That is, if you’re a good friend of mine, and if I’m stricken with cancer and involved with one the American Cancer Society’s initiatives such as Relay for Life, chances are you will be more in tune with ACS messages and offer to help (donate money and/or time).

The same goes for Brand marketing these days too – more and more people are joining Brands which are in tune with their causes!

Brand marketing is taking on a whole new meaning which is simply put, “marketing with meaning.”

In this 24/7 age of corporate misconduct (AIG, Wall Street, Enron, BP) and citizen journalism, it’s an absolute “greens fee” for companies to make more meaning by being good corporate citizens and doing more (See Philip Kotler’s Values Based Marketing Model) for their employees and customers.

The chart above is from Ann Marie Kerwin’s article in today’s Advertising Age, How to Get the Social-Media Generation Behind Your Cause which outlines some key steps and  which also links to TBWA Chiat Day’s Eliza Esquivel’s Social Activism 2.0 whitepaper – good stuff.

Marketing with real meaning and brands that truly stand for something other than self serving profits will survive and thrive in the next decade and beyond. Those that don’t won’t be as profitable and/or won’t survive.

Here’s an example of great cause marketing by one of my client’s the Priory Hospitality Group and their announcement of a free Winter White Wedding for a veteran of the Afghan Iraqi war who’s from southwestern Pennsylvania.

See the video interview of The Priory Hotel’s John Graf here from KDKA TV’s Pittsburgh Today Live – we’d appreciate it if you pass the information along to a western, PA veteran.

Now in its 3rd year, the Priory’s generosity has been joined by several other area brands. One of the major reasons why the Priory’s business keeps growing is because they are genuine, caring community partners and employers.

Follow their example for success and make your little patch of the world a better place and watch your business grow too!

I haven’t been to a BP gas station since the Gulf Oil Spill and don’t plan on visiting one in the future. How about you?

Note: Super good book by Bob Gilbreath, The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning.

When the Renaissance swept through Europe from the 14th to the 17th centuries, scholars followed the humanist method in study searching for realism and human emotion in art. And, today we marketers could learn a great deal from those old Renaissance scholars.

It seems like we’re on to something with Social Media – and I remain cautiously optimistic – but, where are all of the Masters today?

If you’re looking for a chance of great success, wow about stepping up and assuming the position?

My team and I are trying our best.

To succeed today (and be able to sleep peacefully at night), Marketers need to work harder in our field of art and embrace ethical and meaningful marketing communications and public relations. We need to create brand stories with integrity, character, authenticity, transparency, guts, and real value with flawless execution – net – we and our clients need to be walking our talk.

I’ve had the privilege of meeting some Renaissance Marketing & PR Masters such as Harold Burson, Aaron Cushman, Bob Dilenschneider and Al Golin and I have studied the works of Marketing and PR Master Strategist Al Ries and several more, and sadly it seems to me that there’s a lack of “people coming off the bench” and/or on deck ready to take their place.

It seems to me that there’s a lack of breakthrough effort, hard work, enthusiasm, guts, class and grace these days in marketing and in lots of professions too.  It’s sad.

For years, I’ve been a big fan of Edelman PR’s success and I love their whole ethical approach to business and look forward to their annual Trust Barometer.

There’s a good reason why Edelman PR rocks and why they’re the Mac Daddy of PR firms today and the biggest independent in the world. It’s the legacy of Dan Edelman.

Dad Dan Edelman rocks – still at 90!

And, he’s left a great legacy with his kids who lead the firm today. Check out this this link to an Ad Age Article about Edleman and his video interview with Rance Crain below – love the comment about enthusiasm and focus.

I can “smell” through the video that at 90, this guy would have my back, has a ton of integrity and class and would do everything it takes (in an ethical manner) to drive my business forward.  And, he’d be honest with me and nicely “call my baby ugly” and give me solid recommendations to improve my baby’s looks.

Can you smell it too?

Work on being a Marketing Renaissance Master…we need you!

Three key telegrams from McKinsey’s word of mouth report are that WOM recommendations drive 20% to 50% of all purchases; influentials  make up about 9% of the population and drive about 3X more WOM; and, the payout of pursuing WOM excellence is enormous, delivering a huge competitive edge over other strategies such as advertising which is a distant second!

Now, I’m sure you believe WOM is a powerful tool, but these staggering numbers should put your marketing team on high alert to devise a strong WOM marketing system.

To help you along, check out McKinsey’s Word of Mouth report here: McKinsey_Word_of_Mouth. And, check out more about WOM from WARC.

What I love about the guy is that even though his book Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control, 13th ed., is the most widely used marketing book in graduate business schools worldwide he never rests on his success and still innovates and tinkers with his marketing theories and models of how marketing works.

I’m a big Philp Kotler fan.

Now, here comes Kotler again with his latest creation (co-written with Hermawan Kartajaya), Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit.

The central theme of the book is based on the simple values-based (not value) matrix above which demonstrates how marketing today has shifted from Product-Centric (Rational Marketing – 1.0 era – e.g., Volvo = safety), to Customer-Centric (Emotional Marketing – 2.0 era) to today’s Human-Centric (Spiritual Marketing – 3.0 era ).

Marketing 1.0 and 2.0 were about how a brands products and services would serve its customers.  Marketing 3.0 is about how a Brand connect with the human spirit of its customers who desire that they assume their fair share of social responsibility for issues that concern everyone (e.g., environment, hunger, poverty, human rights, health and well being etc.).

Brands that behave and conduct themselves properly with regard to the environment, general community at large and create real meaningful demonstrable value that aligns with the social good will be welcome and respected.  The media will promote caring companies which will influence buying behaviors.

Kotler posits that most marketers are stuck in the past. His new model for marketing treats customers not just as consumers, but as complex, multi-dimensional human beings – customers with complex human spirits who are active, engaged, anxious, informed, creative and have the ability to easily connect with others.

Marketing 3.0 addresses the complexity of the human spirit and S.C. Johnson is just one of the many brands Kotler cites as those who are creating products, services, and company cultures that lead, inspire, and reflect the values of their customers.

This recently released book is on my shopping list because I read Kotler’s Marketing 3.0 whitepaper here – kotler_marketing_3.0_values_driven_marketing – sure wish brands like BP could have read it and embraced its philosophy – make sure you do!

Now is a great time to take a hard look at your marketing systems to see what’s working, what’s not working, what needs to be improved and what needs to scrapped.

That’s exactly what my team and I are doing.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve picked up a few significant pieces of business (believe me, I’m not complaining – we’re blessed) that have required us to more carefully analyze our systems and processes, clients, staffing, quality of work and more.

One of the “more” things we’re reviewing is what has led to our success and how we can refine our systems to not only do a better job for our brand, but also a better job for our clients.

It’s so easy to get caught up in busy work and daily tasks thinking you’re accomplishing things, but at the end of the day you find yourself majoring in minor things without focusing on game changing work along with better planning and performance based processes. Bottom line – you need to block out your time with high value activities!

Our fixed costs, staff and management hierarchy are low, small and flat by design, but with this sudden influx of new business we’re still working hard to clean up our act before considering adding new staff, equipment and even more business.

Here’s a list of our 20 questions to improve our business focus. The list is not necessarily in order and/or exhaustive, but all apply to People, Resources, Innovation, Marketing, Operations and Finance:

1. How can we improve upon keeping our promises
2. How do we make our company a more fun and enjoyable place to work
3. How can we attract high quality people who are proud to work with us
4. Does everyone have the tools and experience they need to be successful
5. How do we make our unique selling proposition more unique, meaningful and easier to demonstrate and communicate
6. How can we reduce costs without impacting our performance
7. What kinds of clients/industries should we target
8. What clients should we keep
9. What clients should we fire
10. What should be on our “to don’t” list
11. What are the three key things we can do to improve our client’s business
12. How can we speed up our efforts to quickly build our client’s business
13. How can we more effectively surprise and delight our clients
14. How do we create happier clients willing to provide glowing testimonials
15. What products and services should we stop offering and/or improve upon
16. What new products and services (or enhancements) should we be offering
17. How can we improve cash flow, collections and profitablity
18. What processes can we automate and systematize to improve performance
19. How can we better measure every sales action, marketing channel and map every touch point to determine our cost per lead, sales potential and length to close
20. What are we missing or failing to do with regard to people, resources, innovation, marketing, operations or finance to more profitably build a better business for ourselves and for our clients – what’s holding us back

So there you go – 20 questions to ask yourself over 20 days – one a day!

However, throughout your 20 day journey, here’s the thing to keep in mind.

Net – the big question we’re working on if you boil all 20 questions down into one is simply, “HOW DO WE WOW!”

We’re working on it and know it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but how do you wow?

I’m interested in knowing.

1. Brownstein used Google AdWords to target Ad Agency Creative Directors on Madison Avenue in New York
2. He bet 15 cents per click that these Creatives were no different than the rest of  us self absorbed people who Google ourselves
3. What the CD’s saw when they Googled themselves was a personal ad from Brownstein – BRILLIANT!
4. Young & Rubicam offered him a job!

Note: Brownstein’s Google Job Experiment YouTube video has been viewed over 500,000 times!  Rock on Alec!

While Mother’s Day comes just once a year, every day should be Mother’s Day for the incredible role they play in all of our lives.

Don’t you agree?

Salary.Com, has highlighted all of the job titles that best define all of Moms’  responsibilities which are (in order of hours spent per week): housekeeper, day care center teacher, cook, computer operator, facilities manager, van driver, psychologist, laundry machine operator, janitor and chief executive officer. I’d add dog walker/caregiver, guardian/protector, nurse/doctor, motivational speaker, cheerleader, life coach, healthcare consultant, gardener (PLUS – “day job’ working mom if it applies) and I’m sure my Mom could list more!

So what is Mom worth?

For me, and I’m sure for you, Mom is priceless, however Salary.Com gave it a shot to actually put a price tag on Mom’s work.

Based on a survey of more than 28,000 mothers, Salary.com determined that the time mothers spend performing 10 typical job functions would equate to an annual salary of $117,867 for a stay-at-home mom. Working moms ‘at-home’ salary is $71,868 in 2010; this is in addition to the salary they earn in the workplace.

Here’s a really cool thing you can give Mom on her special day – a customized paycheck – now you can’t put a price tag on your Mom, but Salary.Com is certainly giving it a go!

In Marketing, strong Brands are what it’s all about, so what you can you learn about brand marketing from Brand Mom? Here are 25 lessons (in no particular order) from where I’m sitting:

1. Have unconditional love for your family
2. Tell the truth, admit when you’re wrong and be truly sorry
3. Leave things and people better off than when you found them
4. Stand for something – Care
5. Clean up after yourself
6. Don’t be a blind follower – lead
7. Surround yourself with positive people
8. Do good work and be proud of your work
9. Perseverance – have resolve
10. Be a team builder
11. Be positive and enthusiastic
12. Be respectful and respect yourself
13. Be disciplined and follow through on execution
14. Keep your word – walk your talk
15. Servant leadership – serve others without looking for payback or PR
16. Smile, be nice and be courteous – say thank you and please
17. Speak up, speak clearly and write well
18. Say thank you and mean it
19. Plan ahead and be resourceful
20. Have faith, hope and dreams – think big
21. Know the value of a dollar – save money for raining days
22. Learn how to bounce and roll because you’ll fall and fail often
23. Sweat the details, but don’t sweat the small stuff
24. Be true to yourself – don’t be someone you’re not
25. Money isn’t everything, but Family is

Thanks Mom!

How about you? Anything to add?

Happy Mother’s Day Super Moms Everywhere!

However, when it comes to NHL hockey marketing, I’m a rabid fan. After the lockout season of 2004-05, the NHL has put forth an amazing marketing power play. The NHL has become more relevant, is skating with a cool, new swagger and is scoring huge marketing goals!

This New York Sports Journalism feature outlines several of the key marketing initiatives the NHL has embraced such as getting back to the roots of their game with the Winter Classic, embracing and communicating player’s unique stories, creating special events aligned with sponsor brand needs, taking full advantage of the 2010 Olympics in Canada, becoming an online category killer and more. Their social media strategy is a killer one too.

The NHL offers great marketing lessons to all brands in search of a comeback.

As an added bonus, here are a few mobile marketing insights from the Chicago Blackhawks featuring an SMS case study and the New York Rangers $1 million dollar mobile sweepstakes.

P.S.: More good news.  Brand NHL has got it’s groove back and introduces its cool new NHL iPhone App announced via NHL.Com

Go Pens!

If you’re wondering why your “family-based” marketing strategy isn’t working like it used to, maybe it’s because you’re treating everyone the same. Sure you should treat your customers the same with regard to being respectful and being nice, but your marketing should treat them different with uniquely targeted messaging, services and products.

Today, America is a big diverse nation of over 300 million, with no single dominating household arrangement. America’s “nuclear family” of today consisting of a married couple with their own kids is a prejudiced old-fashioned, out-of-date model often seen as the quintessential average American family.

In 1970, 40.3% of U.S. households were nuclear family ones, but today these households count for <25% of all American households. And consider these facts:

• Married couples without children count for 28.7% of households (bigger than nuclear ones)
• Single households – single persons residing alone – count for 25.5% of households
• Single male households are about 11% of all households

Telegram: There are no average American families – no average Joe’s or Joannne’s!

If your marketing is “family-based,” make sure you’re speaking the right language and using the right visuals. A big reason, this year’s big TV hit series and family comedy Modern Family is doing so well!

Giving people ample time to react and respond along with a respectful reminder works wonders too. Marketers forget that not everyone opens their email every day and often their addresses are personal (non business) and may only get opened once a week.

Email timing is critical to the success of a marketing campaign. And, deciding the right time of day, and the precise day to deploy your email message is as important as the message itself, but many brands don’t pay enough attention to timing.

You need to get the timing right because your message competes with every other message received by land line phone, mail, social media and smart phones.

Pivotal Veracity discovered that the average elapsed time between when messages are first sent to when they are first seen is growing to about 26 hours.

See their report here: pivotal_veracity_email_engagement_index_q1_q3_2009

In addition, another email marketing best practice involves testing.  Email testing is pretty easy to do and I continue to be amazed by the lack of it by brands of all sizes. eMarketer reports that only about 63% of Marketers test their email campaigns! Ugh!

According to a recent ExactTarget study, 40% of email marketers’ lists are unengaged recipients and another 44% have a low level of engagement.

Different strokes (messages) for different folks is key to having an engaged database.

So, what can you test?  What should you try? Well, just about anything and everything! Check out just some of the opportunities in this chart:

Marketers need to  maximize message relevance and avoid sending email subject matter to people who do not care to receive it.

Try creative copy split-run email tests by taking your list and divide it in half (or thirds) and simply test two/three different subject lines or calls to action or other features such as copy, design, offers or more.

Start testing your email marketing campaigns. It’s easy…just do it!