Brainstorm ideas

Over the years the term “brainstorming” has fallen out of favor.

An image of people throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it will stick – meaning throwing out ideas to see if they have any merit – is likely to induce fond memories among old-timers who remember when brainstorming was all the rage.

But, done properly, brainstorming still works.

What is Brainstorming?

Brainstorming was the creation of Alex Osborn, a founder of my former agency, BBDO (formerly Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn). He posited that a group could generate more creative ideas for solving a problem than an individual. There’s been a lot of controversy over the years about his methodology, with research both for and against it.

The New York Times last Sunday carried a very long story entitled The Rise of the New Groupthink in which the writer, Susan Cain, debunks the current trend of people working in teams in open space – or possibly cubicles if they’re lucky – as they collaborate on projects.  She champions the introvert who needs quiet and privacy to be creative. I think she makes some valid points

When Brainstorming Works

Where Cain and I diverge, though, is when she writes, “Conversely, brainstorming sessions are one of the worst possible ways to stimulate creativity…people in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic other’s opinions and lose sight of their own; and often succumb to peer pressure.”

I beg to differ. I’ve participated in, and facilitated, numerous brainstorming sessions, which I prefer to call group problem solving sessions. They generated many original ideas that were successfully implemented.

The Facilitator’s Role

Think of the facilitator as a conductor, bringing the strings, brass and percussion together to produce beautiful music. Without the conductor, the outcome wouldn’t be half as enjoyable with musicians coming in a beat too late or too loud.

When brainstorming, the group has to first identify the real problem. They may have come prepared to work on what they thought the problem was only to discover it was something else.

Let me give you an example. A number of years ago I was invited to facilitate a session for an insurance company in New Jersey. They were losing a lot of sales to the competition. Their products and services were equal to or better than the competition, in their view. The sales team was working hard and making lots of calls. In advance of the session, the team’s leader had concluded that what they needed were more sales people.

The Real Problem

When I arrived, I started by facilitating a discussion about the problem. What did the individuals in the group think? What had they experienced in calling on prospects? Where were things breaking down?

After not too much discussion, the team discovered the real problem. The problem wasn’t that the company did not have enough sales people. The problem was it didn’t have enough trained sales people. The team was making calls but they lacked the training to be successful. It was like a light bulb going off. In changing the problem statement by one word “How do we get enough trained sales people?” we had an entirely different discussion and the ideas came tumbling out.

How to Brainstorm Successfully

Alex Osborn laid out a template for brainstorming that is still used today: focus on generating as many ideas as possible, withhold criticism, welcome unusual ideas, combine and improve ideas.

By also following these guidelines, you are more likely to generate ideas that are actionable:

• Invite a mixed group of staff. Individuals with varying job responsibilities add different perspectives. Invite an employee from outside the department who knows little to nothing about the problem. Some of the best ideas come from people who don’t have a clue that the great idea they contribute is something no one else would have ever thought of.
• Invite your client to participate. This terrifies some agencies – the client will think we don’t know what we’re doing! When I first suggested the idea I thought the managing director would have a heart attack. But the client loved being part of the process and we invited clients regularly after that when we were planning a campaign.
• Maintain control of the group. Cain is correct when she points out that a few members of the group may hog the conversation but it is the facilitator’s responsibility to ensure that everyone contributes. Even introverts have ideas to share.
• Assign responsibilities and deadlines. This is where groups can fail. What do you do with the ideas you generate? The group, the client or the head of the project decides on the ideas to be implemented based on criteria that is established after the session. Don’t give criteria in advance, such as the budget, because it will stifle creativity. At the end of the session, members of the idea team are assigned specific responsibilities with deadlines – not second quarter, but by April 1.

Brainstorming can be an effective tool in generating creative ideas. Not everyone is a Steve Wozniak who invented the first Apple computer or the next Einstein. But everyone has ideas that are worth exploring.

And brainstorming, when done properly, is an effective tool to unleash the creativity of teams whose members aren’t copywriters or designers or great inventors.

Sometimes two heads are better than one, four heads are better than two and eight heads are better than four.

Social Media Examiner (SME) hosted an online webinar yesterday and described how 9 small businesses are attracting thousands of visitors and, in some cases, millions of dollars in revenue. Most of them have only been at it for two or three years. I have to say I was more than impressed.

Social Marketing Makes Dollars and Sense

In the opening slide, we learned why social media is essential for any business.

My key takeaways from the presentation were:

• Give away free content. I’m not talking about the content of your blogs. But useful stuff like Ana White, Carpenter, does — diagrams and detailed instructions, for example, about how to build a cabinet.
• Use very personalized images. In most cases, the business owners had several informal shots of themselves sprinkled throughout the site — with their spouses, holding their dogs, etc.. Photos give you an emotional connection with your visitors.
• Create and empower your community. For example, run a contest to engage your readers. If you have a photography business, you could invite your audience to submit their best photos, select winners and post them on your site.
• Enable readers to share your content. Be sure to prominently display social media buttons for social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ so that your followers can share your content with their followers, potentially drawing many more visitors to your site.
• Leverage social proof. If you have impressive followings on Twitter and Facebook put those numbers up on your site. Include testimonials.
• Choose the channels that work best for you. If you’re a small business, it takes time to be active on every social network. Experiment and see where you should place your focus. You don’t have to be everywhere.

I liked that he showcased offbeat companies such as Easy Lunch Boxes and Orabush tongue cleaner (don’t laugh, he’s raking in the money). I concluded from the presentation you never know when an simple idea will turn into a profitable business.

Lessons Learned

At the conclusion of the seminar, Michael Steltzner, founder and CEO of SME, summed up the key lessons in this slide:

Please share in the comments box how your small business is using social media to build your business. I’m all ears.

I’ve been waiting for the day when an idiot would leave his cell phone on during a play or concert I was attending – even after the usual announcement to turn them off — and the phone would start ringing. It happened the other night and how Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, handled the incident was so instructive that I thought I’d share it with you.

Ring, Ring, Ring

Disrupting Mahler's Ninth

The orchestra was playing Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, his last masterpiece. Just prior to his death, the composer had also been music director of the Philharmonic so he holds a special place in the hearts of the orchestra and its fans. Below this post is a video of the famous last movement of the symphony.

If you’re familiar with the symphony, in the final movement there is an exceedingly soft period when the violins are scarcely whispering. Guess when the phone went off?

Finally, Alan Gilbert stopped the orchestra, turned in the direction of the phone and asked that it be turned off. The phone kept ringing. Obviously, the offender didn’t want anyone to know who he was – probably afraid of a lynching.

How to Handle Disruptions

Maestro Gilbert demonstrated what an effective communicator he is. After the phone finally went silent the conductor faced the audience and said, “I apologize. Normally when these things happen we ignore it because stopping is even more disruptive. But in this case I just had to.” He turned to the players and told them where they would begin again.

Then he turned back to the audience and, with a smile, he said, “Well, we’re ready to go!” That brought laughter and a big round of applause. The orchestra went on to finish this brilliant piece of music and deservedly won a standing ovation. Stopping a concert is so unusual that The New York Times wrote a piece about it.

What I Learned

We all face disruptions and disappointments in our lives. It’s how we handle them that can turn a negative into a positive.

When you’re making a presentation, do you scold people who are talking and disturbing others in the audience? Or do you make a joke and ask if you can join their conversation? Scolding them will make the audience uncomfortable (not to mention the offenders).

Taking the high road will gain you the respect of the audience like it did for Alan Gilbert when he carefully communicated to the audience why he had to stop the performance.

When you lose a piece of business do you go into a funk and blame it on the client? Or do you try to learn what went wrong and try to fix it? Maybe other clients are fuming about the same thing and you’re not even aware of it – like not returning phone calls or always being late with assignments.

Protecting Your Brand

The New York Philharmonic is one of the world’s great orchestras. A simple disruption of one performance isn’t going tarnish its brand. But what if Alan Gilbert had gotten into a shouting match with the offender with the ringing cell phone? Ironically, that could have turned the audience against him because they would have become so uncomfortable with the way he handled it. But he didn’t do that, of course. He handled it with grace and style.

I hope you don’t mind my sharing this experience with you. Like the rest of the audience I was furious at the owner of that darned ringing cell phone. It could have totally ruined the performance. But Alan Gilbert managed the incident like a true leader.

He and the orchestra went on to give a ravishing rendition of the last movement. The audience was on its feet. The cell phone incident was but a memory.

Update: The mystery of why the phone kept ringing has been solved. It was the alarm clock of an iPhone. The phone’s owner is interviewed by The NewYork Times.

Imagine my surprise yesterday when I received the following email from The New York Times at 1:04 pm.

Not me. Of course, as you may have read, The Times committed a big boo-boo yesterday when it accidentally cancelled the subscriptions of 8 million print and online subscribers. The media and Twitter scribes were all over it in the intervening three hours before the Times sent out this correction at 4:19 pm:

The Correction

The Times did the right thing, of course, but I’d like to make a point about content and tone of the correction. Aren’t they in the communication business? Note the cold tone of voice and shortness of the second email. Why was the first email sent in error? How did it happen? Subscribers would have welcomed a more detailed explanation.

A Missed Opportunity to Engage Readers

A Forbes writer, who also received an email, tried calling the Times and kept getting busy signals. It’s a sure bet that many, many other subscribers had the same experience.

Sure, it was nice to receive an apology. But The Times missed a great opportunity to engage with its subscribers. The paper could have used some humor in its message and personalized it with the signature of an actual person.  Can a company write a letter?  Didn’t a human being write this missive?

The Times wrote a story online about the mistake at 2:29 pm and sent out this  message in its official Twitter feed, “If you received an e-mail today about canceling your New York Times subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.” Oh, yes, it was. Turns out the email was sent by a Times employee, according to Eileen Murphy, a Times spokesperson. And why the delay of almost 90 minutes before the subscribers received the apology?

The Times Email Could Have Said –

Dear Valued New York Times Reader,

Wow, did we goof! We did NOT cancel your subscription. Please ignore our earlier email with the subject line, “Important information regarding your subscription.”

It was an honest mistake — someone pushed the wrong button and we had 8 million unhappy readers for a couple of hours before we fixed things. Your email was not compromised. Everything is back on autopilot. You’ll continue to receive your New York Times as you always have.

If you’d like to vent, we invite you to visit us on our official Twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/nytimes. We’ll also answer any questions you have about your subscription or any of our other services.

Thanks for your patience and understanding. We value you as a New York Times reader.

Sincerely,

Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr.
Publisher

— now isn’t that better than the email I did receive?

PS – see the comment below. The email went to non-subscribers, too. What a goof-up.

Less than a year ago, I happened upon the blog of Danny Iny. He and I became online friends. I wrote a post for his site Firepole Marketing and he wrote a post for Write Speak Sell.

Climbing the Pole

Danny Iny

Little did I know that I was engaging with a shooting star of social media. Danny has blown me away with his strategy of engaging and building a loyal community of followers.

He went from zero followers in less than a year to hundreds of thousands who have read the dozens of guest posts he’s written for his own site and for ProBlogger, copyblogger and many other top-ranked blogs.

Danny’s Story

Danny tells the story of how he did it his new book Engagement from scratch, in which he has enlisted leading authors and bloggers to contribute chapters on audience building. I highly suggest that you read it if you are trying to build an audience. I’ve certainly learned a lot.

In his foreword, Danny says, “My partner and I had just launched a promising new venture called Firepole Marketing that offered a marketing training program for small businesses, entrepreneurs and non-marketers.

We had already built the training program, and just launched our brand new blog. We had no readers, no subscribers, and no relationships with the big players in the industry.”

Danny and his partner started out by launching a contest to promote their training program. As he recounts, “So what were the sales results? Nada – we didn’t sell a thing.” He learned that first you need to build your audience before you make a sale.

The Four Stages in Growing an Audience

Danny also learned there are four distinct stages involved in growing an audience online that every blog and website has to go through. He says:

Stage 1. Truly Awesome Content.  Know who your audience is, and create something extraordinary for them.

Stage 2. Build Your Community. Connect with other people who can help you along the way – not just the big players that you look up to, but also your peers, who are trying to do the same thing you are.

Stage 3. Be everywhere. Do the work to become ubiquitous in eyes of your audience.

Stage 4. Get viral. Harness the formula that I outlined earlier (in the book) to generate some real virality and growth but only we’ve got the critical mass for it to work.

What the Experts Say

Luminaries such as Guy Kawasaki and Brian Clark write about general principles of engagement and building an audience. Other authors tackle tips on developing content and using social media, steps to take and lessons learned.

Just this month Danny was an “expert” panelist on a webinar The Business Blogging Teleseminar organized by Tom Treanor at RightMixMarketing. The panel also included blogging guru Denise Wakeman.

Wow, Danny, way to go! Excuse me while I go implement the advice of you and your experts.

For more information about Danny Iny, visit Firepole Marketing. His book “Engagement from scratch! How super-community builders create a loyal audience and how you can do the same!” is available on Amazon.com. It can also be downloaded for free at EngagementFromScratch.com.

Coke has done it again – tampered with its brand by changing the color of it famous red cans to white for a holiday promotion with the World Wildlife Fund.

The promotion was to raise funds to bring awareness to the plight of polar bears, an endangered species. It caused a huge kerfuffle among consumers.

Many confused the holiday Coke can with the silver Diet Coke can — horrors. Coke was forced to recall more than a billion of the white cans and restock their shelves with the familiar red ones.

Not the First Mishap

You’d think that the #1 brand would know better. Back in 1985 the company changed the formula of its venerated soft drink, calling the new sweeter version New Coke. The uproar was instantaneous — and after only two weeks the company was forced to bring back the old formula with a new name — Classic Coke.

The company had taste tested the new formula with thousands of customers, the majority of whom liked it better than the old Coke. But never did customers believe the company would ditch the Coke they had come to love and drink over the years.

Lessons Learned

What lessons can other companies learn from this latest stumble by the world’s number brand?

• If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. When I was managing advertising at a global financial services company and then at a New York bank, corporate management would often ask, “When are you going to start a new campaign? Aren’t customers tired of it?” My answer was no, if the campaign was still working. My experience was that the company insiders would get itchy because they were bored and wanted to see something new. That happens even today more than you may think.
• Ask the right questions. If you’re doing market research, ask the right questions to be sure you understand the spoken — and unspoken — needs/desires of your customers. Steve Jobs famously never did consumer research because he said consumers didn’t know what they wanted and it was Apple’s job to tell them. But how many geniuses are there like Steve Jobs. Did people know they needed an iPad?
• Learn how you are positioned.  A brand is how you want to be positioned, or perceived, in the marketplace. Your positioning is how customers actually perceive you. Hopefully they are in alignment. If you have the budget, find out. In the case of a small business without the money for research, put together an advisory panel of your own employees, customers willing to participate, and vendors. Ask for their opinions. Learn their perceptions of your brand and use this information to improve your offerings and communications.

Building and burnishing your brand is a continuous process of refinement. It’s awfully easy to mess it up like Coke did.

Related articles

• ‘Radical’ Coca-Cola cans get wintry reception ()
• White Coca-Cola Cans Freak Consumers Out (thedailymeal.com)

The old definition of public relations is out. Public Relations Society of America will adopt a new definition by the end of 2011. You can chime in with your version of PR by December 2^nd at Definition of PR Submission Form.

PRSA is crowd sourcing the public for help with the definition. My, how electronic communications has changed everything. The race to a definition began on October 31^st with the launch of the Public Relations Defined Initiative.

Here is the old definition adopted in 1982:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

In almost 30 years we’ve seen the Internet radically change how we communicate so it is more than time for a new definition. Here is the form that PRSA is asking members of the public to complete:

Public relations defined

I submitted my definition but thought I’d be able to review it after I hit the Submit button, but I couldn’t. So write yours down before submitting if you want to save it to compare to the final definition selected.

PRSA began accepting submissions on November 21st and created this word cloud after the first two days that shows the words most often submitted are public, communication and organization:

If you decide to submit your definition I would love to know what it is. Just leave it in the comments box.

The First Thanksgiving

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

I don’t think most people from other countries understand just how important this holiday is to those of us who live here.

The holiday goes back to Colonial Days when the early pilgrims gave thanks for their crops and it has evolved over the years into a major national celebration to be shared with family and friends.

People will brave horrible traffic, delayed flights and every conceivable inconvenience to gather with their families on this special day to give thanks. Most of us will eat turkey, a tradition, just like our forefathers did.

We have so much to be thankful for when you consider that millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night.

I personally want to thank my loyal readers and my many friends in my web “family” for your support. My best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kyle-Beth Hilfer, Esq.

Employers struggle in social media to protect their confidential information, their reputations, and their intellectual property. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), on the other hand, is concerned with protecting the statutory rights of employees.

In August, 2011, the NLRB released a report on its social media investigations that ushered in a new age of corporate social media policies. Its findings do not just apply to unionized employers. The NLRB governs certain employee activities even in the absence of a union.

NLRB Reports on Social Media Investigations

In its report, the NLRB criticized social media policies that prohibit disrespectful language or negative comments, that forbid use of the employer’s intellectual property, or that protect employer’s confidentiality. Yet, these are mainstays of any employee handbook, so what can an employer do?

First, stay in touch with NLRB developments. Case law is emerging rapidly. Second, here are some current tips for employers who are drafting their social media policies for the first time or reviewing their existing policies:

- State the Policy’s Intent

The NLRB upheld a grocery chain’s policy that prohibited various employee activity in social media, but that clearly stated its purpose was to ensure clear and consistent communications with the media. Because the policy had narrow goals, the NLRB said this media policy could not be reasonably interpreted to restrict protected employee activity.

The lesson here is to include a preamble stating what the policy hopes to accomplish for the employer. This introduction should also clarify that certain employee activities remain unrestricted and that the employer does not seek to chill the speech of employees discussing and seeking to improve their workplace pursuant to Section 7 of the NLRA.

- Include Examples

I have consistently advised that social media policies include examples of the kinds of behavior that are disallowed. Using examples to flesh out guidelines becomes even more important in light of recent NLRB activity. Specific case studies can help strengthen the employer’s defenses against a negative finding by the NLRB.

- Be Careful with Oral Policies

When I speak at conferences, many employers tell me that they are concerned about putting their social media policies in writing. They feel this communication form is evolving too quickly, and by putting guidelines or policies in writing, they run the risk of falling behind. Others feel challenged to create a set of guidelines that works, so they instead rely on oral discussions with employees.

I urge employers not to put their heads in the sand in this manner. Just as it became clear that a written sexual harassment policy was an important step in protecting an employer’s assets, so too, a written social media policy is crucial. This is particularly true given the fact patterns that show up in the NLRB’s summer report. The absence of a clearly written policy or set of guidelines makes it harder to defend against charges of an NLRA violation.

- Train Your Supervisors

Your trainings should teach supervisors to spot “protected, concerted activity” that relates to the terms and conditions of employment. In short, the supervisors should see online discussions among employees or with supervisors as red flags requiring legal vetting before firing any employee. Note that discussions can be nonverbal; “liking” a comment constitutes a discussion.

In addition, if an employee acts alone on Facebook or some other social media, but his goal is to organize or garner support for the benefit of all employees, his activity may be protected. This is particularly true if he has previously raised the issue with management. It is crucial to delve into the facts of every situation before making a firing decision.

- Clarify Employee Rights

Corporate social media policies should emphasize to employees, both orally and in writing, that employees are still free to exercise their Section 7 NLRA protected rights. Indeed, starting January 31, 2012, the NLRB will require employers to use a poster that clarifies certain rights. (You can read more about the poster requirement here).

Employers should be making plans now to post the requisite notice and to educate employees about what it means.

This post is adapted from a post that first appeared on Kyle-Beth Hilfer’s website. © Kyle-Beth Hilfer, P.C. 2011. Kyle-Beth Hilfer, Esq. specializes in advertising, marketing, promotions, intellectual property and new media law. She is also Of Counsel to Collen IP, a full service intellectual property law firm. For more information about her law practice and more blog posts, please visit Kyle-Beth Hilfer, P.C. Twitter: @kbhilferlaw.

Pick your best blog posts

I’ve been inspired by my fellow blogger and marketer Danny Iny at Firepole Marketing and taken up his challenge to curate seven of my blog posts for my readers.

These will be my own selection of seven posts that I’ve written: the most beautiful post, the most popular post, the most controversial post, the most helpful post, the post whose success surprised me, the post I didn’t feel got the attention it deserved, and the post I am most proud of.

Danny, in turn, got the idea from Stuart Mills at Unlock the Door who borrowed the idea from…you get the idea. Hey, viral marketing at it’s best.  So, here goes.

7 Posts in 7 Categories

My most beautiful post. There is actually a tie for the posts I wrote about my wonderful late husband Charles. What I Learned From My Husband About Having a Passion for Life and Do People Write Love Letters Anymore? These are written from the heart and I hope you enjoy them. Tip: don’t be afraid to show your emotions in your writing.

My most popular post. I wrote Profile of a Social Media Director over a year ago and it still regularly tops the charts or is close to it, depending on what I’ve written that week. It’s not surprising. I simply went through the job boards and wrote a list of what I found most often. Hmm. I need to go back and see if it needs an update. Tip: know what’s being searched and write about it.

My most controversial post. This has to be “Connect by Hertz” Car Sharing Deal Leaves Me Spinning My Wheels on Facebook in which I complain about Hertz forcing me to use Facebook to book a $5 car which wasn’t really a deal…well, read the post and the very long response from Hertz (guess they will never hire me). Tip: don’t be afraid to stick your neck out.

My most helpful post. I was surprised that my post How to Insert the Name of Your Website into Your LinkedIn Profile received so many comments. The default “Company Website” in a LinkedIn profile can be changed to the actual name of your website but few people even know you can do it – or how to do it. Made me feel good to help out. Tip: do not be afraid you’ll be talking down to your readers with simple how-to posts.

The post whose success most surprised me. That would be another simple how-to post entitled How to Write a LinkedIn Invitation. I had received a well-crafted invitation that so impressed me that I wrote about it. (You never use the default I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn do you?). Tip: see above.

The post I didn’t feel got the attention it deserved. Considering that I feel a lot of my posts don’t get the attention (read traffic) I want, maybe the post should have been better written. Anyway, here is one that landed with a thud. It received one comment – from my blogging coach. I still think it has a lot of good content even though it didn’t do what my advice said it should! 11 Types of Blogs To Generate Web Traffic and Please Your Readers. OK, stop laughing. Tip: don’t overestimate the power of your writing.

The post I’m most proud of. I didn’t think this post July 4th is a Day to Celebrate Life, Liberty and the Heart and Soul in Writing would generate a lot of traffic, and it didn’t. But I’m grateful to live in America. I have so much to be thankful for when I see the suffering in the rest of the world: hunger, poverty, social unrest. So I hope you don’t mind, if you live elsewhere, that I took the opportunity to celebrate the red, white and blue. Tip: write from the heart.

Which of my seven posts is your favorite?

Taking a cue from Danny at Firepole Marketing, do you want to do a 7 Links Challenge on your blog? (If you do, let me know, and I’ll link to it as Danny will link to mine).