Messy, Fussy Human Behavior = Multi-tasking and Multiple Screens

Last week I posted an article by Mitch Joel, “Welcome to the One-Screen World” (http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/05/welcome_to_the_one-screen_worl.html) in which he makes the case that for marketers and media, the most important screen we can adjust our messages to is the one in front of the customer at any given time. And of course, this makes sense – where ever your attention is, Mr. Customer, is where I want to be selling.  But as he discussed screens integrating – which is clearly the path we’re on, where all types of ‘screens’ can basically perform the same functions: email, web surfing, music playing, video downloads, etc.  But where I diverge from  him is where he says we only have one pair of eyes – and therefore the only screen that matters is the one in front of you.

I will not argue that multiple-ocularity (yes, I believe I made that up…) is the wave of the future.  I rather like the human race with its two eyes in the front of its head and am not suggesting any evolutionary adaptions.  Or surgical ones, for that matter.  But I believe most people will continue to interact with multiple screens in any given moment, despite the multi-functional abilities of the devices.  Why?

Because I can sit with my laptop and create a presentation, but will still catch up on Game of Thrones on my television at the same time.  Thank goodness for On-Demand. That’s two screens.  Meanwhile, my phone is next to me because I may be texting my Dirty Girl partner-in-crime.  I can text her via my laptop and Facebook, sure, but sometimes she’s running an errand or hanging out with her dog, so she texts me via cell phone.  That’s screen three.  If I tried to watch my movie, text a Dirty Girl and work on my presentation from all one screen, I would have multiple-ocularity issues indeed…

Multiple screens don’t go away until multi-tasking does.  Technology will continue to cross-platform pollinate, as it should since we consumers demand that convenience.  But as marketers, we still need to be cognizant of the context in which each device may be used, and therefore develop the right content to drive our messages.  Context and location awareness are not a fad, but are more critical than ever to your marketing strategy when you have competing screens.

A one-screen world sounds neat and convenient, but we human beings are messy.  We just don’t operate that way.

CULT-ivating Your Own

Purple sneakers.  White robes.  Secret handshakes.  Mysterious symbols.  

An apple.   A green mermaid.  A swoosh.

There has been a lot of discussion recently around how you can create your own brand 'cult of personality':  creating polarity in your market position, tracking Net Promoter Scores, developing initiation processes, implying secret knowledge and getting your brand to the ultimate aspiration in brand maturity, the "essential" brand.  That's a lot of market-ese.  And just like the recent articles and blogs I've read - with titles like 10 Steps to Create Your Own Cult-like Following and  Developing Your Cult Brand in 12 Step - we marketers tend to over-complicate some pretty simple concepts.

In quest of cult-like status, we develop complex, layered messaging, find controversy with competition, create abstract and sometimes befuddling campaigns... all to get the audience to buy-in to our brand.  In the process of trying to establish that cult clientele, that oh-so-reliable base of fans who readily, even happily, open their wallets and their goodwill, we forget the other audience that makes the kernel of your cult even possible - your internal fan base, the company employees.

The simple truth is that cults are based on a singular, common belief.  That belief may very well be polarizing, it may be controversial, it may even be abstract higher thinking that's meaning is obfuscated to the 'average' consumer.  It could be all those things, but at the core, it's still a single theme that binds.

And marketers can't create cults.  We want to.  We truly do.  And we will continue to try.  But cults are built from the inside out.  Cults - of any kind, religious, business, personal - are birthed through a single person's vision... a compelling personality who pulls others into his vision... and those others adopt the vision as their own.  This creates a team that starts to live and breathe and act according to the vision. This is more than understanding the potential of a product, seeing the opportunity in a market or trusting an executive leader.  

This is faith.  

The leader believes so powerfully in his or her singular vision, that he/she takes whatever path necessary to see it through. The employees then drive the vision, the powerful feelings associated with that vision, through to the new recruits.  They push it through sales and marketing channels so that their customers feel it.  Believes it.  And buys it.  The personality of the brand is tied deeply to that singular leader, but it's driven by the employees.  Without them, there is no cult.  The personality is not cultivated, not communicated.  

Think about the brands that do this well... every interaction with every employee, regardless of their position within the organization, has a consistency.  It feels like you're dealing with the same set of core values, the same belief system, that had you buying into the product or service in the first place.  That's not just good employee training.  It's not just a simple, scripted interaction.  It's faith.

If you're looking for that cult-like feeling for your business, you need to look within.  What is the vision of your company that your employees rally around?   Not just the sales and marketing teams, but everyone, from the developers and engineering teams, the customer service team, all the way through to the administrative support teams and up to the executives.  If you can clearly identify that, then your job as a marketer is to amp it up - focus on that single theme and drive your internal culture around it. If you're company is living and breathing this internally, it unavoidably becomes part of your canon - part of the ongoing dialogue that is both internal and external.  And thus, your customers start hearing, seeing and believing the same singular theme.  And buying.

So you can read the articles, you can follow the 10 steps... or 12... but none of those will get you any closer to creating that cult-like customer base you're looking for.  You might create an interesting brand personality.  You might launch some marvelously creative campaigns.  And that can all be good for business.  But if that singular vision isn't clear to you, if there is no focused rallying cry, your job as the marketer is to go find it. Not create it, but find it.  Every company has one - and often it's just buried under layers of data - market analysis, customers surveys, historical buying patterns, product roadmaps, analyst reports and more.  We bury our business with too much data and mislay that initial intention that we got into business for in the first place.

Go find your intention.  Find the faith.  Then you can have your cult.

What You Can Learn About Brand at a High School Reunion

It's a funny thing, going to a high school reunion.  You take all this baggage with you - stuff you didn't realize, until the moment before you walk through the reunion party door, that you had been hauling around all these years.  Or maybe you did realize it... and thought you had "dealt" with it... well, the real test of that comes at that awkward moment when you pass through that reunion party door and make your presence - your new, grown up brand - known to the room.

In that moment, we have a tendency to forget about our new grown up brand.  In that moment we revert to that awkward teen brand that never felt smart enough, pretty enough or interesting enough... (wait, is that just me?  Somehow, I don't think so).

As marketers, we are sometimes so steeped in our brand history, that we forget to look outside at how our customers, our partners and even our competition define us today.  We slip into that mode without even realizing it... you can have all the right feedback tools in place to "hear" from your customers and prospects, to share with partners and to track your competition and their positioning... and yet be so set in your brand identity that you forget to really listen. To stop, think and decide.  Actively.  Who do you want to be when you grow up?  Are you grown up yet?

This is a dangerous trap.  More dangerous now, certainly, than when I was in high school oh-so-long-ago.  The advent of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+ and myriad other communications channels, not to mention the mobility of ipads and smartphones, means the feedback loop is constant and immediate.  Your brand will change without you if you aren't monitoring it and very quickly your message and your goals will misalign with your market.  Then you are trapped in Reactive mode, not Active mode.  A much more difficult market position to manage.

What you quickly learn at a high school reunion is not just how old everyone got, who's divorced, who's rich and who's still a player... if you listen, you can learn a lot about your own brand.  And it might surprise you to learn how people remember you, what they remember about you, and how they perceive you now.  Layers of yourself you never paid much attention to because you were so busy tending your own teenage angst and baggage.  What happens when you acknowledge these new insights?

The opportunity here is immense.  To see your brand in a new light offers the potential of adding rich new layers to your brand personality.  You can explore new facets of not just your  message, but identify new markets and opportunities in places you might not have considered - but your customers have.  Think about those brands who listen well... Starbucks started serving hot breakfast sandwiches when they realized that after getting coffee from them, their customers were still going to McDonalds.  A Bain & Company survey last year spelled it out beautifully... 80% of surveyed organizations felt that they had solid customer feedback systems in place and responded well to customers.  8% of their customers agreed.  Ouch.

The real fun of high school reunions is discovering who everyone is today... what really did happen to that athlete, that class clown and that prom queen?  Are those high school brands you remember the same today?  If we don't stop, think and decide, actively and deliberately, we become that one person at the high school reunion who didn't change... at all... and if you didn't like her then, you're sure as hell not going to like her now.