Every Organization Needs a Chief Marketing Improvisation Officer

May 102013

As a stage improviser, I love playing with the audience and creating stories in real-time. As a marketer that often applies improvisational tools to improve client outcomes, being prepared and still knowing when to ditch the playbook is a very important balancing act. Improvisation does not mean “winging it.” Improvising requires preparation, fluency, and knowledge – the oxymoronic “art” is in knowing when to deviate from the plan. Great improvisers – like great marketers – plan. Improvisation is co-creating, being present in the moment, and being prepared and willing to let go, and even fail, in order to get better results. That ability to change course is critical to marketing success in a dynamic world.

Improvisation is about flexibility

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

Co-create with customers Keepingithuman.com

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

take some risks with humor www.keepingithuman.com/blog

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.

jazz is the ultimate in improvisation keepingithuman.com

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.

Marketing Success - Plan, Then Improvise

Sep 302012

I was at the Applied Improvisation Network conference in San Francisco last week as a speaker, attendee, and conference organizer. I – like many attendees – apply principles of improvisation (not improv comedy, although I do that on stage) to improve client outcomes.

Improvisation does not mean “winging it.” Improvising requires preparation, fluency, and knowledge – the oxymoronic “art” is in knowing when to deviate from the plan. Great improvisers plan. Improvisation is co-creating, being present in the moment, and being prepared and willing to let go, and even fail, in order to get better results.

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.

Successful Products are 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. It requires preparation, fluency, mastery and big values such as trust. It 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.

Human-Centered Design: Where are the Product Storytellers Today?

Sep 162012

Great marketing IS storytelling, and it is the essence of connecting with your audience. So why aren’t there more storytellers in product – especially in high-tech?

Many companies gather customer requirements, build in a few of the most important needs, create a prototype, and collect beta-test feedback. Then, after fixing a few things, marketing creates “messages” to promote the product to customers. Far too often, storytelling begins after the product is built.

Yet, the most important storytelling happens before and while the product is being built. Story drives the product into being – it’s what inspires the best design. From Pixar to LEGO to SAP, some of the savviest designers know that telling the story of your customer and their human challenges first is necessary into order to design a product that fits into a customer’s world. Your customer has a story and the only story a great product can tell is how it fits into a larger human narrative. Unfortunately, too many companies create a story as after-thought or as extension of their corporate product strategy narrative and force that onto the customer. That is bass-ackwards, as the saying goes!

Forget “Features!” Story-Driven Products Win

Why? The best products work with the flow of human behavior rather than against it. Product adoption that depends on customers to change their human behavior – thus, asking them to change their daily narrative to center around some product – often stalls. Granted, disruptive technology works this way; however, most human-centered innovations are evolutionary, small breakthroughs that yield big results because they don’t ask customers to change their story – they offer a solution to a common problem, and work with the grain of customers’ daily routine.

When product designers work this way, the “story” behind the product’s value is already well understood before any product is completely designed and built. The value story behind great products isn’t created by marketing as an afterthought; it’s the forethought that gives design its inspiration. A value proposition makes the ‘case’ to a customer why he or she should bring a feature-driven product into his or her existing world. That’s backwards. In story-driven development, a customer’s world shapes how a product should be designed.

At SAP for example, a VP of Product told me his team tells stories about the customers with the customers present, and they tell stories about what the product can do to help the customer as the product is being created. This is the central focus of “design thinking” as practiced. Stories provide an important roadmap – a vision to help products stay on target and stay customer-focused.

“Human” Need, Not Product, Drives Narrative

A great example of fitting a product into an existing need and narrative is in the area of catheters – a major source of hospital infections. Though not particularly exciting as a product, it exemplifies how design thinking works with the flow of human behavior. A company recently came up with a catheter cleaning mechanism (with a disinfecting dispenser and cleaning head that operates at the push of a button). This company looked at the entire process of “human” events that lead to contamination and built a solution to the entire process. For example, nurses putting catheters in their pockets for later use. That very act contaminates the catheter. Now nurses can disinfect right before insertion, without having to change their daily routine in a major way! A small tweak in design that understands the entire human chain of events can have a huge health impact.

Nest Labs is another great example. Tony Fadell, the founder of Nest also created the iPod. The company designed a learning thermostat to reduce costs of home cooling and heating. It is a simple, elegant design that solves a real need without requiring people to master a steep learning curve. Nest Labs’ product “learns” peoples’ preferences and works with their needs, desires, and narrative. Nest fits into human habit; rather than asking people to change their story to integrate a new product into their world. Nest understood the story of energy consumption and that many thermostat systems were too complicated and inefficient. That story and the need for energy savings inspired the design of the product. It is that simple. It’s not feature-rich; it doesn’t have to be. It is a story-driven, not a features-driven, product.

Stories Are a Precursor to Marketing, Not the Byproduct of it

Storytellers are critical in product development and marketing. All great marketing is storytelling. Products designed and inspired by stories of human need are easier to market because they fit into the customer’s existing narrative, rather than asking customers to change their stories.

If done right, product stories are never an after-thought; they a core part of the inspiration behind the product and a driving force for innovation, not after it. By building customer narrative into the product, human-centered design strengthens the marketing message and gives it credibility. That’s the difference between human-centered marketing and advertising.

So, companies, please bring the best storytellers back to product strategy. Your customers are waiting!

Is it Human?

Nov 172011

Welcome to a new post on my blog that I be updating regularly called, “Is it human?” We’ll look at real marketing examples and assess the human quotient (or deficit!) in each.

Not too long ago I was contacted by a company on the East Coast that sells add-on fireplaces. After reading my blog in several syndicated sites, I got a call from the company’s founder. A nice man, he was looking to increase sales of his add-on fireplaces and was convinced they had a “messaging” issue. If only they could make it “human,” and use humor, he stated, he was sure they could sell their piles of inventory.

I wasn’t so sure. Granted, I would love to have a new client that wants to work with me. Yet, his jump to self-diagnosis of a “messaging” issue had me a bit concerned. So I asked him a few simple questions:

“How do you know it’s a messaging issue?” I restated.
“Because they are not selling?” he said.
“Why aren’t they selling?” I asked.
“Because people don’t want them?” he said.
“A-ha. Now we’re getting somewhere. Why don’t people want them?” I inquired
“Because they are add-on fireplaces that don’t sink into the wall. They stick out, and can’t easily be customized,” he answered.

The bottom line here is that he had a product problem, not a messaging problem. His product wasn’t “human” because it didn’t meet a need. It wasn’t what people wanted.

There is no amount of great messaging or messaging humor that will compensate for a product that misses the human mark. Great messaging on top of a great product does wonders – but it never substitutes for a product that ultimately fails to pass the “human” test. Yep, even Santa’s magic couldn’t turn that product into an idyllic, romanticized Norman Rockwell painting that people would buy.

Interestingly, he told me that I was the first marketing person to actually discuss the product with him. I was surprised. Yes, I could create a funny campaign with Santa, a few elves with “nog fog,” and an add-on fireplace that got noticed; however, without redesigning the product to meet the concerns expressed by his audience (they didn’t want an add-on unit; they wanted a built-into-the-wall unit), he would never get the lasting results he needed. It seems too many “marketers” didn’t care about the human need part of the marketing success equation. I did.

In the end, this product didn’t pass the “human” need litmus test. While human messaging is critical, it’s only as good as the human need the product or service serves. Keeping it Human isn’t just about slapping tasty icing on a poorly made cake. Rather, Keeping it Human means making darn sure that the cake AND the icing both taste great! It’s the entire customer experience end-to-end that matters. Just ask Santa. He *knows* fireplaces!

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Keeping It Human, 408-578-8040, is a Marketing Communications company providing marketing strategy, marketing research, marketing writing, storytelling, meeting facilitation, and marketing skills seminars and workshops services. We provide fresh and innovative approaches to marketing , including humor. Our clients are located all over the San Francisco Bay Area including San Jose, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Cupertino, Redwood City, Milpitas, Redwood Shores, Foster City, CA and other Bay Area / Silicon Valley cities. Keeping it Human also has clients out of state in places such as Colorado, New York, and Massachusetts. 		Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha