In ministry, as in business, the day and time of your posts matter. A good social media strategy is critical. Take a look a this infographic. There are a lot of implications for your church and ministry website strategy.
Month: June 2013
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Marketing and the Conversation Strategy
In the new world of marketing and advertising, it’s not as much about your message as it is about engaging your audience in a dialogue about your message. Long ago marketing was all about exposing a product to the public. As competition grew and more products and services continued to vie for our attention, exposing a product was no longer enough. Marketers then began positioning it within a category or industry. They strived to place products in the minds of consumers by creating an unique promise, claim, or even story. But in today’s social-media drive culture, position is not enough. Consumers want a conversation with their favorite brands.
Consumers now want, and will soon demand, marketing that gives them a chance to dialog with their brands of choice. It’s not enough for us to know the story behind our favorite car, soap, or burrito. We now want to be able to share our impressions, comments, praise, and ideas with the products we care about. We want to engage with the brands we love. While that might seem like a lot of work for brand managers, it has its rewards as well.
Once I become part of the conversation with the brands I care for, I will gladly leverage my network for their benefit. Recently I have tweeted about Robert Graham shirts; I have posted the Chipotle commercial on my Facebook wall; and I have written a post about Southwest Airlines. These are brands that have engaged me in a conversation. They have reached out to me via Twitter or Facebook and have established a conversation, even something as simple as acknowledging a tweet.
What about your marketing strategy? Have you begun a conversation with your consumers? Are you ready to do so now?
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To Build a Winning Team, Talent is Not Enough
Sometimes the team with the most talent loses. The 2006 Brazilian National team was the favorite to win the World Cup. They were touted as, potentially, the most talented soccer team ever assembled. Yet, the world favorite was eliminated during the quarter finals much to the disappointment of Brazilians worldwide, including yours truly. What happened? How can so much raw talent, experience, and stardom result in such a poor performance? While some blame Brazil’s coach, Parreira, most of us saw clearly the problem play itself out on the field: superstars who could not play together as a team. It was obvious that the players were more preoccupied in looking good individually than winning games together.
Individually, they were the best in the world; together, however, they were less than the sum total of their talents.
All the talent, pride and praise of Brazil’s “jogo bonito (translated, “the beautiful game”), could not make up for the lack of team spirit and camaraderie on the field. Individually, these guys were the best in the world at their individual positions; together, however, they were less than the sum of their talents.
As I build my team at The A Group and as I help my clients build their teams filled with top talent, I’m keenly aware that talent alone does not cut it. It never has. These days I hire on three levels: character, competence, and chemistry. Sure I want to hire the most honest and talented person I can find for the job, but not at the expense of the team chemistry. In the past few years, I have changed the way I interview for openings in my company. While each potential hire has to meet our toughest job standards, he or she will not become part of the team unless the chemistry is there–after all, we are a small collaborative group and even one odd person can change the entire team dynamics.
It has taken me a long time to learn this lesson. I wish I’d learned it sooner. Talent alone does not cut it. It has never done it. In last few years we have passed on some great talent because they were not a good “fit” for our creative and professional culture.
Have you seen talented people not make it in your line of work? What happened?
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How Your Promising New Hire Can Hurt Your Organization
Strategies and implementation tactics are too often built on a single person’s skill set instead of built on a plan that takes advantage of his or her skills and experiences. While some might call such differentiation “semantics,” it is an important principle that when violated can slow down growth and even derail an organization.
Unfortunately I have seen this happen time and time again in business, not-for-profits as well as academia. The bright new head of “blank” (fill in a key position: IT, marketing, sales, development) comes in and wants to put his or her mark on your organization, and so, too often, all current plans, ideas and systems are replaced by the new hire with his “better” ones. While I understand the need to allow your new hire freedom to do his job in a way he can succeed, I also find the wisdom in protecting the organization from serious missteps and, perhaps, total dependency on a single individual. Before setting your new hire free to change the status quo, consider the following:
Audit current systems, personnel and strategies before replacing them. There is a big difference in making changes because things are not working well, and making changes because your new hire wants to put his mark on your organization. I can think of a leader going along with dismantling a marketing campaign that was extremely successful because the new head of marketing decided that he wanted to take the organization in a “different” way. Different is not necessarily good and if things are working, then work the plan deeper instead of changing it altogether.
Protect the organization from the single-point-of-failure syndrome. In smaller organizations that’s often a problem. A key position holds the entire team hostage on his or her knowledge alone. Your new “web guy” is often that person. In all my years of consulting work, I have yet to encounter any single web professional who’s an expert on all things internet. It just doesn’t happen. In my company I have to hire experts in the areas of design, security, infrastructure, and mobile app development in order to be able to serve our clients well. If you have one person in charge of your entire digital strategy, what would happen to your organization if he were to walk out today? We deal with such chaos often when that happens and clients ask us to bail them out.
The team is more important than any one of its members. Remember that while you want to give your dynamic new hire the tools and latitude to succeed, you need the entire team to win, not just the new person. Replacing systems, partnerships, software so you can show your support for the new person is often a price too high to pay. Just because something worked well in their last employment, doesn’t mean it will work well for you. Think of the team first, before you allow major shifts. Take calculated risks. Ask yourself: if this new change is a flop, what is the risk to the entire organization.
For me the bottom line is your new key position should have a clear, well-defined plan that’s derived from the organization’s overall strategy and is not just a win for his position or department. If there are changes to current systems, personnel, and partnership, they need to be quantified by an audit and carefully implemented. There’s some truth in the old saying, “the evil you know is better than the evil you do not.”
Where have you seen the new hire syndrome play out before?
