Turn me to stone
Do anything you want with me
Cover my eyes
There’s nothing more they need to see
Turn me to stone
Before there’s nothing left of me
Make me a rock
And not what I appear to be
Turn me to stone
Turn me to stone
Stereotomy – The Alan Parsons Project

Once upon a time I was a hiring manager, and perhaps if fate has its way again, I’ll be in a position with this type of responsibility again soon. But for now, I’m on the other side of the desk. After reviewing some recent hires by prominent organizations, a rather interesting pattern emerged: how similar the hires are to each other…and to the hiring manager.

Hiring people like us is safe. It means we don’t have to challenge our own comfort zones. We’re getting people who fit a mold that we’ve already defined as “successful.” But I’ll argue these reasons are built on bad assumptions, made worse by the constant pressures of change and innovation. Hiring people who fit a highly pre-defined mold is a sure path toward stagnation. If you’re in a hiring position, here are a few questions to consider:

• If you hire people with a similar background as you, do you think you’ll be getting the breadth of expertise and thinking necessary for your team’s and organization’s success?
• If you hire people who you think are going to usually agree with you, are going to get divergent outlooks to fill in your own and your team’s blind spots?
• If you hire people just like you, are you sure you know why?

I’ve been there and intimately know the challenges of making the best hires possible. Just be mindful of why you’re hiring a particular skillset or background. Is it to mimic your own identity and preferred beliefs of past success? Or is it to add greater depth and diversity of ideas to your team and organization?

photo credit: tsuda (via Flickr)

Most businesses that know they need to create a customer engagement program start with good questions:

• How do we establish our brand promise and get it in the forefront of our customers’ minds?
• How do we become an essential partner with our customers?
• How can we best understand their everyday needs and challenges?

What’s missing here, though? Most questions and objectives that drive customer engagement programs focus on the external but give little thought and planning to the internal…you know, those people you might know as “employees.” I’m probably preaching to the choir if you’re a community manager or in a similar role where your success is tied to gaining internal buy-in (if this is you, feel free to share this post with your manager, CMO, or CEO who needs a good prodding).

Okay, so if you or your company is intent on implementing a customer engagement program think about how it will integrate into your organizational cultures and dynamics. The question that needs to be asked is:

• How can we generate acceptance and adoption of this program throughout the organization?

Success in your program begins with making sure your entire organization and workforce is aligned to your program’s goals. Here are a few ideas to make that happen:

Get internal buy-in. Yeah, I know…easier said than done. But consider this: your customers are savvy enough to know when they’re being conned and even a whiff of insincerity will trigger a nasty visceral response that will only get amplified through the web and social media. Avoid that insincerity by making sure that each one of your employees – not just the ones who are customer-facing – know the objectives and expectations of your customer engagement program. Each employee needs to embody the soul of your program. If they don’t, they might as well just answer the phone with “Hello, how can I lie to you today?”

Identify prospective employee evangelists. Just as you’re going to want to locate your customer evangelists, you need to figure out who among your employees are going to be crucial to successfully launching your program. Not sure? Conduct a social network analysis inside your organization. That will help you determine who your prime influencers and connectors are. These folks are not always managers and execs…they could be your receptionist or mailroom guy or junior salesperson. But whoever they are, you need to encourage them on-board, get knowledgeable about the program, and give them all the tools and resources they need to evangelize your program from the inside.

Understand and build competencies. Don’t assume all your employees are techno-wizards and social media smarty-pants. Many are not so it’s your mission to figure out which individuals need training and then deliver it. If you’re developing an online community, give your folks a chance to get their mitts on it. If you’re using video to connect with customers, make sure your employees know what’s happening so they don’t sound like ignorant buffoons. Nothing is worse than developing a slick new program but not having all your employees reading and working from the same playbook.

And for heaven’s sake, BE REAL. I’m going to level with you about something you probably already know: trust in corporations is at a pretty dismal place right now. Customers are on hyper-alert for any phoniness so if you’re thinking you can glide your way through an engagement program, you might want to let your PR folks know up front. Your program will only be successful if your business and brand are real, honest, transparent, and caring about your customers. Get that right and your customers will be open and willing to build a great relationship with your company.

photo credit: pdxdiver (via Flickr)

I’m always fascinated with the day-after fallout of the Super Bowl adfest. There are plenty of people doing their Monday morning armchair quarterbacking thing, lamenting how terrible the commercials were and how much they continue to suck year after year. It’s at this point I try to take my branding hat off and recognize something I think is rather important. The commercials were not made for us. They were made for the 95% of everyone else who wants to be entertained. They were made for people like my dad who could give two craps if there was an overabundance of slapstick violence and dudes trying to pick up chicks (Love you, Dad!). The only metric here is whether the ads were amusing and some of them were very amusing and entertaining, indeed.

Time for all of us who claim to be brand and online cognoscenti to get off our high horse and recognize that Super Bowl ads are not Shakespeare and they don’t need to be earth-shatteringly original. These commercials are made to appeal to a broad population and that population sits right in the middle of America. Like it or not. They like watching Betty White and Abe Vigoda get creamed in a football game, they like dudes wearing Doritos and attacking people, (and I guess they must like guys wandering the African savanna in their underwear).

Of course, feel free to not take my word for it. I grew up on Benny Hill and The Three Stooges so dumb, risque, slapstick humor is part of my cultural heritage.

Today’s Guest Creator is the wonderful Amanda McGuckin Hager, Founder of GoMarket.me, an online Marketing Mentor. She’s also the Regional Marketing Manager for North American Programs for SolarWinds Inc. Connect with her on LinkedIn or on Twitter where she is known as @shoogie.

Over the last 15 years, I’ve worked in Fortune 500 companies and in scrappy start-ups. By and large, most of my marketing success comes from a strong sense of business objectives combined with self-taught tools. I am eager to know the next tool, vendor or service that makes my job easier.

After a start-up I was working for folded, I found myself wondering what to do with these marketing program resources bouncing around in my head. I shared with a friend that I wanted to put the list on a website, like my own little toolbox. She suggested that after I do that, I take it to the college classrooms. Wha-la. The idea for GoMarket was born.

Another start up came my way, and I devoted most of my time to it. GoMarket fell to the wayside for 6 months or more. And when that job came to an end, it was like a little gift. I decided to devote all of my time to furthering the idea of GoMarket. It took me a few months to explore the blogging arena, develop the idea, and ponder what I wanted to do and what I did not want to do. I met with a lot of people. I shared my ideas. I listened.

I wasn’t looking for another job. I was happily moving forward on GoMarket. But an opportunity fell in my lap with SolarWinds, one that offered me the chance to work in a nationally renowned marketing engine that took a small start-up through an IPO. I recognized this as an opportunity to improve my offerings in GoMarket.

Only this time, I am not putting GoMarket on the sidelines. Everyday, I do a little bit to progress the company. Some days offer huge progresses; other days are tiny baby steps. But I am ok with that. My employer is ok with that. (We have an understanding – they support my efforts in the community because I’ll bring my learnings back and apply it to them. I respect the boundaries, and make that role my #1 priority.)

For me, I know that it’s all working out the way it’s supposed to. I take one day at a time, and start with the first step in front of me.

photo credit: Joachim S. Müller (via Flickr)