Marketing in the facebook era

Last week has been quite tough. I have been out for an exhibition almost the whole week and that has been exhausting.
I don't know if this is common to everybody but when I am too tired I cannot sleep.
Or, better, I find harder to fall asleep. Instead of counting the sheeps though I looked at Linkedin and Facebook and I realized that more and more people are using them as real advertisement platforms.

Have you realized how many Facebook or Linkedin posts are published in your profile everyday? How many of them have you read?
Is it a good way to promote something?

The more I see the markets developing the more I am convinced that the ONLY way is to base your company strategy on two pillars:

-Strategy is about being different.
-People don't know what they want. They will only ask for a quicker, cheaper, bigger product like the one you have or your competitor has. And do not ask the "so called experts"... they are clueless as well.

The key marketing activity for this kind of strategy is to find the 15% of innovators, normally well hidden among the other 85% of potential customers, and start trying to create the "Penny drop" moment. With all the problems and hurdles typical of such a "spread the gospel" activity.
The worst one is called Confirmation Bias.
Confirmation bias tends not to favour info that are too different from the standard behavior. You must then follow the golden rules of the old Rethoric that was well mastered by Aristotle. Reach the goal trough known milestones. Like reaching the other side of the river stepping on small stones.

When I start talking about these things I usually say that it is like people are holding you by the ankles. Don't worry, it's hard at the beginning but then you get used to that.

This is a quite selective and bespoke activity though.
How can you manage this with a massified communication like the one that is currently in internet?

How can you do that with internet that
- touch plenty of people that you can only partly select
- for very little time
- valid only if you promote business as usual

What does it mean?
Contents are diluted. They must be suitable for everybody so.. Good for none. You must remember that people of different cultures, ideas and experiences will read.
So it must be as neutral as possible.
In a world... Either you talk about something well known to everybody or you will loose the main benefit of this massified message. Touching quickly a big mass of people.

I grew then up a firm belief.

Differentiating messages cannot go through massification media. It would be like making meatballs with kobe beef.

Now I have a question for you. Do you see any chance to use internet for differentiation messages?

Today I will leave you with another TED Talks video. It's Guy Kawasaki, great man that worked with Apple and helped them developing the MAC.

Have a nice week

3 simple suggestions

After 1999 Oscar Prize won by Roberto Benigni "Life is Beautiful" (La vita è Bella), Italy won another one this year.
"The great Beauty" (La grande bellezza) managed to bring back the little golden Oscar after 15 years. In reality I am not a big Cinema fan. The last movies I watched were cartoons and I was obliged to go with my children but there's always a certain "Italian pride" when we win something regardless is a Football word championship or a friendly Curling match against Samoa Island (That, for obvious reasons, I hope we will win...).

But having a look a the two titles I think there must be a reason if in both cases the word "Beauty" is mentioned.
A movie coming from the "Bel Paese" the Beautiful Country as old poets used to call Italy winning the Oscar Prize must talk about Beauty. In whichever sense you can mean it.
Beauty of the place
Beauty of the arts
Beauty of the design
Beauty of the people
Even an ironic and often cynical showman like Jeremy Clarkson (I like him a lot though), always considered our cars and our places as among the best in the world.

I had already posted this link but I want to do it again... I am always touched when I see it.

So, being surrounded by all this Beauty, that is the normal environment for us make us losing the real importance of it.
The RESPONSIBILITY we have to preserve this and, possibly to improve it (see also my post People always get used to beauty though). This is a real responsibility, both for the country but also for the world as Italy has got the highest number of UNESCO world heritage sites.
That's part of the legacy, part of our DNA and culture that cannot be taken away unless we REALLY WANT TO.
It's our treasure that we are not fully exploiting, that we are even spoiling and ruining.

But we often do not realize that we have this incredible treasure and opportunity. We always look outside forgetting our beauty and not looking after this. "Bel Paese" is often used in ironic sense and used as an excuse to destroy everything.
STOP! Breath deeply and start looking around. Start looking outside and, with a clear and open mind, try to be objective.

THEN....
Time for the 3 points i would like to give to our colleagues managing our tourism to implement to try and go back to "beauty". It may look too simplistic but I am convinced that we should start from simple ideas and develop them.

1) COMMUNICATE!

I find incredible that in today's world, people cannot communicate in English. English has undoubtedly become THE LANGUAGE and not being able to communicate will simply cut you out of everything. If you do not tell people you exist, people will not know. And, most of all, nobody will listen to you. Everybody in Italy MUST learn English and be able to communicate.
This BLOG is the proof that, if you think you have something to say, you will find someone ready to listen.
Communication is making guest's life simple. Nobody wants to go where their life will be difficult.

2) PREPARE YOURSELF

It's like when you are dated, you must be prepared to always look GOOD and TIDY. We must have a plan to keep our treasures ok and always ready to be visited and appreciated.
Sad to say that, if we do not have the funds to do this (and I cannot really believe we do not have funds to look after what's extremely important for our country) we have to choose what MUST be looked after. It is better to have something great that everything bad.
Show people how to do things, where to do things and guide them. You are dating someone and nobody wants to end the story after the first date.

3) BE KIND WITH PEOPLE AND UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCES

Why people come here? Because they like Italy, a place that is DIFFERENT from where they live. The difference is the reason why they are here and if there was no difference they would simply stay home.
Difference is an opportunity, not a burden to be carried and pointed out every time you see things you do not understand. Listen and learn, you will be a better man afterwards.

Then you will be ready for that...

A presto
Have a nice week end 

The little Chemist

It's spring!
Finally the temperature is going better and the days, after a very long wet period, are starting being more pleasant.
The garden is then the natural place to spend the day. The first two days though are used to bring it back to a "proper shape". It's not only cutting the grass but trying to get rid of all the things that were put outside during winter (you do not wish to go out in winter at out temperatures).

In doing this you suddenly realize the real essence of our economy today...

We got rid of an entire big bag of games that, I am sure, my children used veeeery little. Then suddenly this video came to my mind.

99% of the things that are moved around the US is TRASHED AFTER 6 MONTHS!!!
I do not think Europe is so different.

But why is this happening? Is it just a question of buying useless things?

I am sure that whoever has got children agrees that they much more than what they can enjoy. They are simply getting more than what they really need.

This comes from a "natural" reason.
Two of the chemicals that are responsible for the "feelings", the Seratonine and the Oxitocine, are generated by growing the sense of "relationship" and "feeling of love and trust".
In reality these are chemicals that we have since thousand years and their main target was to keep us alive favoring the "sense of belonging to a group" and making the group healthy i.e. having always food and protecting themselves from dangers.
And today it is artificially generated. One of the ways is to give presents, to give something regardless is needed.
It is somehow like the famous quote of the movie "The Devil's Advocate" where Al Pacino, describing love, was saying "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate."
So today we are BIOCHEMICALLY simulating a atavic behavior giving presents 99% of which are thrown in a bin in 6 months.
And in our environment, this is even more required as the Fantastic 4 chemicals (Endorphins, Dopamine, Seratonine and Oxitocine) are always fighting against...

CORTISOL that is generated by the stress and anxiety

The original function of Cortisol was in reality to raise our attention and pump sugars in our muscles either to fight or to run.
Good if you are in a forest some thousand of years ago.
Good if it happens once every now and then.
Not good if stress is continuous.

So, among the usual bad feelings, the usual sleepless nights, the usual problems that stress is generating we are also trying to generate some "good chemicals" to fight it by doing the WRONG THINGS.

And we go back to the usual point.

Life is simple. It's just about doing what you REALLY like with the people you REALLY like. Doing it well and enjoy it. But most of all, do good things for people that is around you at work and at home. Create a sense of safety and trust.

Do not try to artificially feel well. It's not working on the long run and does not help yourself.

Music is also a good way to grow one of the Fantastic 4.
That's my favorite song (and also my children's) these days .

Enjoy
Have a great week

Everybody's got a weapon of choice

Quigley down under

I don't know how many of you have ever seen that movie.

It is some years old and tells the story of Matthew Quigley (Tom Selleck), a cowboy and sharpshooter from America with a keen eye and a specially modified rifle with which he can shoot accurately at extraordinary distances. Quigley's weapon of choice is a customized 1874 Sharps Buffalo Rifle. He answers a newspaper advertisement that asks for men with a special talent in long-distance shooting with four words, "M. Quigley 900 yards," written on a copy of the advertisement, punctuated by several closely spaced bullet holes.

Once he moved to Australia, he grew his reputation (and his problems) thanks to his rifle.

And this is one of the main scene when the villain, Marston, who has noticed that Quigley only ever carries a rifle, decides to give him a lesson in the "quick-draw" style of gunfighting.

"I said I never had much use for one. Never said I didn't know how to use it."

Although it is true that you cannot be everthing for everybody you cannot forget the "business as usual", the gunfight for a cowboy, and keep well alive what generates the most of your business. 

But the only way to develop is to understand who you want to be. And the decision has to come both from listening but most of all from the ideas and your DNA.

The importance of listening is clear as well as the importance of implementing the signs you get from the market.

But this will not ensure you the development. You will be another one using the gun. Maybe a good one, maybe one of the best but still, one of the big group.

Unless you are very lucky, from the market you will be getting info about products as usual, i.e. what is available on the market with some minimal changes.

Everybody knows that, these kind of things only give you benefit on the short term. 

Great to keep your bread and butter alive. But not great to really differentiate on the market.

We should learn to listen and drive the discussion on a high level never entering into the specific points because, once you are drilling down too much you will simply look at the details. 

Looking at the reason why on that specific case you could not succeed. 

Looking at what was missing productwise or servicewise typical of a "me too" approach. 

And it is hard to change the world looking at the details and having a "me too" approach.

Giant steps forward will be made changing things because in today's market everybody's gaining access to everything. The old tactic of opening new market is today less and less winning as the new markets to sell the "usual things" are less and less.

So...

-To change things you cannot (only) listen to your customers although this will ensure you the day by day business.

-Knowing the process is the only way to dramatically change things. So, again, expertise, skills and some degree of risk are necessary.

-Ideas are ultimately worthless unless you activate them with focused and consistent actions

-Be the best on somehting and make people knowing you for that.

-Do not forget bread and butter. You may need that sooner or later.

Have a nice week