Kathy Klotz-Guest
kathy(at)keepingithuman(dot)com

The CMIO: Chief Marketing Improvisation Officer

Successful entrepreneurs (and companies) are improvisers who prepare, fail, learn quickly, and “pivot.” They know when to adapt, and they empower others to do that as well.

In a world of increasing complexity, the ability to improvise and to manage change is critical. According to the IBM 2010 Global CEO Study, the ability to embody creative leadership is among the most important attributes for navigating and succeeding in a world of increased complexity. The study also revealed that there is a shortage of flexible, creative leaders in top companies. That’s a big issue for managing the next wave of change.

Marketing – and business in general – is undergoing tremendous change. Because of social media, the rapidly evolving social enterprise, increasing amounts and complexity of information (the rise of “big data”), marketers are inundated with choices, “facts,” the promise of greater insight, and a constantly changing set of “rules” for connecting better with customers.

Create the Playbook and Be Ready to Ditch It

So what’s a marketer to do? The answer is to create a playbook and improvise as needed. I have launched products, online campaigns and stories, and start-up companies. In the day to day, real-time trenches, the unforeseen – both good and bad – happens. When stuff stops working, great marketers improvise and change course. Failure is part of the improviser’s motto; it’s a chance to learn and grow. Yet, continuing to fail because of inflexibility is just poor management.

Products Should be Co-Created

Companies can’t wait until products are perfect to ship them. There is no such thing as completely done. Consider all the bugs in software. Great marketers create the best products they can by involving customers early on, getting products out the door and continuing to get feedback that helps shape the next revision or product upgrade. Product strategies should and will evolve –it’s an orchestrated and organic blend of co-created development with customers over time. Great marketers deviate from the plan – improvise – when customer feedback requires a new direction. Plans are roadmaps, not fiancés. Like them; don’t marry them.

Great Storytelling Means Letting Go

The narrative of a company must always adapt to the changing market conditions, customer needs and the competitive landscape. Company narratives evolve organically and are adapted by customers who shape them and make them their own. There is no such thing as waiting until a narrative is perfect. In fact, this is where great brands thrive – by allowing their customers to co-create the company story with them. By doing that, great brands build customer loyalty by letting customers define what the larger company story means to them.

Campaigns can also be co-created with customers – it means letting go of controlling the story and enabling customers to shape that story the way THEY experience the brand. Like improvisation on a stage, this requires trust. Letting go almost always means better outcomes than can be achieved by “control.” Customers ultimately decide if a brand succeeds or fails.

Social Engagement Requires Experimentation

In a world where social media is still evolving, companies must embrace experimentation with a number of tactics to see what works. Marketing is filled today with examples of companies that are failing. That’s a great thing in a way. Now is the time to try, fail, and learn by improvising – not the time to stick to long-term playbooks. Measure, see what works, and improvise a new plan. Yes, some stuff won’t work, and even best laid plans can fail. Nothing in marketing is guaranteed; there is no template. Marketing – the iterative, improvisational dance – is some science, yes, and a hell of a lot of art. Thriving in uncertainty means accepting the situation or offer at hand (improvisers call it, “Yes, and-ing”) and moving forward by building (and-ing) on the reality of the moment.

While overall strategies shouldn’t change frequently, tactics should because knowledge and tools will. The point is lots of mistakes will (and should) be made as companies find their footing in a new world where customers have more power and transparency. Be married to your company’s values and the narrative it creates – not to tactics that aren’t working. Intractability is lethal.

Improvisation Requires Leadership and Mastery

Improvisation isn’t winging it. Like great marketing, it requires preparation, fluency, mastery and big values such as trust. Improvising in business can only be successful when companies have leaders that embrace change, and trust their people enough to decentralize flexible decision-making. Companies with solid brands are capable of improvisation precisely because they are prepared – and open to change.

The beauty of jazz isn’t in the predictable notes; it’s in the improvisation. The same is true of marketing. Marketers who prepare and are willing to improvise as needed will be the ones to succeed in a business climate of constant and rapid change.

Kathy Klotz-Guest

Leaders Sell Ideas and Hope

Leaders sell ideas, inspiration and hope, not services. They are adept at answering “the Why” – why they do what they do. It is a fundamental human question. People often buy products and services based on a feeling of connection rather than on some objective, decision-making criteria. Yep. Humans are rarely completely rational, as Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational, posits in his work.

Yet, that’s exactly how most marketing approaches work – by aiming at a “rational” consumer mindset that doesn’t really exist with details on “how” and “what.” That’s why most marketing is forgettable and ineffective. Recently, I re-watched a great TED talk by Simon Sinek, author of “Start with the Why.” His premise is that the “how” and the “what” in marketing are not as important as the “why.” While this concept isn’t new (some people call it leading with your purpose), his approach offers some interesting insights. Great organizations answer the “why” – why they do what they do. That targets something “visceral” in people, bypassing the “logic” brain, and allowing for messages to connect at a more human level. This approach inspires action.

Create a Vision of What “Could Be”

As Sinek jokes, Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired people with his “I have a dream” speech, not his “I have a plan” speech. Dr. King was driven by a dream for a better America, not by a technical, detailed-filled plan. He painted what could be, and, by doing so, he spoke to our common humanity and sense of shared values. And he wrapped up the “why” in a story – the most human of communications agents. He aimed his “sell” not at the audience’s “heads.” Rather, he targeted their hearts and their beliefs. Leaders tell stories bigger than themselves. We want to see people better themselves and achieve greatness because it inspires the achiever in us.

This is a critical point for marketers. Companies that lead sell a vision and inspire – they don’t sell technical and economic details. Sure profits matter, yet they are the result of “why” we do what we do. Unfortunately, too much marketing focuses on “what” we do and “how” we do it.

People buy stories – they buy hope that things will be different because of what you sell. Thus, they buy something bigger than your offerings. To focus on selling products and services is a huge mistake in a sea of content noise that is only getting worse. And no amount of marketing will ever create a ‘movement’ if it fails to speak to your larger purpose. When marketing leads from the inside-out – starting with your values and purpose – you attract your ideal audience. Moreover, when you know your why – your core purpose for your business – you are also better able to allocate resources, make strategic decisions that align with your values, and stay true to your values. Your core purpose is your strategic Northern Star.

What inspires you? People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it. You are selling to people who believe what you believe. And in that “why,” your audience sees themselves. It’s not about you – it’s about something much bigger.

A Better “Why” to Market

I started Keeping it Human because I knew that marketing could be so much better. It could be “human.” I came out of high-tech, and saw wonderful products being marketed in the most un-human ways. “Solutions, platforms, methodologies, disruptive technology…” It was all company-focused rather than focused on the human challenges customers face. It was full of confusing jargon that didn’t matter to customers. No one talked in simple, honest, or funny stories that honored people. Who says marketing can’t at times be funny? What drives me is a deep belief that there is a better way for customers and companies. Even in B2B, you are selling to people who want to smile, laugh, believe in something, and have honest, direct conversations. Customers are people and they want to be treated that way. Now let’s try my marketing statement again with a focus on the “why.”

Keeping it Human challenges the status quo of company-focused, jargon-laden marketing that treats customers like “targets” with dollar signs on their backs instead of like people. We inject a human element into everything we do from creating products that solve human challenges to speaking in powerful human stories and narratives that move people to action. As a result, we improve profits and customer relationships while improving interactions for customers, too.

TOMS Shoes is one of my favorite examples. TOMS’ entire model is about giving. They don’t just make shoes. What they do is fulfill a tremendous need by giving a pair of shoes to a child in a developing country for every pair of shoes sold. Buy one, give one is their motto. Their shoes aren’t the cheapest or best made shoes on the market. That is irrelevant, because people buy TOMS because they believe in the mission of the company. It’s the “why” that matters.

Zappos is another powerful illustration of “why.” Zappos isn’t about the merchandise you can buy. You can likely find better deals elsewhere. That’s not the point. Tony Hsieh started Zappos because his mission was all about providing the best possible customer service and customer experience possible for online shopping. In fact, he started the company with this mission before he decided what merchandise to sell! There are great examples of “why” in every industry, including technology. “Think Different,” is Apple’s why. This drives Apple’s commitment to quality, user-friendly, and easy-to-use products.

Another great tech example is IBM and its Smarter Planet message. Working towards a ‘smarter planet’ is a message that is bigger than IBM and one that includes its suppliers, and even its competitors. When you don’t have a clear story or purpose, you have an identity crisis. Just look at HP or Yahoo! (or Ya-Who?!) compared to IBM today. And if you don’t know what you stand for, how can your market know? It can’t, and that’s a huge problem for any company that can’t clearly articulate its purpose.

Marketing is Evangelism…to the Converted

I believe marketing is about preaching to the already converted. By leveraging the “why,” you are targeting enthusiasts, people who make decisions based on intuition – the leaders. This is especially true for technology companies when you consider how diffusion of innovation occurs within markets. It is the leaders – the enthusiast early adopters – that are willing to buy based on an idea, sometimes unproven. Then, they help you improve your product and help you “sell” to the larger majority by word of mouth. If you don’t have these people on board, well, so much for crossing the infamous “chasm” and capturing the market majority. Their endorsement is critical.

Finding Your “Why”

As you think about the human reasons behind your company, focus on telling the “why” in your larger company narrative. It’s far more important than your individual services. Rethink your traditional time-based company biography. It is irrelevant. Communicate why you get up every day and what motivates you. Too much marketing focuses on details of “what” and “how.” Instead, great marketers and leaders communicate with heart, conviction and soul. By aiming at that most critical human level, your message has a greater chance of hitting exactly where it needs to connect most – viscerally.

That means being vulnerable. And we hate being vulnerable. Naked Conversations, a seminal book by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel, talked about authenticity and transparency in company conversations (including blogs) and the need for getting naked with your audience. That nakedness starts with stories. It means owning your stories – the things that didn’t work, and company failures as well as successes.

Owning your truth means owning your story. It’s staking a claim in your brand. Part of every company’s truth may be messy – it’s also very human. In a world of way too much content chasing too little context and even less mindshare, naked stories cut clutter, and stand out in a crowd of me-too, fact-laden noise. Every company gets it wrong sometimes and those mistakes can be invaluable sources of learning.

I was facilitating a workshop recently when a gentleman raised his hand and said, “My company failed. I don’t have a story.” Actually, that’s a great story if you can speak to how you changed because of it. You always have a story – it’s about your truth. Yes, we want to shout to the world our success stories. And then there are the times we don’t succeed. We need to talk about those times and own them, rather than them owning us like a scarlet letter of shame.

How many people have failed at something? Lots – including me. When I started my business, I attracted the wrong audience. And I had to learn quickly and painfully – and I did. If you’re not failing once in a while you are not trying hard enough to innovate. I asked that man what he learned from his experience. “I now know what to do and what not to do. I learned how to build a better plan. I understand the mistakes we made and what to do differently.”
That’s my point.

Your naked story doesn’t focus on the failure. Great business stories don’t involve baring your soul; they do require, however, that you stand for your purpose. And challenges show the world what we’re made of.

Your naked story about challenge is really about how you grew from your experience. Focus on what failure taught you. In a world of me-too success stories (yes, you’re unique… just like everyone else!), a naked story about a challenge you faced – a crucible that made you better— builds credibility and emotional connection with your audience. Everybody fails – that’s human. A great story shows how failure changed you for the better. That’s a universal theme your audience can relate to.

When you get vulnerable with your truth, you become the owner of the story. Failures shape us often more than successes do. Yet, as a culture that loves winners, there is a lot of reluctance in talking about the risks we took that didn’t pan out. Yet, those are the instructive moments that make us smarter. That adds to our credibility. Why would that gentleman in my workshop be a great advisor to businesses? Precisely because he failed, learned and did it better the next time. When you take lots of risks, you learn what works and what doesn’t. That’s good naked. It’s honest and relatable. Consequently, these stories have tremendous marketing capital.

Today, too many ‘stories’ are superficial. We’re afraid to say to the world, “I am less than perfect.” Here’s the thing – everybody already knows that. No one expects you to be perfect. By being vulnerable and owning your truth, we find an authentic human connection with our audience. We’re giving them permission to say to themselves, “I am not perfect either, and I connect with you on our shared humanity.” The business that admits both its failures and successes has a lot more credibility with customers in the long run. When things aren’t working, customers trust that a naked company will be honest with them about the good, the bad, and the ugly – while being fully clothed!

What’s your naked story? Email me at Kathy (at) keepingithuman (dot) com

Jargon hurts your business. There is just too much noise out there; and if I can’t ‘get’ what you do, I’ll move on.

Venture Beat Magazine had a great feature where they brought together a panel of smart middle-school kids and tech execs. And one by one, they asked these executives to explain their technologies to the panel. You can see the full video here.

Kids are a smart, tough crowd. These kids asked GREAT questions that even some adults are afraid to ask for fear they will look foolish. That’s why they make a fantastic panel. Unlike adults, kids won’t let you get away with a lack of clarity. Adults, well, we won’t work that hard.

Can you explain your big data tech to kids? You should be able to. This experiment wasn’t just fun; it was brilliant. Complex technology suffers from messaging complexity, too. The only antidote to messaging complexity is simplicity. And explaining technology to kids is a genius litmus test. If they don’t ‘get’ it (and they ask questions unabashedly), you don’t know your story. And that means you have clarification work to do.

All tech executives should be required to explain their technology to a group of kids. It’s the best messaging drill around!

I was asked to provide a webinar to an organization recently. They invited me and, by extension, my voice. My *authentic* voice.

There is too much noise in the world and too much marketing that lacks meaning. In an age of so much “data,” we’re impoverished for real, human connections. Companies have created more stuff – oh, right, “content” – and are shoving it at us through every channel. It’s a glut of content and a paucity of meaning. A lot of marketing needs a ‘crapendectomy.’ It makes a powerful – err, ahem, explosive – point. It’s humorous and there is truth in comedy, as we all know.

Not everyone has a sense of humor, however. The marketing team of the organization stopped me at the door. The decency police sanitized my copy. Not only that – the new and ‘un-improved’ version they created added jargon that I would never utter out of my ‘keeping it human’ mouth. Yep. ‘Crapendectomy’ had a lot of undies in bunches. Oh, and the jargon they added – they didn’t see the irony in asking me to talk about keeping marketing human while using copy that violated the very premise of my talk. ‘Crapendectomy’ is out, but biz-speak like “company-centricity” is OK? Seriously?! Not on my watch.

Hold up! My brand promise is about creating real connections with customers in a meaningful way. If you don’t like my copy, well, you won’t like what I have to say, either. It’s all or nothing, baby. You want me to talk? Then, you get my voice. All of it. Including as many ‘crapendectomies’ as I can squeeze in!

Here’s the point: when you stand for something in the world, even the smallest details matter. Your core purpose is a commitment to honor certain beliefs. When you allow yourself to be “edited,” you dilute your voice.

Your core purpose is a constant Northern Star that stands for something or it stands for nothing. The smallest litmus tests are the most important. Little compromises eventually turn into bigger ones. And compromising your vision is brand BS that cries out for an immediate cure:

A huge ‘crapendectomy.’ Or maybe you prefer, “de-bullshit-ization?” Oooh. That has a nice ring to it.

What do businesses need to understand about creating better customer experiences? How do we re-think the service experience as a “whole” product? These are some of the questions Mike and I discuss.

You can download the show in iTunes or listen here by starting the podcast below.

Enjoy!

1. Humor is an attitude of fun. You can have a sense of fun without having to be “funny.” Don’t force the funny – you’ll hurt yourself. Humor opens you up to the joy of the moment. Attitude is the most important determinant of success. Time flies, but *you* are the pilot. So fly with more joy and fun.

2. Humor attracts like. When you share appropriate humor, you build rapport and strengthen relationships. Happy begets happy. It’s universal law. I don’t make those rules. But, if I could have; I would have. They are damn good rules.

3. Humor oils the innovative engine. Use it regularly. It’s part of the creative process that drives innovation. When we use the ‘humor’ brain, we are leveraging the creative brain, and are open to fun and spontaneity. Sometimes the “A-Ha” comes during the “Ha-Ha.”

4. Funny Makes Money. This is especially true in speaking and writing – and often in marketing. I am looking at you, b2b. Humor offers a huge pattern disruption, cuts through noise, and let your messages get through. That is especially important in an age of content explosion and diminishing mindshare. Humor helps you stand apart from the crowd. Be heard – not one of the herd. Plus, humor helps people learn. And we all want to be educated, right?

5. Humor humanizes. An organization that values humor and laughter creates positive energy that powers everything it does. Additionally, a company that can laugh (especially at itself sometimes) adds a human dimension to its brand. Good humor doesn’t kill brands. People (doing dumb stuff) do.

6. Humor is the greatest people skill you can have. No kidding. It makes you likable. It opens up positive channels of communication with others. It’s emotional ‘cable.’ Humor is highly correlated with emotional intelligence – and career success. Take that, and your bigger paycheck, laughing all the way to the bank. Until you get to the bank – they are not fun.

7. Humor puts people at ease. Builds rapport and reduces tension. It’s a natural pain reliever that won’t hurt your liver. Organizations that laugh more are more productive and less stressful. I want to stress that.

8. Humor aids in memory retention. Make people laugh – and they’ll remember you. People remember not what you did, but how you made them feel. Make people feel great.

9. Humor is a part of a great customer-service strategy. It delights and surprises. Empower people to have fun at work and to convey that in their interactions with customers. You can’t give to customers what you don’t feel. Good, rapport-building humor is corporate culture connective tissue. Make sure your culture is happy, not crappy.

10. Humor is an indicator of morale. Just as good humor is a sign of a healthy company, rife inappropriate humor is a huge red flag for any organization. Don’t ignore it. Constant inappropriate humor indicates a lack of respect for the organization, its customers (look at Enron – they made fun of customers and how stupid they were) and a lack of trust. These are lethal to a healthy corporate culture. If employees exhibit toxic humor, run fast! It’s gonna blow!

11. Laughter is good for the soul, bad for the crow’s feet. Mileage is inevitable, but smiling takes off years. It’s better than botox. Increase your “smileage” and turn back the “old-ometer.” Aging is an inevitable destination; you might as well enjoy the journey.

12. Humor, like love, is a universal language (although ironically and paradoxically subjective at the same time. Hmmmm…!). So, move over math. That’s right, pi, I’m talking to you.