John Willshire: Love and Lifestrapping

John Willshire is wise. He reminds why I love what I do and why I am so optimistic and hopeful about marketing and branding. He talks about the people in a brand's community as Blacksmiths, not salesmen. He has a beautiful way of saying this on Smithery.co:

I woke up this morning to his great post: Love and Lifestrapping - Entrepreneurial Inspiration From #firestarters. It is a quick reflection on loving what you do. It also touches on themes I have written about like minimal viable marketing in a soulful way. Enjoy it. I did. 

Thanks, @willsh.

Something is Better than Perfect

When you dedicate much of your career to a service brand, imperfection is not a word to toss around lightly. You don't beta on customers who have carried your product for 20 years and have come to expect extraordinary relationship care, trust and security. But an amazing thing is happening with customer expectations. In some cases, I can see better sooner, customized, anticipated, fascinated and other factors are changing the mental math. In these cases, something is better than perfect.

It's amazing how liberating that notion is. How many times have you delayed writing an email response to your good friend because you wanted to wait until you had time to write something really special? And in delaying to write it perfectly, you end up insulting them because you didn't send anything for weeks. Then 25% of the letter turns into an apology. The same applies to marketing.

I love the popular notions of Minimal Viable Product and open-source methodology to release early, release often. It's smack dab in the middle of maker's culture and the concept of rapid prototyping. At it's heart, it means stripping away the noise and focusing on the customer need, solving it and learning in real life how to make it better. It doesn't mean fast, cheap and broken. Rather it uses minimalism and disciplined focus to make something better, sooner. It actually is about serving customers. Plus it starts creating momentum. Action begets action.

Tara @MissRogue Hunt, the founder of Buyosphere.com, wrote this so meaningfully. It is 10 lessons learned she is sharing with start up founders. But I believe the ideas here are powerful for marketers at large companies as much or even more so. It is super good.

The 10 Mistakes I've made...so you don't have to

This Gave Me Goosebumps

I had the delight of discovering @JoniGoldbach. It was in the midst of my mission to help marketers find their voice and step out from behind @BunnyBunny99. Joni is schooling all of us, even as she is starting her career. When I later sought her out in person, I learned that she has a great mentor. She told me she was quick to take their help, and she thanked them (+1 for the mentor!). But those aren't the not the only reasons why everyone should read this. Read it because this is marketing today. This is leading our industry. I couldn't possibly have said it better. Thank you, Joni and the posse of supporters who are rallied around you. 

Please Read It Now, Now, Now

Every marketer should read this. "Global replace" the words advertising agency with marketing team and clients with customers in your mind as you go. This manifesto Marketing at a Point of Change was written in 1994 by the team at HHCL, a very forward looking agency of the time based in the UK. I was still in school when it was written. Yet it is so true even now. If the trajectory of marketing change is a bullet, this feels like the gun that shot it. The bullet is still going and flying fast. One of my marketing heroes says the difference between old and young isn't age. It's that young, vibrant brands believe the future is better than the past ever was. I'm not looking backwards. I'm learning so we can propel forward. It inspires me to make things even better today and to write our manifesto for the future. Please read it now, now, now.

Better Service with Augmented Reality

I have become obsessed with the possibilities of technology like Blippar for service and branding. Blippar is a new app launched in Europe that uses the latest image recognition technology to make an advertisement itself a trigger for virtual content. In other words, it is a step toward more user-friendly augmented reality. Here is a demonstration (You can download the app in the US, but only UK brands have content at this time. So I haven't be able to use it firsthand yet):

Obviously, these are basic ads so far and 3D-ifying websites since it just launched. But think of where this could go to help customers. Marketers could re-imagine customer service. Imagine putting "help" videos and 3D images in context if people struggle to put shelves together! The help images could be triggered by the instructions or by the furniture pieces themselves. Imagine if a student studying with an SAT-prep guide could have inspirational Easter Eggs from other students cheering them on and sharing tips. Even more amazing, think if they aimed their phone where they were struggling and a teacher appeared to talk them through that problem.

Marketers could bring brand stories to life in the experience. Imagine scanning a menu and seeing it change from words to artful dishes and maybe even how the Chef prepares them. Imagine looking at chocolates in Whole Foods and being able to see the beautiful story of cacao harvested in Peru with a quick aim of the phone at the packaging.

I believe "creative" technology that dares to interrupt you has to be easy and quickly clear that it is worth it. That is one of the reasons I have struggled so far with inserting QR codes in an experience. But also why I am so optimistic about companies like Blippar and what marketers will be able to do with technology like this as it gets even better. I feel like it could be less about brand interruption and more about enhancement.

Thanks TNW Apps for your article that brought Blippar to my attention.