If this behavior sounds familiar, it’s because it also describes today’s customers. With so many choices and ways to buy, customers are crafting their own “choose your own adventure” in their purchasing path. So as the author of your story, are you confident that you’re connecting with your customers and showing them how they can be a part of building their own version of your story that makes them want to come back again and again?

Lets be real here: People buy because of people. (Tweetable). It’s our interactions and experiences with others – whether we know or even trust the source – that lead us to any purchase. This is what makes the buying cycle so sophisticatedly unique, every time, and out of our control as marketers. Combine this with varying levels of customer loyalty, and their overall satisfaction of every interaction with your brand, it’s clear that their journey is going to be different every time.

What you can control is how much, as a marketer, you put into earning your customer’s trust. The quality of your content, information, and the choices you make to connect with them is under your control.

Here are 5 ways to build a customer adventure that is sure to connect with your current and potential customers:

1) Use Personagraphics. The demographic is dead. Your message is everywhere and your referrals and influencers exist all over the place. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say that their potential customers aren’t on Facebook. Wanna bet? They may not be on there for business, but as individuals they are being influenced through connections and friendships. Don’t discount the shattered geographical boundaries that online networks have created; it’s where interactions of all kinds – personal included – open up new opportunities.

2) Journey Mapping. “Life is a journey, not a destination,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Brilliance! Mapping out as many customer journeys that you can think of will help visualize unexpected interactions and steer experiences that will really matter to your customers.

3) Test. Scale. Optimize. Doing something for the first time only gives us a benchmark. It’s the documented shifts along the way that ultimately gives us a better rule set for us to market against. After all, every experience is unique and different to a brand and customer. Next time you say “we know what works” if it’s only been done once… think again. And don’t be fooled; just because something can be measured, it doesn’t mean it should be. If the information you’re collecting doesn’t directly relate back to a business objective, it can’t be used to optimize anything (except your trashcan).

4) Offline Interaction Still Lives.  It’s the total experience that shapes whether we buy something or not, and until a customer really understands what you’re selling, their experience won’t be complete. Depending on what you’re selling, this can come in the form of a conference call demo, a face-to-face meeting over coffee or an in-store overhead conversation. You will never have complete context to inform your purchase without real human experiences.

5) Design the End Upfront. As marketers, we strive to build programs that make stuff sell. But sometimes, the brand, product, or the service fails to deliver the same promise. Really understand what you’re selling, find its best attributes and promote those to the top of the marketing plan. Then you can devise the very best case scenario upfront – One that’s consistent with what you say, and what your customer experiences.

KEY TAKEAWAY: Today’s customers are fickle and connected, and you’ll never have total control over your brand experience – period. But by truly understanding what you’re selling, how you’re measuring success and seeing your customers as unpredictable humans, you can craft adventurous experiences that keep them talking and coming back for more.

I’m excited to share the second of this two part video interview as part of the PureMatter Substance Video Interview Series: Getting to the Authentic Essence of a Story, Person or Brand. The first video received over 9,000 views!

In this special two part interview series, CEO Bryan Kramer continues the conversation with Kare Anderson (Twitter), Emmy award-winning journalist with NBC, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and author of “Moving from Me to We.” Kare believes that “we have to build more authentic collaboration in order to bring more originality to our stories,” and discusses her collaborative experience and philosophy on extracting the very best out of people in any situation.

Kare’s spirited journalistic approach, contagious energy and social enthusiasm makes her one of the most sought after authors, speakers and business coaches of our generation.

Please enjoy, share, and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

I’m incredibly excited to share the first of this two part video interview as part of the PureMatter Substance Video Interview Series: Getting to the Authentic Essence of a Story, Person or Brand.

On this episode, president Bryan Kramer hosts Kare Anderson (Twitter), Emmy award-winning journalist with NBC, Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and author of “Moving from Me to We.” Kare believes that “we have to build more authentic collaboration in order to bring more originality to our stories,” and discusses her collaborative experience and philosophy on extracting the very best out of people in any situation.

Kare’s spirited journalistic approach, contagious energy and social enthusiasm makes her one of the most sought after authors, speakers and business coaches of our generation.

Please enjoy, share, and let us know what you think below in the comments section beneath the video.

Disruption in the marketing world is not a new idea – in fact, it’s one of its founding principles. But there are two sides to disruption – dark and delightful. How many times have you been confused by that home page takeover that unexpectedly interrupts the article you’re reading online? Or the video that autoplays from a mysterious place on a website you’re visiting, leaving you scrambling for your speaker volume? This is the dark side of disruption – annoying, frustrating and downright ineffective. Disruption to gain audience attention, when done right, can be absolutely delightful.

Here are 5 ways to create delightful disruption:

1) Stop thinking you’re the customer. I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone talk as if they know what the customer wants. There are only a handful of brilliant people in this world who know what their customers want, one of them having been Steve Jobs. Otherwise, the skill is rare. My friend Phil McKinney, former CTO of HP will tell you that to really get to know your customer, you need to place yourself at the point of transaction. Phil would observe people buying laptops in Best Buy stores, then ask why they chose products other than HP’s. His grassroots efforts paid off; he learned during one visit that the materials they were using to build the keyboards on their new HP laptops were reflecting light for anyone wearing glasses, making the screen too hard to see. He immediately called his team, the product was redesigned and sales jumped through the roof because he literally learned from the customer.

2) “Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant”. This is one of my favorite quotes from Guy Kawasaki. Guy coined this now famous phrase while he was the chief evangelist at Apple, referring to the innovative approach the company took with its products and software, such as Word Perfect. He explained that users really just wanted to bold, italicize, and underline, and overwhelming users with options was not their main goal – it was just getting the core features right. I believe products and even campaigns need to start with simplicity and a clear roadmap. The benefit we have today is that roadmaps can now be shared with its influencers, and refined through immediate feedback.

3) Delight with the unexpected.  It’s the little unexpected surprises a customer finds along their journey with your product or service that get them talking. Perhaps it’s an unexpected service, something as small as a handwritten thank you note, or a response back from a brand on social media to something you shared. We’re all busy and are under pressure to just “get stuff out the door.” But these unexpected delights should be encouraged and built in as part of your customer experience, not in addition to, if you want raving fans.

4) Use storytelling as a strategy. The journey a potential customer takes on the road to buy your product or service is as important as the moment they transact. Take for instance the new explosive wearables market. Google, Apple and newcomer Pebble are all in a race. Even though Pebble was one of the largest Kickstarter events, gaining a massive community behind their product, they were not prepared for this massive event –as demonstrated in their massive delay in manufacturing and promotion. Had they been prepared operationally to stay ahead of the other two giants hot on their tails, staying in communication with their new audience and keeping them a part of their story, they would not have lost momentum and sales. The journey matters to all the characters in the story – tell it and keep them with you.

5) Design the experience.  There is nothing worse than making someone guess how to easily be a part of your brand. If no one can see and feel your vision, it’s not working. Companies like FedEx, Zappos, Disney and Virgin have proven that from vision to customer care, their promise is consistently delivered. This is by careful design, and their revenue shows it.

KEY TAKEAWAY:  We are living in a creative economy where everything is being questioned. To get noticed and keep people talking, be a delightful disruptor and reap the delightful benefits.

I would love your comments, feedback and anything I may have missed below.

Originally posted on www.bryankramer.com

Video wall at the Twitter party.

It’s been three weeks since my return from my first SXSW Interactive conference in Austin, and I am finally getting around to writing my recap. Things to note about sentence #1: 1) My first time at SXSW. Yes, I am no longer a virgin of said elusive event, and just like the actual first time you do it, mistakes were made. 2) Been back for 21 days. And just now writing about it, obviously while the memories are fresh. And 3) Austin. What a city.

Since I registered for the conference last November, I had elevated stress about going. What would I wear? What would I see? Who would I meet? Am I hip enough to pass for what the other SXSW attendees look like on Pinterest boards? Normally, I am not this neurotic, but for some reason, SXSW’s reputation had me on edge. I spent hours before the conference checking the event schedule and personalizing my schedule. My conference days were filled in triplicate with incredible sessions, infamous and famous speakers and parties. I downloaded the app and updated my profile, to create the most personalized experience I could. I packed carefully, prepped our company swag, double-checked our travel itinerary and by the time we got to the airport, I had never been more prepared for trip in my life.

And then I got there.

Thanks Tagged for the free
ride from the airport!

[Virgin mistake #1]: Staying anywhere outside of walking distance from downtown Austin. Our first hotel was about 8 miles outside the city center, booked by the SXSW concierge with assurance that cabs were a-plentiful and the conference shuttle was just steps away from our front door. Um… WRONG. In the first three days we spent a king’s ransom on opportunistic cab drivers, cars for hire and who knows how much time trying to flag down a ride back at the end of the day. There was almost a fight over who got to a cab first. The pedicabs are great once you’re downtown, but short of sending someone into cardiac arrest or a full body cast, they are not for the highway. [Tip: STAY CLOSE. Even if it costs you.] We did end up moving after 2 days to the Hyatt Place hotel (very nice!), which I am sure only had availability because it opened just under the wire, two days before SXSW started.

[Virgin Mistake #2]: Spend hours planning your itinerary. I did have the best-laid plans. And then the conference started. The programming is awesome; the lines to get in are not. Between the omnipresent diversions, interesting people, random meetups and the entire ecosystem outside the convention center, the programming almost doesn’t have a chance. I was there for five days, and went to six sessions. That nets out to $150 a session. What I DID spend my time on was walking from pop-up buildings to tents, to commandeered bars turned brand outposts talking to people, learning about new technologies and meeting clients and friends, both old and new.

[Virgin Mistake #3]: Spend hours planning your wardrobe. After all the careful selections and creative packing, it all didn’t matter. At SXSW, you don’t change into evening clothes. You just best have a jacket at all times, and whatever you do… wear comfortable shoes. If they’re fashionable, that’s a plus, but I can guarantee this crowd scans you head to toe not for your outfit, but for your name and title on your badge. It’s a crowd of heavy hitters, big brands, inventors, tech nerds and movie industry people. (I’d be lying if I said it sucked seeing Matthew McConaughey speak, even if he did have his shirt on.) Here’s a picture of all the shoes I brought, and stayed in my closet:

Me with Mediapost columnist and author of “Can’t Buy Me Like”
Bob Garfield.

So, what did I NOT make a mistake on? Going to SXSW. I got to hear stories from Bahram Nour-Amid, CEO of Nestivity at his small restaurant gathering. Swapped analytics geekiness with the head of Digital for Oakley and the CIO of Spredfast. Reconnected with Nova Spivak, founder of Bottlenose and old camp buddy from 7^th grade (who is not only highly intelligent, but could be considered a futurist because he’s been to SPACE). Got to party and eat BBQ with The CMO Club after Bryan spoke at their event, and even bumped into old friend MediaPost columnist Bob Garfield at a place called The Rattle Inn (only in Texas).

Dunking Bryan Kramer in the Sprinklr dunk tank.

I dunked social media influencers in the Sprinklr dunk tank for charity, including Author and CMO Ted Rubin, IBM Marketing exec Tami Cannizzaro, our president Bryan Kramer (and my husband, so you can imagine the extra level of satisfaction that came with seeing him spill into the drink.) I squeezed into a small pedicab with Mark Fiddleman, founder of Blogworld and Forbes writer (full disclosure: Bryan was also there.) We even got to visit with the Google Glasses for 15 minutes while they carefully, thanks to a 30-page contract with the wearer, never left his head.

Google Glasses!

At every turn, there was an opportunity for food and drinks, all for the low low price of your Name, company and email address. A marketers mecca, it truly was.

At the end, I feel my experience was so much richer than participating in conference room one-way conversations for 4 straight days. What I got was great debates, the sharing of stories and the deepening of relationships that I otherwise, at any other event, would not have the opportunity. I was, dare I say… inspired. For this alone, SXSW is in a class of its own.

SXSW is Coachella meets Sundance meets MacWorld. I almost don’t want to tell you how awesome it is to experience, for fear it will continue to grow and the magic will be lost. But the secret is out. I was just late to the party, and a virgin no more.

See you next year, Austin… with only the shoes I’m wearing.

PS.  I also won a contest! Thank you to @moviesondemand for picking me as one of your winners in your Twitter retweet contest! Here’s a picture of me with all my cool swag.

Today, we live in a world where through phones, social and video chat, people can connect instantly from anywhere around the world, without moving from their chairs. GPS mapping systems have sharpened their abilities within applications like Facebook, Foursquare and Waze to enhance our lives in addition to telling us where we are, where we’ve been and where we want to go. We have built around us a borderless global society, without the need for proximity to connect. And with that, I say “ hello, neighbor.” You. My next door neighbor is you. And you are everywhere.

Even as a brand, the definition of being a global company has changed. We can no longer call a company “global,” just because they have physical locations in multiple countries. With the ability for us to transact business at our fingertips – online, in person, via mobile and social – the necessity of proximity to formulate relationships, conduct business, and exchange information has been redefined.

Here’s how your business, no matter your size or influence, can leverage this new world order to grow:

1) Influence has No Walls – I get asked all the time why they should tweet someone across the world if their business only operates here. This is always one of my favorite questions, and the biggest reason is that anyone can now influence anyone who’s listening – even back in your own market. Never underestimate the power of influence, its reach globally can impact you locally, when you least expect it.

2) Connect with Everywhere – I’ve come to know some pretty incredible people through social around the world that I would consider friends, that I hope to meet one day face-to-face but haven’t quite yet. I value how much we help each other and educate each other. I’ve learned so much from people in other countries and cultures, enough to know that if I ever needed to tap into them as a resource, I’m good to go.

3) Find your Social Time Zone – The Internet doesn’t shut down after your workday, so if you truly want to get perspectives from others, try getting social after hours and on weekends. For me, a lot of people I communicate with are in Europe and Australia. It’s important that I operate on their time zone just as much as mine, if we’re really going to build our social relationship.

4) Let Data be your Guide – Building benchmarks are great, especially when you start with an objective and want to track the results. But no matter how much you want to believe you can control where you message is received, that just isn’t the case. Take a peek at your geographical analytics such as timing, location and any clusters surrounding your content. You’ll be surprised at where your message may be resonating, and how much smarter you can get about targeting it over time.

5) Enjoy the Journey – Fun is fun. If you don’t have fun in your social conversations, then it’s going to show. Having some seriously fun dialogue on any topics about your product, brand or personal thoughts can make a world of difference in the energy you receive back in return. The laws of the Universe don’t lie – the amount of authentic heart you put out into the world will be equal to the amount you receive back.

KEY TAKEAWAY:  The social, mobile and online technology today has redefined how proximity inhibits our abilities to connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime. When conversations are as authentic as they are face-to-face, you can find friends around the globe who care as much about helping you grow your business as you do. It’s a new world order… get out and start meeting your neighbors!

I would love your thoughts or questions about this post, please jot it below. Also, be the first to receive each blog post by signing up at the top right of this page. Cheers! 

I’m incredibly excited to share a full-length video interview as part of the PureMatter Substance Interview Series: Social Relevance is Timeless, Even in Radio

On this episode of the PureMatter’s Substance video series, Bryan Kramer hosts Gary Scott Thomas (Twitter or Facebook), morning personality at KRTY 95.3 Country radio, who explains that “radio isn’t going way, it’s evolving.” Gary discusses his experience and his rise to being the top rated morning talk show hosts in the Bay Area, and one of the top in the country. After 37 years in the business, Gary recalls how radio has evolved, his perseverance to stay relevant and connect with his audience – most recently through the power of social media – and how this once traditional medium has become enhanced socially through two-way conversations, driving real time and personalized responses live every day.

Please enjoy, share, and let me know what you think in the comment section below the video. Thanks, and I appreciate you!

Here’s 5 ways you can energize your social intelligence:

1) Socially listen – There are plenty of social listening platforms available for small to large businesses. Being an advocate of social listening, I believe it’s the first place you should start when trying to grow your business or launch a marketing campaign. Social listening will be the death of focus groups – mark my words.

2) Benchmark – As of now, there isn’t one software tool out there that can help you custom build your benchmarks across every network available and allow you to track success as you go that I am aware of. But you have to start somewhere; establishing a baseline is the only way to set achievable goals. Don’t worry, you can always change them along the way, but it’s a critical starting point if you want to see how far you’ve come (or have to go.)

3) Engage – I know it sounds buzzwordy, but if you don’t reach out and build a community by engaging with actual “people” across your social channels, then it’s all for nothing. Stay persistent and don’t give up, this one takes a lot of time and consistency, but there are loads of intelligent people just like you that appreciate a great conversations – even in 140 characters or less.

4) Embrace change – In social, you’re going to hear the good, bad and the ugly about what you put out into the world. But business has evolved to the point where it needs to adapt and adopt new thinking quickly to survive, without fear of making a mistake and shifting mindsets. I agree with Steve Jobs, when he said that the consumer doesn’t know what they want until you give it to them. So give them your best ideas, and be open to the feedback when it comes. You might just hear something that sparks a better approach.

5) Automate – The human brain can only take you so far, and with so much data out there, it’s impossible to do everything I’ve talked about here quickly and manually. There’s no “magic set” of tools to help setup your baseline goals, but through trial you’ll find a combination that works. A word of caution: There are new tools born every day, and since it all happens so quickly, if you fall in love with one thing you might miss something else that could potentially help you innovate or engage much more quickly. Stay nimble, stay flexible.

KEY TAKEAWAY: There’s never been a more exciting time to sharpen our social intelligence. Use your human brain to create engaging connections and conversations to keep you evolving – and technology to help you with the rest.

I would love your thoughts or questions about this post, please jot it below. Also, be the first to receive each blog post by signing up at the top right of this page. Cheers! 

Social media is making it more and more difficult to tell the small, medium and large companies apart anymore. The smaller companies and individual brands can now have very large personalities online, sometimes overshadowing the behemoths. It’s always interesting to me when someone asks about a Klout score, or how many followers a company has, as if it’s a real success measure. What no one asks – or perhaps don’t even know – is how many of their followers are true brand advocates or influencers, or if they simply just followed back to be nice or follow a social protocol. Simply put, the notion of being number one in an online world just doesn’t exist. With the rules turned upside down in our social world, how do you remain competitive and humble, with people willingly cheering you on along the way?

Here are five ways to mentally stay at “Number Two”:

1) Have Gumption. Gumption. Hutzpah. Moxie. They all describe the fearless, confident demeanor, done so with a sparkle in your eye, that’s necessary to achieve something impossible. To me, it’s the very essence of what every brand needs as they strive to keep their number two mentality.

2) Don’t Stop Listening. It should be at the very core of your brand, no matter who you are. If you are not listening, quite frankly, it means you are talking too much. Keep listening to everything around you so it can inform and define your next steps.

3) Keep Shifting. Define, refine then shift. Then do it again. Little shifts in any business along the way can create a massive impact in your journey. See the above on how to shift in the best way.

4) Use Metrics from Everywhere. Business is changing at lightening speed and the only way to stay in tune with these changes is to build flexible objectives you can monitor along the way. While your industry may have its own set of metrics, try looking outside your industry for answers. There are always parallels you can draw and benchmarks to build on.

5) Stay Humble. I saved the best for last. This is a gentle reminder that if it weren’t for your customers and influencers that put you where you are, you wouldn’t be here. A powerful brand and its leadership knows the different levels of a healthy ego. I highly recommend making sure your ego is in healthy check, and when in doubt, err to the side of humility.

Key Takeaway: Striving to be number one is overrated. When you can mentally live at Number Two, your smarts, gumption, openness to making shifts and steadfast humility will always take you farther – with others rooting alongside for your success.

I would love your thoughts or questions about this post, please jot it below. Also, be the first to receive each blog post by signing up at the top right of this page. Cheers! 

Have you ever heard something from a brand that felt like they were talking directly to you? It’s probably because the message embodied human qualities – personality, body language, humor – and it felt familiar. It’s these qualities that make up a brand’s fingerprint, which is nearly impossible to replicate by any other brand. When building your own “Brand of Attraction” it’s important that you build your unique fingerprint that makes sense to the essence of the brand (tweetable) – its values, beliefs, and own core body language.

Here are five ways to be a brand of attraction:

1) Get Real: Know who you are as a brand, and exude qualities that fit who you really are at the heart. It sounds so simple, and yet it’s probably the thing I find most companies get wrong. Whether you’re getting it from your customers, or doing the work from within, do the work to discover who your brand is. Pay attention to your fingerprint, it will create shifts along the way.

2) Empower your Team:  One of the greatest empowerments just happened in the Super Bowl. Within minutes after the lights went out in the stadium, Oreo launched a Tweet featuring an image of a sole Oreo cookie under a spotlight with the headline “You can still dunk in the dark”. The Oreo brand team and maybe their agency were clearly on standby, ready to quickly take advantage of an opportunity. Their agility to execute a Tweet like that resonated. Oreo’s Twitter following increased by about 8,000, the post garnered nearly 20,000 likes on Facebook, and Oreo went from having 2,000 Instagram followers pre-game to 36,000!. That’s empowerment at it’s best! (Forbes Article)

3) Cherish your Raving Fans: When your brand hits its lows, the only thing that will sustain you through is the brand loyalists, or “raving fans”, that are always there for you. Don’t forget to thank them, even when you’re having a bad day or a low point. You never know which fan just might help you turn things around.

4) Know your Influencers: Too many people try to sell first and influence later. I don’t recommend this. Your influence network is much more likely to stand by you, get real with you, and help you grow if you bring them in and show them the love upfront.  Imagine having a handful of people who want to shout from the rooftops simply because they care. Note: the best influencers are the ones you don’t need to ask.

5) Keep everyone in your Brand Orbit: Everyone matters in your brand orbit, as they all enter it at different places. Make sure you maintain the attraction at their entry and exit points, to make it more compelling for them to return. Your prospects, customers and evangelists are in control, and if you can relinquish it to them with confidence – by being confident in the strength of your brand’s fingerprint – you will always be on top of your brand’s growth.

Key Takeaway: Great brands thrive because they’re introspective, adopted by others because of shared values, then consistently fulfill its promise, ultimately creating value. Know your unique fingerprint, and your fans won’t be able to resist your “Brand of Attraction.”

I would love your thoughts or questions about this post, please jot it below. Also, be the first to receive each blog post by signing up at the top right of this page. Cheers!