Effective Communications – Let’s be Honest…

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Effective Communications
We’ve heard it before, and adhere to principles and rules outlining various ways on how to create and facilitate effective communication pieces.

I sought the counsel of my trusted advisor (Google), and this came up when I typed in “Effective”: adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result.

For many of us, we still adhere to the doctrine of creating objectives / goals and ensuring that they’re SMART (Specific / Measurable / Attainable / Realistic / Timely).

In my time both client side and agency side, I’ve been exposed to many a brief (client / creative / mechanical) where objectives are laid out. In this day and age, I am still perplexed how many marketers still fail to understand the importance of setting SMART objectives.

Example of a Poor Objective:

  1. We want Brand X to be talked about and loved by Australians.

Let’s Analyse the Above:

Is it Specific? Sure, why not.
Is it Measurable? It has the potential to be. But, what % deems the objective to be successful?
Is it Attainable? Sure, to an extend.
Is it Realistic? Possibly, over time…
Is it Timely? Not at all…

Example of a Better Objective:

  1. Increase brand presence and share of voice in the marketplace through visibility in media, social platforms, buzz within the next 3 months.

How we could measure effectiveness: Media monitoring tools, social mentions, buzz created, website traffic, sales, growth in interest & followers, levels of engagement etc…

Note:

Notice how I state “Better”, and not “Best”, and also more importantly, how I statee “Could” rather than “Would”? This is because, objectives are subjective, and depends on the level of the Communications Funnel that it services.

Simply put, to ensure that your piece of communications is effective, just abide by this simple philosophy – “Putting the right content within the right context”. You’ll find the right people in the right context naturally. Just make sure you know who you intend to serve that message to.

Cheers,

DANIEL JACOBS
http://www.thecreativestrategist.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/
Melbourne, Australia

Strategic Planning – An Agile Approach

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Case Study: Getting to a Meeting

On my way to a meeting the other day, i had an epiphany. In my role within strategic planning, wonder how best sometimes to communicate the importance of good objectives and describe the planning process and measuring effectiveness, I could present a relevant case study.

So, putting it into perspective:

Job – Getting to a Client Meeting

Primary Objective:

1. Get from point A to point B, ensuring that I arrive 10-15 minutes prior to the actual meeting start time whilst avoiding any accidents

Planning:

1. I plan my route
2. I use tools such as Google Maps and Maps to determine the best route to take in the most efficient time to meet my objective/s.
3. I ensure that I have earphone plugged in, and can call the client if situations change
4. I ensure I have enough petrol in my tank
5. I listen out on the radio and view news reports prior to my departure, ensuring that there’s no accidents or heavy traffic on the route that I have prepared

Action:

Whilst driving (comparing this context to that of a campaign roll out), I start noticing factors out of my control. It starts to rain – heavily… There are erratic drivers who throw caution to the wind in their quest to get to their destination quicker. An accident occurs, causing the right lane to jam up. Someone’s going 60 on an 80 lane, just cruising along.

However, having experience driving day to day allows me to better “steer” my journey in a  more efficient manner (you may call this agile thinking  approach), understanding how things can change on the fly, and I start taking different courses of action, to ensure that I still meet my objectives. I know that the right lanes aren’t the best in the mornings on my route. The middle lane can get jammed up with people thinking it’s the least used lane. So I drive on the 2nd lane from the right, switching lanes depending on the various “notorious” intersections (safely, and well aware of my surroundings    obviously) and continue my journey. I occasionally glance at my GPS to inform me whether I am on track (Distance left + time to arrive).

Result:

You win some, you lose some. I on the other hand, beat the system on this occasion and arrived 10 minutes early for my meeting.

Key Learnings:

If I had simply followed the one set plan, stuck to my route and followed my usual route (regardless of external influences), I would probably have been late.

In campaign planning and implementation, no matter how solid the direction (plan), prepare for the unexpected, and re-steer the direction as necessary to ensure effectiveness of reaching the objectives.

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Cheers,

DANIEL JACOBS
www.thecreativestrategist.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/

Melbourne, Australia  

Approach your customers like children

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Why you should approach your Customers like children – short attention span, rather than taking a cognitive approach to learning by learning rules, offers, content, they need a behavioural kind of inducement to stimulate a positive desired result.

CASE STUDY

Over the usual family gathering over the weekend, my mother introduced a board game for the kids (mostly for my 6 year old niece, Zara) called – Trouble! After settling down after a lovely lunch, the table was cleared to prepare ourselves for the game at hand.

I then proceeded to “attempt” to calmly & slowly explain the rules and the concept of the game to my niece. However, she has an attention span of a goldfish… She is easily distracted by everything around her and gave me the impression that she was interested to listen, but did not truly want to hear anything. The idea about the game excited her, and she just wanted to get on with the game. The thought process of learning about the game did not excite her and she soon lost interest, and proceeded to interact with the playing pieces, her necklace, touching and feeling the board etc…

At this stage, I almost gave up hope in educating her on the importance of learning, sitting still and paying attention. But then, my brother in-law chimed in and proceeded to just start the game.

To my bemusement, Zara was slowly able to comprehend and grasp the concept of the game by immersing herself in the playing environment, interacting with the other player (her father) and progressively learning along the way.

10 minutes in, and it appeared that she had mastered the art & function of the game that was truly intended to be played, but more importantly enjoyed.

WHAT WAS MY LESSON HERE?

1) Not everyone learns things the same way – one person may be better at listening and reading to learn, whilst others are better at just jumping in and getting “hands on, practical experience”

2) Instead of making assumptions over what is right, or what is wrong, observe your subject (my niece in this instance) and gauge what she wants to do, how she reacts to stimuli provided to her etc…

3) Patience is important to see the desired results, but sometimes you just need to get right into it and go with the flow and see how that goes.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR MARKETERS?

We think that we know what’s best for customers. We shove a large magnitude of information, advertising, promotions and content, trying to cause a positive desired result. Stop trying to change the way they think – instead, engage with them and get them to learn by themselves – guiding them along the way.

Your customers may not know what they want or need, and it is your duty to guide them through the consumer purchase decision making process. It may not necessarily be the path that you have chosen, but as long as the end result is acquired, learn, be agile in your future approaches, and no two customers are the same.

But more than anything, make sure they have some fun along the way.

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Cheers,

DANIEL JACOBS
http://www.thecreativestrategist.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/
Melbourne, Australia

Most Valuable Person / Brand

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How do people get noticed in the office or stand out from the crowd?


There are 2 paths to FAME here:

1) Famous for good things
2) Famous for bad things

Let’s start with Famous for Good:

Your name (brand) gets mentioned a lot (frequency) and more people get to hear your name (reach). Your work and performance has been spoken highly of, and others see the value and output (results). Stakeholders notice the return of their investment (ROI), and you progress in your career based on your return of effort (ROE) – which could come in the form of salary increases and promotions.
Then, in regards to how you are as a person (personality), people like you, and they want to spend more time with you. They couldn’t imagine a meeting or project without you (advocacy).

You’re the MVP that delivers the goods when required.
Your deliverables can be seen throughout the office and people start talking.

Now let’s look at Famous for Bad:

People don’t seem to like you. They don’t see Good Work and people don’t want you on their team. They feel like you say one thing and act in a completely different way (cognitive dissonance). Word spreads throughout the office of the negatives, and bad news travels faster. You’re on the reserve bench (out of sight, out of mind), being the last thing on peoples mind.

It’s tough to turn things around, but it isn’t impossible.

Because, it all starts with you. You have the power to change (transform) others perceptions of you – so what’s stopping you?

Now imagine if you’re a brand. You’ll notice key metrics of measurement and influence within the brackets above.

Wouldn’t you want to be your customers MVP in their life?

Before you point the finger at your marketing team, agencies, customers changing habits – stop and look within first. What can you do differently that will have a positive impact in your customers life?

What are you prepared to do…

Cheers,

DANIEL JACOBS
http://www.thecreativestrategist.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/
Melbourne, Australia

How many Millennials would it take to change a lightbulb? // Truth About the World

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A staggering 84% of 18 to 24-year-olds admit they do not know how to change a light bulb, based on a poll conducted in the UK. 74% of them admit they would rather pay someone else to do it because they would only “muck it up”.

I find this piece of research highly alarming. In this day and age where we have access to information (articles, videos and instructions) on how to do almost anything, how is this even possible?

My best guess is on perceived convenience and fear of the unknown. Time is super important to (most people) , including millennials, where they value time over money. However, this generation has a different mindset from their parents. In my parents generation, these type of essential life skills were passed down (typically), from father to son, almost like a rite of passage into adulthood and a way of bonding.

However, in this day and age, we’re spoilt for choice, and rather than spend time with our parents to learn about these skills – we instead thwart it off, choosing to spend that time with our friends, or lost in the digital world (looking at your Fortnite gamers).

It’s no wonder they call us the “entitled generation”. This isn’t true for many of us within this age bracket (there’s the low’s, mid and high’s – each with different stigmas attached to it), but as an older millennial – I actually have to agree. Why? Because I would also prefer to pay someone else to do these tasks, if it saves me time.
We simply have a different perception of value these days.
In a study commissioned by investment firm Crowdstacker, the research appeared to show the younger age group are less concerned about their finances.
One in 10 millennials would call out an electrician to change a light bulb — rather than save money and do it themselves.
In contrast, 98 per cent of 45 to 54-year-olds would change a bulb and 90 per cent would wire plugs themselves to save money.

Experts say youngsters fail to learn DIY because they live with their parents for too long.


Yes, this has valid points… Especially when we’re finding more millennials finding it harder and harder to move out. High cost of living, slow wage growth and policies making it incredibly hard to afford your own place. This in itself hinders independence. But what happens when we do live with our folks? We take things for granted – and essentially grow up slower. This of course is a generalisation, but let’s face it – if mums still doing your laundry, there’s always food in the pantry and the lights remain on, why should we care? It’s their responsibility, not ours right?

We take things for granted until our environment changes, forcing us to take notice and actually have to do something about it.

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All it takes is 1 millennial to post about their experience of changing a lightbulb to create a new movement (or rekindle an old one).

Cheers,

DANIEL JACOBS
http://www.thecreativestrategist.com.au
https://www.linkedin.com/in/denialjacobs/
Melbourne, Australia