A Few Strong Words…

I’ve been struggling with the direction of this blog since the beginning. Well, maybe struggling is too harsh. Pondering, perhaps.

At first, I had it on my now-defunct StrongWhitePapers website, simply because I had just designed the website and work-flow-wise, it just made sense to add it to that site. I thought at first I’d write about white papers, but I didn’t want to be too limited in my scope. After all, I offer many services, not just white paper writing.

Now that I’ve centralized everything including my blog on my main website, the question still hangs out there. Do I write about writing? Do I write about marketing? Do I write about purple widgets? I’ve written about all of them so far. But I think I want to start homing in on a niche topic.

What all of these things have in common — and indeed what many blogs dance around but not delve into — is creativity. This is a topic that really interests me. What is creativity? How do we “unleash” our creativity? Do you have to be “creative-type” to be Creative?

Linda Naiman, an expert in arts-based learning, described creativity as the act of turning ideas into reality. “If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative,” she says.

That’s an interesting concept. You have to build on an idea — you have to create. Seems kind of obvious, when you think about it. But that is one key way that we are different from (most) of the other animals on this planet. Our ability to see the possibilities and form our reality based on what we can imagine is at the heart of what makes us human.

Of course, this is going down too much of an anthropological path. I want to find out how creativity helps us in everyday life, mostly as it pertains to the workplace. I want to find those nuggets of creativity that make our world a better place, and find out how we all can inject our own creativity.

I hope you all come along for the ride. I think it will be interesting at the very least.

But in the meantime, what does creativity mean to you? Let me know in the comment section below!

~Graham

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From the beginning, Apple was IT chic – a phrase that would be an oxymoron with any other company.

When I was growing up, everyone wanted an Apple II. But it wasn’t cheap: at about $1,200, most of us settled for the widely popular Vic-20 and/or Commodore 64 instead.That didn’t stop us from wanting one though.

During the 1984 Superbowl, Apple unveiled its Macintosh computer with an unforgettable ad showing a colourful Olympian throwing a hammer at Big Brother’s screen, changing the world forever.

It also forever-solidified the image of Apple vs. IBM (now embodied with Microsoft and the generic “PC”). Apple was colourful, exciting, fun. IBM was not.

Soon after that landmark commercial, Steve Jobs left Apple – quit, or was about to be fired, take your choice – and the company entered its own form of the Dark Ages. Some hardcore Apple lovers, mostly musicians and graphic designers, hung on. Market share was abysmal though, hovering around 3-5% by the mid-90s.

Then Steve Jobs came back, first as a consultant and then as the interim CEO. Reportedly, after the takeover he drifted into the boardroom in his shorts, t-shirt, and 3-day stubble and asked the BOD: “What’s wrong with this company?” After resounding silence, he offered: “The products. What’s wrong with the products?” More silence. “The products SUCK!” he shouted. “There’s no sex in them anymore!”

The sexy Apple is back now more than ever. With its long-running “I’m a Mac, and I’m a PC” ads, the truth is painfully clear on the TV screen. Mac is cool, hip, and yes, sexy, while PC is rigid, square, and mundane. In short, it is IT chic vs. IT geek.

So what is it about Apple that makes it one of the sexiest companies out there, IT or otherwise?

It can be broken down into two broad reasons: creating a strong, consistent perception over the decades, and delivering beyond expectations.

The Art of Apple’s Perception

Let’s be honest: Steve Jobs is the heart and soul of Apple. His departure left Apple floundering, and his return was like the second coming. And it’s his vision that drives both the products and the marketing of those products.

The problem with the computer industry as a whole is that most of the players are self-absorbed. The race to the faster chip, more memory, bigger storage, etc. etc. etc. The difference with Apple – and Steve Jobs – is that the emphasis is more on how the customer is going to use that technology. Joe Plumber does not care that his computer is 2.2 Ghz with 3GB RAM and a 320 GB hard drive. He wants to be able to schedule appointments, do the books, AND listen to some music on his computer with as little fuss as possible.

Apple gets this. Although the company may have suffered because it didn’t “open up” its computer to generic vendors like IBM did, it gains in the fact that it has total control over the programs that run on Apple. The result: fewer software conflicts, fewer crashes, and overall an easier experience for the user.

And there it is, the two little words that define Apple: user experience. We have been trained to think of computers as doing the work for us. In fact, we “touch” our computers as little as possible – it is the virtual world, not the real world.

Apple started to really change that in 2001 with its iPod. With the sexy touch wheel and easy access to all your music, you really do touch and feel your computer. That tradition continues with the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Can a full Apple touch screen computer be far behind?

iPod Puts Apple in the Hands of the People

The really cool thing about the iPod is that suddenly all the people who wanted to own an Apple, but couldn’t because of practicality (almost all of my clients are on PC) or price could buy into the Apple Dream. I remember my first iPod, a Nano that my wife got me for Christmas. Sleek black front, colourful small screen, and easy-to-use touch wheel.

But what really impressed me was the shiny silver back. Impossibly shiny. Why were they hiding this? It was one of the little extras that really blew my mind. I bought into the Apple perception, and unlike many products where the perception is just the hook, Apple met my expectations with the sleek design. And then it exceeded them with this shiny silver backing. Sounds silly perhaps, but I really felt like I had arrived.

And that experience is turning into a little windfall for Apple. Hooked on iPod, they are now jumping the PC ship and buying Apple computers. According to CNNMoney.com, Mac is now sitting at about 21% market share in the US. Yes, aggressive marketing is certainly key, but it is hard not to see the connection between the popularity of the iPod and its siblings, and the rise of the Mac.

A Final Word

Apple is a strange one. It is a tech company that is able to embody cool, have rock-star launches, and put forward a CEO that looks like he just got in from a day at the skate park. Apple backs up the sexy, casual image with sexy, user-friendly products. However it is Microsoft, the Darth Vader to the Emperor PC, continues to dominate the market.

Is it possible that Apple sets the standard too high?

Or is it perhaps Apple doesn’t feel it has to dominate the world, just service its own little part of it as well as it can?

Now there’s an interesting concept for you…

What I take from Apple: building and controlling your perception (aka your image, your brand) is extremely important. Since 1984 and before, Apple has maintained essentially the same image, and underlined it with the same messaging.

But what really sets Apple apart is that it then delivers on that perception. Most companies create a perception that associates them metaphorically. For example, the McDonald’s ads with the touching scenes of kids sharing their fries with their calm, understanding über-Dad is nothing like the madhouse of screaming babies and pushed-to-the-edge parents after a long day of work it really is.

In Apple’s world, you would get there and your kids would give you a sip of shake as well as some fries…

Bottom line: build your perception and your business on concrete expectations, and then make sure you deliver – even exceed – those expectations.

So there you have it: a minor dissertation on why Apple is one of the best perception-mongers in the business. What do you think? Are there other companies that do it better? Or is Apple just smoke and mirrors, and I’m missing something here?

Let me know by leaving a comment below.

~Graham

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In this series, we have looked at how perception affects buying habits – particularly whether or not they buy what you are selling.

There are many, many ways that you can influence this choice, and paint yourself in the best light. In this post, we’ll look at specific things that help shape that perception, and how you can harness that power.

Colour

We all realize that colour has meaning. Some are obvious: red means passion, green means envy, blue means cool and soothing. Some are not so obvious: prisons use a certain shade of pink on their walls to help calm inmates. Some meanings change over time: ten years ago, if you said “green” then someone would say “envy” back but now they are more likely to say “environment”.

Here’s a short-list of colours and their associated meanings:

Red – passion, attention, excitement
Blue – trustworthy, professional, peaceful
Yellow – happy, intelligent, “visible” (as in “grabs attention”)
Orange – bold, cheerful, adventurous
Green – harmony, soothing, flexible
Purple – regal or stately, spiritual, eclectic
White – pure, fresh, clean
Black – refined, powerful, mysterious

Of course it is not just what colours you use, but how you use them. A totally black room for example would more likely convey foreboding and evil than refined. And interestingly, orange and red in restaurants seems to say “eat up and get out” – which is exactly what the fast-food restaurants want you to do.

If you are unsure of what colours would work well with your business, take a look at the competition. McDonald’s and Burger King use similar colours to each other – reds and oranges. Coffee shops tend to used dark rich browns and creamy colours. Banks and financial institutions seem to favour blues.

Finding out what colours your competition uses might put you on the right track. Then look up what the colours mean to find out why they might be using them. Brown for coffee is obvious, but why blue for banks?

Name

The expression “a rose, by any other name, would smell just as sweet” is not true. It is scientifically proven that your name can deeply influence how people perceive you. That’s why air fresheners have names like “Country Fresh” instead of “Country Barn”. It’s also why Shaggy changed his name from Orville Richard Burrell.

Then there are names that get lost in translation: the Chevy Nova that means “will not go” in Spanish, and the Toyota MR2, which sounded out in French becomes (phonetically – and roughly at that) “emm, err, duh” or “merde”, which equals that barn smell mentioned above…

Michael McDerment has a few suggestions on how to name your company. His approach is a little basic, but his reasoning is sound.

I think you can treat names like colours. If you are operating a bank, solid “blue” names like Morgan and Chase are good. If you are aiming your business at kids, then “orange” names like Chuck E. Cheese and Hannah Montana fit the bill.

No matter what your business, come up with a few names that you like and shop them around your friends and family to find out which will help people’s perception of you most.

Font

This is a small but important consideration. The font choice you use in your logo and banners will have a huge impact on your business.

I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here: Kelly Erickson already had a great take on this subject.

I will add this though: try to look at the fonts you use like colours again. The “blue” IBM logo. The “red” Chili’s logo (which actually is red, and uses an image rather than words – how fun is that?).

In my own case, I used a hand-writing script for my name, trying to convey “artistic” and “creative” with a straight font for the “Freelance Writer” sub-name, conveying professionalism and reliability (you can let me know if I missed the mark by leaving a comment below…!)

Style

Style is very difficult to tackle. It covers many different aspects of your business, from the way you use colour to your content, your customer service, your storefront, your website layout, and more.

My last name is not Gucci, so I am not going to go too far down this road. But I will say this: I did try to consciously put together a basic style for my own website using all of the points including the blue colours to represent professionalism and reliability, the fonts as mentioned above to convey both professionalism and creativity, and the simple layout to represent “easy to work with”. The image I chose of the piled rocks also represents all of these attributes (I believe) as well as give a calming image – to represent that I’m in control and can take the stress off my clients’ shoulders.

Once you get into things like Gucci and Ferrari where style is their business, you need to have a very sophisticated palette. But for the average business, the most important thing is consistency. Again, I’ll compare it to colours: match your style so that everything works together to give the perception you want to convey.

And get rid of colours that clash. Your jewellry shop can be bathed in regal purple, well-lit, and have the most smudge-free display cases. But put up a poster with a snowboarder on it, and you will negate everything.

The “Easy” Way to Do All This

These are just a few basic ways to help influence other people’s perception of you. There are countless more. But if you start by identifying your keywords (as discussed in the last entry in this series) and choose colours, fonts, names, and style to reflect these, you’ll at least be going in the right direction.

It’s important to have a strong sense of self, but often you can save yourself a lot of anxiety and trouble by getting someone else to create your visual identity. A graphic designer understands how colour, fonts, and other design elements work to convey your image. An experience designer can help your storefront business (and perhaps even online business) create a better customer experience using these techniques and more. Find one you trust and who seems to have the same style sensibilities that you want to reflect in your own business.

In the next installment in this series, I will do a case study on a company that does it (mostly) right: Apple.

Until then, chime in with your comments! Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I blue? Let me know…

~Graham

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In Part I of The Art of Perception series, we talked about how perception can affect our buying habits. As experienced consumers, we have opened and entered many doors in our lives, some good and some bad. Now we can usually tell where a door is going to lead before we get to it.

On the other side of the equation, as marketers we can try to understand what the characteristics of that “ideal” door is, and then design our door to match.

In this installment, we talk about why perception is so important. If our customers get to the door and hear hooves on the other side, they’ll expect horses. Usually it is vital that when they walk through that door, we show them horses.

Why Give Them Horses?

Let’s back up a step. As we know, the most effective marketing is targeted marketing. The better we can identify our “best” customers (repeat customers with the highest sales, etc.) and create marketing that speaks directly to their wants, the more likely we are to make that sale.

In terms of perception, this means setting up a buying environment that will make people comfortable. For example, if you are going to buy a Ferrari, you’d expect the showroom to have marble floors, perhaps a fountain in the showroom, and fine leather furniture.

But what if this wasn’t the case? What if there were plain concrete floors, wood panelling, and florescent lighting throughout? You would likely get nervous. Alarm bells would go off. You would probably wonder if this “dealership” was actually a chop shop.

Now this doesn’t just hold true for high-end items. Think of McDonald’s. Their key to business success has been consistency. Go to any McDonald’s in the world and order a Big Mac, and you’ll get exactly the Big Mac you were expecting.

What Are We Trying to Convey When We Give Them Horses?

In simple terms, giving them horses nurtures the same thing whether you are selling Ferraris or Big Macs.

Trust.

Customers who want to see horses are expecting reliability and consistency. There are two reasons for this.

First, this helps the type of buyers who don’t want to think too much about their buying decision. They are relying on some other aspect of your business (your brand, your presentation, your professionalism, etc.) to help guide their decision. For example, people in a hurry don’t want to make a huge dinner choice, so they go for a Big Mac, knowing that it will be a safe and reliable choice. Other examples include:

• Any type of franchise operation
• Everyday items like dish soap, toothpaste, razor blades, etc.
• Branded clothing like Nike runners, North Face winter wear, and Joe Boxer boxers

Secondly, this covers buyers who are carefully scrutinizing their purchases. Someone buying a Ferrari wants to feel like those hundreds of thousands of dollars are well spent. Buying it from a trailer office just won’t convey that trust. Other examples include:

• Financial services like banks, investment consultants, etc.
• Jewellry stores and other luxury item shops
• Country clubs and similar social clubs
• Real estate agents

Nurturing Trust

Perception plays a large part in conveying that trust. That’s why banks are solid, conservative structures with vaults and bars and secret rooms. We want to protect our money in a fortress, so they give us a fortress.

It’s also why McDonald’s puts such an emphasis on cleanliness. Seeing a spotless restaurant conveys the perception that the food you are about to eat is good too. (Okay, you know what I mean…)

So how do we as marketers convey that trust by creating perceptions?

We’ll look at that next Monday.

Until then, join the discussion! How does perception affect your buying (or selling) habits? Share your experiences!

~Graham

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Psychadelic Musings on Marketing Theory

Perception is a tricky thing. Here’s why.

We all want to search for the truth. As consumers, we want to know that a specific product or service will meet our specific needs. I think that it is fair to say that as consumers, we are all pretty jaded. We’ve all bought those X-Ray Glasses sold at the back of comic books (do they still do that?), the Ronco 16-in-1 potato peeler, the foot massager with the Lifetime Warranty we never cash in on when it breaks three months later.

Caveat emptor — buyer beware. You know this problem has been around for a while when there is a phrase for it in Latin!

On the other hand, most of us here realize how easy it is to take marketing too far. We’ve glimpsed behind the curtain — hell, we are the “man behind the curtain”! We understand the balancing act between portraying our clients in the best light.

Pop quiz. Who said:

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and there are things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.”

Was it:

(A) Jim Morrison
(B) Aldous Huxley
(C) William Blake

Leave your answers in the comment section below — 100 points for the correct one!

Anyway, a great quote. What it means is that no matter “reality” is, it is filtered through our own preconceived notions. We all have assumptions. For example, when we hear hooves we think horses, not zebra. (Unless you live in the Ngorongoro Crater — the exception to prove the rule.)

But when we remove those filters (as the theory goes), we can see a thing for what it truly is. Huxley tried to do it with mescaline, Blake with religion, and Morrison with all of the above plus a fifth of Jim Beam chaser.

I don’t want to go too far down this philosophical road. What I do want to point out is that we all do have filters, pathways through doors we’ve opened before to help us understand the world around us.

I think this is important to consider when creating any sort of marketing. It is related to target marketing, but it goes one step further, I think. Not only do you need to ponder what customers want and how to give it to them, but you also need to consider many levels of perception. How do customers perceive your product or service? Does everything in your marketing (from website, to business cards, to messaging, to store front) meet those perceptions? Are there ways that could exceed those perceptions (aka expectations)?

And so on.

Kelly Erickson at Maximum Customer Experience recently had an excellent way to illustrate this. Do yourself a favour though: consider what these awnings mean to you before you read all the comments! And note the ironic sub-title — classic!

Forming Other People’s Perceptions

Now we get into some sticky situations. When does marketing stop being suggestion and “showing our best qualities” and become manipulation? Manipulation is a dirty word in my books, and I certainly try to avoid it in my own work. However, persuasive copy and content is by definition a form of manipulation.

There is a distinct difference though, no matter how subtle. I define it as this: if you believe — truly believe — in the product or service you are selling, then persuading your target audience to try it is fine, as long as you are honest about your intentions and the product/service at hand.

That’s why so many marketers have a problem with certain products. If they don’t believe in the product, how can they sell it? (Besides the fact, you won’t do a good enough job anyway. If this is truly how you feel — walk away!)

Once we’ve jumped this hurdle, let’s start looking at not just what consumers want, but how they perceive what they want, and how their perception of your business will affect their buying habits.

Put yourself in the shoes of the consumer — not hard to do, since as mentioned above we are all consumers ourselves. What doors do we know? We know the one that leads to broken promises. We know the one that meets our needs adequately, though perhaps without any real fireworks. And we know (or at least heard of) the mythical doors that lead to full satisfaction, absolutely guaranteed.

Most of us also have a good nose for deciding which is which before we purchase. And that is perhaps the most important thing to remember. Keep your marketing honest and — if at all possible — mythical.

Intermission

Instead of forcing you to read a giant opus in one go, I’m going to break this into mini-opuses. In coming posts, I’ll go over some of the ways I have found to promise less and deliver more. In the meantime, let us know how you have worked with — or against — perception in your own work. Or break on through to the other side of the coin. How has perception affected your activities as a buyer?

And don’t forget, leave me the answer to the Pop Quiz! References to prove your claims gains extra points.

~Graham

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I’m glad I announced ahead of time the blog was moving — some of you may have noticed some strange activities today, including now the disappearance of today’s post. Now you know why.

Rule #1 - Backup the full original database, not the empty, destination database before moving your blog…

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be back online tomorrow. Sorry to all those who commented today — I’m afraid they are lost in the ether!

~Graham

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Yes, I am in the process of revamping my main website (grahamstrong.com) and plan to move this blog there in the coming days. It is part of my quest to streamline and simplify my services.

I have many hats to wear in my business: several writing specialties, website designer, basic layout and design, etc. I thought that branching out in my websites would be useful as well, creating one for each specialty.

In theory this is a great practice. But rather than underline a specialty, this approach seemed to cause confusion. One design client of mine wanted to know where he could find a good writer, and was skeptical that I would be able to do the job myself…

So now I’ve come full circle, advertising myself as a writer first, and offering many “value-added” services where required. Besides, my original website was sorely in need of a change. It has served me well for years, but now I’ve created a more minimalistic design. A sneak peek is available here if you are interested.

Lastly, Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadian readers! We had our turkey and pie last night — I still haven’t eaten since! Woke up to this great graphic from Google to celebrate the day:

Mmm, pumpkin pie. Best. Dessert. Ever.

~Graham

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Just read Kathy Hendershot-Hurd’s “Fast Track to Blog Success” — and I’m impressed. This PDF guide shows you how to identify the keywords you should be using in your blog to increase your traffic. It mixes tips on a little bit of everything including SEO basics for bloggers and keyword research techniques.

I especially liked the way she uses Wordle to visually show what keywords are dominant on a web page (brilliant use of this “time-waster” btw…). As Kathy illustrates, it’s not always the keywords that will help you most that are dominant on your blog!

Kathy also inadvertently (or perhaps advertently — who knows?) shows us the power of a well-written (white) paper, and how it can draw more readers and/or customers. At the end, she offers a coupon-code for her 8-Week Power Blog Launch program — I can only presume that she will do well promoting the program this way.

I think this paper is destined to be one of those “touchstone” reports, so if you are at all interested in boosting your blog traffic for any reason, check it out. She has it on for free until tomorrow (Friday, October 9) if you enter the coupon code: CathRocks (alluding to Cath Lawson, of course.

~Graham

Disclosure: I have no financial interest in this report — in fact I’m hoping that neither Cath or Kathy minds I’m revealing the coupon code here (though it is easy enough to find through either one of their blogs). I came across report via Cath’s blog, read it this morning, and decided I’d get the word out before the free offer expires…! If you’re reading this after October 9, check it out anyway — it’s worth the investment.

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Yesterday I covered a hockey game for the local paper. Now I’ve watched hockey for years (okay, decades), read game notes, and of course written hundreds of articles. But I’ve never watched a game and written about it.

I wasn’t really that worried. I’m confident enough in my own writing skills and hockey knowledge to know that I could do it (though I did get caught with my head down a couple of times during goals — you don’t realize how great instant replay is until you don’t have it!)

I did do a bit of research, brushing up on covering a hockey game by reading some recent NHL pre-season articles. I would have likely Googled to find some hockey writing tips, or perhaps more likely, covering sporting events in general.

This doesn’t sound too far removed from any type of writing. If we are not sure of a certain format, like web content writing or brochure writing, we will likely search out answers. What we are doing is essentially trying to find out: “How would you write this?”

I realized yesterday that this might be the wrong way to go about it. I think the most important question we should ask is: “How do I write this?” Sure, we might need some help with stylistic and grammatical choices to fit the format. But we all have our own writing voice.

So I wrote the piece the way that I would write the piece. Not the way that Fluto Shinzawa covers Bruins games for the Boston Globe, or Bob McKenzie passes along his hockey insights on TSN. Not even the way the editors of the paper would write it.

I used to listen to Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way” and thought it was a little arrogant, a sort of “my way or the highway” kind of thing (which was kind of what he was all about anyway…) But now I’m a little more optimistic about that song. Perhaps it means finding our own voice.

Learning the writing craft is an ongoing process, and seeking the help of others is only natural. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how Shinzawa writes it or McKenzie says it or Sinatra sings it. It only matters how I do it — and how I continually look for ways to do it better.

~Graham

Yeah, it’s ironic, but do you have a “finding your voice” story? Let us know how you did it your way in the comment section below!

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Yes, this post is late. I actually have a few opuses (opi?) simmering on the backburner, but after taking a week off to travel to my niece’s wedding, playing the obligatory catch-up game for the last few days AND trying to get some work done on my website overhaul, I just haven’t had time to do them justice.

However, if you were expecting a “just because” post, you’re only partially right. Thanks to the success of the last plug-in review I did, I’ll give you another here: the Google Analyticator by CaveMonkey50.com for WordPress.

I used to find it frustrating that there would be huge blank spots in my Analytics because I simply did not know how people on my website were interacting with my blog. On the other side of the coin (almost literally), I used WordPress.com Stats to track blog hits, etc. but this didn’t tell much about what happened once they ventured out of the blog area.

Now I have data from all parts of my website so that I can see what links are being clicked on within the blog, and where they go to within the main part of the site.

The upshot: this is a no-hassle way of adding your Google Analytics code to each of your posts automatically. (And if you don’t know about Google Analytics, check it out!)

More good stuff coming next week…

~Graham

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