Quit Trying to Be Like Steve Jobs

The opening question the venture capitalist asked after I sat down to be interviewed was, “How did a marketing guy end up being considered for a CEO job?”

After a 20-year career in high-tech that included managing development, running worldwide sales, and heading up marketing for a few moderately sized public companies, that’s the question the guy led with.

I won’t lie and say it wasn’t off-putting, but I was used to it. It’s a relatively common theme among the Silicon Valley geek crowd. There are exceptions, but in general, they just don’t get marketing.

That was nearly 15 years ago and things have changed. Entrepreneurs and VCs have a greater respect for marketing and communications these days. One of the reasons for that is a little company called Apple.Steve Jobs was a positioning genius, but he wasn’t the only Apple executive with marketing in his DNA.

I just watched an interview (video below) with the company’s former VP of marketing communications, Allison Johnson, and let me tell you, this woman gets marketing. Some of what she had to say could have come out of my own mouth, plus there were some great lessons from her years working with Jobs.

Here’s my interpretation of some of the major points that I think are relevant for entrepreneurs and business leaders.

You can learn a lot from a hands-on boss. Jobs was famously hands-on about certain things, namely product design and communications. Johnson described how he once got hold of an email meant to train AT&T salespeople on how to sell the iPhone, and he edited it to make sure the product was positioned accurately.

Funny, when I ran marketing, I used to do the same thing. Drove people crazy. And, yes, I admit to being a control freak. Like it or not, I’m afraid it comes with the territory.

In any case, I’ve noticed how nervous marketers and agencies get around CEOs and I don’t know why. Sometimes, they’re better at positioning and marketing their products than the supposed experts are. And it certainly doesn’t seem like Johnson got to where she is by being proprietary about her domain.

Product development and marketing should be tied at the hip. Most people think of marketing communications as the place where products go after they’re developed and ready to be launched. Granted, that’s the way it happens in most companies, but that’s not the way it is at Apple, that’s not how it worked at my companies, and it’s not how I recommend anyone do it.

The role of marketing in planning a product rollout is to get the product positioning right. And the best way to do that is to be intimately involved with the development folks relatively early on in the process. More than anything else, your product is your brand. Likewise, it informs how you communicate everything about it to the world.

The only way to get it right and come up with the best communication strategy and content is to really connect with the product, its capabilities, its value, and what it does for customers that use it.

Quit trying to be like Steve Jobs … or Apple. For years now, executives and entrepreneurs have been trying to be and manage like Jobs. They’ve even been trying to remake their management teams and their companies in his and Apple’s image. Truth is, it doesn’t work that way.

Johnson said, “The thing that Steve did better than anyone else is, he was his authentic self.”

Most of us don’t know ourselves very well. The better you know who you are – your purpose, what you stand for, what you believe in, your strengths and weaknesses – the more genuine you’ll be. Strive to be the best version of you, not someone else. And that’s what you should communicate to the world.

Besides, Apple is a unique company. Its culture is cult-like. Its iconic products create categories. If your products are that good, then maybe you can manage and market the way Apple does. But few companies can truly live up to that claim.

To the audience of entrepreneurs, Johnson added, “We don’t need more Apples. We need more you.”

Don’t get hung up on labels. Apparently Steve Jobs hated labels, especially words like marketing and branding. He didn’t like what they represented in some people’s minds. He wanted Apple’s marketing to add value by teaching customers about the company’s products. By showing them how they could be used and what they could do. He didn’t want them in selling mode.

I feel exactly the same way. We often fall into the labels trap, especially these days in our distracted, attention-deficit, sound-bite culture.

Truth is, just because you wear a black mock turtleneck, blue jeans and sneakers, that doesn’t make you Steve Jobs. Just because you call yourself an entrepreneur or a CEO, it doesn’t make you one. They’re nothing but labels. And they’re really no different than the way that VC judged me in the interview.

In case you’re wondering how that turned out, not only did I not let the VC rattle me, I must have had a pretty good comeback because I did get the job. Go figure. 

5 of the Top Emerging Technology Trends of 2014

In a recent study, technology research firm Gartner identified a number of top technology trends emerging in 2014, with the potential to have a significant impact on enterprises over the next three years.

David Cearley, a vice president at the firm, said there is a “Nexus of Forces” made up of social, mobile, cloud and information technologies, which are converging and creating demand for “advanced programmable infrastructure that can execute at Web-scale.”

Here are 5 of the top trends Gartner identified:

Mobile Device Diversity and Management
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) phenomenon is a new reality in the workplace.
Business are in the middle of deciding how they want to address the expectations of their employees, and some business are pushing BYOD themselves, in a bid to save costs on hardware and software.
According to Gartner, one result of BYOD is “a doubling or even tripling of the size of the mobile workforce.”
Provisioning for all of these devices is a major undertaking, with the need to secure network access for employees, guests, and partners, even when they are using personal devices at 

work.

Mobile Apps and Applications
Gartner predicts improvements in JavaScript performance will push HTML5 and browser-based enterprise application development environments into the mainstream.
The firm recommends the development of richer voice and video as a key focus for developers, which can already be seen as WebRTC grows in prominence.
Gartner believes the number of mobile apps will grow—while the number of larger applications shrink–with apps becoming smaller and more targeted than more comprehensive applications.

The Internet of Everything
Along with smart TVs and field equipment, the “Internet of Things” is beginning to take off, with a staggering array of devices, appliances and vehicles just waiting to have their own IP addresses.
Garter lists four basic usage models created by the combination of data streams and services digitizing everything: “Manage, Monetize, Operate and Extend,” which are applicable to any of the four fields of the Internet: people, things, information and places.
The reports cautions that “most enterprises and technology vendors have yet to explore the possibilities of an expanded Internet and are not operationally or organizationally ready.”

Software-Defined Anything
This is another area that’s been very buzzy lately, usually focused on Software-Defined Networking, or SDN.
Gartner predicts Software-Defined Anything (SDx) will result in emerging standards bridging capabilities to benefit portfolios, while challenging individual technology suppliers to achieve true interoperability standards, as opposed to seeing increased siloing.
“Vendors who dominate a sector of the infrastructure may only reluctantly want to abide by standards that have the potential to lower margins and open broader competitive opportunities,” Gartner says, “even when the consumer will benefit by simplicity, cost reduction and consolidation efficiency.”

Smart Machines
You may want to call this “The Rise of the (Smart) Machines.”
Gartner forecasts that over the next two decades, there will be a “proliferation of contextually-aware, intelligent personal assistants, smart advisers (such as IBM Watson), advanced global industrial systems and public availability of early examples of autonomous vehicles.”
According to the firm, this will be the most disruptive in the history of IT.
Whatever the consequences of these titanic shifts in technology and how it’s used, you have to admit: These are interesting times.

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4 Tips for Hiring People Who Work As Hard As You Do

A few years ago, I met serial technology entrepreneur, Heidi Messer, at a CEO Summit hosted by Astia, where I serve as a board member. Astia is advancing women into high growth entrepreneurship. I asked Messer how her priorities have changed since her first start-up experience. Unlike most CEOs who focus solely on sales or product development as an early stage imperative talking point, Messer said that human resources and culture have evolved as top priorities from the get-go. We talked about what successful companies do toattract talent.

Culture and people determine success. I get it. But, now what? How does a CEO ensure that she hires the right people and cultivates the right culture from the get-go? I turned to Sue Stockdale, author of Motivating People, consultant, speaker, and contributor at PSDNetwork LLC, where I am co-founder, for some tips. This is what she shared:

1. Subscribe to social media platforms you think your potential employees follow.

LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are only the beginning; look at Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr. Make sure your messaging on each platform is consistent with the story you want to tell about your business. Every touch point is a possible opportunity to engage prospects.

2. Use a behavioral assessment tool in your recruiting process.

Consider the skills, experience, behavior, and values that are important for your business and map them to the candidates you have coming through the door. You might find a candidate with the right skills and education, but not the right culture for the team you are building.

3. Be prepared to invest in your employees.

When you are running lean, like most start-ups, you rely on your staff to deliver fast results. But, your approach to their development needs to be long-term if you want to attract the right talent and keep them with you. "View your job as enabling your team to succeed," says Stockdale. You want to give people a reason to be led by you today and tomorrow. If you invest in hiring on and developing the right staff, they will invest in you.

4. Offer competitive compensation packages.

The war for talent for key positions is tough, even with economic uncertainty. "Candidates are looking for what's in it for me," says Stockdale. Competitive compensation packages that don't break the bank, opportunities to directly impact direction, and inspiring leadership styles all contribute to the attractiveness of candidate and employee engagement.

Over and over I hear from founding teams who learn that they chose the wrong staff or realized too late that they hadn’t created a structure and talent pool conducive to the type of corporate culture they desired. Don’t let this happen to you. Invest in the right people and you build the business you want to lead.

Three Musts to Retaining Superstar Talent

In a previous post, I wrote about five toolsto look for when recruiting superstar talent. In this post, I'd like to share some key lessons learned over the years when it comes to retaining your top people.

As a general rule, it's important to note that by the time your best talent comes to you and says they're leaving, more often than not, it's too late. They've long since reached the conclusion it's time to go, having repeatedly seen or experienced examples of why they no longer want to be at the company. At that point, it's going to be extremely difficult to keep them.

One of the reasons it's so hard to change a person's mind once they've communicated their intention to leave is that they may not be willing to share the truth behind their rationale. At least in the case of the tech industry, it's a "small town," so people understandably want to leave doors open vs. burning bridges by speaking hard truths. Without knowing what's really motivating a person's decision to transition, it can be challenging to convince them otherwise.

Additionally, if losing the person to another company, you'll most likely be up against a grass-is-greener dynamic. Departing employees know what it's like at your company -- both the good and the bad -- but they are being wined and dined by hiring managers and recruiters who are telling them only the good, if not the great, about what it's going to be like to join a new team.

Lastly, sometimes the person can't quite put their finger on the reason they want to make a change. They just "know it's time" or have a gut feeling it's the right thing to do. Generally speaking, it's hard to counter an argument when one isn't being made.

All of this underlies one critical dynamic when retaining talent: Start the retention process when the person is still open to staying and not after they've already told you they're leaving. From time to time, you may be fortunate enough to walk someone back from the ledge (in certain cases, I've seen people retained even after they've accepted roles elsewhere), but this is the exception rather than the rule. If you are counting on your ability to persuade people to stay after they've already made the decision to leave, you should expect to lose far more talent than you save.

So how can you prevent this scenario to begin with? In my experience, there are three critical must-haves, all of which need to be in place well before the individual comes to you saying they are on their way out: Mentorship, career path, and recognition.

Mentorship

The primary role of a mentor in this case is to help the mentee determine what it is they ultimately want to do, and ensure they are well equipped to pursue that path. Why is this so important when it comes to retention? Because the clearer your talent is about their desired end goal, the earlier in the process you can work with them to make it a reality.

Bear in mind, simply because you are someone's boss, doesn't make you their mentor. To the contrary, by virtue of your role as manager, your employee may be hesitant to share their future plans (especially if it doesn't include you), or concerns about why working for you or your team is leaving them dissatisfied. Without knowing what's on their mind, it's going to prove prohibitively difficult to make the appropriate course corrections.

Rather than assume you are the right mentor for your directs, help them find the right mentor. That means leveraging your understanding of the individual -- their strengths, weaknesses, values, sensibilities -- and suggesting the best person to complement them. A mentor can come from within your organization or outside the company. Either way, they are there for your employee first, providing an impartial sounding board that can draw upon the mentor's own relevant experiences to assist the talent in making and pursuing the right career choices.

Career path

One of the most common questions I'm asked, especially among interns and new college grads, is, "What can I do to successfully achieve my career goals?" My reply is simple: Understand what it is you ultimately want to accomplish. As straightforward as this sounds, I can't tell you the number of times I've asked this question of people who have been working for five, 10, even 15 years, and still don't have any idea what the answer is. Oftentimes, this is due to the fact their careers have largely been opportunistic vs. goal driven. Swept up in a current of promotions, raises, and job offers from the latest hot new company, these individuals steadily work their way up the ranks in title and money, only to find themselves thoroughly unhappy in their current role years later.

Three ways to avoid this scenario are for any individual to:

1. Know what they want to do (optimizing for both skills and passion)
2. Surround themselves with the right people (e.g. see "Mentorship" above)
3. Always be learning

As a manager, one of the most valuable things you can do for your top talent is ensure you are asking the right questions, encouraging the right conversations, and doing everything within your power to help them realize these three dimensions on the way towards achieving their dream job.

Recognition

Every individual you work with, regardless of their position within the organization, not only wants to be recognized -- they need to be recognized. It's a fundamental part of human nature.

While compensation is an important part of the mix, recognition goes well beyond what a person earns. It can take the shape of a promotion, a shout-out at a staff meeting, a congratulatory email, or a pat on the back. The key is taking the time to understand what motivates the individual and expressing your appreciation whenever appropriate. The more personal and authentic, the better.

Don't make the mistake of taking your most talented people for granted and assuming they know how you feel. If that's the case, more often than not you'll end up telling them, but only after it's too late. Recognize a job well done consistently and you'll not only be more likely to retain your most valuable people, you'll motivate them to do their best work along the way.

What Makes Businesses Pinteresting?

In just over 12 months, Pinterest has gone from a social network of choice to an essential marketing tool for many brands. Its online bulletin boards can help humanize a brand and display personality.

With more than 1.36 million visitors every day, Pinterest also gives businesses a platform to tell a compelling story, driving traffic back to their website in the process. In fact, Pinterest has more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined.

For many brands, it’s the next step once they have established a digital presence
elsewhere, combining two of the most compelling elements of social media: visual content and sharing who you are.

Before you take the Pinterest plunge, here are some tips for building your brand’s presence:

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» Free Webcast: The Success of Visual Brands: How to Measure the Value of Instagram

#1 Make a Business Page

Like Facebook, Pinterest has an optionto establish a business page, providing access to analytical tools that allow you to track the number of unique users, repins, , impressions and visits to your boards.

#2 Write a Good Description

You have only 200 characters to describe your business to the Pinterest world, but with such a visually driven site, that’s plenty. Google Analytics is a great place to start when writing your description; it will tell you what keywords drive people to your site.

#3 Use your Current Website Images (To Start)

Certain industries are more visually driven than others, and while it may seem like building a Pinterest presence will require significant effort that’s not always the case. To start, take an inventory of the photos on your website and post those that best personify your brand. Be sure to consider all of your audiences and look for images and content that speak to their needs.

#4 Follow Other Businesses

Follow other businesses to see what they are doing to generate content and traffic. Pinterest is a platform where many businesses share content not found elsewhere. In most cases, when you follow someone they will follow you back, building your Pinterest presence.

#5 Explore Rich Pins

This may be the most important tip for the Pinterest skeptics out there. Rich pins add more information to a pin, beyond just using a picture.

Pinterest has 5 types of topic-specific rich pins, which you can include various details related to the pin.

Article Pins – Headline, Author Story description and link

Product Pins – Real-time pricing, availability and where to buy

Recipe Pins – Ingredients, cooking times and serving information

Movie Pins – Ratings, cast members and reviews

Place Pins – Address, phone number and map

You must apply for, add information to and validate your Rich Pins before you can use them, but in the end it’s worth it! These Rich Pins give users and followers more information about the topics they are interested in (YOU!)

YouTube vs. Facebook: Only One Of These Still Has An Audience

We are closing in on the midway point of 2014 and it’s shaping up to be the year online 

video reaches its tipping point in capturing brand dollars.  A recent report showed for the first 

time, Internet ad revenues have passed broadcast TV revenues.  Brands now have to take into consideration that we’re living in a multiscreen world with people watching more and more content online.  But they also have to be fully aware engagement is key or viewers will bypass ads, similar to fast forwarding through every commercial on the DVR.

When it comes to large platforms for brands, Facebook is where brands used to look in the past, but this is 2014 not 2008. Facebook’s declining organic reach and insistence upon brands needing to pay to reach the audiences they’ve spent millions to acquire has left many brands frustrated. Meanwhile, YouTube, with its higher engagement metrics and earned media potential is in a prime position to capitalize and capture brand dollars.

A recent study this February found companies’ posts only reach around 6% of their fans organically on Facebook. This means if your Facebook page has 100,000 fans, only 6,000 of them are likely to see the post. The other 94,000 won’t know your post existed unless they go to your Facebook page and the chances of that happening are even slimmer. Facebook is hinting in the near future brands and companies should expect organic reach to be zero.

Some brands have stopped using Facebook altogether and are going to other platforms. Food site Eat24, which had over 70,000 likes, wrote a “breakup letter” saying they were deleting their page because Facebook is no longer a true social network.  This could be the first of many of brands jumping ship on Facebook and taking up real estate elsewhere.

Facebook says the reason for gradual decline in organic reach is because of increased competition for limited space in the newsfeed for brands. Content being produced is being created at a faster rate than people can consume it. An average of 4.75 billion pieces of content are being shared daily on Facebookand 58% of consumers have liked at least one brand page.

While one brand leaving the platform is hardly a diaspora, it’s likely brands will be looking elsewhere to engage with their fans and YouTube is the likely candidate. According to data I recently pulled across the top five brands on each platform, the engagement rate of YouTube compared to Facebook is 20 times greater (infographic below).

Highly engaged viewers drive sales and according to YouTube, four in ten shoppers visit a store in person or online as a direct result of watching a video.  In addition, 34% of apparel shoppers said they were more likely to make a purchase after viewing an online video.  So, while Facebook fans are becoming less engaged and seeing a steady decline of the youth demo, losing 25.3% over the last three years, YouTube is going in the opposite direction. As I mentioned in a previous post, YouTube has a massive young user base, with more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network.

At a time when Facebook is alienating advertisers, YouTube is aggressively courting them. Three weeks ago YouTube launched an aggressive print, TV, and outdoor ad campaign, as well as its Google Preferred program, which provides upfront media packages to make itself more palatable to more traditional advertisers.

Brands such as Taco Bell, named marketer of the year for 2013, are generating significant sales and touting YouTube influencers as core to its digital strategy. Now others are likely to follow suit.

It’s not unlikely we’ll see more brands follow Eat24’s lead, opting out of investing in a platform in which engagement is continuing to decline. Meanwhile, YouTube’s aggressive moves to acquire advertisers and overwhelming engagement rates leaves the platform primed to welcome brands looking for alternatives.