Whether you recognize it or not YOU are mired in technology.

When deciding to market in the digital space, namely web and mobile, most clients are Mired in technology, mostly buzzwords that they hear from the mass populous of experts, which seems to be everyone with a phone these days. Terms like Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, responsive, adaptive, UX/UI, etc.

Your business, your service, your offering ..... whatever it is you need to tell the world about, has you caught in the chickenwire of these technologies and causing you to ignore some basic truths. I will attempt here to expound on those truths.

1. HUMANS ARE YOUR AUDIENCE

It is humans that are buying your product, coming to your location, hiring your service and ultimately interfacing with your marketing and communications ..... that is to say your business ...... to BUY, HIRE or VISIT. Not robots. As such you need to place the Human Interaction at the top of your list, not the choice of Content management, unless that choice affects the Human Interaction. Most visitors won't know and don't care if your site is delivered via Wordpress, Data deiivered or plain 'ole HTML. They are seeking your product and desire to set their perspective on what you are offering and whether they want it and that is simply not derived from your choice of content delivery method. Basic desire for what you offer is derived from good branding efforts.

2. HUMANS RESPOND TO USER EXPERIENCE NOT CMS

People respond to a branded strategic approach that defines you and their needs and offers a chance for them to gain perspective on YOUR PRODUCT....... not whether you are offering your content within Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, Etc. Their opinion only matters regarding User Experience at the experience level, defined brand, clear communication, good layout of content, not the technology that went into your website...... until it pertains to ease of use or mobile experience, otherwise they really don't care. Again, the experience is not based on the technology but how it is designed to interact with your audience no matter what delivery method. 

3. SHOPPING CARTS DON'T BRAND

Branding Brands, Copy Brands, Design Brands, Creative Brands, these are the workhorses of your communications. So don't put the cart before the horse, no pun intended. Shopping carts are for ordering not selling and by itself rarely for communicating beyond specs as it is a device for taking orders. They work for as a standalone for some businesses, but for most others you must create branding, strategy and communications that tell your story, brand your offering and let people like and remember you. If they like you and remember you they usually buy again. That's a cool thing.

4. YOUR LOSING FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS

Focus on your business, for the Love of everything Holy, focus on your business, hire someone to do the heavy lifting so you don't end up with one of those "I tried over and over and kept failing" stories. If you take the advice of your golf buddy and go off on this crusade to setup a CMS system and populate it your self you will find out how hard it is and probably not want to do it. If you take on the decision that you have to be the one to do it because you can not afford to pay anyone else to, you will find yourself driving on the road of good intentions and we all know where that leads.

5. TAKE SOME TIME TO CREATE YOUR STORY OR STRATEGY

Strong Branding and focused communications don't happen overnight. Marketing is identifying the people who are going to buy your product and communicating to them in such a way that the product sells itself. Hire somebody who will help you brand your product, humanize your offering, communicate what you do and ultimately market in the way that a message will be sent to the people that want what you offer, that they will continue to surf your site, read your brochure, watch your video and convert to a client.

Yeah well cocktail napkin doodles and thoughts could sometimes rule the world as they seem to be existent in every meeting of the minds.......... but this one thought has moved in my mind for a long time and one day in Manhattan a colleague and I began to rant and this question was the result of that rant.

I'm not sure if he said it this way or if I said it this way, but like in most thought processes or preparation for presentation we boil things in Marketing especially down to one statement that leaves a lasting impression ............ this one is powerful!

Bottom Line?

 "If Marketing and Communicating your Business is not part of your Business Process ..... your Business Process will eventually fail!"

We add Accounting to our process in business, we add lunch meetings with clients, we have inter office meetings, we have Christmas parties, we have insurance, we take sick days, we deal with logistics, we buy hardware and software, but when it comes to Marketing and Communicating what our businesses do, we simply fall short.

Do you? Call me, we can have coffee and doodle on some napkins.

I left the house, late, to go check out a Birthday Venue for my sons birthday. I did not have time to do this, but they are extremely important to me and as I am the one who messed up their birthday parties last year I was looking to make amends.

I felt I was on a bit of a roll lately as I had just recently received atonment for my bad cooking of Hot Dogs at last years House Building/Fund Raiser for our youth group. Each time I thought of a friend telling the story of how his son bought the hot dog lunch that day, opened the bag and the Hot Dog was as black as tarmac, I cringe and laugh, but mostly cringe. needless to say I did a much better job this year and the Hot Dogs were good, real good....well about as good as a Hot Dog can be I suppose.

I digress, but being that I had found redemption on the grill and at the church I thought I could maybe find some with my son's and their impending party. Although they had not even once held it against me, an excellent virtue they posses as long as you don't remind them or even give them too many details, I was the one suffering. So I left to go see the venue that we considered to have their party at. I was already informed by my wife that we were late and probably would not get back to receive our kids from the Bus in time, which would lead to all sorts of diastrous regret I am sure. Now full of angst and torment as I proceed to the venue, I wondered why I was having to go to this place anyway, "Was this really necessary to make amends and have a great party planned for my kids?". I did not have to go to the Hot Dog factory to know that I was going to cook good hot dogs that day, did I? No!

Apples and Oranges, I know, but stick with me, my point is coming.

So with that I turned around, pulled back into the garage and went back to work. The thought that really made me add this Blog entry was this..........."If the venue/business had actually taken the time to build good marketing materials, which means hiring someone to do the job right, I would not be in this momentary predicament. How you ask?

Well........... it is really quite simple. If they built Marketing from the standpoint of informing the consumer Visually and Informationally, I would know all I needed to know, have seen dozens of images or at least a few really good ones, and I would have already qualified the venue as worthy of my redeeming desires to make my kids happy, I would have called and reserved the spot for that day, would not need to drive down there, waste energy and time and all would be good.

But no! They did not resolve to do good marketing, their images really hold no water as to whether the place is good or not and actually makes me feel like they are hiding something. All the while wanting to charge hundreds of dollars to allow some kids to come there...............and I am not sure of what they would even do there.

Please, please, please........ Give your potential clinets a reason to use your services and I promise they will. Illustrate to them that what you offer is GOOD. Don't make them wonder, or go somewhere else, show them the goods and they will show up. Think about what they might want to see and fill in the gaps.

This is GOOD MARKETING...........now to finish my long awaited website! Off I go. ha ha

I still LOVE this commercial. The blend of media.....animation, music, design, color, motion and BRANDING. Strong visuals create a way to draw viewers in and give them as much of a view of the brand as possible. In this short spot they show a multitude of abilities and offerings of the PSP 3000, Gaming, Video, Internet, Chatting, Music, Photos, Movies, connecting with other users and more........All in an interesting, infectious commercial spot. Watch it again and smile. 

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better. I will add more to this soon.....

From a marketing perspective or from any perspective, for that matter, Everything is a Presentation. First introductions, business meetings, a first date, a car sale, a sermon, you name it, there is not much that is not a presentation of some sort in our highly visual, fast paced world. To that end, are you presenting well?