Math Vs Snow

Market Opportunity

My local area had a late season snow storm recently, which did what it always does to cash-strapped towns; crippled them for days until the snow more or less went away on its own, because there are too many side streets, untended sidewalks and poor drainage areas, and not enough human bandwidth and money to clear it all away. Even when the main roads are clear, the side roads aren't, which makes all traffic slower, and yeah, I miss living in California, where you get to visit the snow at altitude, like elephants at a zoo. But let's move on.

What leads this into a marketing and advertising discussion is what happened next. Residents who normally walk or ride bicycles requested transport from ride sharing apps. So did those who were unwilling or unable to free their car from the ice and drifts. Many people who drive for these services chose not to, because driving in snow is dangerous and slow. And the apps did what they always do; adjusted on price to match the change in market conditions.

Which meant spikes in price of up to 600%. Leading to a subsequent hue and outcry in print and social media and among some consumers, and the usual shrugging non-apologies from the ride sharing companies themselves.

Now, it's possible that this is all just growing pains for a market that, for all of the exploding market cap and countless PR and cultural mentions, is still relatively new to much of the country and market base. It's also likely that spikes like this will ease in the future, especially if the ride sharing companies are able to convince more people to drive for them. But what struck me in reading the coverage, and which isn't a given because we're dealing with humans, is how quickly narrative was attached to algorithms.

Some consumers talked about the greed of the companies. Others railed against those who complained as looking for some kind of government handout, or unworthy of using the service because they weren't smart or hard working enough to afford it. Still others stood up for existing cab services, with an equal or better number stating that the status quo created the competition through past abuses. You could find still more voices defending bus service, or tele-commuting, or the need for more flexibility in scheduling from schools or employers, and so on, and so on.

What few seemed to do, at least publicly, was to note that the system worked exactly as a free market intended, with a resource getting real-time pricing in a de facto auction environment. Or that now that this toothpaste is out of the tube, it's never going back in.

Ride sharing apps aren't alone in having a narrative spring into existence from data, of course. Every A/B test with a significant deviation from the median creates an opportunity for a story, and so does interactions with a client who is resistant to change, or extremely demanding about small matters.

That's because in a universe that boils down to two kinds of events (facts, and the stories that we tell about these facts)... we treat our stories as factual, and always will.

Even when it's just math.

Keeping this in mind might help you keep your sanity the next time you have a difficult client, feel tempted to overstate the findings from a test, or find yourself irritated about the speed of a cycle, or any number of outcomes, really.

But if you are standing in snow, waiting for a ride that costs six times what it might have cost a day ago?

You're likely to tell a story about it.

Probably not a very nice one, either.

* * * * *

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 RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Tips For Young Marketers

Like This But Not

I met a college senior this week who was just finishing up her marketing degree, and she asked me what advice I might have for someone who is just starting in the field. (You have to love when new folks actually *ask* you to pontificate, honestly.) So here's what I know now, that I wish I knew then...

1) Your network is everything -- even if you stay at the same place.

Everyone in marketing knows, on some level, that job security is a poor joke at best... but when you get into the day to day of a gig, it's easy to forget that, especially if management lulls you into a false sense of security. Even if you are blessed enough to stay with the same employer for a good and profitable arc, your peer group probably won't be, so don't shirk on that work. LinkedIn, Facebook, face to face; you put yourself at risk when you don't do it.

2) Be ruthless about the work that you do.

I've known any number of pros who don't particularly enjoy coding, analytics, traffic management, legal compliance, crafting PR releases or working phones to drum up coverage, but do it anyway, because, well, someone had to. The trouble with that kind of team spirit is that it's real easy to have it define you, and for many years of your working life to be something that you don't really enjoy... and when you do work that you don't enjoy, that's a very good way to have your career go sideways.

3) First reads can be very, very wrong.

Especially at the start of your career, you can feel that some of your colleagues aren't going to continue in the field, and that you might not need to give them your best service or time. The trouble with that mindset is that people will change dramatically over the course of a career, and even if they don't actually get much better at what they do... well, to be blunt about it, good fortune at meeting people with life-changing money can overwhelm, at least in the short term. so just give everyone your best, because...

4) You don't know who is watching you.

I've had job opportunities come up from people who, to be blunt, remembered me better than I remembered them... and lobbied for me accordingly. So resist the temptation to go for office gossip and/or talking about someone behind their back, because that kind of thing also resonates.

5) Keep your eyes open for dying channels... and clients, and categories.

When I went to college, there was nothing that I wanted more than to work for a daily newspaper. The day-in day-out of having to make deadline, the job security of my heroes who were synonymous with their papers, the quasi-celebrity nature of being recognized for your byline... all of that was what I wanted, even if the salaries weren't good. Lucky for me in the long term, if not the short, was that my graduation coincided with a recession that was pre-Web, which has been, of course, replicated by many subsequent downturns. But by then, I was well clear of the field, having pivoted to marketing.

During my career, I've seen Flash ads go from dominant to non-existent, throwing any number of coding and design pros into fever states to learn the next new thing. Something similar may be happening to SEO, given that much of the field seems to be something you can do with automation. DRTV might have serious problems if and when programmatic goes offline, and print ads in many consumer categories are also, at best, stasis.

Your loyalties, as a marketer, need to be to what works to solve the problem, not what's in your personal comfort zone. Making sure you aren't continuing to sell horseshoes while cars make in-roads isn't exactly a new career challenge, but with tech's growing influence, it's also one that comes with far greater speed.

6) School is eternal, and everything changes.

Getting a degree from a quality institution, and the connections that you make with your classmates and teachers, is merely the first step in a lifelong education. What's really happening there is that you are learning how to learn, and how to question what you are being taught. (And oh, by the way? Asking questions of senior marketers, rather than thinking that just because someone didn't grow up with an iPhone on their pocket, they can't really understand the way the world works now? A good way to continue your education.)

* * * * *

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 RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.

What You Do, Not Why You Do It

I'm Glad You Read A Book

One of my favorite comedians, Patton Oswalt, has a great and profane bit about religious beliefs (warning: really NSFW), and the relative impossibility of respecting them equally.

Which has led me, in my own small way, to a significant point about day to day marketing and advertising tasks.

I've worked at places where engineering gave marketing everything they ever wanted... not because anyone on staff had a particular proficiency or taste for that work, but simply because management made it a priority. I've also been at places where you pretty much had to make do with whatever was already in place, because the priorities or human bandwidth just were not what you'd hope for, and patience is one of those things you are taught over the course of a career. Whether you want the lesson or not.

The same goes for sales pros. Some would give you all of the feedback you could ever want on how prospects were reacting to materials. Others wouldn't, because they just didn't see the merits of spending their time that way, when they could be, well, selling. Even to the point of grousing at the length or frequency of mandatory company-wide meetings, even when those meetings served important functions. Because, well, when a third of your income and your continued employment depends on making the numbers, time spent talking to co-workers is time spent not selling.

Similar experience with account management, AKA the key to client retention and growth. I've always found that good pros in these roles were worth their weight in gold, because they drove as much new business as the sales pros, but with the added benefit of generating case studies and evangelists for your business. Many would steer clear of marketing if given their preference, since that was, similar to sales, time spent not talking to clients... but you needed their feedback to make sure that your messaging and branding wasn't turning any existing business off.

The point of all of this, just like with Oswalt appreciating the good work, if not the beliefs, of someone who was convinced that vengeful aliens would commit acts of violence on those who did not behave virtuously... is that your reasons for doing anything in this world are, well, just that.

Yours.

If the reason why I provide excellent service to my clients is out of love for what I do, that's lovely and life-affirming... but if I also do it out of nothing more than a desire to provide for my family, and for those of my associates, it's pretty much the same thing to a client.

My reasons are my own. Ever-changing, unknowable because even I don't think about them very much, and irrelevant to the task.

The flip side of that is, well, the same thing goes for excuses.

Clients don't need to know why you do the work. They also don't need to know why you didn't.

What they need is for you to do it.

And those who don't get it done... needs to change that fact ASAP, or get out of the way for someone who will.

For reasons that should be obvious to everyone...

* * * * *

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 RFP boxes at top right. RFPs are always free, and we hope to hear from you soon.