We are in the problem-solving business

Advertising used to be so easy: You write a cool tagline, develop a cool commercial, make sure all communications surrounding the commercial is integrated and then hope for the best. You worked for a great agency when you were thinking about the client goals throughout the creation process. You worked for a mediocre agency when everybody just cared about the awards and recognition. And you worked for a real crapshop when everybody was just thinking about their paycheck.

Ob boy, things have really changed. Now, agencies have to deliver experiences that improve people’s lives and, at the same time, make sure to help their clients with the bottom line. Thinking about awards shouldn’t even make the Top 10 list anymore.

In the old days, we tried to build emotional connections through funny 30-second sketches and innovative imagery. Today, we build emotional connections by helping people solve their problems: The widget displaying real-time traffic on your desktop, easing your commute and saving nanoseconds because you don’t have to type the URL. The Pizza Builder that makes the ordering process less arduous and so much more enjoyable. The Facebook CarPool application that helps people to connect with each other to reduce the their carbon footprint and get from A to B quicker.

The flashy ad doesn’t work anymore. People have moved on a while ago. Today, businesses build emotional connections  through utility. Make my life easier, more enjoyable, more experiential. Give me stories and memories to share, develop something special for me. Show that you understand me. Show that you don’t want to pollute my life with more noise. Show that you care about me. That’s how you develop connections and relationships.
And make people care about you.

Connections are vital

Good leaders and sales people have known this forever: A sense of connection makes a huge difference. Connections make or break your job interview. Connections help organizations in their collaboration and innovation efforts. Connections help people to feel better about themselves and make it through hard times.

Management 101 focuses on the employee-employer relationship alone. Recognition and respect are the keywords for a mutually rewarding relationship. While businesses continue to build relationships with people, they end up being too focused on transactions and re-purchase rate.

Instead, businesses need to focus on valuable and open relationships with people.
Valuable not in the sense of ROI (It’s a by-product, not the ultimate goal), rather as an understanding of the universal nature of people and the appreciation of individual contribution. Just taking the time and effort to connect with people is a valuable asset for businesses.  Kindness, fairness and social intelligence go a long way to achieve valuable connections.

These valuable connections will thrive in an open environment. An honest and safe place where people can share their opinion in order to gain understanding and develop new ideas. Nothing feels better to humans than being respected and recognized.

Using Jim Collins’ terminology:  Good companies value their employees and encourage open dialogue. Great companies extend this valuation and openness to everybody. You need the employee-business foundation before you can extend this model to your marketing.

Remember: Conversational Marketing is not a tactic. It’s a mindset that will change your business in magical ways.

Looks like a heart, doesn’t it? KevinRoberts would love it.