Friday, February 27, 2004
RE:russian women have the best chance for corporate executive office window gazing says CNN
CNN reported on Grant Thorton's new study this week, revealing that women in Russia have the best chance of winning roles in Corporate Excecutive Suites. Women occupy senior management roles in 89% of all Russian companies. On the heels of Russia are the Phillipines (85%) and the U.S. (75%). The Netherlands, Pakistan, and Japan are among those countries with low women representation (less than 30%).
But don't let this study fool you. For instance, despite 75 percent of U.S. firms employing women at a senior level, women hold a mere 20 percent of total senior jobs. And according to the Peopleclick Research Institute study (announced today) women in the U.S. have a smaller share of executive management positions than they did a decade ago, despite higher levels of education and greater numbers of women in the employment pool.
So while it is good to have at least 1 woman on top in most organizations, the country that can build depth and breadth of women in senior management will be the clear winner.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
RE:10 Good Rules Of Thumb When It Comes To Ink-Raising
This week's quote in Chicago Tribune was a pleasant surprise, and it is an honor that Raoul Mowatt, Chicago Tribune WomanNews reporter, included me in his thought-provoking article alongside Judy Baar Topinka, Illinois State Treasurer. 
My days at Whole Foods taught me utmost respect for reporters (they have a hard job, sorting through news and crafting stories to engage their readers). Whole Foods also taught me that PR beats paid advertising hands down. As a marketing consultant, it isn't easy to get good publicity. I'm changing the world 1 client by 1 client, not liberating the world with a revolutionary product or best-seller book. If you visit re:invention's media room on our website, you will notice there's been a good bit of print about a business just 1 year old. That seems to surprise some folks and a few of you have asked me to share my thoughts on how to get ink. 
Like most Southern women, I'm a rules kind of gal. And while rules aren't for everyone, when it comes to PR rules can't hurt. Just like a good woman entrepreneur must hustle for seed money, you must hustle for ink. Here are 10 good rules of thumb when it comes to Ink-Raising:
1. Write good press releases, preferably those that can be printed verbatim. Include quotable stats, top 5/10 lists, and facts of interest that people want to know. Make your point quickly and make it well.
2. Be blurbable. Speak in blurbs - a blurb is a short, meaningful statement that will pop in print (or sound smart on air).
3. Never turn down an opportunity for media. Drop everything when they call.
4. Stand for something - believe in what you do, what your company does, be yourself, be honest, and declare it with conviction.
5. Do something newsworthy and do well by doing good. Make sure your company goes the distance with exceptional and noteworthy products and service, do things differently, suggest problems for which you have a solution, debunk common myths, allude to controversial topics, align yourself with powerful causes & national issues, get involved, volunteer and advocate community involvement.
6. Toot your own horn. But be tasteful. Too soft and no one will hear you, too loud you will turn people's stomachs.
7. If you want publicity, ask for it. You shouldn't be afraid to ask for anything. Those who ask, get.
8. Network with the press at events. Networking means more than new business lead generation. Meeting editors is equally important.
9. Email thank you notes to reporters, even for small mentions. Thanking them opens the door to future communication. And more importantly, it's just good common courtesy and polite!
10. Be committed to others' success. Introduce your contacts to reporters to help them with their future stories. Promote other sources that have something to say of value.
Warmly welcome you to add to this list by posting comments below!
p.s. Susan Harrow's Sixty Second Secrets has a great PR library with free online access. It is one of the best PR tools I've found to date, written in short blurbable format.
p.p.s. On a completely separate note. Nice to know JK Rowling has made Forbes Billionaire list. And look at how good she looks now. In fact, she kind of reminds me of my friend Susan Weiss, pr genius and owner of SWPR. Just goes to show you what success (ok, and a billion dollars) can do for you!
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
RE:long lob BLOG from Office Depot's Success Strategies for BizWomen Conference
Q4 and 2003 earnings are down for ye 'ol Office Depot. But we give 'em props for being plucky with this week's 4th Annual Office Depot Success Strategies for Women conference. 
Media has covered presentations from Senator Hillary Rodman Clinton, Katie Couric, and Pepsico's President Dawn Hudson.
This BLOG provides a quick recap of 2 other great speakers featured: Mary Matalin, Former Assistant to President Bush and Counselor to Vice President Cheney, and Dr. Martha Rogers, who offered a preview of Rogers & Peppers book, due out this Fall. So if you are a guy, you may want to click on thru...
Headlines from Mary Matalin, political strategist
- She spoke with such great detail about her husband's virtues I began to think that she was his publicist (or his adoring mother) rather than his wife and political pillar. God love her she loves him. Admittedly, I kinda like him too. She also proposed that a corollary for mothers is that they are always wrong. Umm...can someone please alert my mother about this corollary? 
- Q: Why did she take leave of her White House staff role? A: Mary wanted to be a better wife. Oh yes, I almost forgot. Bush also didn't appreciate her lying on the floor of the Oval Office during creative brainstorming spurts. Her words, not mine.
- Since leaving the White House, Mary's outlook has changed dramatically. If your kids are healthy, if your husband loves you, you can overcome everything. everything. even the U.S. fiscal crisis and lack of wine stocked in the hotel minibar when traveling in the Middle East. Mary is a badge carrying member of the new Momism movement.
Matalin's key points of advice to business women:
1. If you are going through hell, keep going.
2. To the extent that you can, do it your own way. Create your reality. And don't be quick to assume blame. Before you think you aren't doing something right...that you have done something wrong...look at your environment. Maybe it isn't conducive to who you are, what you stand for, or your character.
3. Don't be a perfectionist. You can't do it all alone. And you can't do it without girlfriends.
4. It is ok to be crazy. When women are accused of being crazy (or neurotic) it is usually because of the way they express themselves. Nothing more. Finally -- redemption for kindly, kirsten!
5. What should keep us balanced as women is to remember the time that we are in. Take a step back. We have come so far as women in our time. We have opportunities because of the country in which we live. Keep this in perspective.
6. The notion of freedom for women is important. It is an impediment to progress and peace when women are denied basic human rights (as they are in the Middle East today).
7. When faced with inequality, sometimes you can take guilty pleasure in pushing the limits and standing up for what you believe in. She proudly "wore a hot pink body-tailored pantsuit" to a Head of State dinner in the Middle East as a form of not-so-subtle political protest.
kirsten's kibbles:
1. Do I have to be married with kids to be successful? sure sounds like it. actually, this concept was echoed in spades from nearly all panel participants and conference speakers. in which case, I am recruiting on the open market. applicants must make like happy house husband or look as good as James Carville (recently listed among People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive) in a pair of jeans. Email candidates to this find kirsten osolind a husband address. Previously interviewed candidates need not reapply.
2. Mary now seems to be spending her time tending gaslight, inc., a small farming business, staffed by a farm fore-woman. this fact genuinely does have me intrigued. is it organic? tell me more! nothing on the net.
Headlines from Dr. Martha Rogers, one half of the powerful Peppers and Rogers Consulting duo
Dr. Rogers provided a rare preview of the duo's upcoming book, Return on Customer. The concept? Companies unwittingly destroy their own company's value by failing to focus on the customer (the key to organic growth). The most valuable asset a company has is a customer. To calculate your return on customer you add up what your current customer base is worth today, how much they will be worth tomorrow, and how much a future customer will add to your company's long-term value equation. 
Rogers' emotionally-unpeppered points for business women:
1. Customer expertise is sustainable competitive advantage.
2. In the long run, it is not about creating more customers. Note to one of my idols, Jennifer Rice over at Brand Mantra BLOG, apparently it isn'-t about attracting customers either. It is about increasing the value or the return on customers.
3. How can a small company increase return on customer?
- they can acquire more profitable customers.
- they can keep profitable customers longer.
- they can delicately find unprofitable customers a "better home."
- they can look for ways to upsell, cross-sell, build word of mouth, referrals, and other non-monetary opportunities.
- they can reduce the cost to serve existing customers in ways that genuinely help customers.
4. Smart companies should focus on 1 customer at a time and think about winning a greater share of each customer's business. smart companies focus on developing learning relationships with customers.
5. What does it take to develop a learning relationship, one that works with customers, family, and friends?
- it is not just personalization, technology, or better targeting. interaction is key. in the new paradigm, both company and customer listen to each other. but it is the value and insight that the customer brings to the relationship that is important, not what the company tells the customer, that really makes the learning relationship work.
- brands are not interactive, relationships are. brands, Dr. Rogers counsels, aren't to be confused with a relationship.
- interactions make a change in behavior happen.
- relationships, by nature, are iterative in nature…they get easier over time. There are plenty of disincentives to walking away from a relationship once it is established. but there are equally as many incentives to bolt if the relationship is tediously unhealthy.
- every relationship is different, and relationships that have endured longer deserve special treatment.
- successful relationships generate trust. companies and customers learn to serve each other's best interests.
6. In the 20th century the competitive advantage came from products and brands and service. in the 21st century competitive advantage will come from information.
7. It isn't just the technology, personalized email, more sophisticated call centers and segmentation or good customer service (what Peppers and Rogers fondly refer to as random acts of customer relationship management). Customer strategy is not about better targeted harassment. It is about building shareholder value by increasing the value of the customer base. And we need to leverage the information we learn with our customers enterprise-wide, so our depth and breadth of knowledge appears seamless to the customer.
8. Return on customer is about providing more resources and services to customers we know are worth the most, less value to customers that are worth less, and zero value to complete and total strangers (heralding the dead end of mass marketing). we need to recognize and treat different customers differently.
9. Rogers went on to suggest that there are 4 implementation tasks to make this happen:
- we must be able to recognize each and every customer and their independent needs
- we must interact with that customer
- we must think about unique ways to generate feedback from that customer
- and finally, we must DO something with the feedback. something that customer can't get from any of our competitors. something that ensures we have a very special relationship with that customer, making us more valuable in their eyes.
10. Rogers suggests that we ask ourselves every day as small business owners: how will this decision impact our business today? how much will it cost me to do this? how much will it cost me not to do this? how much pay off will I get if I invest now? who is managing our most valuable asset (our customers) and how can I better utilize portfolio managers to segment and serve customers individually? how do I reward the people who are managing our customers? how do I measure our customer management today? wow. most days i am lucky if I manage to ask myself what i want for lunch.
kirsten's kibbles
1. The shout out to organic growth seems to validate re:invention's tagline; empowering authentic, organic growth brands...makes me smile.
2. Where was Mr. Peppers? In fact, why did the conference not feature ANY male speakers? Is that not exclusive rather than inclusive? And don't we as women, in fact, fearlessly fight for inclusiveness?
3. Some of this is wise and indisputable - Rogers is, after all, a marketing legend.
4. Is this really new stuff? Is it any different than William Ryan and Ed Niehaus, founders of Niehaus Ryan Group Inc, declaring that branding is dead? or A.G. Lafley at P&G declaring that mass marketing is dead? I don't want to recant my reprimand of sir barry moltz's quote in Entrepreneur (see Monday's BLOG where I note barry's quote, "forget about building a brand.") Note: I did, however, send Barry a freebie PR inquiry to preserve my personal brand karma.
Appreciate anyone helping me out with some comments here.
I have, after all, written this BLOG after a very long nite. And before someone - say a random comment poster on Fast Company NOW - jumps to depict me as the evil chick on the Apprentice in light of today's BLOG, let me be the first to say I herald Matalin and Rogers for their progressive work to date and ability to move the needle for all women.
Monday, February 23, 2004
RE:branding, Broadway, and tour de force storytelling
Intriguing new article in Ad Age about product placement, marketing and Broadway. The article suggests that there are ample opportunities not just for sponsorship but to weave a brand story into stage stories and this magical realm has gone untapped by marketers to date. Made me wonder - why not use theatre on a local level to help you tell your small business story? Here in Chicago there are an amazing number of opportunities. Check out this short list.
Reminds me of another great article on branding and symbolism in which author John Fraim, GreatHouse Company, proposes that great business leaders are great storytellers - they create compelling stories for their organizations that involve the creation of powerful narratives, narratives that are much more than mission statements or messages. Stories where there are goals and obstacles, where good and bad things can happen along the way and where customers feel involved as part of the storyline. It is part of the reason why re:invention gives all new clients an empty book with our initial proposal. We believe that you have the power to write your own company story. Depending on your level of commitment - you can fill just one page or all 250. I know this would mortify Barry Moltz, fellow Chicagoan and serial entrepreneur, quoted in the March issue of Entrepreneur Magazine as saying, "forget about building a brand, build customers first." I humbly disagree with the man blandly named Barry in spite of his years clocked as entrepreneur. So would my former boss, John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market.
Build a strong company storyline and mythology with the drama of conflict and heroism and potentially you can create a company that succeeds as zeitgeist. Steve Denning hosts a storytelling in business website to get your juices flowing. Of particular interest is his section devoted to organizational storytelling in the news. Steve's new book (A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling) is slated for June 2004. Steve was also ranked one of the world's Top 200 Business Gurus by Davenport & Prusak, "What's The Big Idea?" (Harvard, 2003).
This isn't a new or breakthrough idea for big business. But it is for small business. Don't let your size limit your boundaries. Think about your company mythology and story, explore innovative places where you can tell it, and consider uncommon ways to weave your customers into the narrative. Become a tour de force of storytelling!
Thursday, February 19, 2004
RE: Monster partners with eBay but is this REALLY a move to help small biz recruit job candidates? Ha!
If you are a successful small business, eventually growth will demand new staff. I get email requests all the time from small business owners who are looking for qualified candidates. After all, re:invention works with a wide variety of small business owners and moonlighters or freelancers as part of our business model. Word of mouth recommendations are great.
Today, Monster.com announced it will begin promoting its career services on eBay to help small businesses recruit and hire qualified employees. They claim this means it will be more efficient and less expensive for small business owners to recruit new team members. The story hit AdWeek. 
In this morning's press release, Monster founder Jeff Taylor said: "We are excited about the business prospects associated with this deal...eBay offers Monster a tremendous opportunity to reach a growing segment of the business world - small-business owners. Hiring qualified employees is crucial to growing a business. Monster can help small businesses on eBay do this efficiently and cost-effectively." As part of the deal, Monster will get monster-sized banner ads and front page presence on eBay's site.
The reality behind this announcement is that most buyers and sellers using eBay are atypical of the types of small business owners that would ever seek job candidates. Well...except for those of us women entrepreneurs shopping for off-price designer shoes. But shoe shopping demands single-mindedness (i just ain't gonna be thinkin' about my next graphic designer hire).
More importantly, Monster is simply not structured well for local biz job candidate searches nor is it worth the dollar investment when you can learn much more about local qualified candidates from a fellow Chamber Member. eBay users may be more likely however, to be passive job searchers. So this announcement is less about helping small business owners than it is about Monster attracting more job seekers to their site. Could it be that this is a first step towards eBay acquiring Monster? The morning rags seem to think that this is indeed the case. We will have to wait and see.
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
RE:State of Women in Politics Update
The recent State of Women in Politics event hit the front page of the Chicago Tribune's Women News section today. Read the glowing article in its entirety!
Tuesday, February 17, 2004
RE:men, women, and ribs marketing at Tony Roma's
Tony Roma's, the Dallas-based restaurant chain, announced today the results of a nationwide survey that reveals that men and women alike believe men have one less rib than women. They budgeted the $$$ to make this a nationwide survey???? Ahemm... In case you don't KNOW this is incorrect, let me delicately point out that men and women both have 12 ribs. Almost half of all male and female respondents to Tony Roma's survey answered the question incorrectly -- believing men to have one less rib than women. Looks like quite a few of us took those bible studies literally. To celebrate the fact that the average man and woman is misinformed, Tony Roma's will be doling out free rib dinners to anyone named Adam or Eve on February 19th. They are, you know, the ribs experts.
For your consideration, Adam was ranked 56th and Eve 98th among the most popular baby names in the U.S. in 2002. For your amusement, the survey was conducted with 9,428 members of the Tony Roma's Loyalty Club. So perhaps one might conclude that the results are more telling about the average Tony Roma customer. Read the Tony Roma survey results here for a good laugh.
P.S. Slightly more men than women answered the question correctly. Perhaps a larger majority of smart women are vegetarians?
P.P.S. No, I don't think this is good marketing either.
P.P.P.S. For those of you are are really devout Tony Roma's fans -- drop me an email and please tell me you were in the survey half who said "do those come with or without BBQ sauce?"
Sunday, February 15, 2004
RE:Wash Post says "Iron-Jawed Angels takes 'stab with a spatula' at depicting suffragist movement"
Gratuitous bathtub scenes and wildly choppy editing aside. A few OTHER thoughts about the premiere of HBO's Iron Jawed Angels and Alice Paul. Since a definitive biography about Alice Paul hasn't yet been written, I'm taking the liberty of providing some controversial insight into Alice Paul...The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Good...
Self-sacrificing single-mindedness contributed to Alice Paul's charismatic leadership. Those who knew Alice spoke highly of her ability to motivate others, her organization skills, and her tenaciousness that sustained her half-century pursuit of the ERA.
The women in business angle here? During the 1960s Alice (age 79) ran the lobbying campaign to include the category of sex discrimination in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She helped introduce the amendment to include sex discrimination in Title VII of that Act, the employment title. The amended Title VII not only represented a critical breakthrough for women in employment rights but it also sparked the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW) 2 years later.
The Bad...
Although many feminists admired Alice, she also aroused strong negative feelings. She was considered by some to be elitist, autocratic, and domineering. Others described her as shy and somewhat aloof. Alice's abruptness often appeared insensitive, and it has been said that she rarely expressed appreciation for hard-working colleagues. She was vocal and outspoken about younger women's "ignorance of their feminist history" during the 60s and dismayed at NOW's agenda inclusion of abortion rights. Her notable quotes include: "Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women."
The Ugly...
Alice Paul never married; she devoted her life to women's rights. During an interview at age 91, she expressed feelings of guilt. She was also concerned that she had become "useless" because at the age of 91 she wasn't "doing anything" for women. She died alone in a Quaker nursing home in Moorestown, New Jersey.
While many reporters question whether Alice actually had a love interest, there is some subtle rumor afloat that she did have an unrequited romantic interest - fellow National Women's Party activist, Elsie Hill, although Elsie was married to Washington & Lee law professor Albert Levitt (b. 1887- d.1968) from 1921 to 1956 until he abruptly divorced her. The Vassar college library collection of Elsie Hill's belongings includes some 200 personal letters of correspondence from Alice to Elsie and Alice's personal collection contains multiple photographs of Elsie. For a woman such as Alice, characterized as notably isolated from others and "aloof," this is a heck of a lot of personal communication. According to a thought-provoking article by Estelle Freedman, "The Burning of Letters," Journal of Women’s History, Alice Paul's family actively burned/destroyed many of Elsie Hill's most personal letters to Alice prior to turning over the collection to Vassar. Freedman’s source is Alice Paul's grandniece, Eloise Lawrence.
Is this truth ugly? I proffer YES - for what a sad life Alice's was if indeed it was one where her greatest love remained hidden and she died alone feeling useless. Elsie died 7 years before Alice in 1970. Since Elsie retained her own name (even while she was married -- quite a statement for 1921) her daughter was known as Leslie Hill-Levitt.
Perhaps this was an angle that HBO might have explored to strengthen their storyline.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
RE: Barbie and Ken break-up. "Career women don't want to get tied down," Mattel quips.
I am going into hiding on Friday, for not only is it Friday the 13th but it is 1 day to yet another commercial hype Valentine's day where I feel a momentary pang of guilt for not blessing my mother with a grandchild or husband. Yes, I'm revealing my heart for V-Day to you readers, just to show that business women can have smarts, heart, and soul.
Of course, i found some comfort in the news of the day -- 6 hours ago Barbie and Ken broke up (officially, like any good celeb couple, with a press release). Yes it's shameless marketing, but somehow it made me feel better. In spite of having 90 or so jobs, Barb never negotiated a ring from boyfriend Ken. Heck, NBC's Apprentice Overlord Trump let go of the gal who couldn't close a sale tonite. Mattel's VP of Marketing (MS. Russell Arons) was quoted during the press briefing as saying: "There are a lot of successful career women out there who don't want to get tied down."
Reminded me of this amusing article from the May issue of the Stanford's Graduate School of Business newsletter titled, Do Men Want Successful Women, in which student Louisa Wee questions whether the typical man's ideal woman is "smart but not too smart." Is Barbie getting too smart? Or perhaps Barbie did the breaking up? Either way, here's to Barbie in her new life. Onward and upward. With faith and courage you can bounce back with abundance.
Happy pre-VD to everybody!
RE:State of Women In Politics
Having served on the planning committee for this year's 3rd annual Illinois State of Women in Politics event, I am biased. But I have to say yesterday evening's event, chaired by the magnificent Mimi Keane, was a stellar success. The event was co-sponsored by NAWBO, the Professional Women's Club of Chicago, and the Women's Bar Association of Illinois. Carol Marin, Chicago Channel 5 journalist, moderated a panel of prestigious political thought-leaders including Sunny Penedo Chico, Kristine Cohn, Christine Dudley, Nancy Kohn, and Bobbie Steele.
Each woman panelist shared their genius last nite. And their proverbs are applicable to women entrepreneurs as well as women in government:
- You can't wait until someone asks you to "run." Don't wait to be included. Make room for yourself.
- Don't be afraid to lose. It isn't fun, but you can't fear losing. For even in winning you can lose, and even in losing you can win.
- Seek out strong mentors and listen to their advice.
- Remember there are 4 basic functions in math: addition, multiplication, division, and subtraction. In politics, business, and life, ensure your efforts are dedicated to the first two (loved that one, compliments of Bobbie and shades of Gregg Easterbrook's Happiness Math)
You can't always find women in politics willing to risk their necks to address hard-hitting women's issues. Just two days ago in Chicago's Daily Herald, Patti Blagojevich (our state's first lady) was quoted as saying her pet projects are the highway beautification program and promoting the planting of native wildflowers and grasses along state routes. How very nice and lady-like. Standard m.o. non-offensive garden party and women-who-lunch issues. I humbly propose you can do much more as a state's first lady.
Why aren't more women involved with politics and committed to making a difference? So many women at the event asked that question, particularly in light of alarming statistics of under-representation of women in political roles in Illinois. Each woman panelist proferred her perspective. Luckily, I have found a very simple website with very simple answers, dedicated to inspiring young girls to take political action. It's almost as appealing as Schoolhouse Rock, only without the rhymes and with a bent towards women's suffrage.
Hop on over there for a look: The Girls's Pipeline 2 Power Site. Be sure to explore all the various links!
Wednesday, February 11, 2004
RE:millionaire business women continued
Late last nite, discovered who owns the millionairewomen.com url. Ta-Da! A team of 2 smart women who are inspired to connect savvy businesswomen with financial and business mentors. Founders Shelly Gore and Christina Gage have an interesting site. Worth a look.
And best yet, they have taken heed of Eric Flint's recent advice and they are giving away an excerpt of their book for free. Now, you have to ignore the blatant advertorial fluff (note to the MW gals, ever heard of underselling to sell more?) But surprisingly, there is some incredibily insightful stuff in here too. Some tidbits? Their abundance formula: belief + faith + courage = abundance. And power and success tips for women (page 35). Happily the two even get into PR and marketing tips.
Read it here.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
RE:women-owned businesses more resilient; similar survival rates, fewer job losses
Late last month, the National Women's Business Council announced findings from a 3-year study about business survival rates. Turns out women-owned firms proved to be more resilient than employer firms overall during the study (1997 - 2000), with a much lower decline in employment versus non-women owned firms. And they were equally as likely to have remained in business over this same time period. This study has been shadowed by the Catalyst study mentioned in my last BLOG and the Center for Women's Business Research study about women-owned million dollar firms. But it is definitely prime grade WOTW (worthy of tongue-wagging).
Have to admit though, the comparison to women who have hit the $1M target mark intrigues me. I mean, who DOESN'T want that kind of success? Want to become a million dollar firm? Here's the 7-item Cliff's Notes-version:
1. produce financial reports -- balance sheets, income statements
2. use bootstrapping strategies to reduce the need for outside capital -- such as speeding up customer payments, leasing equipment, negotiating better Accounts Payable terms
3. use a greater number of funding sources
4. use formal advisors -- accountants, attorneys
5. be certified as a women-owned business (see re:invention's blog dated Jan 19th)
6. have a customer set that includes corporations and government
7. belong to formal organizations and networks.
TO THAT END...if you live in Chicago and sadly missed pre-registration for this Wednesday's State of Women In Politics event, a good alternative Wednesday networking opportunity is Chicago Evening's Business to Business at 5:30 p.m. Yes indeed, that is tomorrow! Chicago Evening is founded by two fellow Chamber of Commerce women entrepreneurs. RSVP to 312.832.9121. Bring plenty of business cards. You can work on list items 2, 3, 4, and 7. Both events get Kirsten's stamp of approval:
Friday, February 06, 2004
RE:TWO BLOGS IN ONE DAY
Yeah, yeah, yeah Catalyst announced that women boost the bottom line last week. EVERY blogger is talking about it. Business Pundit, Brand Mantra....CFO covered the story, Fortune, Motley Fool, Accountingweb....What I think is worth mentioning?
How quickly Home Depot developed a piggyback story about their women executives that appeared in the AJC today. Their lead in?
...an inclusive and diverse department and company have helped Atlanta-based Home Depot become the second-largest retailer in the country, behind Wal-Mart, and the largest home improvement company in the world. A study released last week by Catalyst, a nonprofit research group working to advance women in business, backs up that assessment.
Talk about marvelous marketing! Way to shuffle, Carol Tome (Home Depot's CFO) and Home Depot!!!
Every woman-led small business should aspire to that type of piggyback PR article placement with that level of speed and momentum.
RE:Customer Experience Ideas Borrowed From Big Biz for Small Biz Continued....
By focusing on products that offer personalized solutions and tapping into customer emotions using tools like interaction, empowerment, trust, personal connections, and delight, Big Boy Businesses heighten their customer experience. A unique customer experience goes beyond satisfaction and creates real, unexpected value for customers. Estee Lauder’s Prescriptives cosmetics. Customized colors. Levis Jeans. Customized Fit. Dell computers. Custom-designed technology solutions. Yep. Big Boy Businesses are trying to serve things up “as we like it.” Spruce up how ya make it, take it, check it, promise it, book it, and ship it…and heck, it really works.
As I mentioned yesterday, small business owners can’t afford over-the-top experience extravaganzas. But with a little outside the box thinking, you too can craft captivating customer experiences. Never hurts to borrow and tweak something Big Boy Business has tried and used successfully.
Let's make things really simple. You have three opportunities to engage your customers: (1) before they buy…i.e., “your prospects” (2) while they buy…”your customers” and (3) after they buy…”previous customers turned evangelists.” During each of these 3 customer experience states, you must address three key elements: face, space, and service. FSS. No, it isn't RSS (for all you technically proficient readers out there). I'm talkin' 'bout FSS.
Face: The people, teams, staff, language, and personality of your business and your customers. The human side.
Space: The physical environment of your business from your website, to your retail store or office space.
Service: Specific activities you do actively gain and retain customers.
If you think of FSS and your three situational opportunities to engage customers (before they buy, while they buy, and after they buy)....you can create a really nifty little FSS matrix with smart suggestions about how to build a magical customer experience. It ain't rocket science. You can think of the FSS matrix as a roadmap, a pocket guide, or a checklist.
Click here to read the FSS matrix as a PDF.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
RE:Guest Host Dave Norton, Designing Customer Experience for Small Biz
If you check out re:invention’s site, you might guess we are passionate about design. Guru Tom Peters says design differentiates a company from the competition. I learned the value of design throughout my career from remarkable Big Boy Business art directors and designers. Fact is, Big Boy Businesses go beyond high design marketing materials. They spend time and money designing, staging, even manipulating, the customer experience. Pine and Gilmore’s 1999 book titled The Experience Economy declared that successful Big Boy Businesses, whether they sell to consumers or to businesses, must create distinct customer experiences. Pine and Gilmore quickly became zeitgeists for Big Boy Business marketers. Exceptional customer experiences are even more important for smart small businesses – retailers, service providers, and manufacturers -- even though to date there hasn’t been a customer experience made easy, how-to manual written expressly for emerging businesses.
Although small biz can’t afford over-the-top experience extravaganzas, with a little creative thinking, you too can craft genuinely captivating customer experiences. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing ideas about how emerging businesses can more effectively design spellbinding customer experiences, but we are going to kick start this discussion with a thoughtful BLOG from today’s impressive guest host, Dave Norton, Ph.D. and Vice President, Experience Strategy and Research at Yamamoto Moss. Thrilled to have Dave share his thoughts! Read on....
Reinventing the Meaning of Marketing
by Dave Norton, Ph.D.
On Monday, Ad Age reported that “the money is starting to follow the call to arms for the marketing-through-entertainment business.” The call to arms that Ad Age is referring to is the manifesto that Steven Heyer, COO of Coca Cola pronounced last year: Coke would be looking to create cultural value by creating content and experiences that consumers want. In part he was responding to an advertising reality. Now that lots of people have TiVo to cut out the commercials, the advertising world is looking to find a way to get their messages across. So why not connect Madison Avenue with Vine Street, Hollywood? Why not have Madison Avenue help create content for distribution on cable. NBC creating programming like “The Restaurant,” a reality based program where ads and product placements from Mitsubishi Motors, Coors Light, and American Express are integrated into the program itself.
Content development by big brands is not a new idea. Soap operas are called “soap operas” because they were Procter & Gamble’s idea for generation sales for Ivory. So in a way what Madison Avenue is doing is very retro. But what Heyer said last year goes far beyond creating programs like “The Restaurant.” Creating cultural value, content, and experiences requires companies to think about marketing in a new way….beyond just promoting your wares. It’s about using your marketing dollars to produce the types of experiences that really matter to consumers. Could Coca Cola ever get to the point where they weren’t just a beverage company, but a company that produces experiences that are meaningful to their target audience? (A certain coffee company did that. Remember Starbucks?) Do you think that somewhere in their business model that Coors, American Express, and Mitsubishi Motors are beginning to think whether or not they could actually produce “The Restaurant,” a place where people could come and experience first hand the food, the lifestyle, and the brands associated with the show? A friend of mine, Joe Pine, likes to say that such ideas have infinite ROI for marketers, because you can charge people to sell to them. The value of infinite ROI works for companies large and small. Imagine what a small business could do if it could expect a return on investment for creating meaningful marketing experiences.
Creating “The Restaurant” or “The Red Lounge” (Coca Cola’s new experiential environments for Mall Rats) is about more than having tie-in venues that reinforce the brand. They become part of the product—as does the television programming itself. (I wonder how much more long-term value P& G would have realized had they somehow copyrighted the idea of soap operas.) Marketers are used to sponsoring programs, events, and even venues. But they forget that the show, the experience, is what consumers value most. It’s almost as if we need to reinvent marketing so that the purpose isn’t just to make selling superfluous (one of Peter Drucker’s definitions) but to produce experiences that consumers value. Whoa, that conflates the disciplines of marketing and innovation! Careful there, Dave.
In fact, those two worlds have been on a collision course for some time. Consumers see through product placement. They get it. And if you do too much of it, it cheapens the customer experience. But if you can rethink how you measure marketing success, move beyond measuring how much awareness is generated to how brands innovate to create the experiences they promise, then the possibilities explode in every medium. And the quality goes way up. Here’s hoping that Coke sees Heyer’s manifesto as more than product placement and the advertising industry starts producing more innovative experiences. Hey, I’ve got it! Instead of producing signs that say Coke and {INSERT YOUR BUSINESS HERE}. What if Coke created a program that allowed small businesses to produce more meaningful experiences for their customers…such as content that companies could tap into or venues that businesses could customize to fit their needs.
Dave Norton, Ph.D., is Vice President of Experience Strategy and Research for Yamamoto Moss and an expert in designing meaningful brand experiences. Contact him at dnorton@yamamoto-moss.com.
© 2004 Dave Norton
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
RE:WSJ advises women: "give up on hard work, get on with self-promotion"
In an article in today's WSJ, Carol Hymowitz explores what is holding women back in business. Exploring a different angle than Linda Tischler's smart article in Fast Co last month which proposes women are held back in corporate america due to working less hours, struggle to balance work and family, and choosing not to compete hard and hearty.............Carol proffers "good-girl, or good-student behavior" inhibits women's success at work. In the article Terri Dial, former vice chairman of Wells Fargo, is quoted stating, "Women will work themselves to death in the belief that if they do more and more, that will get them ahead, when it isn't so." Ms. Dial goes on to acknowledge that she took advantage of her female subordinates' willingness to be (hard work) grinds as a senior executive.
Another controversial yet entertaining quote from Dial in the article: "Good girls don't advertise, only prostitutes advertise. We feel dirty promoting ourselves."
Having worked at 3 of the Big Boys -- Coke, Mills, and P&G -- and now working with women entrepreneurs I agree that many business women loathe self-promotion. But the fact remains: when we as women promote ourselves, corporate work cultures often admonish our efforts. A few examples: my second boss at Coke stole my ideas from my written proposals to him and told me I had to learn to pay my dues (he also prevented me from getting my first promotion). It took a near village level of hard work on my part and a woman to pull me up the ranks. A male boss I had at another respected up-and-coming company (ranked a best company to work for in America due to heavy promotion on the part of the company's HR team) averted my getting a bonus because he said my responsibility was to lead my team quietly and seek rewards and recognition only for them. I later got the bonus, thanks to an incredibly supportive team that fought for me.
A couple of thoughts here. First, I believe Tischler's cited Bureau of Labor work hour statistics are self-reported, and women may be more modest than men and underestimate/under-report how hard they work. And I am not sure if these statistics discount for the fact that a greater percentage of women than men work part-time jobs and therefore will clock fewer aggregate hours than full-time men and impact women's average hours worked.
Second, unlike the Hymowitz theory, my perspective is that women are indeed held to double standards -- they don't merely fear self-promotion and hide in hard work. They simply must deliver more work than equally qualified men as a basic standard of entry requirement and THEN find time to go one step further and promote. And this brings me to a poignant question.
If, as Hymowitz proposes in her article, daringness, assertiveness and the ability to promote oneself are shortcomings of women in corporate america...why is it then that women succeed so frequently as entrepreneurs? Daringness, assertiveness, and the ability to promote oneself are key characteristics of successful entrepreneurs as well. Perhaps it is that women are not ALLOWED to demonstrate these characteristics in Big Boy Business and their attempts to exhibit these traits are thwarted. As far as I see it, the best magic trick for women in corporate america is to get others to aggressively promote you -- a mentor, a boss, a husband/boyfriend (yes it still happens!), a friend, etc. -- for if as a woman you do it yourself, the culture will ensure you "ain't getting nowhere." And often times, without the right "connections," that is where women fall short.
Just a thought. But then again, I'm just a little Southern gal.
P.S. Shame on Ms. Dial! But props for admitting it.
Monday, February 02, 2004
RE:sexless respect & bedroom to business table progress
Ahh! The challenges we face as women in business. Although re:invention works primarily with women-owned businesses, we aren’t averse to a token male client or two. Last week’s email banter from a prospective male client was unexpectedly a shade un-PC. The email trail (names omitted) follows for your reading pleasure below. When faced with sneaky, subtle sexual advances from a client what is a good woman entrepreneur to do? No corporate policy protection....and the client community is tight. Reminded me of an interesting book by Shere Hite titled Sex & Business: Ethics at Work. Between men and woman in business, can there be sexless respect? And has there really been progress from the bedroom to the business table? Share your comments or egg me with an email.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kirsten Osolind
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 11:22 AM
To: MALE CLIENT
Gave some thought to the project. Here is first blush at project scope/costs. Think it would be fair to charge you an hourly rate for both pitch planning and pitch if I was given a guarantee of business post-pitch. Standard hourly rate for Kirsten O. is ……(omitted by editor, sorry you can’t see my rate card!)
-----Original Message-----
From: MALE CLIENT
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 11:26 AM
To: Kirsten Osolind
Sweetie, you are a smart woman but I think too much money for me. In addition, what is the guarantee for the post pitch?
-----Original Message-----
From: Kirsten Osolind
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 12:30 PM
To: MALE CLIENT
Well. It could be considerably lucrative for your company if you get the deal. I’d be thrilled to help make that happen. And if the deal transpires because I am a part of the team, I would expect to be compensated. So here is my revised proposal. A discounted rate for the time you need preparing and pitching and 5% of the complete deal as compensation if the deal closes. While there is never any guarantee of a closed deal, re:invention’s goal is to deliver deliberate, customer-centric presentations that will result in a measurable return on investment for clients.
From: MALE CLIENT
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 4:48 PM
To: Kirsten Osolind
I am sorry, I can’t do that – too rich for me at this time – I hope we are still friends. PS, I know you would present great and look even better. I would be lucky to have you there.
-----Original Message-----
From: MALE CLIENT
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2004 9:25 AM
To: Kirsten Osolind
Are we still friends? I’ll keep you warm!
RE:re:invention's new and improved logo
You may notice a delicate difference with re:invention's logo today. We have migrated from "brand consultants" to "consulting." We have done this for two reasons: (1) while we are brand and image consultants, our company's true expertise lies in developing integrated marketing programs for our clients. We think buxom branding is a primo start, but, particularly for emerging businesses, there is much more that envelops sound marketing strategy and (2) the darn tagline was simply too hard to read and our genius designer recognized that we could shorten the tag and pump up the volume. Kudos to Chrissy for her hard work.
Read our archives of tips from women entrepreneurs & executives. NOMINATE a 10 Tips Expert! Leverage their credibility! Click on the 10 Tips Badge above to learn more.
