Theresa Q's Viewspage on Marketkeeping

Finding the right narrative #li

As we've all been rushing to add narrative to our marketing communication, we keep asking ourselves "What the story?" And we've been asking the wrong person.

Gapingvoid Daily Cartoon Email: Empowerment, 2012-Apr, by Hugh MacLeod

When someone is using your product, don't ask what stories are they telling about you; ask what stories they're telling about themselves, and how you product fits into it. You'll get a far more interesting answer.

Finding the appropriate challenge #li

Instead of waiting for your boss to configure your job, you have to hunt for the challenges that will make your job satisfying. Reward yourself.

Harvard Business Review: The Science Behind the Smile, 2012-Jan/Feb, Interview of Daniel Gilbert by Gardiner Morse

We know that people are happiest when they’re appropriately challenged—when they’re trying to achieve goals that are difficult but not out of reach. Challenge and threat are not the same thing. People blossom when challenged and wither when threatened. Sure, you can get results from threats: Tell someone, “If you don’t get this to me by Friday, you’re fired,” and you’ll probably have it by Friday. But you’ll also have an employee who will thereafter do his best to undermine you, who will feel no loyalty to the organization, and who will never do more than he must. It would be much more effective to tell your employee, “I don’t think most people could get this done by Friday. But I have full faith and confidence that you can. And it’s hugely important to the entire team.” Psychologists have studied reward and punishment for a century, and the bottom line is perfectly clear: Reward works better

Using Advisory Councils to build customer relationships

When a big-ticket business-to-business company launches a customer advisory council, the top salespeople always compete to get their favorite customer on the council, and also to make sure the council is lavishly entertained. Which is actually a mistake. Most companies have a small subset of customers who have the insight and energy to help guide the company. And those customers are most impressed when they see the company actually taking their advice. Of course, that's harder than throwing a party for them.

Loyalty 360: Achieving Inaugural Customer Advisory Council Success, 2011-Dec-20, by Karen Posey

I have observed several organizations spend valuable time, money and resources focused treating this like a trade show event.  They are more interested in the “glitz and glamour” then on making sure they have the foundation built for long term success.

How to make your resume serve your future. #li

Don't just dump your past into your resume. 

Advice at the Intersection of Work and Life: Resume Advice You Never Hear, 2011-Oct-5, by Penelope Trunk

The most important thing about a career is that it is a tool to create a vibrant future. Your career is a mutable, dynamic story that you control. If you cannot tell stories about yourself from multiple angles, then the single story you have on that paper controls the rest of your life. You deserve more than that.

Accept slow growth to maintain loyalty #li

Nordstrom competes by ignoring its rivals and trusting its customers and employees. I highly recommend this article which shares how thoughtfully and cautiously they are building their business. 

BusinessWeek: How Nordstrom Bests Its Retail Rivals, 2011-Aug-11, by Cotten Timberlake (via Reveries)

After a slapstick impression of tying the shoelaces of a recalcitrant child, he warmed to his theme, which is to err on the side of tolerance. Blake mentioned the time he unknowingly kicked out the wife of a famous rock star for repeatedly returning merchandise. Later, when the singer showed up to complain, Blake learned whom he had offended. She was buying tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of apparel at another Nordstrom and returning a fraction of it to his store. Blake apologized, of course, and accepted the returns. As his father used to tell him, that’s how the Nordstroms pay for dinner.

Passport to loyalty

I look forward to the day I have one.

New Rules for the New Economy: Since a relationship involves two members, investing in it, its value increases twice as fast as one's investment, 1998, by Kevin Kelly

If you shop a lot you will carry a "passport profile" based on the P3P protocol (or one similar) encased in your smart card or online in a browser. You exchange it with the vendor during a commercial transaction. The passport technology will help firms remember you as you teach them how to serve you and earn your favor.

How to talk about yourself in advertising

While it's important to share your intent, your audience just not that interested in your plans, hopes and dreams. They want to know what you're doing and how it can make a difference. Share facts about yourself, what you make and how you do it. Let your actions speak for themselves.

Digigen & the TinMan: Five Indicators of the Visual Economy, 2011-Aug-2 by Matt Bamford-Bowes

From ads about company products to content showing the inner workings of the company. Tracing back to source has been a consumer desire for many products, but ads simply can’t convey this in the depth that many consumers want to see. Its enlightening to see many brands developing content strategies which are born out of opening up the heart of the brand, showing inside the inner workings and giving consumers an understanding not just of the products, but the place that they come from.