Creativity and Innovation

Hey gang … You know, it isn’t that often that I come across people who understand the [game-]score. My background is in technology & project management — I guess that ‘history’ would put me in the “reliability” side of Martin’s (2007) graph. I decided I’m schizophrenic. My design stuff generally involves out-of-the-box applications of ‘reliable‘ components or technology. Lots of my peers grew-up in an expanding market; by implication their/our perceptions were formed with a focus on Martin’s validity

Including Design in Business

Design in Business, Roger Martin (2007).

I like this explaination, it unfolds some possible reasons behind a lot of curious project outcomes I’ve seen and others we’ve all hear about. I’m sure. Why didn’t ‘that’ on-target’ concept fly?

Martin offers five strategies each for business (reliability) types and marketing (validity) types to engage when talking to each other.

		Reliability focus	Validity focus
1.	Welcome …	Design unfriendliness, as a Design Challenge.	Reliability unfriendliness, as a Core (Management) Task.
2.	Empathise with	Design unfriendliness	Reliability unfriendliness
3.	Speak the Language of …	Reliability	Validity
4.	Share …	Use analogies and stories	Present data and reasoning; NOT conclusions.
5.	Bite-off the …	Smallest-bit to generate a proof of righteousness	Biggest-thing (you can afford) to risk failing.

Innovation is needed to keep afloat. I’m not saying “to be ahead“. Design and creativity are essential for 21st Century sustainability and survival. You might also be interested in Roger’s 2009 economic outlook comments. W I S H

Sharing the Love [product]

This is a quick spot, because life has been happening all around me recently. My big news is I am newly married again. Paradoxically, the title is mercenary and has nothing to do with my emotional state. Interested?

The Share-the-Love vision comes from a friend of mine, and in her case she wanted to see something like an ‘business orchestra’ model.

Where the cellists don’t attempt to blow trumpets. A community based ‘business ecology’ where the flautist wasn’t given a kettle drum to play!

What would your orchestra sound like if the talented people were not playing their instruments? How would your favourite band or singing group sound if they randomly swapped instruments or parts?

Share-the-Love … works like this. You love playing rhythm guitar. Your buddy loves to drum, and she knows someone who has a great voice and another dude who plays double-base. Cool, because if they all like similar sounding music and have fun together, we have the core to start a pretty wicked musical combo. Now think businesses, think about your business idea!

You or your product(s) are ‘great rhythm guitar players’, in your field or product category. You may even write great songs, and harmonies. Are you an accountant or bookkeeper? Are you a marketing person, a paralegals or even a business manager too? Would you be a great ‘rhythm guitarist’ if you spent your relaxation playing guitar, or if you read a business magazine?   ‘Hullow!’

Share-the-Love …is like this.  You love what you do; share that. You don’t like bookkeeping; then find a bookkeeper who loves keeping the books.  Share your love of what you do with the bookkeeper who loves what she/he does!

Do unto others what that other would have you do; unto them.

[… As always, do for betterment, not for harm.]

Money?  Yes, I’m saying the ‘money’ is a number you give mr or ms bookkeeper that says “I love what you do, $50 an hour.” As a quick spot, I won’t expand this now.  Let it soak in, and bounce around a bit.  I’d really LOVE a bit of conversation in the comments.  Because this is just a ‘seed‘.

What do I get for my $50 of love?  A free Thursday night to read my daughter a bedtime story, instead of trying to figure out how to balance that wretched Accounts Payable (for example).  In the words of a famous promotion; $100 to get the books done; quality time with daughter — Priceless.

One final thing, because mbimarketing is about your marketing.  Your product is your supply-chain as much as it is your service or tangible package.  The Beatles sold “love, fun and individuality” they never sold records.

How do you decide who to share your love with?  Choose people who love or (rather) admire what you do,  and love what they do.  Share-the-Love with people who will in turn Share-the-Love.

Let it bounce around.  I reckon I have over a million reasons this makes sense; it always did.  Some how culturally we lost track of it; kill or be killed doesn’t include your ‘team mates’ and ‘potential team mates’.

Your aim ought to be creating a Champion Team. (Not a team of champions).  Be there for each other :: Share-the-Love.

W I S H

Customer Engagement [place]

Business is no more different to other human activities of sport, non-peace (i.e. war), hunting, property ownership, or social networking. Each endeavour has a rhythm or slumps, gains or ‘steady as she goes’. There will be trends. There are one-hit wonders. There’s the ‘fashions’ that work for awhile. Sometimes there might be a ‘Global Financial Crisis’ (GFC), a ‘South Seas Bubble’, a ‘Great Depression’, or the  ‘Panic or 1797‘.

What’s this got to do with “customer engagement“?  These days, I begin with word pictures by asking, is there something new under the Sun?  This time, the answer is both “yes” and “no” … Sometimes it is no-way-no-how~blink~off!”, or in English, “What does this have to do with ‘me’ or ‘my business’?”

Fashions and trends are the leading-edge of ‘innovations’.  Innovations are the short-tail of your industry-segment‘s future.  We know that ‘innovations’ come and some ‘innovations stay’ long enough to be the short-tail for YOU.

‘Engagement’ is availability imho.  My “customer engagement” perspective is that ‘engagement‘ equals location, location is access, and place (access is place, place, place, and place …).  By entertaining an idea that “engagement” is a promotion; I expect ‘customer engagement’ for folk wading in that same stream can find it frustrating that ‘advertising‘ has more or less the same effectas talkin’?  Dunno, personally.  ‘Advedrtising’ is an investment in a behavioural change (explicitly BUYING, sometimes it will be eating, exercise or supporting  censorship on the internet).

As an aside: I make no apology for supporting Free Speech outside business and always reserve my right to reserve my opinion on thoughts by others.

an ‘innovation‘ in your business’ market.   I find small-business either over- /under- innovate rather than find a balance. I began by typing, that your business “needs to be effective” — What the heck does that MEAN?!!

In ‘customer engagement‘ … Your key as a business asset is about creating your value:  —  Web site, Business, Shopfront, Party plan,  Market stall ::   Advertising #1.

• Today’s advert. is tomorrows kitty litter.

Moore’s notion (not a law) not withstanding,  publicity oriented customer engagement is worth as much as tomorrow’s kitty litter until your operation wants to utilise the valuable communication seeds that publicity offers you to develop deep relationships, trust and later engagement.

Ratz!   I think I said that advertising with no unerlying Engagemetn or Relationship building process to back it up and make it VALUABLE … is not as good as flushing money down the toilet — Definitely much less effective than letting Worthy Social Programmes benefit from the same ‘so called’ million dollar advertising budget.

(oops) … Effective marketing communication is not necessarily an expensive engagement.  it is about YOUR Customer.  Are you a little cynical; it is going to be about how much your customer spends (in proportion to your cost of a sale).

Customer Engagement is about cultivating your interest in your customers and managing your time and other resources.

Engage!

Optimal Customer Service [product]

“Maximise market opportunities“

(“Very Small Business“, ABC, 2009)

There is a saying:

“The only good deal is one where both sides are happy.“

Are you free? [price]

… And the joke response to this question is “No.  I’m expensive but I have time to help with your problem.”

Let’s face it, there’s no such thing as free lunch.   It follows that your customer knows you should take money for your item or service.  Here’s a couple of things worth you remembering.

First, a client called me with a great quote on their web site — You may know the deal a fixed number of pages for cost of a few newspaper ads (or less).  I said web guy should charge more.

At this point the client’s business associate spoke up with, “Why should we care?!”  To the associate low-price was an attraction.  I believe that ultimately you get what you pay for. I don’t believe the associate had a mental value of the web site idea.

That happens, one reason for this is that the web site’s business value and business potential was never guess-timated by said client until I became involved.  When the value of your purchase is unknown, vague, or personal (as in this case), you can use the “cheap-helps-choose” policy to avoid doing your marketing homework.

• Your web site can be a great asset for a business, or your worst enemy.
• You customer gives you 10 seconds to be interesting.
• Put your web site to work for you, integrate it with your marketing programme.

You as ‘client’ need to pay enough to cover the time your web developer will needs to consult with you about the web site’s business contribution.

• You need a great (enough) web site to deliver public message.

If there’s no free lunch, there will be a direct cost in the gap between the “low price” and what you needed to pay to match your web site’s business performance goals.

What does this say about your own prices?  Do you sometimes choose for your customer to pay some of the value in time or frustration so that you can offer lower dollar number?

• Look at the customer-value you supply, and
• The price you set.

Your marketing begins with your understanding how valuable your thing is to your customer.  If your price is below the customer’s value, gently remind your customer of the extra value that comes from dealing with you.

Get free — Exchange value …