Imagine for a moment that the communication in question isn’t marketing. Imagine you’re at a social event, talking with a stranger you’d like to know. What will keep this stranger talking with you? Will allow him to become intensely interested in what you have to say?

Talk about a topic in which the other person is very interested. (“Oh! You collect spiders?”)

Not only BE truthful and sincere – project it. Interestingly, even when you ARE being genuine, people don’t always believe it, probably because they have been exposed to so much that is false.

Hear and respond to the other person. Answer his or her questions directly, rather than swerving back to what you wanted to say anyway. Eventually, you can get to your message, but don’t force the matter prematurely.

Inspire curiosity. Be interesting enough that the person wants to learn more, and to continue talking with you, and to resume the conversation another time as well.

Now – let’s get back to the discipline of marketing. The principles are the same, but the barriers are higher. When you have something for sale (or, shall we say, “skin in the game”) you face the challenge of appearing biased. Gosh, wonder why! So it’s all the more important to project that you are telling the truth. The type of communication we’ve described above is a slower, more authentic way to build relationships than old-school hit-me-over-the-head-with-it marketing. But IT WORKS. Banks and financial service companies need solid relationships with customers and clients. So do companies whose products require a major commitment of time or money, or a switch to a new technology platform. So does your company, I’ll bet.

Think about the many types of communication you employ – from speaking engagements to webinars, editorial coverage to white papers, social media to sales meetings. Each of these can be studied and, as necessary, retooled to more clearly and effectively speak in an authentic voice.

In a time when trust is rare and business is still recovering from a nasty year or two, is it worth your time to make sure your communications resonate? At vSA, we’re voting yes-absolutely-yes, and the nature of our clients’ communications increasingly reflects our focus on building trust as we build their brands and sales.

Real trust is hard to find.

Even disregarding the in-your-face reality that current economic instability was caused in part by shoddy business practices in the lending and investment markets, marketers during this or any recovery need to pay heed to the one factor more likely than any other to influence a prospect to become a customer.

Not price – it’s trust.

How the heck do you build trust, you may ask? In two words, Get Real. Everybody else is as tired as you are of being fooled again, and again.

How to Get Real and Earn Trust, genuinely.

•    Introducing a product or service? Don’t jump the gun. All too often, companies announce a new product… and it’s not ready when they’ve said it will be. You look foolish at best, incompetent at worst.
•    Provide valuable information. Yup, it can be hard work to say anything that hasn’t been said a zillion times. Every marketer knows this. (Hey, look, I’m writing about TRUST for heaven’s sake – not original for sure, but I believe it’s timely.) Consider some straight talk that’s not a pitch. Gasp. It can be powerful stuff. Using techniques that can include PR, newsletters, informative CDs, the Web, and more lets you position your company as an industry expert. It’s a great way – a REAL way – to build trust among customers and prospects.
•    Keep at it. Hey, don’t give up! It takes time to build trust. Reach out to the same audiences again and again. Keep the messages consistent – if you appear to be inconsistent, customers won’t trust you.
•    Consider testimonials. Real confirmation that others have delighted in your offerings is a confidence-builder for prospects.
•    Listen to your customers. If you survey them, let them know you’ve heard. If they have a concern, address it. If they request technical support, make sure that it is good and that it is prompt. Again, hard work for real results.
•    Know your market. The more you know about your customer’s business, the more that customer can rely on you for solid solutions.
•    Please advise. Whenever you can, use a consultative approach to sales and marketing. That is, inform and advise more than you push the sale. After all, products and services as good as yours practically sell themselves… okay, okay, maybe I’m getting too optimistic here.
•    That brings us to another point: Make sure the products and services you offer DO live up to their promises. Otherwise – poof – the trust is gone.

Is it just me, or is business getting extraordinarily complex?

Oh, it’s just me?

I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that. Because here’s my thesis: nothing is easy anymore. Only the strong will thrive. Just as jobs for low-skilled labor are as scarce as flowers on Mars (or has that changed, too?) successful careers for high-skilled professionals in marketing, technology, industry, and the like are not for the weak of spirit.

Top five reasons why Work is So Complicated Now:

5- The oversupply of really smart people, devising new stuff. Innovations are everywhere.

4- Global everything, with all the cultural differences, language barriers, legal obstacles, and heavy competition that brings. (Leben ist schwierig.)*

*Life is difficult (German).

3- TECHNOLOGY.

2- Related to #3, new communication techniques, and a startling abundance of information sources, some of them reliable. Who can possibly read it all? Or remember 50% of what one would like to know?

1- Energy. And I don’t mean alternative. I mean the kind that you and I need just to keep up, let alone lead the pack.

How does a marketing professional serve clients brilliantly, especially when staffing is short, budgets are tight, and careers can live or die by short-term ROI? Few people can glide by for too long anymore without hard work. (And yes, I suspect that once, in a faraway time, perhaps the 90s, some mythical ad people could do just that. Probably they had talent, or charm. Something like that.) In a profession that has at times received and on a few occasions even earned the dubious distinction of being composed of hot air (yes, marketing, unfair as that may seem) the air has cooled, at least for the moment.

Now, working smart is critical. Just for starters, keeping up with industry news and trends is a marketing must. At vSA, we’ve become selectively engaged with Twitter, for example. We can use it to quickly get the word out about news of interest to important editors and our clients’ prospects. We’ve also seen that our clients can sometimes benefit as much by having customers make positive comments about their products on Facebook and post engaging videos on YouTube as they do from certain trade shows. More than in the past, we feel the need to monitor even relatively recent vSA work to assure that it’s up to the minute: for example, some Web applications we created to help clients sell online four years ago need to be updated… already and probably not for the last time.

But we have an additional responsibility as well. Outside of subjects that are clearly “of our industry,” it’s become more incumbent than ever to follow world news, fast-changing consumer trends, the mood of the nation, the day-to-day state of various segments of the economy, and more. Today I learned something more about Total Recall, a Microsoft research project based on the prediction that an archive of an individual’s digital data, largely generated without much of that individual’s thought, through GPS, cell phones, cameras, credit cards, health records and everything else he or she does, will someday create a pretty comprehensive record of that person’s life… and will thus change the way humans use and recall memory. Concepts like that, when they achieve traction (aside from being in my opinion pretty creepy) are always appropriated by business and marketing interests. So we marketers need to know about them. I also learned today that some prominent economists are concerned that the Obama administration has lost its way in pushing for regulatory reform of the financial markets and that these same economists fear that another economic collapse may be just scant (really scant) years away. Mmmm, hope they’re wrong, but better bear it in mind.

My point is that to be truly excellent as a high-level consultant in marketing today requires vision, diligence in meeting world situations face-to-face and the energy to continue to understand the ways people want to communicate now – and what these people want and need to hear. No hot air.

Boston Consulting Group is just one of the voices we’ve heard recently warning us of the dangers for companies of becoming wildly optimistic in the face of a few positive economic signs. Its study Green Shoots, False Positives, and What Companies Can Learn from the Great Depression “warns CEOs to guard against the kind of hasty optimism – based on an excessive reliance on one or two promising indicators – that undermined some companies during the Great Depression” according to a press release from the firm.

American Public Media’s August 3rd Marketplace show featured a segment on navigating the upturn, in which Standard & Poors Chief Economist David Wyss says mistiming the end of the recession can be a fatal mistake. He warns that “The danger is that in some industries if you sort of stay in self-protect mode too long, you’re going to miss the upturn completely and end up losing market share. More companies go broke in the upturn than they do during in the recession.” However, he then goes on to say that he doesn’t think the fabled upturn has arrived yet. Hmmph, he’s probably right.

So, what’s a company to do? We ask our clients to separate risks too big to assume in uncertain times from sensible business moves that have a way-better-than-even chance of paying off. As a marketing firm, we’ve watched with dismay as some clients have chopped budgets and then complained about anemic sales. (In case you wonder, we ourselves have navigated through client budget cuts by taking on a larger number of clients, including a number of new ones, balancing out the reality that most companies are spending less than they did in 2008, and in some cases, probably less than in 1908.) We’ve used more media relations and other PR, more Web surveys, more grassroots marketing, and a lot fewer big splashy campaigns to get the job done for clients.

Where one Downturn Downfall comes in, we believe, is in paralysis. If revenues are shrunken, sure, reduce spending somewhat. But don’t cut off all your outreach or you will be forgotten by an uncaring world. And if your company can’t seem to decide what product to introduce in this tough market, or when to introduce the thing, GET TO WORK ON DECIDING. If sales are down, sell harder. Sweat still works if you combine it with smarts. The fact that the company down the street announces its sales are down 30 percent, or even the fact that your own company’s sales were down 45 percent last quarter, is not adequate reason to assume that you will inevitably match this depressing performance going forward. Expect more, just don’t spend all your mythical earnings yet.

The economy is an orchestra. It does take a combined effort to make sweet music, sure, and we’re an earplug-worthy cacophony right now. But each musician – from Acme Ant Traps to Toyota – has a singular part to play. Your mother was right. Practice your music longer each day, focus, be open to inspiration, and improve your – and all of our – performance.

We’re hiring. Just one position at present. The process has been interesting.

First off, we haven’t had as many applicants as usual, or as expected. We’re theorizing that people who have jobs are grateful to have them, and are avoiding the risks of moving on.

Among the applicants we’ve had, we’ve had several good ones, some okay and some… perhaps these few stand-out candidates were sent to us from “Hire the Unemployable.” We actually received a letter and resume from an applicant who mentioned, right up front, that he figured we were a#@h$les because we are located “in a good zip code” and that he wanted us to know (right up front!) that he would “speak his mind and not put up with any b#$llsh#t.” Hey! When can you start??

Others have made it to the interview, only to let us know one or more of the following:

1) they are trying to get an advanced degree in another specialty, to get out of this field because they’re tired of it

2) they have a strong interest in moving out of the area soon

3) their previous employers were fools (“The last guy always wanted me to look busy! Are you going to do that?”)

A tip for these job hunters: The interviewer is not your pal! Why are you telling her these things?

My sister Jen, who works in the education and job training field, says that, in addition to the many people laid off for purely economic reasons, employers may have used this recession as a way to clean house, thus releasing some loose cannon types into the environment.

Hiring is not for the timid. It never is. But weeding out some of the people you don’t want to face every morning is getting easier all the time. I guess it’s my turn to be grateful… for that at least.

At work… are you agonizing about reduced sales, lowered projections and the future in general? Fair enough; you’re not alone. At vSA, we regard this era as the right time to make sure we (our clients and ourselves) are ready for whatever comes next for this economy.

Marketing is much more than getting products and services in front of potential buyers, and now is an opportune time to step back, w-a-y back, in the process.

Perhaps you sell products for the building trades and business is terrible. Or you are a financial consultant, or an engineering firm.

Ask yourself some hard questions:

-Is business bad just because of the recession, or are there underlying forces at hand that go beyond economic cycles? Are our products still the best ones for the market? Are we delivering them well? Pricing them right? What’s our customer service like? What does the competitive arena look like now? Are people going to start buying this specific service again soon? Do we need to diversify? If so, how?

If these questions seem extreme, just imagine that you’re in the newspaper business right now. You’d be wishing you started responding to market change years ago! Hopefully, that’s not you. Hopefully, you have the time and resources to do this work right now, while it’s quieter and the phones are not always oh-so-tiresomely ringing off the hook.

Some tools to employ:

Do competitive research. Is someone else getting ahead of you? Diversifying intelligently? Changing their business focus? What can you learn?

Survey your customers. They can’t tell you everything, of course. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” (But at least he’d have known they wanted something faster.)

Do an environmental scan. What people and what processes can help you get where you’re going? Do you have the right staff, consultants, attitude? What needs to change?

Turn concern into proactive planning. Use this time for fresh thinking and an energized approach to the future.

Can we, as strategic planners, help? We welcome your questions and comments right here on the blog or through our office.

I ran into one of my bankers the other day, in the hallway, and we started to chat.

“It’s hard to get in front of people these days,” he said to me, “They don’t even want to talk.”

I knew what he meant. Unsure about what action to take next, some business people sink into inertia. When someone should at the very least be out front painting the sign, she is instead… moping?

Let’s travel back in time… to the Great Depression. While we’re at it, let’s have a bowl of cereal – from Kelloggs. Why Kelloggs? During the Depression, while Post was taking the “logical” course of pulling in its reins, Kelloggs doubled its ad budget, got on the radio and promoted the heck out of Rice Krispies. In fact, Snap, Crackle and Pop got their start in the 30s. By the time the economy recovered, Kelloggs was the predominant player. While market share was dwindling, Kelloggs grabbed more and more of it.

Can that work for your firm? Will top management allow it? What are your greatest concerns and hopes? We’d love to hear from you.

We’re seeing a difference in the way our various clients are marketing right now.

The entrepreneurial, smaller to mid-size companies are continuing to put up a good fight. They’re either marketing aggressively and continuously, or adding new capabilities such as Web sites to augment their sales efforts. Our largest corporate clients are, in some cases, a different story. More oriented toward detailed budgeting and do-or-die profit projections (as well as being observed by anxious shareholders) their marketing has been somewhat more cautious, with projects going on hold or reduced in scope, and decisions put off by higher-ups until the next quarter or so.

As marketers, of course we’re pro-marketing. You can’t hide your way out of a recession. Silence is NOT golden in this case. However, as strategists, we’re also sympathetic to the way different organizations must do business.

So… what’s quick, affordable and can yield results exciting enough to stimulate the next activity?

Create a single initiative to motivate your customers. Run an End the Recession Promotion. If customers buy a particular new product or open an account, you give them a related gift or incentive… or perhaps a second product free.

Get people together. There’s no better way to laugh in the face of adversity than to make clear that your company is not taking part in any further downturn. Mind you, this get-together is special. It’s one in which you make your new energy, direction or differentiation clear either through an important announcement, an incentive toward buying your newest and greatest offering or a funny and motivational speech directed toward the audience’s interests. Build relationships, and then follow up after the event.

Call the media! Do you have a new product, market or major initiative? Celebrate it with a press conference. Include (as appropriate) product demonstrations, a tour of the manufacturing facility or an introduction to the creative force behind the new idea… you know, like meeting Steve Jobs.

Do it online. Spring clean your Web site. Does your Web site bore even you? Does it look like your Uncle Leon designed it? The Web is very important now as your public face. Use it to inform, inspire, communicate, and (yes!) perhaps even sell. It’s an investment that will pay you back.

Become a thought leader. Write a bylined article (or we’ll do it for you) about where your industry, or its technologies, or consumer demand is going. Publish it in publications that your prospects read. Reprint it and send it out to prospects. Let your salespeople hand it out as yet more evidence of your expertise.

Start a GOOD newsletter. Let it convey what’s new, why customers are lucky to work with you, why now is the time to invest in what you want to sell. Do it at least twice a year. E-news or print… it’s up to you.

Partner with another company. You sell window treatments, they sell windows. For a limited time, customers who buy windows get a 40% discount on any of your fashionable designs!

Add your own idea here. Inaction isn’t useful, but daring outreach is. You’ll be glad, whether in three months, six or a year that you moved aggressively while others did not. What will work for you?

Words, conversational styles and mannerisms are important. There are people we look forward to talking with and people we don’t look forward to talking with. And sometimes to differences are so minor, it’s funny – e.g. do you cross the street to get away from me, or call just to hear my voice?

In a Difficult Economic Time Such As This, the importance of good interpersonal skills is even more pronounced than usual. Although, really, isn’t it nearly always better to be a person others enjoy being around?

Here, from the recent past, are some special moments from my friends and associates with people we don’t look forward to talking with:

One:

Prospect (asks the consultant a technical question)…

Consultant (answering question as simply and briefly as she suspects she really must in this case)

Prospect, no longer able to bear the sound of consultant’s voice, or said consultant’s response, or maybe suddenly needing very much to go to the restroom… impatiently says, “ANYWAY…”

Ouch.

Two:

We’re finalizing a sale, making (maybe not brilliant) points, but points nonetheless.

Prospect: “Okay. Shut up. You’ve made the sale.”

Us: “Oh. Thanks. Gosh.”

Three:

Visitor using most sympathetic voice: “I remember when you were younger and had cute little kids at home. NOW what do you do with yourself? Do you ever have any fun?”

Host: “Uh…” (thinking furiously, quite sure he does have fun but suddenly unable to retrieve the Fun File) “Um, sure, I guess!”

Urk.

More don’ts:

-Reminding people they’ve gained weight or look REALLY tired. Or just looking at them with a strange facial expression that says something like, “I forgot about the way your hair always looks so… you know…”

-Telling people who’ve had a tragedy that – hey! – you just heard about SOMEONE ELSE who had a tragedy!

-Moping about the economy and making sotto voice helpful comments like, “is it REALLY AWFUL at your company, too?” Try a more subtle line of conversation.

We can talk about the DOs, too, but I bet we’re not done with the DON’Ts. Are we??

By the way, you look great! Have you lost weight, or fallen in love?

Your message? Your message, please??

Ever find yourself in a situation where others are listening to what you have to say, giving it credence? Yikes. It’s probably even strange for President Obama, and it is certainly strange for me. When I was a little girl, a teenager and an adult, it occurred to me more than once that LISTENING could be a valuable way to learn from others, and so I did, sometimes, figuratively tape my mouth shut and accept input. It sounded something like this: “MMMMMmmmmMMMMM.” Listening can be difficult, at least for me.

Now, I can be surprised when what I have to say is regarded as valuable. Wow!! Recently, I began accepting and then seeking speaking engagements. My initial topic promised to be a difficult one – how I successfully navigated this business through the death of its other dynamic partner. Somehow, after a few runs though, I learned to integrate the natural humor in the story (yes, even here there is very funny stuff) and make the speech useful and relatively pain-free for my audience.

Then a surprising thing happened. I found I was learning from these talks. I realized that I had taken the business past the catastrophe but that my work isn’t nearly done. A changing business climate awaits and I need to look at how we best come face-to-face with a new world and solve marketing problems. (More on this later, when we have something worthwhile fun to say!)

Another surprising thing happened, when I channeled my odd sense of learning through talking into my consulting work with clients. I began to listen closely to my answers and to challenge them. I started to realize I had new ideas for their work and mine.

Note to self! This has turned out to be a lot of work! I’m no longer nearly satisfied with what I already know. I don’t feel like I can skim over difficult questions that may require physics (oooh), learning about new technologies that involve words like “Jaccard coefficient” or involving myself in the types of financial analysis that allow a business to grow and a business owner to take to her bed in a fake swoon, wishing she HAD finished started that MBA.

So, surprise to all you old friends who wished I would JUST SHUSH! Talking has been good for me. Listening is nice, too, especially since I’ve developed a wicked sore throat.

(Okay, I’m ready to listen again, please get the duct tape…) I’m curious – what’s made you learn something when you were not expecting to learn, maybe expecting to teach? And how do you most enjoy learning?