• NYTimes: Jobless rate at 14-year high
• WSJ: Labor data show pain across economy
• AP: Running on fumes; GM could soon run out of cash

By these accounts, we are headed toward a period of significant unemployment or are already there. Either way, if you don’t already, you will soon have a number of colleagues, friends or relatives who are looking for a job. There’s a better chance than ever that you could soon join them.

I don’t take any of this lightheartedly. I have a deep pang of sympathy for people who are out of work because my father was a victim of the 70s malaise and was chronically underemployed for much of my boyhood. I know from first-hand experience that behind all these grave headlines and numbers lie families and parents who are frustrated and stressed about not being able to fulfill the most basic need of providing for their loved ones.

If I can preach for just a moment, I strongly encourage every one of you who are still gainfully employed to reach out to your unemployed friends and at least offer some words of encouragement. Or how about a free latte? It’s good karma

At the same time, don’t forget to consider your own job security. How safe is your job? How safe is your industry? What should you be doing to increase your “employment security?” (To clarify, employment security is about making yourself more employable and different from increasing your security in your current job, which you may not have much control over). How can you manufacture your own luck in a tight job market?

If you haven’t heard this enough over the years, it’s all about who you know. It’s about the quality of your personal network. According to Paul DeBettignies, managing partner at the Minneapolis IT recruitment firm Nerd Search, between 50% to 80% of jobs are filled based on personal connections.

Fortunately, thanks to new social networking tools, such as Linked In, Facebook and Twitter, among others, you can easily build up a network of colleagues, friends and acquaintances that can help increase your luck in the job market. And the good news for those of you who hate schmoozing, you don’t need to make small talk at cocktail parties to take advantage of these tools. (Check out Commoncraft’s “Social Networking in Plain English” for a great intro to social network tools.)

Five steps to greater employment security

1. Get a personal home page. The domain isn’t critical, although having “www.bobjones.com” could be easier for your contacts to remember. The important thing here is that you have a consistent place to send your contacts. On your home page, you can provide links to other places, such as your social network profiles, your resume or curriculum vitae, your blog, articles you’ve been quoted in or samples of your work. Please note that you can use your blog as your home page.
2. Create an online resume - As this article explains, your resume doesn’t have to be a highly-crafted Word doc that you send out to prospective employers as an attachment. Instead, your resume can exist as a page in your blog, where people (and Google) can find it easily. You can even consider the entirety of your Linked In profile to be your resume. Bottom line: you have no idea who is going to find you and your experience relevant, so get yourself out there where you can be found!
3. Get on Linked In - As a business owner, this site isn’t my cup of tea. But I do keep a profile there and it seems to have quite a bit of currency among Baby-Boomer, white-collar professionals (in other words people who are further along in their careers and in a better position to help you), so you probably need to be there.
4. Get on Facebook - If you’re already on Linked In (or, like me, find it a bit to sterile), then you might want to expand your network by joining Facebook, where you will find not only professional colleagues, but friends and relatives. Facebook lets you show more facets of yourself, including personal tastes, interests, hobbies and (if you dare go there) political and religious affiliations.
5. Create a blog - This may be the biggest step in the list because it takes time to write for a blog (this article is taking me well over an hour). But think of a blog as a way to help people get to know you before they meet you. A blog gives potential employers the opportunity to see your views on your industry and your profession. More importantly, it shows them that the front porch light is on and someone’s home. As an employer, I can tell you that I would much prefer hiring someone who demonstrates that they’re actively engaged in their work. The best part about blogging is that it’s really easy to start. I started my first blog at Blogger.com and it took me all of 15 minutes to set up.
6. Get on Twitter - (Hey, what about 5 steps? Well, when you have your own blog you get to make up your own rules! And one of my rules is to provide my followers with a laginappe, a little something extra.) Twitter is turning out to be an incredible networking tool that lets you potentially interact with thousands of people in yours and related fields — instantly. It’s also a great way to tell your contacts about any changes in your situation, new blog posts or to request information on a prospective employer. But there’s a catch. If you create a Twitter account and do nothing else, you’ll be underwhelmed. You have to take the extra step of searching for and following people you know (and then, perhaps, some of the people they know). Feel free to follow me. I’ll follow you back and even ask my Twitter friends to connect with you. Want to learn more? Again, Commoncraft has a great video intro.

Of course, it’s never to late to start, but these are steps you should try to follow BEFORE you are laid off. If you suddenly become the recipient of a pink slip, you will wish that you already had your network in place. And you could lose precious time trying to get all the pieces in place.

What are you doing to soften the blow of a potential layoff? Or, if you are looking for work, what techniques are you using to make yourself more employable? Please share in the comment section below. Good luck!

Maybe your bosses, colleagues or clients seem to be dragging their heels into this “new-fangled” social media thing. Remind them that it’s been around for quite a long time. It’s as old as word-of-mouth marketing. Buy them a copy of the book, send them to the site or give them this PDF of the 95 Theses. Because if they don’t get off their butts and find effective ways to use social media, they’ll be kicked to the rear.

If you haven’t read the Cluetrain Manifesto recently, read it again–you can read it for free online. It emphasizes the importance of social media to an organization’s future: the unique opportunity to have conversations about your products and services in places where those conversations are already happening…with or without you. And if you’re not there, your competition probably is.

So, my friend just got back from a big conference on social media and is skeptical about the potential for using social media in the kind of marketing she does.

If I were to paraphrase the challenge as she described it, it goes like this:

• I know that all this crazy social media stuff is a force to be reckoned with.
• I don’t want to be late to the party.
• But, let’s be realistic. We sell to CFOs, financial managers, upper level, even C-level managers. They’re not exactly hanging out online waiting to be engaged by you or anyone else, right?
• So, is social media a mostly consumer-focused trend that will have little impact on our business and approach to marketing?
• Or are there B2B applications that are waiting to be discovered and/or pioneered?
• What are some cost-justifiable ways, if any, that we can use these tools (blogs, social networks, micro-blogging, etc.) to market more effectively?

What I’m asking for is your response to this challenge. Is it too early for my friend to do anything? Are there things that she needs to be doing now? What are your ideas? I will publish them in a follow-up post and of course give credit where it’s due

Over at myRagan.com, an online community for corporate communicators, lisam recently posted:

Coworkers regularly make me aware of blogs and online media sites that either include negative commentary about our company’s products, or mention all of our competitors but not us. My coworkers ask me, “Can we have someone reply to this blog post telling them how great our products are?” Or something to that effect.

I always hesitate at this, partly because we don’t have a network we can tap into for this purpose… but also because I have ethical reservations about taking such action. That said, I tend to be a conservative communicator. Am I being too timid?

I don’t see anything wrong with commenting on behalf of the company but I think it all depends on how you approach it. I think you’ll be seen as a shill if you post comments that invalidate people’s feelings, go against verifiable facts or defy common sense. Those are the kinds of corporate responses that make many of us cringe and make Lisa understandably gun shy.

I follow @comcastcares on Twitter and I think the way Frank Eliason handles it is perfect. He serves as an ombudsman, listening for mentions of Comcast and then addressing people’s concerns, often hooking them up directly with service reps and then asking for public feedback on how the problem’s being resolved. I’m sure he can only help a handful of people on any given day, but there are tons of us listening in, so the impact is multiplied. For me, as an observer, the takeaway isn’t that the entire Comcast Corporation truly cares (puh-leeze), but I am impressed that they’ve hired at least one very personable guy, who is trying and is willing to be held accountable.

Back to the context Lisa brought up, which is the propriety/effectiveness of commenting on blogs, I think that corporate communicators actually do have the power to make a positive impression, if they are willing to:

1. Identify yourself and your position with the company. Be clear on whether you are commenting in an official capacity or just as a concerned employee. DON’T EVER COMMENT ANONYMOUSLY! You can be found out and much bigger trouble will ensue.
2. Validate the poster’s feelings (”Sorry you had that experience at our store. It must have been frustrating.”) Apologize, if that’s appropriate and at all possible (yes, legal issues abound).
3. Offer the company’s official position in a dispassionate manner.
4. Provide the factual basis or rationale behind the company’s position, so others can at least see why the company might be choosing to handle things a certain way.
5. If possible, describe what the company is working on to address the issue. Be as specific as possible.
6. If the company isn’t doing anything (or doesn’t plan on doing anything) about the poster’s complaint, be honest about it and explain the business reasons behind that decision.
7. Provide links to supporting information.
8. Provide links to additional related information, even information that is not officially supported by the company.
9. Provide specific solutions and help (e.g., the name/number of a CSR, store manager, refund page, etc.) that gives the original poster some options for getting satisfaction.

In these matters, I think intent counts for a lot, because it will show in your writing. It shows respect if you don’t try to vigorously convert people to the company’s view, but rather offer another perspective and then demonstrate your desire to be helpful. If you do that, I think few people will object to your presence in their comment section.

Interactive demos are a great way to give your customers and prospects a good idea of what your product is and how it can benefit them. Demos are usually associated with demonstrating features of software or consumer products. And they’re just as effective for selling complex services or conceptual ideas.

Demonstrate how your product solves the problem–not just how it works.

Demos are nothing new, however many fall far short of their potential as a virtual sales tool. The biggest problem most demos have is they usually focus on how the product works, not on how it actually solves a customer’s problem. Businesses are missing out on a huge sales opportunity if their demo only addresses a list of its product features. Of course you need to talk about features (what does it do?), but more importantly, your demo needs to do it within the context of how those features solve your customer’s problem (why should I care?).

All demos are not created equal

Depending on which stage your customer is at in their buying decision (awareness, interest, trial, buy, evaluation, loyalty), you’ll need to consider how best to frame your demo’s messaging.

Awareness: First, customers need to recognize that they have a problem and that your product can help solve it. Once they’ve identified their problem, they begin gathering information from the Web, their peers and various media. At this stage, your demo must focus it’s messaging on how it solves their problem.

Interest: Once they understand the variety of solutions available and have identified your product as a possible contender, they begin to narrow down their choices. At this stage customers need help making the right choice. Your demo should now focus on how your product is unique and how it’s faster/better/cheaper than the competition. The messaging should be framed in benefits, not features. Use scenarios that your customer can identify with, then show how your features solve their problems.

Demos that focus on benefits are very effective at moving customers from awareness to interest to trials. These types of demos are called “tours.” They give your customer a broad overview of your product, what it can do and how it solves their problem. At this stage, because your customer is not yet a raving fan of your product or service, their attention span is short. Keeping your tour brief and focused on solving your customer’s problems will motivate them to take the next step.

Trial: At this stage, customers are comparing apples to apples. As they dig deeper into your product’s functionality, they will be comparing your features against the competition. Again, frame the messaging about the features in a contextual, scenario-based framework. Allow the user to play with the real thing or at least a simulation. As the user gets closer to making their decision, all things being equal, it will be easier for them to choose the one that is most familiar.

Buy: When they understand that your product or service best fits their needs, they buy. But selling your customers doesn’t stop after they fork over their cash.

Evaluation: What happens after your customer purchases is more important than what happens before. Post-purchasing service and support has a direct impact on customer loyalty. Demos that explicitly explain how a customer can complete certain tasks is, of course, called a tutorial. Tutorials can help users get acquainted with important features, give them confidence in using your product and help them self-service problems they may run into.

Unfortunately, many organizations use tutorials too early in their customer’s decision making process. If your customer is in the Awareness, Interest or even Trial stage, a tutorial-type demo can be overwhelming and paint your product as being too complicated. Ultimately, scaring off your customer in search of an “easier” solution.

Ask for the sale and track the results
You’d be surprised at how many demos don’t ask for the sale. Always include a call to action. What will your customers want to do next: request a live demo, call a rep, sign up? The call to action should be persistently visible throughout the demo. You never know when the light bulb will go off, make it easy form the to take action.

Finally, build some sort of analytics into your demos. What sections are most and least popular? How do customers move through the demo? How long are they engaged? Where do the lose interest? At what point do they exit and where do they go? How many customers did the demo convert? This type of information is invaluable in helping you make future decisions, how to position your product, what features are most important and what the demo’s ROI is.

An interactive demonstration should give your customers a good idea for how your product or service solves their problem, not just how it works. Tailoring the messaging at each stage of the customer’s purchasing decision process will improve customer conversions. And monitoring and tracking results gives you critical and objective information for what’s working and what’s not.

I just got wind of a old (Jan. 25, 2007) report by Forrester that takes on a real sticky wicket: calculating the ROI of running a corporate blog.

I’ve ranted on more than one occasion that marketers should use social media, including blogs, as an R&D tool and not to expect a hard return. But, if anyone can build a more hard-core argument for blogging, I’m all for it. After all, these are difficult times, which means money talks.

According to this post on Forrester’s Groundswell blog, if R&D (i.e., gathering customer insight) is one of your goals, you can measure your ROI by figuring what it would cost you to gather those insights via traditional means, such as focus groups, surveys, ethnographic studies, etc. If you can gather comparable or better insights via your blog at a lower cost, the difference is your ROI. If a monthly focus group costs $15k and your blog costs you $10k, your ROI is $5k.

The article makes some interesting points, including:

• There is no standard ROI model for blogs
• Your ROI depends on your metrics, which depend on your specific goals
• Measurable blogging goals might include:

- Increased brand visibility
- Savings on customer insight
- Rduction of impact from negative user-generated blogs
- Increased sales efficiency

Update:

I nearly forgot, but Gary Vaynerchuk recently posted a frantic and entertaining rant on the benefits and ROI of online marketing in a soft business market. Ya gotta check it out!

All this talk of economic downturn has gotten me thinking. Are we in for a repeat of the ugly years of ‘02 and ‘03?

I don’t think so.

If you recall, during the last downturn, companies froze in their tracks and virtually halted all marketing activities. Advertising plummeted. So did investments in marketing infrastructure. It was a frustrating time to be hawking marketing wares, let me tell you.

But what happened in that downturn is key, and the reason things will look different this time around:

• Advertising started migrating online (thanks to low cost and metrics)
• Search marketing exploded (again, thanks to low cost and metrics)
• Previously expensive technology (content management systems, email marketing) got cheap
• Now unemployed Web 1.0 geeks got busy building a wide array of cheap tools, which are now the heart of Web 2.0.

There’s no denying that as a result of the last recession, we’re now looking at a marketing landscape that’s fundamentally different than what existed 5 years ago.

So, what does all this mean to you, a marketer with little power and little budget? Simply this: that you no longer need a huge marketing budget in order to build your brand, create awareness and generate leads and cultivate public relationships. All you need is to be willing to roll up your sleeves and play in the sandbox.

I call this approach “low-cost, no-cost” marketing. But let’s shorten it and call it LocoNoco. In a nutshell, LocoNoco is about making aggressive use of the universe of free or low-cost online marketing tools that are available to you today.

In Part II, I’ll describe the tools that are critical for LocoNoco marketing. Meanwhile, let me give you a quick rundown:

• Content management platforms
• Blogging
• Photo/Video
• Geo-marketing
• Micro-blogging
• Social networks
• Networked marketplaces
• Social bookmarking
• Email marketing
• Wikis
• Analytics tools
• Testing tools

Let’s talk about the principles behind LocoNoco. Because even though the tools are cheap or even free, you won’t be able to use them properly unless you can commit to the principles. And there are but 3 of them:

• Do - Get out there. Use the tools. Join the networks. Show up. Down markets don’t reward shyness. Plus, there’s an inherent value to working the levers of marketing. It’s how you come to understand the power and potential of the tools. And it leads to the next principle. After all, without doing, risking and experimenting, how can you possibly hope to learn?
• Learn - People who’ve founded startups often remark that their current product or service looks nothing like what they launched with. That’s because their customers spoke, they listened, and what resulted was better. Same goes for marketers. After you “do” and put something out there, you have to listen, track and observe. What are prospects and customers saying to you and about you? Be willing to learn from experience. If it helps, think of your job as Marketing R&D. Let both the metrics and your experiences inform your gut. And then let your gut lead you into new and untested territory.
• Adjust – As you do and learn, be prepared to adjust your course. You’re going to discover what works and what doesn’t. Based on your increasing knowledge, you may want to try new stuff. All of this is good and quite doable, thanks to the built-in flexibility of the tools in your LocoNoco toolbox. Besides, none of us are smart enough to anticipate what our customers will respond to. However, we all can – and should - swallow our pride and be ready to respond to what the market asks for.

For some of you, this is nothing earth shattering. It’s what you’ve been doing for the last couple years anyway. If so, congratulations. Please leave a comment about your experience with LocoNoco marketing.

But if you’re a marketer who, for whatever reason, hasn’t had much exposure to down-and-dirty online marketing, you may be in for a pleasant surprise as you discover that LocoNoco marketing is fun and terribly rewarding. Looking for a spark in your career? This could be it.

Coming soon: Part II: Tactics and tools

Photo by: Elizabeth Wentling

At the exquisite Thai food blog of photographer Austin Bush, I found this video of the Samut Songkhram market, which is set up over the town’s railroad tracks! Watch how the vendors quickly get back to business after the train passes. Could this be a lesson on how to cope with disruptions in business?

• See the full blog post.
• Visit Austin’s photo blog. Truly stunning photos of a truly stunning country.

Yet more from the latest Minnov8 podcast…

Graeme Thickens (start at 23:40) reacts to the suggestion that as companies tighten their belts and start questioning costs, social media will be put on the chopping block:

“Social Media doesn’t cost a lot of money. It takes participation by an individual or more than one individual within a company, so I don’t find it really realistic that people are saying, ‘We’ve got to measure what we’re spending here.’

You know, what are they spending? Who’s spending large amounts of money on social media? I’d love to know.

It doesn’t take a lot of money. It takes some time and some effort by someone within the organization.

I don’t think too many organizations are saying, ‘we’ve got to hire a social media expert.’ It’s taken on by people who are already in the organization. They take it on as a side thing. They learn it, they do it and it just takes off. So, I think it’s an amazingly right technology for the times.”

Woo hoo! This week at the Minnov8 podcast, Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson review both the MIMA Summit and the UnSummit. As some of you know, Phil led the “Social Media Reality Check” session at UnSummit and later blogged about the experience. Graeme attended the MIMA Summit and blogged about it as well.

The podcast devotes a good amount of time to discussing both events and the gentlemen make some interesting observations.

Graeme Thickins on the MIMA Summit:

• The event pulled in some high-profile, national speakers.
• ZeFrank was the highlight of the day.
• The audience was quite diverse, but seemed to be geared toward downtown advertising agencies. As a result, some people complained that it wasn’t “interactive enough.”
• Except between sessions, there weren’t too many opportunities for deep discussion.
• The swag bags were chock-full of promotional goodness.

Phil, in his review of UnSummit, says:

• The event was all about intimate conversations.
• Discussion focused primarily on social media and social marketing.
• The conversations revealed that many businesses are monitoring social media right now, but not yet marketing with it.
• By contrast, our swag bag consisted of a bag with Cheetos written on it. (Ed: Actually, even that might be an overstatement!)

Thanks, guys, for providing a comparative rundown of the events! Your commentary cements my view that just as much as this town needs national speakers and expert forums, it also needs forums for conversation and hands-on collaboration. Just as we thrive on peer-to-peer interactivity on the Web, we need it in our real-life meetups. I’m encouraged to see events like Social Media Breakfast, Likemind, Social Media Happy Hour, MinneBar and UnSummit can help satisfy this need.