Being Different People For Fun And Profit

So there was an article in my social feed this week of how B2B leads are much further along in the sales funnel than people generally think. (Hat tip, Demandbase.) Sot when they reach a company to signal interest, the last thing that a sales pro should do is treat them like someone who needs to be sold. Instead, the theory goes, sales needs to think and act more like marketers, and look to solve problems, rather than just close.

My reaction to that was that it, well, seems fairly insulting to sales. In my experience, the best sales guys that I've ever worked with were always about solving problems, rather than just pushing a prospect over the line. That way may help you make a short term goal, but it dooms companies and destroys networks in the long term, because you become known for not taking care of your people. You also fill your funnel with clients that aren't going to be happy.

But more than that, it struck me how the approach that was suggested... is more along the lines of doing business as a creative, even more so than a marketer. Becoming a different person, to some extent, is just the right way to start a creative, especially when you are running a shop that handles a high amount of throughput.

Demographically, we knew who we are reaching in various consumer categories, so changing the pitch to suit -- with varying font and color choices, with language that suited the profile, with selling points that were either emphasized or disregarded -- is just good business. Combine this with moments of charity, otherwise known as never crafting work that is patronizing, but always sympathetic to the lead and their needs, and you can do work that has heart, rather than just technique.

This is, on some level, why clients hire you; because when you just have to work on your own account, you tend to make ads that appeal to the shareholders, rather than the target. It's also why diversity in your team isn't just a winning moment for your HR numbers or company photo, but also something that helps you make better work.

On some level, this aspect of the gig has always seemed to me to have aspects of being a defense attorney, or being able to argue both sides of a case in a mock trial exercise in pre-law or political science courses. (Full disclosure: my second major at college.) It's not a case of being showy and schizophrenic, or clumsily role-playing a different consumer class. Instead, it's trying to understand what's important to the pitched profile and why, then tailoring the work to that person.

It's an exercise in hearing the other side, in valuing the experience and needs of others as if they were your own, and it becomes something that informs and approves your whole life. As a parent, I am more effective if I can understand why my children act the way they do, and come at that from a better starting point. Same goes as a spouse, or to other members of my teams at work, or our clients. No one is acting in bad faith; all have some degree of validity to their point, and need to be accommodated or coached up. Hell, it even makes me better as a friend, since this means I can have people who don't agree with me, at all, politically.

When I am effective, it's because I've remembered that I don't have all the answers, but I can listen and learn and research to get them. And when I don't remember that, because that's part of being human as well... well, I can get back to the more open mindset quickly. It's habit. A really good one, actually.

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What would a superphone mean to you and your business?

That's A Phone?

While speaking in Singapore at a conference on innovation, the president of strategy marketing at a giant Chinese tech company spoke of the coming "superphone", which is said to arrive in 2020, and bridge the confluence of multiple trends. The device is imagined as the culmination of digital intelligence working with human perceptions, with a side order of big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things.

Which all seems like a double size serving of word salad, until you start thinking it over. Five years is an eternity in phone tech, and with the speed of implementation in the IoT with beacons, not to mention the money involved here -- since obsolescence in phones seems to be a 2 to 3 year window at the top end -- there's just an absurd number of reasons why a better phone isn't a theoretical, but a given.

So let's imagine what it might mean. I'm already on record as expecting projection technology to break us out of the small screen, but the other aspect of that could mean a smaller overall unit. I don't know about you, but I miss being able to put a phone in a pocket, and a folding model also meant that butt dialing just didn't happen. It wouldn't shock me to see continued options, rather than just the same size and UI. There's really no reason why a phone should look like a phone. It could be a wearable device, tech that rides in the body, and so on.

I'd also dream of re-powering the unit as a solar event. Voice recognition should be dramatically better by then, along with coverage. Having the unit learn about me from my day to day, so that I don't tell the unit what to do on a routine basis, but just have it know and work from that schedule. Motion sensors that allow for changing UI, better auto-correct, hologram tech, having the screen "take over" any other screen so that display is more shareable... all of that seems like it should be on a 5 years or better road map.

But let's go beyond the clear path from what we can do currently, and more into theoretical. Imagine interacting with your screen without voice or hand command, with tracking to the eye level, and what that might mean to handicapped access. Rather than scrolling or manipulating with your hands, things just happen from a concentrated look, or maybe even a bio-feedback thought. Such things are possible with prosthetics now, and being able to think your PIN, or answer security questions without words or visible action, would have to be a security and UI benefit. (Along with identity checks as biometric feedback, or maybe just a retina scan. Which would also be the ideal moment to prevent unit theft, really. For your eyes only becomes very real.)

And the dreaming can go beyond that. A phone that works with self-driving cars becomes a secure device that allows for mobility without driver's license, or even a human operator for companies like Uber or Lyft. Biometric security allows for vending machine access without cash or credit card. Paying a restaurant bill can become a voice-activated command with retina scan. Any number of devices cease to exist as their own device -- flashlights, GPS, hotel key cards, car key fobs, wallets, cameras, iPods -- because it all gets rolled into the phone. Maybe even gaming consoles, monitors, and so on.

From an advertising and marketing standpoint, it stops being mobile-friendly or mobile-first. It's just, well, everything, because the phone is the gateway to all of the interaction that you ever get with your consumer, and if the data is truly two-way within reason, maybe we finally get to the day when the only ads you ever see are relevant to your interests... and in your active consideration set, rather than something you've already completed.

Oh, and just to make sure I'm not seen as only imagining the good? Massive issues involving consumer privacy and safety, as hacks of the units get you to untapped potential for criminals. An increasing polarization between economic elites and everyone else. A nightmare for teachers of all stripes. An HMO situation where the phone pushes users through the system, maybe even at a remote-only level, or with proactive prescriptions referrals. Unit or system failures that cause out and out panic. A race to a job-free economy, since so much capability has the potential to just remove jobs. (Consider, if you will, what happened to cameras, film, and film development in your lifetime.)

The superphone is, in all likelihood, just something that will happen, for good or ill, forcing change in its wake. Being able to proactively work towards that potential isn't just something good marketing and ad pros do. It's also what will save your clients, as well as continue your billing. Act accordingly.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or hit the top right RFP fields. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Working Through Terrible

It's mid-November in the mid-Atlantic area that I call home, which means it's leaf gathering time. My house has a significant amount of yard and trees, so I wound up just bundling up and going at it today with the rake and bags. By the time everything was done, I had been working for about four hours, or just about longer than I'll ever be awake and away from any kind of screen. It gives you time to think, not the least of which is how little fun raking is. (I do own a leaf blower, but it doesn't seem to make the job any faster, and I can use the exercise. So the rake it is.)

As I started the process, I was thinking about the events in Paris, the footage, the likely next steps, and just getting more and more depressed. So cyclical, so pointless, so limiting to what we should be able to achieve as a species. So much of what we do as marketers is about finding the positive story and telling it to the right people, so we can put our brands in the best position to succeed. And in so doing, feed their families, expand their businesses, fund their research, and so on, and so on. This news makes all of that seem as pointless as, well, raking up leaves. There are still leaves on some of the trees, after all. I'll be doing this job again in a few weeks, and then again in a year, and the year after that. Just as terrible people will be making terrible choices that cause terrible tragedies, with the power of tools that make those tragedies increasingly large, and impossible to keep from reaching their audience. There will be no end of oxygen for this fire.

And then I saw the gravestone. A couple of years ago, in a terrible accident, the family's beloved dog passed away suddenly. He's buried at the edge of my yard, with a stone, and it's always something of a challenge to do work back there, especially while alone, and not think of that day. I usually get back to equilibrium, eventually, by making myself remember him for better things, because he was a great dog, and his memory deserves better than my sadness. But it requires discipline. That's the nature of grief. It's always there for you, whenever you want to visit.

To get through my task, I had to put blinders on mentally, think of something else, and get back to work. There's no other option. The world is a terrible place every day, provided you keep your mind in those places.

Which brings us back to the attacks, and the proper response from a marketing and advertising perspective. I'm not sure, honestly, that there is one, at least not in a one size fits all fashion. Plenty of brands will express sympathy and solidarity with the victims, but without a charitable aspect, this can seem rote or hollow... and it's not as if there's a go-to charity for donations in the wake of a terrorist act. Perhaps something that the criminals would particularly dislike, like women's equality in disadvantaged nations, or support for some other at-risk segment, but that also puts you in some danger of alienating a portion of your customer base. Similarly, saying nothing can seem like your brand is cold or uncaring, and that's not an acceptable option for youth markets or those doing significant business with the French.

If it's my client, I make my stand quietly, without a sizable PR or social media effort. Make it something that my customers have to come to my site or store to find out about, rather than something that seems ostentatious. As with all such moves, I'd make the action something that customers can join or activate, not for a viral standpoint, but just to not seem stand-offish. Finally, I wouldn't go very long with the move, unless it becomes part of your social structure or culture.

What happened in Paris will be seen by many as a fresh reason for war, as an escalation of a culture clash, or as the start of a new and dark era of conflict. That's a matter for the politics of the day, public debate, and the effectiveness of the world community at turning back the tide of extremism and hate. But it's not likely to be the reason why someone does or does not patronize a brand. It's better for your business if it's seen, and handled, as a crime against humanity, and the perpetrators as garden variety thugs, rather than the vanguard of a new religious or culture war. If, for no other reason, than this fails to give them what they wanted from the attack in the first place.

On a personal level, the choice to find something that is not terrible to think about will come a little easier with the passage of time, as it always does. On a global level, Paris will recover, criminals will be made responsible for their actions, and the world will move forward and away from such revulsion. In both cases, the only sane choice will be taken.

Because, really, there is no other choice.

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Feel free to comment, as well as like or share this column, connect with me on LinkedIn, or email me at davidlmountain at gmail dot com, or visit the site. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.