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5 reasons Good beats Perfect (almost) every time

b2b marketing, collaboration, copywriting, creativity, doing, Donner Party, execution, French Enlightenment, fun, Good, Perfect, planning, Rome, strategy, Thomas Friedman, Voltaire No Responses »

Jan 142012

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

This wonderfully compact nugget of wisdom – commonly attributed to Voltaire, the French Enlightenment figure – is a fixture in the vernacular of modern business.

My undergraduate French degree doesn’t qualify me to challenge Voltaire’s intellect. But hey, Voltaire hasn’t done a lick of work in over 330 years. So I’m going to weigh in on his War of Good and Perfect, to see if I can pick a winner.

Here are 5 ways Good beats the crap out of Perfect:

1. Good is quick out of the gate. Perfect debates whether this gate, or that one over there, is the best gate from which to proceed.

2. You probably can’t afford Perfect. But with a savvy mixture of your cash on hand, some pocket lint, and your own creativity (or your talent for inspiring it in others), Good is within reach.

3. Perfect is an egotist. Good is a collaborator. Perfect is an old school, round-world, command-and-controller. Good is a progressive, flat-world, plays-well-with-others hipster. [thank you Thomas Friedman]

4. Good is motion. Perfect is an obsession. Good feels like a hike or a trip to the gym. It’s got a beginning and an end. It makes you sweat. And when you’re done with Good, you feel it (Good). Perfect is like a Scottish poet, locked in a seaside cabin, curtains drawn, brooding for weeks over the next couplet.

5. Good finishes on schedule, or early, and doesn’t expect kudos. Perfect always takes extra time, without asking for it. And if you object, Perfect will lecture you, gazing into the distance, with trite zingers like “time takes time,” or “you can’t rush (me),” or this little gem, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”

[No, it wasn’t built in a day. It took 1200 years of militaristic expansion, artistic and cultural thievery, slavery, torture, taxation without representation, corruption, massive debt, and general debauchery, until it collapsed, ushering in the Dark Ages. Thanks a lot, Rome!]

Ok, ok. The Rome comparison is probably the right place to throw down a big fat caveat. Because the Romans clearly did some great work. And caveat is a Latin word.

If you consistently reject even the pursuit of Perfect, Good will eventually let you down. Maybe in a big way.

Perfect, for all its faults, wants to get it right. Perfect has been there and done that, and will also listen to others – like Been There and Done That – who have relevant experience. Perfect is willing to consider all the angles. Perfect doesn’t trust quick fixes. Perfect is all about adding value over the long-term. Perfect has calculated the cost (to the penny!) of what happens when Good ends up being Not Good, because Good phoned it in, half-assed it, or took a short-cut. “The Donner Party tried to take a short cut,” Perfect says, annoyingly but with conviction. “And THAT didn’t work out so well, DID IT?!”

[Perfect tends to overindulge in hyperbole.]

So what’s our endgame in the war between Perfect and Good?

Maybe it’s this: Perfect and Good may be enemies. But Too Expensive, Too Late, Half-Assed, and Eaten-For-Breakfast-By-Your-Friends are our enemies.

So let Good and Perfect battle it out a bit. Just be sure to impose a cease-fire before Good Enough and Nearly Perfect end up K.I.A..

Your turn now. Do you have any more fun personifications to compare — or comparisons to personify — Good and Perfect?

Soon taking wing…

b2b marketing, b2b sales, collaboration, culture change, forecasting, fun, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead scoring, marketing automation, marketing communications, product marketing, sales lead management, sales process, social media No Responses »

Jan 052012

The 3 Keys to Marketing Happiness

b2b marketing, budgeting, collaboration, forecasting, fun, marketing to sales handoff, sales effectiveness, truth in advertising, Uncategorized 8 Responses »

Apr 162011

Here’s the deal: marketing is hard. If you think marketing is easy, you’re probably not a marketer. Or a human. Yes, you’re probably some kind of replicant who (that?) has been lucky enough to have the Google algorithm programmed into memory. Or you are, in fact, the Google algorithm, crawling this page right now. [In which case: hey, make yourself comfortable. Can I get you Fresca or something?]

But for those of us who ply the marketing trade, it’s a pretty tough job. Among our long list of responsibilities:

we’re supposed to spend $1 of the company’s money and get $25 (or more) back.
we have to keep the Sales team supplied with good leads, and be neither a father of Sales’ success nor an absentee dad when they fail.
we must stay focused and execute in a constantly changing landscape of internal (e.g., budget, people, products, processes, policies) and external (e.g., media, agencies, buyer behavior, competition, government regulations) variables.

In the marketer’s pursuit of success, this all just comes with the territory. But, in business, “success” is a weird thing. It’s not always a (linear) result of hard work. In fact, it’s sometimes awarded to those who seem, at least on the surface, unworthy. And a jealous rival can always spin an objectively kick-ass outcome into a “gap versus expectations.” Business success is always worth pursuing, but it is rarely captured on our preferred timing or terms. But with the right tools and attitude, success in the form of personal fulfillment is always within reach.

One of my trusted mentors, Lenora Edwards, encourages her clients (consultants, entrepreneurs, and executives) to define a Ten Commandments list. These are ten (or however many are needed) experiences that are essential to making any project, job, or client relationship fulfilling. ”Achieving great results” is a mainstay on my list. Even though it can be squishy and elusive, I have to be chasing a meaningful, measurable outcome. But for me the process is even higher on my Ten Commandments list than the outcome.

Oh gosh. I know that sounds trite. But the oft-maligned and misunderstood notion of getting there has always been vital to enjoyment of my work. The results will either happen or they won’t. Or, as noted above, they will happen AND they won’t. I can’t control the outcome but I can strongly influence it if I’m not too caught up in how it looks. Adopting an “enjoy the journey” approach isn’t just pie-eyed happy talk for me – it’s a survival skill.

So, here are my three keys to marketing happiness. Get ready to smile. Wait, wait… …ok, go!

1. Seek the truth. Also known as “optimization.” I’m spending the company’s money, time, and energy. If I’m not getting a return, I shouldn’t be spending. So I hold myself and my clients accountable for how we execute our decisions. That might require an occasional uncomfortable conversation with IT, Finance, Sales, or a C-level Executive. But the pursuit of the truth is fun, and honorable. And as long as I remember to breathe, those uncomfortable conversations are learning opportunities. And the truth will set us free.

2. Take reasoned risks. Also known as: “managing a marketing program portfolio.” Marketing is about placing smart bets. The bets should be smart. But they also must be placed. This link contains a keyword search for “average tenure of a CMO.” Click it and check out the organic results. The average tenure is around two years, right? Personally, I prefer embracing this reality to wresting with it. Either way, I get my uniform dirty, but the former is more fun than the latter. I try to never be reckless, but also never afraid. And I always keep in mind that — no matter how high the stakes – it’s a game and that games should be enjoyed. Otherwise, why play?

3. Predict the future. Also known as: “forecasting profitable revenue growth.” This is the hardest part of the job but also — when I have the right mindset – the most fun. And if I am diligent about truth-seeking and reasoned-risk-taking, I learn enough to make future-predicting easier over time.

So, what do you think? Is my list missing any “bliss-enabling imperatives?” Tell me yours in the comments.

Smart social media – 5 ways KLM gets it right

B2C, fun, social networking, truth in advertising, Uncategorized No Responses »

Apr 092011

A friend in Amsterdam shared this video on Facebook today, and I was inspired to spin it here on the TLOTL blog. It struck me as a potential “beginning of the end” in the tedious debate of the question: is social media dead?

I refuse to waste pixels issuing birth or death notices for social media (or wade into questions of its citizenship for that matter). But if you are still monitoring social media’s vital signs, or if you just like watching videos, then watch the video. Then read my analysis. And whether you agree with me but think I missed a few points, or you think I’m hopelessly hopped up on social media Kool-Aid, I invite you to make your case in the comments section. [Hey, as long as you're not a comment spammer or some other type of internet n'er-do-well, you can even launch an epic vitriolic screed against all forms of social media containing links back to your blog or Twitter page.]

Here’s my take on what this video and story does for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines:

Launches a new Miami route with a dose of the fun a KLM passenger can have there. Message: when you fly KLM the transportation is part of the destination. And now one of the reasons you would go to Miami in the first place is one of the reasons you’ll consider flying KLM to get there.
Targets a customer segment with a high expected lifetime value. If you’re a major airline in 2011, it’s nice to fill a seat. It’s reeaaally nice to fill it with young people who tend to travel in groups, probably don’t have kids or a spouse to think of, and spend disposable income on international leisure and entertainment. Seats filled (for 16-18 hours round trip!) with those kinds of passengers provide KLM with a captive audience who will buy drinks, meals, movies, and sign up for credit cards and loyalty programs.
Connects a distinctive, generations-old brand with notions of youth, vitality, style, escape and adventure. These themes appeal to a wide cross-section of the traveling public, and indeed have been part of the air travel sales pitch to consumers for much of the last century.
Shows KLM:
a. Using social media. Period.
b. Using social media to listen to customers, and not just to blast out special offers or manage the TV news cycle.
c. Using social media to engage customers in profitable exchanges – “yes, we’ll gladly move the Miami route launch up one week, but you gotta get your raver friends to fill some seats.” I bet shareholders like that part of the story.
Differentiates KLM as a company that rises above the B.S. – at a time when the dominant storylines in air travel are rising fares, nickel-and-dime surcharges, and (in America at least) TSA body scans, KLM is setting a Guinness World Record for the highest altitude dance party. This is really smooth, and the nexus of content and context matters a lot here. How would we feel about this video if this were 1999 instead of 2011? In a world awash in post-Cold War, dot com, fin de siècle giddiness, a thumping, transatlantic, 30K-foot dance party would’ve looked terribly tacky and “me too.”

Leon Pals, a Rotterdam-based trendwatcher, posted on thenextweb.com that even if this video is just a clever concoction of KLM’s marketing department or creative agency, he enjoyed it as an example of effective social media. (Such sleight of hand would seem a needless risk for KLM, in my opinion.)

I would take Pals’ point further and say that even if some level of storyline manufacturing took place, this would only underscore social media’s value as a communications channel.

And BTW, let’s just take it as a given that all media is subject to misuse. We should move beyond moral outrage and accept that, at some level, we’re just going to have to figure out the difference between authentic and synthetic messaging. We can try to regulate and we should. And we can hope that those who think it’s ok to “pee in the pool” (I’m talking to you J.C.-Penny-and-or-the-agency-that-supposedly-acted-of-its-own-accord-to-employ-black-hat-SEO-practices-on-J.C.-Penny’s-behalf) will eventually be caught in the act, publicly shamed, and sent to the big house if necessary.

But in the meantime, we marketers have a job to do, and that is TO SELL. And whether or not J.C. Penny or anyone else is cheating is not our concern. What we need to do is tell great stories that inspire the right customer to engage our brands, and ultimately, buy our products. Well done KLM.

2011 – Bring it on.

fun, social networking, social networks 2 Responses »

Jan 042011

Happy New Year TLOTL readers. Even though this is the week when most of us are heading back to work, I’m kicking off 2011 with a post that is perhaps 80% frivolous, 20% serious.

After a holiday break that included a healthy amount of feasting, family time, and general decompression, I decided to finally join the ranks of individuals who feel compelled to remove most of their winter clothing and hurl themselves into near-freezing water on New Year’s Day. And even though I reside in Seattle — which, at 47 degrees and 37 minutes of latitude, is closer to the North Pole than it is to the equator — I figured that jumping into the chilly waters of Puget Sound wasn’t silly enough to suit my purposes.

No, clearly it was necessary to travel 144 miles north to Vancouver, where a throng of nearly 2000 like-minded, half-nekked individuals huddled on the shores of English Bay for the annual Polar Bear Swim. Here we waited for the (warmly-dressed, hot cocoa-sipping, and smirking) event organizers to inform us that it was finally “ok” to dive into Pacific Ocean waters measuring a very uncomfortable 6 degrees Celsius.

The photo to the right links to my Facebook album documenting this adventure. The combination of a large crowd — many of whom were feeling the effects of liquid courage, early-stage hypothermia, or both — and the presence of my 5 year old daughter prevented my paparazza (wife) from even approaching the designated plunge area. But the videographers at the Vancouver Sun captured the proceedings from the shoreline. And there’s a very entertaining, crowd-sourced slideshow of the event on Flickr.

You may be wondering what would possess an otherwise normal person to do such a thing. Of course I can only speak for myself. The answer lies somewhere on the continuum between “I have no freaking idea why” and “because I had to.” One does not typically over-contemplate the decision to join a Polar Bear Swim. It’s a commitment that is almost always made in haste. And I think that’s really my best answer to the “why” question, and also the tie-back to the “20% serious” claim I made at the beginning of this post.

Some who know me may disagree with this assessment, but I think I’m a fairly careful person, or careful enough anyway. I pay my bills on time. My life, health, business and property are all adequately insured. I try to leave a clean wake in my relationships. Before making important business or personal decisions, I have been known to (obsessively?) analyze them through multiple lenses, be they financial, spiritual, social, global, metaphysical, or “other.”

Just after Christmas I ran into a business contact who observed that it’s normal for him to generate 10 good ideas, try to implement 8 of them, and be satisfied if none of them work, as long as he learns something in the process. I genuinely admire that about him. And what I think he admires about me is that I’m exactly the opposite. I love to generate ten good ideas, and then use my analytical skills — and those of my collaborators – to kill or “parking lot” the nine that don’t make sense right now, and use the remaining energy to execute well against the one that I believe will work.

Now, to be clear, I wasn’t trying to rinse off these personality traits in the frigid waters of English Bay. I think they have generally served me well over the years. But in joining the Polar Bear Swim, I very much wanted to celebrate the virtue of “not thinking about stuff too much.” And a great way to celebrate that virtue is to fullly experience the discomfort, and the thrill, that comes with it. And so if I’m going to be not comfortable while I’m not thinking too much, it’s preferable to be not alone.

New Year’s Day is just another day, but it’s a marker of change. Change happens all around us, and within us, all the time. I find that the company I keep, more than anything, is what makes that change manageable, rewarding, and, more often than not: FUN.

Happy New Year!

5 reasons Good beats Perfect (almost) every time

The 3 Keys to Marketing Happiness

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