Are you starting with the experience and working back to the product?

The following quotes are from Richard Florida’s analysis of the current worldwide economic situation – The Great Reset. This is a fantastic book that dovetails with a lot of the things I’ve been seeing on the Web, in markets, and in other books (like Seth Godin books, Michael Lewis’ The Big Short, Daniel Suarez’ Daemon and Freedom, and others).

“People will always define themselves through their consumption habits. There will always and inevitably be some element of competitiveness in our consumption that will never die, even if the rules change. .

“If, before, people trumpeted their financial success through their purchases, there’s no reason to think they won’t continue to show off what righteous and evolved new “citizen-consumers” they’ve become..

“As long as people have been trading money or goods and services, they’ve been demonstrating their unfailing ability to fall for a clever marketing pitch, and marketers know a good thing when they see it. .

“Witness The Gap’s ‘Buy Red, Save Lives’ campaign or a company like Endangered Species Chocolate, which are still designed to get people to buy things they almost certainly don’t need but that now play to their newfound identity as responsible citizens of the planet..

“We might not like to admit this about ourselves, but it isn’t so much material goods themselves that drive our consumption as the perceived status we assign to them. Largely, our material possessions and our perceived status are one and the same thing, but only up to a point.”

“A decade ago, John Seabrook identified a shift away from older forms of conspicuous consumption to new and subtler status distinctions…

“Green products have become the ultimate status goods. People buying hybrid cars are more driven by the status they confer than the fuel savings and energy efficiency they provide. Toyota Prius owners pay a significant premium over many conventional fuel-efficient cars. .

“When asked about the top motivating factors behind their purchase, the comment “makes a statement about me” was at the top of the list, while “higher fuel economy” came in third and “lower emissions” fifth, according to a July 2007 survey reported in the New York Times. (That’s probably something we should have intuited. After all, the carmakers figured out long ago that the rush to buy SUVs had less to do with safety or carrying capacity or durability than with buyers’ perception that driving an SUV conveyed an image of youth, ruggedness, and adventure.)”

Ok – I just laid a lot of quotes on you.  Here are my thoughts.

Following this same line of thinking, the new consumer is more interested in buying experiences rather than purchasing products.  This is in keeping with the consumption lifestyle trend. You are what you do more than what you are what you have.

So, what does this mean for marketers?

For one thing, that means you have to pay close attention to emotional drivers – which you should have been doing in the first place.

Either way the emotion drives the purchase.  If you buy a fancy car, you’re expressing an emotional need.

But if you go deeper into this, you need to find the motivations and pair those with the experiences.  I think this new trend toward experience as marketing or the consumer being more interested in experiences is important because really that’s all that was happening earlier, as well.

A product was purchased because of the experience it generated.  It didn’t matter that it was a physical object or nonphysical object.  A massage can produce a feeling.  A cookie can produce a feeling.  A toy can produce a feeling.

So you have to work back from the feeling of the customer to the reality of the product.  Does the product satisfy the emotional driver?  Does the products solve the pain the issue, the itch, the disturbance?

It’s also useful to pay attention to the general trend where marketers pair altruistic or idealistic/emotional causes with physical products or physical experiences or events.

What are you doing to ensure that your marketing messages are working back from the emotion to the product?  Do you have processes in place to ensure that your clients or customers are thinking about these kinds of drivers? . . whether they’re experiential drivers, lifestyle positioning, or product add-ons for specific causes, charities, or events.

Please comment below. I would love to hear from you.

A lot of people use mind mapping software these days to gather their thoughts and start creative projects. This applies to many different creatives, including software developers, writers, producers, screenwriters, marketing teams, executives. . lots of different people and applications.

You can storyboard scripts with these tools, outline PowerPoint and Keynote presentations, conceptualize products, delineate workflow processes and much more.

I’ve used several mind mapping programs – freeware mostly. The most recent one I used was called Compendium. It was good, but it was pretty complex. With most of them, you’ll find them overly-complex. Compendium was nice, but I’ve found something better.

It’s called Popplet. This one is different, because it’s a Web application that has all the features I need in one package. The mind maps I make are shareable and “social,” so I can show people all my thoughts and even collaborate them without any local client program. They don’t need to install anything, and I don’t. It’s all Web based.

As far as I can tell, Popplet is pretty new. The app allows you to intuitively create detailed, flexible mind maps with just a few mouse. You can easily share these maps with others. You can easily collaborate with others to manipulate that maps in real time.

The product is a godsend for anyone involved in creative planning, software development, workflow, organized analysis of any kind. I made a quick video that shows you how easy it is to make a Popplet and how easy it is to share one. You can see that the below.

Take a look and please comment if you’ve tried and like Popplet. . or if you have any questions about this cool little app. Thanks.

Aside: The app is beta right now, however, I had no trouble getting an invitation. That may change as Popplet becomes more popular.

We had Friday pizza day yesterday at the office, and a totally remarkable situation arose.

Stephanie, who was ordering the pizza and salads, asked,”Do you eat anything? Or do you have things you can’t eat?”

The rest of us – two dudes – said no, we were cool with anything she might order. Truly remarkable!

Now, I understand that lots of people have legitimate food allergies. That’s not what I’m addressing here.

I started to wonder if all the crazy food marketing of the past few decades has been teaching us to be overly-selective, finicky, obnoxious, high maintenance eaters.

Think about it. Never before have we been subjected to some much information and marketing on food packages. Heck, even vegetables are now packaged in plastic and cardboard that are oozing with subtle and not so subtle messages. Stickers are everywhere, too.

Check out your local Target when you get a chance. They’re getting into the food biz in a big way, and they’re selling produce that’s entirely pre-packaged.

Interesting stuff, ay?

What do you think? Are we training ourselves to be annoying?

Trade show season is headed your way. Hungry sales, marketing, biz dev and product enthusiasts will soon be heading to convention centers everywhere to try to “move the needle” in this gooey economy.

So how can you stand out? How can you put on a more remarkable presentation and turn heads? Here are my 11 thoughts:

1. Adjust and edit your marketing documents with the show’s context in mind. Companies, speakers and marketing materials that are relevant in context are much more compelling than boilerplate, “we use these at every show” materials. With today’s POD and rapid-PDF layout capabilities, you have no excuse for not revising content for specific events. The best way to stand out in a crowd is to be immediately relevant in context. If you do this one thing, you’ll sucker punch your competition before the show even begins.
2. Infuse your communications with authenticity and the company’s personality. We’ve all been discussing the dilemma of marketing and advertising “noise” for quite some time now. Trade shows tend to produce even more noise. How do you cut through the chaos? Be relevant in context (like #1 above), and use your company’s purpose, vision, personality and authentic positioning to stand out. Aim high and try to be that booth that the journalists and bloggers are buzzing about because the personalities, communication pieces, and vibe are irresistible. You can do this without looking stupid. You can do this by focusing on your solutions and getting excited about them. It’s a matter of digging deep into the real value of your company and products/services. You can do it.
3. Focus on the audience. Now is the time to start surveying show attendees. If you’re 2, 3 or 4 months away from the show, you need to start asking what their expectations, fears, pains, dreams, and desires are about the particular event. Why are them coming? What would be a great experience? What do they want to learn? Which kinds of keynotes do they hate? What are their all time favorite presentations? Gather information like this and you can position for a much better show experience. You’ll also have specific topics to discuss with real people at the show.
4. Edit with one-to-one or one-to-many in mind. A lot of marketing folks debate 2nd person and 1st person writing perspectives. To me, it’s simple. If you’re editing a trade show script, you need to pay attention to group dynamics and position your ideas with the multitude experience in mind. You can include one-on-one interactions in the presentation, but, for the most part, your conversation is with the collective audience. A white paper or special report requires a different positioning. Here’s where you want to speak directly to the reader. Address them directly and use “you” often. They are in a silent conversation with you, so your best bet is to be conversational.
5. Educate. Give to get. Then give some more. When you connect with prospects on their terms, in their worlds, with stories and cast studies that are relevant to their experiences, you stand out. You also build trust before any selling process begins. They can raise their hand on their own when they’re ready to discuss specific products and solutions. In the mean time, hang back and educate. Be soft like water.
6. Be more creative. Are you giving out thumb drives? T-shirts? Are they boring? How can you make them more interesting and creative? Are you allowed to be provocative? Think about who’s coming by your booth. What devices do they carry, and how could you interact with them in more original ways? My thoughts are just forming here, but I’ve got some ideas that include Google Goggles, Google Maps and your post show parties and events. . How about integrating a FourSquare, Facebook Places, or Gowalla activity that showcases your company? How about using the bar-code scanner app (Android or iPhone) to show prospects the super secret locale of your executive private round table and whiskey tasting event? Get creative now.. and hurry.
7. Take away more in order to show more. Go through all your brochures, presentations and hand outs with an eye for elimination. Take away excessive words, extraneous concepts and fluff. You’ll end up showing more of what makes you good. Try making your short pieces about only one thing. Try making your longer presentations and white papers about a maximum of three concepts. These two strategies are so valuable. Give em a shot.
8. Include frequent calls to action (CTAs). Have you ever seen a knock-out presentation that fails to provide a final, compelling CTA? It sucks. People fidget in their seats wondering what they should do next. Give them something fun, interesting, or important to do – immediately – and they’ll thank you for it.
9. Focus on your 3 most important “touchpoints.” Where are you hitting attendees first? With a personal, one-to-one handshake? With a hand out on a street corner? With a keynote? With a product demo? Figure out the first three places most people will encounter your company and make sure these are spectacular experiences. First impressions are everything, right?
10. Make your materials social. Community matters now more than ever. It provides that “stickiness” needed to get people buzzing about your solutions and engaging with your story. When you socialize your marketing materials (which include speaking events, casual gatherings and hard collateral) you give yourself a chance to be viral. If you do it well, you can create a buzz storm.
11. Perform an outside document and script review audit with a qualified technology marketing specialist. “Another pair of eyes” is always a good idea. When you present your materials to outsiders before the show starts, you can gain priceless insights. If I understand your industry and solutions to a reasonable degree, there’s a chance I can help (email me or call 949-244-9440).  If not, I can direct you to someone who knows your particular niche. I’ve been writing in-depth content for software, hardware, telecom and enterprise solution providers for the past 15 years. And I have an extensive network of techie marketers.

Thanks for reading, and good luck at your show. If I can help out in any way, please let me know.

Also… what else should I include on this list? Any suggestions? Please comment below, and I’ll do some research and elaborate for you.

My attempt at concrete imagery.

When I think about design, layout and presentation, there are two books that I frequently come back to:

1) Colin Wheildon’s Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes

2) Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery

Wheildon’s book is a frontal assault on the lame-o typography mistakes that continue to occur today (especially in the amateur design Web arena). His findings are backed up by in-depth research about comprehension and reader retention.

Reynolds’ book is a more elegant assault on similar miscues in the world of PowerPoint and Keynote… or just presentations in general.

My simple recommendation?

Buy these books. Dog-ear these books. Keep them near Strunk and White. Savor them, review them, revere them, spoon them.

They’re gold and will help you win projects and the hearts of your clients.

Here’s a taste from Presentation Zen that talks about the “picture superiority effect”:

“When information recall is measured just after exposure to a series of pictures or a series of words, the recall for pictures and words is about equal. However, the picture superiority effect applies when the time after exposure is more than 30 seconds, according to research cited in Universal Principles of Design (Rockport Publishers). ‘Use the picture superiority effect to improve the recognition and recall of key information. Use pictures and words together, and ensure that they reinforce the same information for optimal effect,’ say the authors… The effect is strongest when the pictures represent common, concrete things.”

And from Wheildon’s masterpiece:

“.. the average advertisement is read by only four percent of the people on their way through the publication it appears in. Most of the time this is the fault of the so-called “art director” who designs advertisements. If he is an aesthete at heart – and most of them are – he doesn’t care a damn if anybody reads the words. He regards them as mere elements in his pretty design. In many cases he blows away half the readers by choosing the wrong type. But he doesn’t care. He should be boiled in oil.” [my emphasis]

These two guys think deeply about design, and they offer lots of undeniable proof for their theses.

If you’re a copywriter, art director, Web designer, SEO monger, marketing director (or VP or CMO), or a layout/design guru, please pick these up and study them. Your job is not finished when you complete your piece of the creative puzzle. You need to understand the other disciplines to make sure you’ve created something that’s usable, appreciated, and understood by your consuming audiences.

Do you have any other book recommendations that are crucial for publishing/Web development creatives? Please comment below and share your favorites. Thanks – Phil.

I was just listening to an interesting podcast on the way to work – Public Speaker Quick and Dirty Tips. This is Lisa B. Marshall’s ongoing blog and podcast that helps people deliver better presentations, improve their public speaking and communicate better overall.

The tips from this particular episode are great and very Web 2.0. For example, she recommends that presenters encourage attendees to take notes via Twitter so that their associates and followers can benefit (very viral). There are multiple benefits for all involved. The speaker enjoys more exposure. The audience gains improved retention (research supports that note taking improves retention). And, a collaborative environment is formed as everyone tweets and uses hash tags to follow along. Summaries and specific notes can be easily copied and pasted into other capture tools. Plus, the streams are searchable on search.twitter.com or organized via Twubs or Twitterfall.

I highly recommend you check this stuff out.

Do you use other tools when presenting? If so, please comment below about your tips and recommendations.