Interruption Marketing

Just like TV commercials, print ads have to work hard to get our attention. On average, readers of engineering journals (or any magazine) spend less than 2.5 seconds looking at print ads. You spent more time than that reading this post. So what do you have to do to get people to pay attention to the story you are trying to tell?

Here's three critical things.

1. Be relevant. When you go to the grocery store, you don't stand in the aisle wondering what product might jump out and grab you. You went because you wanted to buy specific items: bread, milk, cat food, etc. So you'll be focused on cat food brands, not curried chicken or olives. Unless those brands are really good at Step 2.

2. Be interesting. Ads work on the principle of interruption. You pick up a journal because there is a really fascinating article you want to read. I need to interrupt your reading (Spaghetti Cat) with a really startling and compelling ad. To be effective, the ad must grab and hold your attention with something that jolts you out of your train of thought.

3. Be brief. Edit your copy. Then edit some more. No one reads ads. No one. (Except you if you placed the ad.) If you fill your ad with paragraphs of text, I'll get bored and move on. Tell me one thing. I'm more likely to remember that. (But give me a link to your website so I can learn more if I want.)

It's Never About Cost - It's About Value

Professional service firms that have to compete for work are always aware of offering lower rates to customers in hopes of swaying a customer's mind. Remember though that low-cost does not always equate to customer interest.

Here's an example from the product world. Via the blog of Guy Kawasaki.

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2008/12/signs-of-the-ti.html

Initiatives

I'm a big believer in step change. Incremental improvements to existing processes absorb effort but produce minimal positive impact. So minimal that most people don't even notice it. But step change makes impact - enough that people do notice - in a way that affects their behaviour. And that is what most system change is really trying to affect - human behaviour.

Effecting real change is tough. It requires commitment, it requires resources, but most of all it requires a vision. You have to be able to see the future that this change will bring - how people will behave in new patterns and the benefit that the change will bring - faster, more effective, less effort - whatever metric you want to use.

Okay, I'm in. I know what the problems are, or at least I know of one big problem that needs solving. I just haven't had time to tackle it. Well, here's the secret. You should have made the time. All improvements require an investment, whether it is time or money (hiring an outsider is just a conversion of time to money). And once you achieve the change you seek, you will make back your investment of time or money in the benefits of that change.

As you move into setting your personal goals for 2009, take a stand and commit to making one life-altering change. Find one initiative you can champion. Gather people around you and share your vision. Secure resources that will be your investment. Distill the benefits into a mission that you can take to leadership. Invest in a half-day offsite meeting to map out the specific steps you need to take to make that behavioural change. Implement those steps and when you encounter resistance, talk about your vision, share the benefits that will follow, and demonstrate your step-by-step plan to remove this particular roadblock to success.

Every one of us has what it takes to change our world. Commit to making one major improvement to your workplace this year.

Happy Holidays from the Monday Missive

As 2008 comes to a close, the Monday Missive wishes you and yours the happiest of holidays. When the Missive began, two years ago this month, our goal was to learn and to share that with others. We hope that you find some measure of insight and inspiration from these messages. And we thank you for inspiring us in return.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours.

Once again, the Monday Missive presents our Holiday gift to you - the most rockin' digital holiday cards from around the Net. Enjoy. (Please send us any that you are think are totally amazing. We're collectors. But don't send us anything lame. Or we will FedEx you a lump of coal.)

http://fl-2.com/giftofcode/index.aspx (Via the Denver Egotist - who you should read cause they totally rock.) Site takes a while to load but your patience will be rewarded. Crank the sound - it's groovy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgBUqJzgvBo One word: Awesome.

http://andrewhoffmandesign.com/egotistholiday/ Note the subtle colour boxes. Yes, go on .... from left to right ...

http://liquidgivesagoat.com/ Despite the recession, Liquid is still hiring. Unfortunately, these candidates just didn't work out.