and in my experience, your most likely failure will come from engineering.

To be fair, Engineering has the hardest job by far. Usually, marketing and sales only needs to be comparable to competitors, while engineering has to be better... and this all assumes that the value proposition of the business is valid in the first place. But if you find yourself in a business where the following points are happening all the time, run, do not walk, to your next opportunity

1) Road maps to nowhere.

If your scrum session never seems to address aspects of the business, or stays fixated on certain points while keeping other fields fallow, this is a major red flag. In most fields, standing still is falling behind, and if every aspect of the business isn't making some progress, you are likely to spend much of your time putting out different fires, rather than achieving a superior position.

2) 100% drama for release.

I have been at start ups where new releases happened during business hours, with no one on staff expected to trouble-shoot into the small hours of the morning, or with an unforeseen emergency kicking in over the weekend. At other stops in my career, every release caused held breath, thank you emails for heroic hours, and some team members fixing a major break point at an inhuman hour.

It is great when you have a team that's willing to go the extra mile, and if you have the camaraderie to kick through major challenges, there's nothing better. But if you are running into this every time out, it's a sign that your team either can't say no to overly ambitious plans, or just don't have the horsepower to deliver what's been promised. Neither situation will endear you to investors, clients or prospects. And in the long run, this will be fatal, because it will shake core confidence in the business.

3) Serving internal over external clients.

Helping internal teams work smarter, not harder, is a fine and noble goal... but at some point, it needs to be balanced against what might be required to support emerging business lines. Especially if you aren't suffering from intense employee turnover, or can't show that the internal comfort will result in increased business, making the staff happier than the people who pay the bills is a fundamental mistake.

4) Communication issues.

Not to be impolitic about this, but Engineering frequently brings in talent that is international in scope, and who may have issues in communicating with other aspects of the business. If your team is keeping to themselves to an extent that's nearly total, it leads to an easy "us vs. them" situation that's far from healthy. You are also at risk when communication is highly regimented or restricted from similar factors. This is also an easy factor in high turnover.

5) One way or no way.

Creativity in finding solutions is critical in getting a start-up to fruition, and so is timing. Your internal team may not be the best choice for getting to go live on individual projects, especially if the project involves competencies that are outside of their comfort zone. When an internal team isn't willing to concede projects to outside experts, or able to staff up to cover the shortfall, you've got a team that is putting their comfort in front of what's right for the business. You wouldn't put up with this from any other department, and you shouldn't do it with engineering, either.

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You've read this far, so feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn. I also welcome email to davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or you can hit the RFP box on the top right of the page.