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LEVERAGING PASSION AND PERSEVERANCE TO SUCCEED
VOL. 7, ISSUE 4, JULY/AUGUST 2017 Brought to you by Shawmut Communications Group
FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE: Specialty Coatings, Tip-On Printing, and Variable Data...plus your chance to win! SPECIALTY COATINGS
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The article Neuromarketing and Print, which first appeared in the May/June issue of Tactics (and was recently published on our blog), highlighted why people respond so favorably to the physical nature of print. Here is some of the research*: • Print requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media • Recall for print ads is 70% higher than digital • Consumers are motivated to purchase by print 48% more than digital channels Learn more and get samples at: tiny.cc/shawmutcoatings
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*a study sponsored by Canada Post and performed by Canadian neuromarketing firm TrueImpact
THE FUTURE IS NOW Automation has disrupted a great deal of the manufacturing world. That’s a fairly obvious trend. But what may be a little less clear is that automation is also upending the “knowledge economy,” too.
for our careers. In turn, a commitment to reinvention and constant learning will be required for sustainability. It is a stressful and challenging time, but the marketer who embraces change and continues to learn will win.
A recent study by McKinsey Global Institute looked at seven categories of high-end knowledge workers—doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists, teachers, etc.—and found large portions of their roles susceptible to displacement by machines. The study shows that knowledge work automation tools and systems could take on tasks that would be equal to the output of 110 million to 140 million full-time workers. It highlights the idea that the rate at which we are digitizing commerce makes this a remarkably critical time in our history.
We hope that Tactics Magazine continues to provide insight you can apply in business and beyond. It’s part of our commitment to continuously learn and challenge the status quo. Enjoy this issue and share it with your peers. In the meantime, have a great rest of the summer. Warmest wishes,
Michael Peluso President
It is becoming apparent that we can no longer rely on one job, one company or even one industry to carry us
Inside this Issue
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GRIT: Leveraging passion and perseverance to succeed
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DID YOU KNOW?
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EXPERT Q&A: How to Disrupt the Market and Win
The power of grit and why work ethic can produce more than raw talent.
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SCALING INTIMACY: Partners Help Brands Develop Real Customer Relationships While technology can help brands amplify their message, learn how partnerships can turn those messages into more meaningful relationships.
A roundup of the latest data and trends across marketing disciplines.
An interview with Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger, co-founders of Motto, a group of brilliant strategists, writers, designers and developers who craft brands that disrupt and win.
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inor league baseball players make unreasonable sacrifices, or that’s what it looks like to the rest of us. They work for less than the average pizza delivery person and their chances of getting into the big leagues are slim— only one in 33. It is true grit that keeps these athletes focused on reaching their goals. Many of our country’s entrepreneurs and leaders have subscribed to the notion of grit. For example, Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States once said: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination
LEVERAGING PASSION AND PERSEVERANCE TO SUCCEED
alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.” Thomas Edison, the inventor, provides another example when he stated that, “Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” You get the point and the essence of true grit. It’s a passion and perseverance that yields success.
GIVING A MAJOR LEAGUE EFFORT Although true grit is natural to some, it can look scary to others. “To the outsider looking in, it would appear that the ‘gritty’ person is obsessive, willing to make unreasonable sacrifices and singularly focused,” says Doug Hirschhorn, Ph.D., CEO of Edge Consulting, a firm specializing in coaching portfolio managers at elite hedge funds. “But
“IDENTIFY WHAT IS TRULY IMPORTANT TO YOU. TAKE THE TIME TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MATTERS TO YOU MOST ABOVE ALL ELSE – WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?” – DOUG HIRSCHHORN, PH.D., CEO, EDGE CONSULTING
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from the gritty person’s point of view, it is their normal. They do not view it as being obsessively focused or making unreasonable sacrifices.” This is certainly the new normal for C.J. Stewart whose major league baseball career ended quickly, admittedly because he lacked core values, discipline, and accountability. However, through perseverance, determination, and a whole lot of grit, C.J. rewrote his story by dedicating himself to young players with similar dreams. Today, as one of the top baseball player development professionals in the country, author, motivational speaker, and the co-founder of L.E.A.D. Atlanta, he helps motivate young Black males by converting their raw talent into the skills required to earn positions of leadership in business, education and government. When C.J. is out on the road speaking to businesses and other
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organizations, he talks about his past and how his mistakes had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with effort. C.J.’s inspiring story of grit speaks to the necessary traits we all need in order to reach our personal and professional goals.
PARTICIPATION AND HARD WORK ARE NOT THE SAME THING “Grit is a commitment to long-term goals and to work toward those things, even in the face of discouragement, setbacks, or no progress,” says Ed Etzel, ED.D., a professor and licensed psychologist for the West Virginia University Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and former Olympian. Etzel says the renowned psychologist Alfred Adler (18701937) talked about providing encouragement to people to spur hard work. Are we talking about the
defamed participation trophy? No, we’re talking about fuel to drive the employee to work hard. “What we are talking about is motivation,” Etzel says. “Adler talked about providing encouragement, which is not only providing attention to what a person is doing, but recognizing effort as much, if not more, than outcome. That’s difficult in the business world because business is a bottom line kind of thing.”
ALWAYS HUSTLE UP THE LINE Etzel has an issue with the noted—and fictional— psychoanalyst from Star Wars, Yoda who would say, ‘Do or Do Not Do. Do not try.’ But Etzel says, “There is a lot to try. We all know about Pete Rose a.k.a. ‘Charlie Hustle’. He may not have gotten the single every time, but he hustled to first base. You recognize this in an employee and it may
“GRIT IS A COMMITMENT TO LONG-TERM GOALS AND COMMITMENT TO WORK TOWARD THOSE THINGS, EVEN IN THE FACE OF DISCOURAGEMENT AND SETBACKS, OR NO PROGRESS.” – ED ETZEL, ED.D., WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS
provide a reinforcement to continue to hustle. There is something there that is building grit.” Why does grit matter so much in the workplace, field or gym? “Because I think there are environments of achievement,” Etzel says. “They expect to win, they expect to profit, and they are going to face adversity.” Grit is vital in the labor market because of changing technologies. Graphic designers first worked in print. Then they worked on web sites. Then they worked on mobile
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platforms. Technology kept changing. The required skills kept changing. It is grit and determination that helps an employee say, “Ok, this is changed. I need to adapt. It is going to take some sweat. I have that skill, the skill to sweat.”
SO HOW DO YOU DEVELOP TRUE GRIT? Hirschhorn says it’s important to establish a process and commit to a daily routine of steady progress. Unreasonable expectations can derail a person’s intentions pretty quickly.
Hirschhorn also advises people to document failures. By keeping a record, you can avoid repeating the same mistakes. But this final piece of advice might be the most crucial of all. “Increase your level of selfawareness so you better understand yourself, how you think and how you learn,” says Hirschhorn, who also is an author and frequent contributor to NBC, CNBC, CNN, MSNBC and Bloomberg. “Identify what is truly important to you. Take the time to figure out what matters to you most above all else—what are you passionate about? Everyone is passionate about something. If you don’t know, then you have not had enough life experiences or spent enough time thinking about it.”
WAYS YOU CAN TELL IF SOMEONE HAS TRUE GRIT
1 Strong, singular passion—to the point of obsession—about something. 2 Willingness to make unreasonable personal and professional sacrifices to achieve the goal. 3 Would others describe him/her as tenacious (determined)? 4 Does he/she have a history of showing resilience to setbacks?
5 Ability to stay focused on a specific task, goal or concept over extended periods of time (days, weeks, years). 6 Does he/she have a delay gratification mindset? (Willingness to forgo the smaller sooner rewards for the larger later benefits.) SOURCE: DOUG HIRSCHHORN, PEAK PERFORMANCE COACH AND CONSULTANT
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SCALING INTIMACY
PARTNERS HELP BRANDS DEVELOP REAL CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS By Michael J. Pallerino
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obert Glazer knows that almost every company can benefit from creating more sustainable partnerships. As the founder and managing director of Acceleration Partners, Robert has made it his business to understand the role direct-to-consumer interactions play in marketing and business development practices. With a client list that includes some of the world’s biggest brands (Adidas, eBay, Reebok, Target, to name a few), he has seen how successful partnerships enable brands to create more intimate and profitable relationships with customers. So, how do you build your brand and create intimacy with your community? It’s a question Glazer has had to answer a lot. “Consumers are much savvier about marketing messaging than they were even five years ago,” says Glazer, who also is author of ‘Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing.’ “They are dubious about what a person or company says about themselves as opposed to what someone else says about them.”
LEVERAGING YOUR RELATIONSHIPS The reality is that people don’t trust what brands say about themselves anymore. Today’s consumers want to see companies that mirror their own values and beliefs. They don’t want to hear brands talk about themselves and why they’re so amazing.“Intimacy is about a mutual give and take,” says Brandon Smith, an adjunct faculty
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“NO ONE LIKES BEING SOLD TO, BUT THEY DO LOVE TO BUY THINGS THEY WANT AND NEED BASED ON RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OTHERS WHO THEY KNOW/LIKE/TRUST.” – ROBERT GLAZER, FOUNDER OF ACCELERATION PARTNERS AND BRANDCYCLE
member at Emory University in Atlanta and founder of The Workplace Therapist. “It is about sharing needs and wants with another person so that one is truly known. It requires vulnerability and openness. And, more importantly, it requires interaction with another human being. Intimacy is a 1:1 ratio. This is why scaling is so difficult.” In our overly saturated digital world, most brands turn to technology to help them grow. Expand your communications reach, and you will be able to grow your brand and relationships, right? While technologies like variable data printing and marketing automation platforms have certainly helped brands generate a steady flow of communications and brand awareness (and they are still very important to the overall marketing mix), they alone are not enough to build trust and intimacy with consumers. If you want to scale your brand, building content partnerships is critical. Content creators already have the relationships that you want to build with your audience. Because they don’t officially represent the brand, consumers are more willing to get to know them, like what they have to say, and trust their opinion. This “know/like/trust relationship” is difficult for brands to establish on their own despite large investments in content marketing and technology designed to create personalized communications with existing and prospective consumers. “If a consumer is hiding behind his social media page, your best bet at “IF YOUR CUSTOMER DOES connecting with him authentically NOT TRUST YOU, OR FEELS and intimately is through content THAT THEY ARE NOT BEING RESPECTED, YOUR BUSINESS IS publishers (affiliates, influencers), as AS GOOD AS DEAD.” opposed to banner or display ads,” – MAYUR RAMGIR Glazer says. “Through affiliate and influencer marketing, those consumers are primarily coming to content creators to get the information—via blogs, Instagram feeds, Facebook pages, etc. So you can connect with those consumers by leveraging partnerships with people they know/like/trust.”
CONSUMERS VALUE TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST In the end, trust and respect are the pillars that help brands scale. Without these attributes, Mayur Ramgir says there would be no reason for a brand to try relationship building. “If your customer does not trust
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“INTIMACY IS ABOUT A MUTUAL GIVE AND TAKE. IT REQUIRES VULNERABILITY AND OPENNESS. AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, IT REQUIRES INTERACTION WITH ANOTHER HUMAN BEING.” – BRANDON SMITH, THE WORKPLACE THERAPIST
out business cards to offer preferences for personalized service on future visits. “All of these extras are emblematic of developing a close friendship with your customers,” Ramgir says. “Going above and beyond the transaction to demonstrate that you care for your customers is so important.” you, or feels that they are not being respected, your business is as good as dead,” says Ramgir, an awardwinning author, speaker, innovator, and president and CEO of Zonopact Inc. As examples, Ramgir says to look at how brands such as Zappos and Capital Grille build intimacy with their customers. Rather than leave its customers hanging during the purchasing process, Zappos recommends up to three competitors whenever they’re out of stock on an item. The strategy shows that its business is not just about the money, but instead offering a reliable service. And if you dine in a Capital Grille, watch as the servers hand
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In some ways, one might argue that large corporations such as Amazon are better at keeping records, which actually can create a certain level of intimacy. For example, while you might like visiting your local bookstore, if the person behind the counter doesn’t know or remember your preferences, there’s no intimacy. On the other hand, sites such as Amazon always know what a user might like and make recommendations accordingly. “Keeping that in mind, it’s clear the next wave of scaling intimacy will without a doubt be a combination of the two,” Ramgir says. “And even if it is not realistic to scale intimacy, it should at least be the goal.”
WAYS TO BUILD BETTER REALATIONSHIPS
1 Research the people who have influence on your brand and products —people who already like your brand.
4 Develop personalized, one-to-one marketing programs for them to leverage.
2 Engage them in a strategic, scalable way through a coordinated program and technology.
5 Track their performance and compensate them accordingly, again, using real-time tracking technology.
3 Coach them on your brand and ensure your objectives align with theirs.
SOURCE: Robert Glazer, author, “Performance Partnerships: The Checkered Past, Changing Present and Exciting Future of Affiliate Marketing”
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insights
Did You Know?
PRINT AMONG PREFERRED CHANNELS FOR CONTENT MARKETING DISTRIBUTION Are you winning in the content marketing game? According to the “B2B Content Marketing: 2017 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends – North America” study, 62 percent of marketers are reporting more success from their strategies. The real key, marketers say, is in the delivery. HERE’S A LOOK AT THE CHANNELS THEY PREFER FOR DISTRIBUTING THEIR CONTENT:
91% EMAIL 71% LINKEDIN LEVERAGING PASSION AND PERSEVERANCE TO SUCCEED
58% PRINT
VOL. 7, ISSUE 4, JULY/AUGUST 2017 Brought to you by Shawmut Communications Group
56% YOUTUBE 55% TWITTER 40% SLIDESHARE 38% FACEBOOK 30% INSTAGRAM 16% GOOGLE+
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The study, conducted by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, queried 2,562 marketing executives from around the globe.
emails received FRIDAYS have highest average opening rates of
18.2%
Best Days To Send Emails It’s the mother of all email campaigns and you are ready to send it. But what’s the best day? When can you get your best bang for the send? According to Yes Lifecycle Marketing’s “Email Benchmark Report: The New Age of Email Marketing,” emails received on Fridays have the highest average open rates (18.2 percent), while emails received on Saturdays have the highest average conversion rate (3.6 percent).
emails received SATURDAY have highest average conversion rates of
3.6%
The report was based on first quarter data from 7 billion emails sent by brands in 10 vertical marketings: B2B, consumer services, CPG, entertainment, financial services, hospitality/travel, insurance, publishing, retail/wholesale and technology.
THEY SECOND THAT EMOTION The percent of marketers who say that personalizing content is one of the most effective account-based marketing tactics, according to Ascend2’s “AccountBased Marketing Survey Summary Report.” The report, based on queries to 305 marketers in B2B, B2C and hybrid B2B-B2C firms, also shows that 45 percent cite identifying high-value existing accounts as a valuable approach, while 42 percent believe in creating account-specific campaigns.
cite identifying highvalue existing accounts as a valuable approach
believe in creating account-specific campaigns
What really grabs your consumers’ attention? What makes them want to be a part of your brand? According to CustomerThermometer’s “Connecting with Companies” report, 65 percent say they emotionally connect with brands that make them feel like they care about people like themselves. The report, based on data from a survey of 1,000 adults in the United States, also says that 55 percent of consumers make an emotional connection when they feel like a brand is making a positive difference, while 45 percent say they connect when they feel like the brand gets them.
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JULY/AUGUST 2017 12 Shawmut Register for an account at www.shawmutdelivers.com/tools/shawmut-insight or call us at 978-762-7500.
Trending with... Why is disrupting the norm still so important for brands today? Brands that disrupt categories win. The truth is most companies don’t bother to push the envelope and invest in brand as a total company experience. You have an advantage knowing that most companies are too lazy to do the hard work, so why not take your company to the next level? It’s important for brands to not be chained to the status quo and work to carve out a unique position in the market by going against the grain. The world doesn’t notice the average, the ordinary or the common. They notice the standouts, the rare ones. They pay attention to the ones who do things differently and make their hearts beat faster. How can brands that do not typically practice in disruption get started? Start by understanding that in order to win, you can’t play like other people play. You can’t think like everyone else. You have to change the way you think about brand and its importance to the success of your company. Brand can’t be left to the marketing department. It’s an inside out job and you have to notice opportunities and seize them. That’s how you disrupt categories. What’s the secret? Don’t settle for mediocrity. Where does the journey to being the perfect brand truly begin? It starts with leadership and from within the organization. By understanding who you are and by defining the
Interview with Sunny Bonnell & Ashleigh Hansberger, co-founders of Motto
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heir beginnings were about as humble as it gets. Sunny Bonnell and Ashleigh Hansberger were in the early 20s. Young entrepreneurs with $250 in their collective bank account and big dreams of making a difference in the work they created. It was 2005, in a tiny 14x14 room in an industrial warehouse, where Bonnell and Hansberger kicked into motion the vision that eventually would become Motto. Today, Motto is a passionate team of strategists, writers, designers and developers that have gained a reputation of disruptors with a penchant for winning. Bonnell and Hansberger’s insights can be found across Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, CNBC, and scores of others. We caught up with them to get their take on how to become a world-class disruptor.
purpose, vision and values of the organization, you can connect those core truths to everything you do as a company. That’s the foundation for every great brand.
What are three things that every good marketer should do today? Ask these questions: What is your greatest vision? Why does your story matter? How will you succeed?
What’s the best advice you can give today’s marketers? Do you have the vision? Do you have the discipline it takes to overcome any obstacle? And, do you have authenticity, or proof that everything you do and say is a true expression of why you exist, and is clearly understood by your audience? That’s how you know you’ll succeed. You can’t have vision, but not discipline or authenticity. You must have all three.
“BRANDING CAN’T BE LEFT TO THE MARKETING DEPARTMENT. IT’S AN INSIDE OUT JOB AND YOU HAVE TO NOTICE OPPORTUNITIES AND SEIZE THEM.”
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