Below the Fold

My Year of Living (Not So) Dangerously

There are three kinds of “leaps” a person can take:

• A leap of conscience
• A leap of comfort
• A leap of faith

A year ago, I took all three. I ran giddy and trembling into the unknown. I leaped – and so far at least, it seems I stuck the landing.

I’ve done this before: From full-time journalism to political campaign management; from public affairs and PR to digital marketing; from a big agency, to my own company, and then back to a big agency. My life has been a series of leaps, some good and some bad, but never boring and never without growing or learning.

When I decided to join my current company, I did so after much internal and external debate – not about making money but about making a difference. I’m still working on that part, and ultimately, it’s not for me to decide.

Nevertheless, I took the leaps.

The Leap of Conscience, because I knew I needed to go in a different direction.

The Leap of Comfort, because I knew I needed to be challenged and scared.

The Leap of Faith, because I knew the one person I had to believe in was myself.

I still miss Edelman -- especially the people -- and I expect I always will. And I’m grateful that relationships don’t stop with the paycheck, at least the ones that matter.

But if the past is truly prologue, then it stands to reason that the story, at least for me, is just beginning.

Letting the Audience Lead

An anxious mother walked closely behind her son at the Seattle airport. The child, who was barely a toddler, wanted to explorer. The mom wanted to catch him before he “explored” down the escalator.

This delicate dance – son dashing for adventure, mom trying to catch him – went on for minutes. Son goes one way, mom follows – son quickly changes course, forcing mom to turn and run faster. She eventually contains him, but for how long. As soon as he gets a chance you know he’ll be off again.

And I laughed. Not at the mother and child, but at the metaphor.

The mom was the marketer; the toddler was the audience. And the marketer is always trying to catch up to the audience.

Oh sure, we think we know where the audience is going. We have deep analytics and mounds of research. We “engage,” we listen, we react in “real time.”

But the audience is always ahead. And when they do catch up it’s only for a moment, and then the audience is off once more to another web site, another social media platform or another community.

Perfect. This is as it should be -- the audience always ahead, the marketer always a step behind.

Or perhaps we are looking at the relationship the wrong way. Maybe the audience isn’t trying to elude, but rather trying to lead.

Beware the Flying Cars of Progress (Redux)

When my sister was young – a long, long, long time ago – a teacher told her that by time she was old enough to drive, everyone would have a flying car. She did get a Ford Cobra II, but every time she tried to fly, the California Highway Patrol brought her back to Earth.

I heard the same thing when I was young, but my Chevy Cavalier often never moved, much less flew. And just the other day, a friend’s eight-year-old daughter echoed the generational promise: “When I get older, everyone will have a flying car.”

There’s nothing wrong with dreams – but if your head is always in the clouds it become hard to see the way forward. Put another way, I’m all for the next new thing, whether it’s Google+, Quora, tablet devices, interactive TV or any number of technological advances that are the “flying cars” of the social media age. But none of these tools and products replace the need for intelligent storytelling, critical thinking or core communications skills.

So beware the flying cars of progress. Don’t let the promises of the future betray your responsibilities to the present. Technology can’t help you if you don’t have anything to say.

Shit My Conscience Says

There are times – this being one of them – when it needs to stop.

I know what I’m “supposed” to do. I know what I’m expected to say when in a meeting with clients or chatting with peers.

But more and more, my conscience calls me out. It tells me when I’m agreeing when I should be challenging. It reminds me when I do the accepted instead of the needed. It berates me for keeping my mouth shut when all I want to do is scream.

What do I mean? I mean this:

• If you have to say the word “strategy’ or “strategic” 50 times in one document then you are justifying your worth to yourself, not to your client.

• Social media doesn’t replace traditional media. Those who disagree are just replacing common sense with ignorance.

• Social media is not the cause of journalism’s demise. Social media is journalism’s renaissance.

• People who say they know it all are the people who have done the least.

• The smartest people have lots of questions, not all the answers.

• There are billions of people in the world who either have never heard of Twitter or will never use it. They matter, too.

This is what my conscience says. This is what needs to be said. It doesn’t sell books, lead to speaking engagements or increase your Klout score – but it’s better than the snake oil being sold to companies today under the guise of value.

Knowledge vs. Awareness: My Near-Death Experience on Market Street

AS THE FIRE ENGINE CAREENED toward me, mere seconds from slamming my startled soul into the pavement of San Francisco’s Market Street, two thoughts competed for my attention:

1) I could die right now
2) I deserve it

Obviously I survived. The engine slowed just enough and I looked up just in time to stay out of its path. The truck drove on, lights and sirens blaring – and I sheepishly made my way out of the street, pretending not to notice the shouts and stares.

They wouldn’t understand anyway. No one does.

The short version: A tumor left me deaf in one ear and gave me constant static in my skull that is, at best, as loud as a conversation, and at worst like a Who concert during the Keith Moon years.

Over the years my hearing overall has grown worse as well – sometimes I can’t even hear myself talk, which makes it difficult to form words that others can understand (it often comes across as mumbling or gibberish.) And as in the case of the fire engine, I’m unable to discern the direction of sound. At home no one ever says “come here,” they have to say “come into the kitchen” since I never have any idea where “here” is.

I should have known better that day in San Francisco. When I first heard the (what I thought to be) faint sounds of a siren, I should have stopped and looked around until the engine or car or whatever was making the noise came into view.

I don’t know why, but I didn’t. “Knowledge” told me that the siren was far away – I “knew” I could cross the street, and “logic” suggested that the people screaming all around me were just, well, being San Franciscans.

But I lacked awareness. I didn’t assess the situation empirically, didn’t absorb the moment or ground myself in the reality of my surroundings and the warnings of my fellow pedestrians. And it nearly killed me.

And now for the marketing lesson (bet you were wondering if I would ever get to the point): Too often we settle for knowledge when we need awareness. We conduct research about “consumers” but never walk into a store and ask them why they are buying certain products.

Online behavioral research (technographics) is improving, but that’s still another form of knowledge. A person can “know” how parents raise their kids, but only a parent is “aware” of what parenting takes and what goes into countless decisions that can’t be translated into a pie chart.

Can you market discount clothing if you are the kind of person who wears $600 shirts? Yes, of course, but you need to go to the Wal-Mart or Marshalls and talk to the discount shoppers yourself. Only then will you have the market awareness you need for either your “knowledge” to make sense or to effectively challenge its assumptions.

Knowledge can betray you, as it betrayed me that day in San Francisco. From now on, I prefer to be aware – and next time, awareness, not luck, may be just the thing that keeps me alive.

Brands Should Be Social, But That Doesn’t Make Them Your “Friends”

I have a friend who sells insurance. The problem is I never know when he is my friend or when he is an insurance salesman – he says he wants to be both, but I know deep down that what he really wants is a sale.

We were friends in high school and didn’t reconnect until he started his business. He reached out under the pretext of renewed friendship, but that was a ruse. He wanted a client, not a friend. I bought the insurance but I rarely talk to him anymore, because when I do it always comes back to business.

You are either my friend or you want to sell me something. Either is fine as long as the motive is genuine.

Brands should be social, but I don’t want brands to be my Facebook “friends.” I want to talk to them when I have a question and give me information when I’m in the mood to buy. We’re not buddies, we're not going to drinks, I’m not inviting them to my daughter’s Bat Mitzvah.

This doesn’t mean we can’t share some laughs and have a little fun (especially if I can win something.) Brands can and should express their personalities, but they should be sincere and not engage in some fake cocktail small talk meant to sucker you into buying a timeshare in Palm Springs.

Yes, markets are conversations, but they are conversations related to marketing. This is good and necessary – but friendship? Not even close.

Social Distortion: Why PRSA and other Legacy Organizations Have Lost Their Relevance

Every once in a while a communications industry organization invites me to speak about social media. There are typically two reasons for this: 1) Steve Rubel wasn’t available (this happened all the time when I was at Edelman), or 2) the organizers didn’t realize until too late that the only “A-list” I’m on is the one run by Southwest Airlines.

These events make me extremely uncomfortable – not because I’m afraid, in fact just the opposite. I do speaking gigs and seminars all the time; often for CEOs and executives of some the world’s leading brands.

No, I’m uncomfortable because every time – I mean every damn time – the questions devolve into a turf battle over whom should “own” social media (as if any one discipline can or should “own” a public conversation.) If it’s the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), it’s PR people beating the drum. If it’s a group of marketers, well take a guess what they think.

This exact scenario played out last week during an Orange County PRSA speaking engagement. A PR Purist argued with a more open-minded colleague that “marketers” had no business being involved with social media. It was all about PR, end of story. What began as intelligent dialogue devolved into a personal, defensive, almost angry stand.

Keep in mind, we were taking about Facebook, not something that actually matters like curing cancer, Middle East peace or whether the Angels’ bullpen can hold a lead this year.

This needs to stop. Not only is the whole argument stupid, but the people who really matter – the public – could absolutely care less. The only ones who see a difference between marketing and PR are, well, the ones who consider themselves either marketing or PR professionals.

So here’s how we end the madness: Disband the professional associations.

That’s right, no more PRSA or AMA (American Marketing Association), no more 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies), no more anything that’s defined by a legacy discipline that no longer has relevance.

These groups were established to mark their territories, not to collaborate with others and open new frontiers. As such, they force people to defend their turf and close their minds.

If you see yourself as a “PR person,” then of course you are going to do whatever it takes to preserve that designation. And while there are many in PR who break this mold and are able to adapt to change, the hardheaded of the lot just become more resolute in their vehement ignorance. The world sees a naked emperor and they see beautiful robes.

I asked the aforementioned PR Purist at the Orange County meeting whether my former agency, Edelman, is a PR firm. She raised her hand signifying “yes.” Just one problem, I said -- My former boss, Richard Edelman, doesn’t agree.

That’s right: The largest PR agency on the planet doesn’t consider itself a PR firm, yet we still have organizations like the PRSA “representing” agencies like Edelman.

Richard prefers the term “public engagement,” because connecting with customers can be achieved in many effective and complementary ways. The public doesn’t care how it’s done as long as it’s honest, real, relevant and valuable. “Public Engagement” is discipline agnostic, as it should be.

It’s time for the rest of the industry to catch up. Stop trying to “own” social media and focus on what social customers expect. Do the real work necessary to improve how we communicate, tell stories and, yes, sell products and ideas.

You don’t really need an association to tell you how to do that, do you?

The Dangers of Distance: How to Get Grounded in Social Media

We are wired to learn more. From pre-school to grad school, we are trained to reach higher, dig deeper and get smarter and smarter until we become experts in our fields.

We are told that the journey is one of ascension -- that pushing ourselves to mine gorgeous details and surrounding ourselves with like-minded peers is the intellectual Grail.

Such is the case within the discipline of social media, especially among the auteurs of Twitter for whom the Next Big Thing is already old news. They teach, they learn and they share, but they often look too far ahead and use the online echo chamber as the benchmark for broad change and adoption.

They – and I am guilty of this more often than I care to admit – believe they are in the lead and the “others” need to follow. They think the world thinks like they think, or at least should.

Don’t get me wrong -- this is not arrogance. It’s not even ignorance.

The problem is distance.

Social media and communications people in general are so linked that they have become detached. In reaching higher they have grown further away from the very public they claim to understand so well.

Studies and surveys don’t help. If anything they foster this culture of distance, of segmenting those who “get it” from those who still (G-d forbid) watch television news, have AOL addresses or own a Motorola Razr phone.

The solution is simple: Stop reaching higher and, every so often, start over.

Every few months when I’m back in the Midwest, I make it a priority to visit a Wal-Mart. I go up to people and ask if they are on Twitter or Facebook. I ask how they get their news and if they’ve ever “liked” a brand or checked-in on Foursquare.

The answers are eye opening and refreshing. These are good people, smart people – but for them, there is no “social media,” no PR or marketing. They just want companies to be honest, news to be unbiased and privacy to be protected and respected.

These are the people we need to talk to (or “engage” with as the buzzword goes.) We need to stay close to them so we can learn. We need to connect with them so we can grow stronger as a culture. We need to close the distance before it becomes too severe.

The more grounded you are, the higher you can go.

Implementers and Instigators: What kind of PR person are you?

There are two kinds of PR people: Implementers and Instigators.

Implementers don’t go gently into the new. They practice a policy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” -- if the client’s don’t ask, then there’s no need to tell.

The problem is, once the client’s do ask (and they all eventually do), the implementers are forced to play defense and catch up to their clients. By that time it’s often too late and the clients have gone elsewhere.

As one of my clients told me last year, “(The agency) is brought into meetings to provide expertise…what we need is insight, ideas and out of the box thinking that we wouldn’t have otherwise thought of.”

It blows me away, truly floors me to no end that professionals in any industry fail to embrace and adapt to change. If I need to have heart surgery, I want the doctor who has kept up with the latest advancements and techniques – not the guy who hasn’t opened a medical journal in two decades.

Instigators, however, make things happen. They tell clients what they need to know whether they ask or not. They read, they experiment, they are curious and they want to do something even if that means embarrassment or failure.

Instigators see a bigger picture, one with the customer at the center and not the “practice,” whether PR, marketing, public affairs or anything else. If you look at PR through a customer-centric lens, you will not only begin to see the world differently, but you will see your job differently, too. You will understand that your clients are not your clients – their customers are.

Don’t just implement. Embrace risk. Push yourselves, push your colleagues and be the instigators your clients need you to be.

CES 2011: And the Winner Will Be...Reading

Predictions are a fickle business, but with the new year just begun and CES still days away, the writing for 2011 is already on the wall (and I don’t mean Facebook).

There will be stories, tweets, posts, photos, videos, slides and all sorts of content spewing from CES about the latest technological gadgets and guesses about consumer demands. But underlying it all, almost unnoticed, will be something bigger and far more powerful than any collection of microchips: The return of long-form reading.

Yes, reading, that thing we do with our eyes and brains, requiring no additional functionality other than desire and perhaps more time in the day.

In the ‘90s the “killer app” of the Internet was e-mail. This past decade saw the rise of People as the killer app thanks to social media, easily the most disruptive and powerful force of the new post-modern digital age. Now reading has re-entered the mix in a big way, becoming the main Raison d'être for many technological innovations as well as invigorating traditional media businesses:

• E-book sales were 10 percent of trade sales in 2010, and it’s expected that number will double in 2011

• Surveys suggest that people who purchase e-reading devices subsequently increase the number of books they buy. “For the first time in a long time, there are many more places for people to buy books,” said David Shanks, CEO of Penguin Group USA

• Kindles and Nooks are great and are indeed moving well, but that’s nothing compared to the wave of tablets about to hit the market, from Microsoft and HP to others running on Android (even Vizio is getting into the game.) Tablets have led to a kind of rebirth for long-form reading and especially for magazines, and though app sales have slowed recently that will likely change once these new devices and the iPad 2 become available

• Services like Storify are helping to bring back long-form narrative, assembling the disparate social layers of a story to make it whole. Then there’s Readability, an app that frees web pages from ads and other distractions from the text. Instapaper, an app for storing online content to read later, has nearly a million users

• One person’s tweet is another’s cue to dig deeper. As a recent Wired piece put it, “The torrent of short-form thinking is actually a catalyst for more long-form meditation.”

Of course modern media consumption isn’t just about text; it’s not like video is going away (quite the contrary.) The way we tell stories will continue to evolve and require multimedia narratives told in layers across platforms and with multiple inputs.

But reading will remain at the core. In a way, the shift toward tablets and mobile devices are merely new ways to do something very old. We can change technology and our culture can mature, but we can’t change who we are as human beings.

We are readers, we demand quality, and we will ultimately voice those demands with our wallets.