nFusion recently sponsored the 2012 Social Summit presented by Bazaarvoice and I had the pleasure of attending the event for the first time. I was struck by how major marketers have embraced the power of user ratings and reviews, not only for helping customers make decisions but for getting feedback on which products may have issues. If you missed the event, videos are now posted at http://summit.bazaarvoice.com/session-videos/.

Bazaarvoice Social Summit 2012, Austin, TX

If you can’t watch all of the videos, these are my three favorite sessions:

1. Information is Beautiful by David McCandless. David is a visual journalist and tells stories by turning data into infographics. His approach got me thinking about how to tell complex stories more simply. Never has the idiom “a picture is worth a thousand words” been more true.

2. Social Data: The Genome of Your Business. This session is a great overview of how social data is being used to improve marketing effectiveness. Presented by several Bazaarvoice executives, this session is a good crash course on what is possible in the world of social commerce.

3. Building Engagement: How to Foster Strong Consumer-Brand Relationships by 3M’s Raj Rao. Can a big company really embrace the possibilities of using social data to be more innovative and responsive? Raj shares how the 3M team taps the power of customer feedback to move the giant company forward.

How is your company turning user ratings, reviews and peer support into competitive advantage for your firm?

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Highlights from Bazaarvoice’s Social Summit

…was that there wasn’t any big news. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What this told me is that digital and social marketing have become part of the mainstream conversation among marketers. The questions are no longer, “What is it?” and, “Should we?” The questions most frequently asked are “how” questions.

How do we get our bosses to approve our plans?
I had coffee with Deb (@va_deb) from AARP and learned about how the organization has embraced social media marketing. AARP is now committed, so that should tell you something about how far we’ve come. eMarketer reported that 79% of companies are now funding social media initiatives. Listening to Fara Howard from Dell, she suggested letting your customers’ voices convince your leadership to do things. Nicole Cochran from Chili’s reminded us that “executives are kids at heart, so expose them to the fun and they will buy in.”

How do we assess what is working?
Experts in the area of social capital acknowledge that the tools are still improving. Bill Parkes (@BillParkes) projects improvements to occur with increasing rapidity, monthly not annually. Zach Hoffer-Shall (@znh) from Forrester advocated using multiple measures and not limiting your view of social success to what is easily measured in one channel. Mike Spataro (@mikespataro)  reinforced that perspective. Richard Margetic (@margetic) reviewed how Dell oversees a global command center to monitor social conversations about its brand and evaluates the ripple effect of a customer’s voice. Understanding the connections will be an important part of assessing impact.

How do we connect all the dots?
I had a great conversation with Julie Hamp, Chief Communications Officer at Pepsico, about the importance of integrating all touch-points, both traditional and digital. She openly questioned why the Pepsi delivery trucks don’t have a URL or Facebook icon on them. I like the way she thinks! Organization silos and services provider fragmentation will continue to make this a problem, but astute marketers are beginning to realize the synergistic impact of linking all the digital touch-points.

Along with these meaty issues, attendees did get to see some new things. A good summary of eight companies to watch was recently provided by AdAge. Here’s the link.

What will SXSWi 2012 have in store for us? My guess will be a few new ideas and lots of discussion about how to leverage what we already have. Any predictions?

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The big news at SXSWi…

I had a great conversation this week with Colin Buechler, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing at Lifesize, a fast-growing video conferencing company, about improving collaboration between the sales organization and the marketing organization. Colin recently added the sales responsibility to his role after guiding the marketing function over the past several years. He has encouraged his team to drop the term “ownership” and replace it with “accountability.” His insight is applicable to the relationships between any two groups or individuals, not just sales and marketing.

Let’s look at these two words according to the Random House Dictionary:

Ownership 1. the state or fact of being an owner 2. legal right of possession; proprietorship

Accountability 1. the state of being accountable, liable or answerable

There is a lot of talk in business journals about getting employees to “take ownership.” The problem with that terminology is it implies I own something and you don’t. This is often used in the context of defining roles and responsibilities. With employment anxiety, owning something is felt to be justification for job security and therefore validates the continued need for a person’s role. It is also used to “keep people off my turf” and conveys an attitude of “I don’t need you.” It leads to extended and contentious conversations that are often unproductive and trust diminishing.

Accountability, on the hand, implies responsibility but not independent authority. It clearly communicates that you have an important role to play and that you take it seriously. It also leaves open the possibilities that you can work with others to achieve the goals for which you are accountable. Stephen Covey says, “accountability breeds response-ability.”

Language is an important tool for building collaborative relationships. If your team is struggling with this issue, try shifting the terminology to accountability from ownership and see if it helps you as it has Colin.

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Why the difference between “ownership” and “accountability” can be huge

I wanted to share a few of the blogs written by CMOs that I follow and add some new ones I hadn’t seen before. What I discovered in researching new ones is that there are very few blogs written by CMOs! I was amazed and a bit disappointed by what I found. Here we are in a year when social media is all the rage and the executives who should be showing the way are absent. Sure, many of them support corporate blogs, but that’s different. And, yes, many CMOs are on Twitter (more on that in another post soon). But come on ladies and gentlemen. Step up!

You are the brand champions for your companies. The change agents for marketing. The ones who say you lead by example. So where are you? I searched Google for “CMO Blogs” and you  weren’t to be found. In fact the Top 10 List of CMO Bloggers returned in the search was published in 2006.

So my hats off to these five CMOs for taking time to share their thoughts in more than 140 characters!

1. Nigel Dessau: Hosted on the AMD blog site, Nigel shares his insights on the business in a personal way. But he also writes separate blog called The Three Minute Mentor, which contains quick, career-related advice and offers answers to common questions.
2. Sam Decker: Soon-to-be former CMO of BazaarVoice, Sam shares his insights on social commerce and digital marketing.
3. Jim Davis: Jim is the CMO of SAS and shares his insights on business, analytics and technology.
4. John Dragoon: When John, CMO of Novell,  takes time to write a post, he really writes a thoughtful piece.
5. Randall Beard: As EVP of Nielsen, Randall shares his insights from his vantage point of seeing lots of media data.

I was going to include Barry Judge from BestBuy but he hasn’t posted in a year (moved to Twitter) and Jeffrey Haylett, but he left Kodak for his book and television future.

Who am I missing? There must be more CMO bloggers out there. Let me know who you follow. Also weigh in on why there aren’t more out there.

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5 good CMO blogs. Why aren’t there more?

Peter Horst SVP, Capital One Bank

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Peter Horst for years; he’s now Senior Vice President of Marketing at Capital One Bank, and I’ve always found him to be a smart and thoughtful marketing leader. So it was a pleasure to discuss his approach to starting his new role at the bank. Among the key steps he took in his first month was to publish what became known as “Peter’s Principles,” a summary of his beliefs about building and operating a high-performance marketing organization. His four tenets are simply stated but powerful if followed. Peter insists on:

1. Clear Accountability: Be 100% aligned with the clients’ business goals and priorities; share the successes, yet have clear accountabilities; be transparent in your actions.
2. Brilliant Execution: Always be on time, on budget, on strategy, on brand; be highly coordinated and totally aligned; set clear expectations and deliver on them consistently with efficient processes and rapid response.
3. Bold Moves: Bring new and provocative thinking with a clear, strong point of view; continuously test bold hypotheses and make major impacts on the business.
4. Seamless Collaboration: Act as one company, one team and one outcome; have each others’ backs; engage in candid dialogue and constructive yet respectful conflict; no drama, no intrigue, no in-fighting, none!

I was particularly struck by that last point. Creating a culture of “no drama, no intrigue and no in-fighting” is not easy, especially in large companies in challenging industries. It starts at the top by declaring a zero-tolerance policy and then reinforcing it with actions on a daily basis. Yet, in the end, it creates an environment that is not only more fun to work in, but one that performs better.

What are your operating principles for building a high-performance marketing organization? If you don’t have any, consider borrowing Peter’s. If you do have a set of principles, please share them with us.

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How to build a high-performance marketing organization: lessons from Capital One Bank’s marketing leader, Peter Horst

Are you feeling any of the following:

• Frustration that the economy and budgets remain challenged?
• Exhaustion from working hard just to stay afloat?
• Dismay that it may take two more years just to get back to where you were two years ago?

If so, you are not alone. So why do I believe that it is time to choose the attitude of optimism for the second half of 2010? Not because I have a crystal ball that significantly better economic conditions are just around the corner, because I don’t. It’s because the change in perspective from half-empty to half-full can effect your outcome more than you think.

Sports psychologists counsel their player to turnaround their performance by simply walking with their heads up instead of staring at the ground in the “woe is me” posture. This basic act has a physiological effect on the athlete that improves their mental and physical acuity, which ultimately impacts how well they perform.

The same is true in business. Focusing on assets and opportunities over shortcomings and obstacles makes it easier to see what’s possible and channel your energies in that direction. A great ambassador of this philosophy is Bert Jacobs, co-founder of Life is Good. I spent an evening with Bert at an Inc 500 event a few years ago and was impressed by how he turned a simple idea into a terrific company. If you want a bit of encouragement from him, watch the video embedded on the article page of this post.

I recently used a song at our “half time” meeting that will be my theme song for the rest of the year. Bing Crosby and Dr. John have both sung these lyrics:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch on to the affirmative. Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.

As a marketing leader, you set the tone for your organization. Your positive energy can be contagious. Your sense of what’s possible, encouraging. Your hope for the future, inspiring. As you set out for the second half of this year, which half of the glass will you be focused on?

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A case for optimism

I’ve been following a debate that was prompted by a column in Entrepreneur Magazine by George Cloutier, The Turnaround Ace. The title, “Your Company Is not a Democracy: The most effective leaders are benevolent dictators who hold employees accountable,” sums up his point of view. Here are a few of the more provocative assertions:

• Let your employees respect but fear you
• Tell your employees: “Don’t think — obey”
• The only opinion that counts is that of ownership
• It’s not your job to dispense praise, affirmation, hugs and cookies to your staff

He does make some good points. Provide clear direction. Reward success. Hold people accountable. Fire poor performers.

A contrary perspective was provide in the post “Biased Justification for Poor Leadership” by Mike Henry. Mike asserts being a tyrant is not being a good leader. “Employees are declaring independence, leaving jobs and going on their own, because of tyrants just like this. If I have to wrangle cats or mow yards for a living, I’d do it to keep from working for another one of these ‘my way or the highway’ types.”

So my question for you is this. Do dictators make good marketing leaders? Do clarity of direction, speed of action, ruthless accountability and dispassionate decision-making outweigh inspiration, collaboration and employee engagement? Which style is most likely to yield positive company outcomes during difficult times? Have you worked with a dictator before? What was your experience? The company’s experience?

Mine was not pleasant! Working in an environment of fear was not productive. The “tyrant” was emotionally unstable, which created a high degree of uncertainty and a desire to get out as soon as possible. Fortunately for me, the “tyrant” was thrown out by the CEO before I had to leave. But the experience made a lasting impact on me.

How about you? What’s your story?

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Do dictators make good marketing leaders?

“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Thus began a proclamation that changed the course of world history. It is hard to imagine today what conditions must have been like for people to risk everything for a cause in which  they believed so deeply. We take for granted the freedoms we have today that the first Americans were willing to fight and die for. So on this Fourth of July I wanted to reflect on a few lessons marketing change agents can learn from our founding fathers.

1. Having a clear purpose is unifying: The Declaration of Independence set forth the goal of  “dissolving the political bonds” and provided the clarity for why that purpose was just and worth fighting for. Companies that are centered on a “purpose beyond making money” find that they have a compelling and unifying reason for employees and customers to be enthusiastically engaged.

2. Being principled matters: Declaring that all people are entitled to the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was a bold way to state the principles for which the revolution stood. For leaders of change today, standing for something matters. Principles guide actions and actions speak louder than words. People will follow leaders who take a stand for what is right and who guide their decisions by a set of sound principles.

3. Nothing unites a team like being “all in”: Having a common cause to fight for can be unifying. Once the founding fathers signed their names to the document they knew there was no turning back. Failure was not an option. As Benjamin Franklin stated so succinctly, “We must hang together or assuredly we shall hang separately.”

Edmund Hillary said, “People do not decide to become extraordinary. They decide to accomplish extraordinary things.” That’s what our founding fathers set out to do and in the process became extraordinary people.

What extraordinary things have you decided to accomplish?

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Marketing leadership lessons from July 4, 1776

I just discovered John Moore’s blog, Brand Autopsy, and appreciate his recommendation of a new book by Harvard Business School professor Youngme Moon, entitled Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd. The video that explains the book is engaging and thought-provoking, so I’ve included it on the article page for this post.

I haven’t had a chance to read Moon’s book yet. If you have, what did you think about it?

In an age of fast followers, how long do you believe a brand can truly remain different? Who does this well today?

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How can you be different?

Fast Company recently published its 2010 list of the most creative people in business. Quite an interesting list of names, some familiar and some not so familiar. Here is the top 10:

1. Lady Gaga, pop artist
2. Eddy Cue, Apple Interest Services
3. Elizabeth Warren, consumer advocate
4. Shiro Nakamura, Nissan
5. Ryan Murphy, creator, producer of Glee
6. Steve Burd, Safeway
7. Chris Anderson, TED conferences
8. Hannah Jones, Nike
9. James Cameron, filmmaker
10. Qi Lu, Microsoft

With 90 others names on the list, a few got left off that I’d suggest adding:

1. From government, Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, for his initiative to improve education systems by rewarding excellence.
2. From entertainment, Steve Levitan, co-creator and executive producer of Modern Family, the funniest show on television.
3. From business, Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford, who restored hope that American car companies can succeed.

Creativity is often defined as the ability to create. To create is to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes. Based on these definitions, whom do you admire for their creativity?

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100 Most Creative People in Business. Who’s missing?