Five Things I've Been Up To (A 15-Years-Later Check-In)

So. It's been a minute.

The last time I posted here, I was recapping a mobile conference in Chicago, marveling at Foursquare check-ins, and had just crossed 40,000 tweets. Location Based Marketing for Dummies was fresh off the press. The iPhone was four years old. If you'd told me it would be fifteen years before my next post, I'm not sure I would've believed you — and I definitely wouldn't have guessed everything that would happen in between.

I've thought about dusting off this blog more times than I can count. Today I finally am. Rather than pretend the gap didn't happen, I figured the honest thing to do is catch you up. So here are five of the biggest things I've been up to since I last hit "publish."

1. I helped build something I'm really proud of at Real Chemistry.

For roughly fourteen years, I got to help grow the firm formerly known as W2O from a scrappy boutique into a genuine industry leader, eventually serving as its CMO. It's rare to get a front-row seat to that kind of arc, and rarer still to spend it alongside people you'd run through a wall for. Jim Weiss, who founded and chaired the company, became a mentor and a friend — so much so that he ended up writing the foreword to my book (more on that in a second). Fourteen years teaches you a lot. Mostly it taught me that the work is never really about the tech; it's about the humans doing it.

2. I started building on my own.

These days I run Aardwolf LLC, my own consultancy focusing on fractional CMO work for digital health clients and other healthcare-focused agencies. Going from "the guy with the corner office at a big firm" to "the guy figuring it out from scratch again" has been humbling in
the best way. There's nothing like starting something new to remind you what you actually know — and what you were just borrowing from the logo on your business card.

3. I wrote a book I actually believe in.

Wired for Purpose: Why Humanity Is the Biggest Differentiator in a Digital World is the thing I've poured the most of myself into. The premise is simple and, I'd argue, more urgent every day: in a world racing to automate everything, the most valuable thing you can be is unmistakably human. It's built around a few ideas close to my heart — the Connector's Code, the Gratitude Engine, rational optimism, and what I call the three H's: humility, humanity, and hope. If the old *Citizen Marketer* had a grown-up thesis, this is it.

4. I became a creator — and rediscovered how much I love a good conversation.

I host the Reaching Higher Podcast, where I've had the absurd privilege of sitting down with everyone from Al Roker to founders, doctors, chefs, athletes, and musicians. I write a LinkedIn newsletter called The Connector's Code, including a series spotlighting interesting people I think you should know. And I've kept getting to stand on stages I never imagined — SXSW, CES, and, coming up this fall, a keynote at the Automotive AI Summit. Podcasting in particular taught me something I wrote a whole chapter about: how to actually listen. Turns out I had a lot of practice to do.

5. I started giving more of my time away.

Some of the most meaningful work of the last fifteen years hasn't paid a dime. I serve on the boards of the Tigerlily Foundation and Hiking My Feelings, and as a Bay Area advisory member for the
Kelly Brush Foundation. These organizations — supporting young women facing breast cancer, mental wellness through the outdoors, and people living with paralysis — have given me far more than I've given them. If midlife has a gift, it's the clarity about where your time is best spent.

That's the short version of a long stretch. Kids grew up, a company grew up, and I'd like to think I did a little of that too. I don't know exactly what this blog becomes from here, but I know I've missed it. Consider this me pulling up a chair again.

2 Minute Recap from Bricks & Mobile 2011 Conference

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to speak at a conference called Bricks + Mobile up in Chicago. The focus of the conference was the state of mobile technology, how companies are tapping into the power of the untethered device and where all of this goodness is headed.



Thanks to Kelly Stickel (the conference producer) and Tim Hayden (our panel moderator) for inviting me!

p.s. If you didn't see it, I wrote a blog post framing some of the topics we covered during our panel at B+M.

How to Earn a Customer's Loyalty

Sunday night, I was flying up to Boston from Austin on US Airways. Not my favorite airline by a longshot but they are reasonably priced and my last few experiences with them have been decent. Anyway, they had wifi on my leg from Charlotte, NC (one of their major hubs) up to Boston. Because it was only an hour and a half, I decided not to pay for the wifi. However, GoGoInflight is running a special right now where they are giving away free Twitter access during April.

As we got closer to Boston I started wondering how close to on time my midnight arrival would be. Given the fact that my Twitter friends are usually up all hours of the night and always very helpful, I thought I'd ask if they might be able to look up my flight status. Of course, I was right and I immediately got several helpful responses. But it was one person in particular -- an employee at a competing airline -- who was kind enough to look for me that really impressed me.

So why was I so enamored with this occurrence? Because with nothing to gain, this person went above and beyond to give me information I needed, when I needed it. If more companies took this approach, there is no doubt in my mind that businesses would win over a lot of new customers. At the end of the day, being helpful is always appreciated, especially when there is no apparent ulterior motive.

Have you ever had this happen to you? If so, share your story in the comments.

Social Media is Better for Experiential Products

Paul Mabray is the chief strategy officer for the wine industry digital think tank, Vintank. Paul is a 17 year veteran in the wine industry and is a regular speaker and blogger.

The race is on.  Everyone is endeavoring to decipher the Rosetta Stone that is Social Media.  Unfortunately, by definition the medium is multi-dimensional and the real applications of social media range from customer support & communication, content distribution, sales, marketing, PR, business intelligence and well beyond.  With all these facets to consider, is it any wonder that there is no silver bullet?

However, a certain segment of industries are positioned to be better served by this medium.  Experiential products clearly stand to benefit more from social media.

Why?  Because social media is fundamentally a channel for sharing and it is inherently human nature to share our experiences.  How many people really enjoy talking about soap? Pencils?  Dishwashers?  Of course, there is dialogue about these types of  products (most of them relate to the buying experience or the quality, or lack thereof,  about the product)  Yes, it is possible to create campaigns to artificially stimulate dialogue about a brand or product.  However, the interaction that occur as a result of natural engagement are more relevant, meaningful, and enduring.  In essence, industries that offer meaningful experiences like wine, food, restaurants, travel, software, and entertainment are natural conduits for conversations that occur on the web.  People enjoy sharing their personal stories and experiences related to these products.  They are vocal and they are prolific. For example, the wine industry and the specialized site Cellartracker.com.  With 140K users this single site has generated 1.8 million conversations about wine.  In fact, in 2010 social media sites generated over 13 million conversations about wine by 3 million online profiles.  KAPOW!

A recent article citing research from IBM suggests that SM consumers do not want intimate relationships with Brands.  This report states that they are primarily looking for tangible benefits from a relationship (discounts, commerce) and they rank “feeling connected” and “part of the community” far lower.  This is not unexpected for traditional retail and non- experiential products.  Do we really want to feel part of the Best Buy community?  Is it important for us to feel part of the Amazon tribe?  How deeply do we really want to be related to Skittles?

Experiential products allow us to feel emotionally attached and we DO want to be “connected” to these brands--- and as a result we are more passionate and vocal about them.  Whether it is a restaurant that has created a memorable experience, a wine that we love, a rock band, a movie, video game, or even a software platform (that’s why companies have dedicated UEX departments) we DO crave more of a relationship with those products.  Equally as important, there is always a very active “prosumer” base that evangelizes and helps spread the message to more and more potential consumers.  These voices are the true influencers in the ecosphere that prostelyze for the brand allowing these brands to be “discovered” via social media through sharing, commenting in forums, “Liking”, and retweeting.  They are also prolific about creating content and messages to help influence potential new customers buying decisions. 

Need proof ? Just look at a company that transcends product and focuses on experience:  Apple.  How many blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts do you see about their products?  

Want other examples? 

Check out the volume of comments and user generated content for the game BioShock

Or the  number of Tweets about Lady GaGa.

Or the activity on the Fan Page of the TV show The Walking Dead.

Or real experiences being shared on the Fan Page of Morton’s Steak House.

What is most relevant is the natural phenomenon that inspires people to want to authentically share stories about brands and products. There is no need for clever marketing campaigns, to create gimmicks to get your consumers to engage in your community, and no need to create contests to stimulate conversations.

Why is this important?  The major transcendence of social media is how, who and where we get our information.  My good friend Doug Cook (founder of Ablegrape.com and former director of search for Twitter) has an amazing saying, "search is the fiber that connects the web." He is absolutely correct.  There is nothing you can't find on the web if you know what you are looking for.  Whether it is the most obscure book or replacement part for your 1972 dishwasher, search engines can help you find anything. What search cannot help you do is discover.  That is the role of Social Media.  Seeing authentic (not artificially induced) comments (positive or negative) about brands from people we trust encourages us to explore.  With non-experiential products, brands are almost forced to create gimmicks, marketing campaigns, or contests to stimulate conversation or engagement.  With experiential products, this occurs naturally, without artificial stimulation, and authentically from within our own out networks.  Social media is the human fiber for sharing and discovery. 

The question is, no matter what kind of product you have, are you making it experiential? 

Onboarding and Engaging with Location Based Services

Next Wednesday, I'm speaking at a very cool event in Chicago called the Bricks + Mobile Conference. If you're in the area, you should absolutely plan to attend (I may even be able to finagle you a discount). I mention this because I'm on a panel with some very smart people including:

• Tim Hayden, CMO 44Doors (moderator)
• Adam Beaugh, Director of Social Media, Jackson Family Wines
• David Javitch, VP of Marketing, Scanlife
• Jessica Rotnicki-Magaro, Vice President Ecommerce North America, Estee Lauder Companies

The reason I got asked to be on the panel (I think) is that I am now the head of location based marketing at global agency, WCG and am also co-authoring a book called Location Based Marketing for Dummies. In the book, my co-author, Mike Schneider, and I are focusing on how businesses -- large and small -- are tapping into the power of location based marketing. This starts with goals and offers and ends with platforms, measurement and analytics.

One of the main things that Mike and I are focusing on in the book is how businesses can derive real business value by engaging with their customers using location based services. To that end, loyalty is a major outcome that many of the companies like McDonalds, Neiman Marcus and USA Today are seeking as they engage using platforms like foursquare, SCVNGR and Whrrl.

But before companies get to loyalty through regular (hopefully fun and/or educational) interactions with their customers, is there role that location based services can play when it comes to on-boarding and engaging their customers? Of course there is.

For starters, any company that is engaging in location based marketing should consider offers that are not only universal (mayor offers are somewhat overrated), but also that encourage initial and then repeat behavior. There is a local coffeeshop/theater here in Austin, TX called the Hideout that does a nice job on this front. Their offer gives you a 2 for 1 ticket to the theater on your 1st, 5th and 10th checkins (and free admission for the mayor). This provides immediate value the first time you checkin but also keeps you checking in (and ideally coming back) to continue to get your discount.

Where the Hideout (and many other companies fall down) is not letting their customers who aren't using location base services that there is an offer. Why not have a poster up on the wall, a sign on the front door and a trained barista that asks you if you've checked in? Creating a compelling offer and then letting your customers know about it is key.

Another thought when it comes to on-boarding is what if you could check into your new television? Or laptop? Or box of Cheerios? And what if when you checked in you got special instructions (plus a reward)? Well, there are services that are starting to provide this type of functionality like GetGlue. And as of two days ago, GetGlue just announced a partnership with Lionsgate offering 40% off the Blueray DVD set of AMC's popular tv show, Madmen. While this partnership doesn't do much by way of "on-boarding," they are creating fun, excitement and engagement with Madmen fans.

Is your company using location based marketing to on-board, engage and create loyalty with your customers? If so, post about it in the comments section below.