Jeff Widman (.com)

Marketing is a delicate craft.
A rhythmic balance between planning and executing.

There are overnight growth wonders.
(The hockey stick pattern–think Twitter.)

But creating a world-class product cannot happen overnight.
By definition. It takes time, user-testing, iterations.
(How many generations of iPod Nano’s?)

Truly, it is a journey of a thousand miles.
Launch. A little off beat. Improve. Now.

These are excellent first steps. (Sometimes the first step is easy. Sometimes not.)

• <Pause> How are you adding value for your users?
• Focus on substance, then style. Over the past few weeks, I’ve critiqued TechStars investor pitches. As a student of Garr Reynolds, I’m quick to watch slide design, smiling, and body-movements (Never move without a purpose. Never hold still without a purpose.) But listening to David Cohen give feedback taught me to listen for the underlying story-line before worrying about the delivery. (Thanks David!)
• Speaking of listening, lately I’ve noticed brilliant people spouting off a lot of smart ideas. But relatively few have the wisdom and self-control to listen thoroughly, before giving advice. While the shotgunners are valuable advisors, the snipers are true gold.
• Tap into the brainstorming power of millions–a Flickr search I ran for a new project surprised me with the apparent lack of brand potential.
• Do you know how to quickly make it easy for customers to find you? (SEO for podcasts.) When people link to other sites, they often use the site’s name. The words people use when linking to you factors heavily into the Google algorithm. For an upcoming project, I used this social engineering factoid to pick a brand/domain name.

"Do more. Faster." — Painted above David Cohen’s office doorway.

Now.

I didn’t want to post this. It’s basic. We forget. That’s why it’s worth your time.

Last week, a guy I’d never met tweeted that he’d spend a half-hour meeting with any Seattle-ite willing to drive him to the airport.

In that brief conversation, Dave McClure used words like:

Customer acquisition
User engagement
Organic growth
Viral
SEO
Intimidating

Okay, I added the last one. Now don’t get me wrong–Dave is a brilliant (and friendly) guy who gets stuff done. However, I was reminded…

Acquiring customers in a scalable fashion is tremendously important. It’s called “being efficient” and if you don’t figure it out, you’ll go bankrupt. But I wonder–how often do we focus on the tool instead of the goal? (Think GTD software programs. Marketers are not immune.)

Last Sunday, Andy Nulman gave me his definition of marketing:

A lot of people forget that it’s more than just telling a story, it’s about a relationship–between a customer and a business. A win-win relationship.

I used to wonder–why do we focus on the tool instead of the goal?
Anything you create by yourself is a tool.
Relationships require two groups.
That’s why. Difficulty.

Marketing Tools.
Brainstorm.
Create.
Use.

But don’t let people become numbers. Ever.
(They won’t let you.)

Today begins a month and a half of traveling adventures…
My upcoming itinerary:

    -August: Boulder, CO. http://www.TechStars.org/
    -August 25: Road trip home. Boulder–>Seattle.
    -Sept 2-5: Boston, MA. http://www.businessofsoftware.org/
    -Sept 5-12: Washington, DC. Visiting a friend/backpacking.
    -Sept 12-17: Kansas City, MO. http://www.apics.org/education/conference/

Then back to Redmond for a few weeks…

I enjoy blogging.
I enjoy meeting people.

If you want to connect, drop me a line: jeff@jeffwidman.com

It’s been 5 weeks since my last post–I was burned out… I’m refreshed now.  I can once again look at the trees, feel the wind, and say, “Thank God–I’m alive!”

Thanks for patiently waiting.

I’ve asked myself why I blog.
Simple.
Passion demands an outlet.

My friend Delaney recently asked my thoughts on blogging.

I’m concerned about staying on a particular topic, because I have a wide variety of interests, and aren’t blogs supposed to stick to a specific topic? 

The other aspect that I’m worried about is making it something worthwhile for other people to read– Any tips on that?

Write with your reader in mind. Ben Casnocha writes from a Gen Y perspective focused on thought-provoking stuff for the intelligent. I write about marketing from an ethical, story-telling emphasis on being world-class. In business speak, you can focus vertically or horizontally. Vertical is many topics, targeted toward one demographic. Horizontal is one topic, many demographics. For myself, I’ve chosen horizontal. Marketing is my passion. It’s a place I connect with other passionate marketers–corporate, niche booksellers, students, entrepreneurs, hoteliers, etc.

Know that ultimately your passion will come from you–and that’s what will sustain you through blogging when you get bored, writers block, etc. So ask yourself why you want to write. Than ask yourself what problems you can help solve for others. Then find where the two intersect. And start writing there. Write about what interests you. At the same time, respect your readers–take the time to make each post well-written, concise, and worth their time to read. Make sense? Your drive + their time = good blogging.

Recognize that some people blog just to work through thoughts in their own head–that’s part of why I blog about business, to cement internally my philosophy of marketing. But I always delete what doesn’t add value for my readers.

Despite the silence, I’m still here… Working at a camp in North Dakota for the past one and a half weeks–I’ll be here through the end of next week.

While I originally intended to post here, the 26.4 kbps has stifled my online presence–takes 15 minutes just to upload a blog post!

The time here has been well spent in reflection, mentoring young men, and being offline.

See you in a week and a half!

Some marketers lie on purpose. You know who I’m talking about.

The rest of us are tempted.
By definition, a good marketer is an expert in creating WOW experiences.
We understand the importance of a great story. But sometimes…
…it’s impossible to surpass customer expectations…
…the competition has a better product…
…the deadline won’t be met…
…the XBox has a flaw…

That’s when stretching the truth seems the path of least resistance.

Ever heard a fisherman tell a whopper?
The audience wouldn’t call it a lie. Fact is, they like the adventure–it’s fun. But they won’t trust his next story. So combine the best of both worlds. Craft a fantastically exciting story around an honest product description.

The North Face is known for over-rating their sleeping bags. Their Wasatch is rated at 40 degrees, but I wouldn’t trust it below 50 degrees–with additional warm clothing! Contrast that with Western Mountaineering, a company known for under-rating their bags. Funny thing–I’ve never slept in a sleeping bag from either manufacturer. Word gets around. One over-rated product affects the entire brand.

Being honest isn’t morally wrong. Lying is. If you don’t have a game-changing story, don’t exaggerate. Hope isn’t reality. Reporting bad news isn’t bad. 

Be the first to tell the client bad news (e.g., slipped delivery); his intelligence sources will tell him fast—you want to be there first with your story and to enhance your rep as truthteller! – Tom Peters

It may not be your fault, but it is now your problem. Transform the obstacle into an opportunity.

Soon, you will be tempted.
Not to lie, but to stretch the truth.
Unfortunately, that’s the same thing.
Don’t!

Not all neighbors are as friendly as Mr. Rogers. While some invite you in for a cup of tea, others limit you to the porch. A few merely gawk from behind shuttered windows.

The same responses happen when you market to consumers. Seth Godin is a genius for reminding marketers to mind their manners, and ask permission rather than barging in.

But you can’t afford “yes” or “no” answers when asking permission.

You’ll either forgo deep relationships by staying on the porch, or have only a few relationships with those willing to share a cup of tea. Instead, find a way to build the deepest-possible, permission-based relationship with both the gawkers and Mr. Rogers.

Offer more than two answers when you ask permission. Add another channel.

Allow Mr. Rogers to invite you into the house. Allow the gawkers to feel comfortable lurking. Provide a highly personalized e-mail list, and an informative (and anonymous) website.

Vary the frequency.
Provide a daily RSS feed and an annual e-mail list.
Create a daily Twitter feed for your group.

Unfortunately, most consumers don’t even know what they want. Offer them three choices, and most will pick the middle. (Tip: Define the middle.) Restaurant menus are great examples of this. Most menus have four (or more) price-levels.

The final twist: Consumers love to feel powerful, but hate making decisions. So provide choices, but not too many. Don’t annoy people by asking whether they’ll allow you two steps inside their house or three. Besides, the less you push their boundaries, the less threatened they feel–they shouldn’t be second-guessing their choice.

Build a decision process that customers enjoy. A good restaurant menu makes ordering fun!

In January, I spent a week with Genie Industries participating in a kaizen event. This week was special–Genie paid a lean manufacturing Sensei upwards of $30k to supervise.
(Shingijitsu’s website looks like crap… Yet my Genie contact told me, “We’re working hard to wine/dine them–otherwise they’ll fire us.” That’s abnormal.)

I’ll never forget asking the Sensei a question; he grabbed my arm, moved to the middle of the process, planted me there, and said “Watch. What do you see?” The more questions I asked, the more questions he asked me. My brain spun. I learned.

I was reminded of this quote:

After Seth’s keynote this morning, I reviewed the notes that I was taking… The notes had nothing to do with what he was saying and everything to do with a fistful of creative sparks that were inspired by what he was saying. – Mitch Joel

Did you catch that?
Seth’s talk cast vision without constraining the answers.
Communicating like this requires discipline–it’s easier to tell people what to do than to patiently inspire them.

Where does your brain go after reading this story?

8 sec’s left in the third period; America 6, Religion 7. God loses the puck at center ice, Charlton picks it up. Heston shoots, Jesus saves! – Aidan Nulmann via Twitter

In 140 characters, Aidan got me thinking about America and religion. For twenty minutes. If he’d written a 4-page article, I’d have left after two paragraphs.

Listen to your market.
Discern their needs.
Collaborate on the answers–clarify the problem, and get out of the way.
(Be patient.)

Leverage their brilliance.

Back in March, best-selling author and thought-leader Seth Godin announced a summer internship:

Send your application (you decide what’s on it, that’s part of the application) as a pdf of no longer than four pages…

So I created this PDF.

Unfortunately, the text is only readable in full screen.

There are no shortcuts to wall-able content: creating this took over fifty hours. During the brainstorming process, I filled an entire notebook. Occasionally, I became bored… even frustrated with my lack of direction.

I’ve received nothing but rave reviews.
It’s rewarding to have others say they were inspired to be exceptional.

How can your resume or sales brochure inspire consumer belief?

I never thought of my friend Matt as clairvoyant. Until recently:

“So ABC happened…” – Jeff.
“Of course you did XYZ…” – Matt
“How did you know that?” – Jeff
“You responded that way to DEF and HIJ.” – Matt

Matt pulled together two situations to predict my response to a third situation.
It shocked me; I saw no connection between the three situations–they each involved completely different thought processes. But Matt, knowing my actions and not my thought processes, recognized a pattern.

Marketing researchers spend millions of dollars on focus groups, trying to recognize patterns. It’s hard work. It’s imperfect work. And understanding a pattern is different than recognizing it.

I think people are wired to recognize patterns in two ways:

1. Action–>Reaction. The tangible, concrete people–like Matt–watch life and say: “Whenever ABC circumstances happen, people respond with XYZ actions.” These people identify simple cause-effect relationships where others become distracted by complexity.
2. Thought-Process–>Reaction. The abstract people–like myself–watch life and say “Whenever people go through ABC thoughts and emotions, they respond with XYZ actions.” These people pull together a wide range of scenarios to see patterns when there is no apparent connection.

Neither way works better all the time. And I know from hanging out with Matt that sometimes he recognizes the pattern. Sometimes I recognize the pattern. You need both types because they identify different patterns.  Matt alternately shocks me with the patterns he recognizes and the patterns he misses.

Do you involve the other type of person in your decisions?
(I’m so abstract that I forgot the details of my conversation with Matt. )

Here’s the kicker: Patterns are always changing.