Notes from the Back of the Book

My 13 Favorite Business Books of 2009

As 2009 comes to a close, I want to share my thirteen favorite biz books from this year that I found myself writing the most "Notes in the Back of the Book", and stimulating the greatest new thinking and ideas. The list of books covers social media, marketing and new marketing models, and innovation and leadership. For reference, here are also business book favorites by Fast Company, Mashable, Amazon and The Brand Bubble (John Gerzema).

If you're looking to better understand and excel in today's social media and web 2.0 worlds, here are four: Inbound Marketing is a must for anyone who wants to be found online, and is especially helpful for anyone who is actively considering how to get started with inbound marketing. Written by the leaders of Hubspot, they know what they're talking about. Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith shows how people use online social tools to build networks of influence and how you can tap into the power of these networks to positively impact your business. Because trust is essential to building online reputations, those who traffic trust are "trust agents" and key people for any business.  Putting the Public Back into Public Relations shows how to reinvent PR around two-way conversations with traditional and new influencers, bringing the "public" back into public relations. Both are consistent thought leaders in the area of PR. Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik begins to bring accountability to web 2.0 online programs with focus on customer- centered thinking and measurement, and builds upon his 2007 book.

Of course, to participate in our ever changing digital and social world, strategic marketing and a deep customer focus are still paramount.  How is marketing evolving? In Marketing with Meaning, Bob Gilbreath outlines the next evolutionary step in a progression following direct marketing and permission marketing. The book calls for the end of "push and sell" marketing in favor of adding value to customers' lives. Excelling in marketing also starts with listening...In Listen First. Sell Later, Bob Poole outlines the benefits of listening FIRST. And to remind us about customer- centered marketing, I Love You More Than My Dog by Jeanne Bliss is a great read. Who can argue that companies like Lands End didn't get it right early on?

Eating the Big Fish still feels as relevant today as it was when it was first published. The 2009 edition is packed with new examples and Morgan's eight credos still worthy of consideration-especially for small specialty and biotech Pharmaceutical brands. In FREE: The Future of a Radical Price, Chris Anderson (Long Tail) argues that in the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all. He illustrates how savvy businesses are raking it in with indirect routes from product to revenue with such models as cross-subsidies and freemiums.  But when you stop to think about the real changes in expectations that the web has brought about, this is a book to think hard about.

Tim Brown's Change by Design suggests that innovation in today's world means taking a design thinking approach, and one that is human-centered. The CEO of global design consultancy IDEO offers a guide for thinking and organizing our everyday creative processes.  A great book and a nice break  from so much focus on social media...

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs is a must read for anyone looking to improve their own presentation skills. Why not learn from a master, who is consistently voted the most important CEO of the decade?  Knowing how to present is critical today, but this book goes beyond just presentation tips...Power of Less is a very useful reminder to focus (and act) on what is most important and forget the rest. It's simple and direct without the fluff. Born to Run, while not a business book per say, provides lessons in mind and body, and shows the advantages of anthropological learning from others, in this case a special Indian tribe from Mexico.

Favorite Business Books of 2009

1. Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (The New Rules of Social Media) by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

2. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

3. Putting the Public Back into Public Relations: How Social Media is Reinventing the Aging Business in PR by Brian Solis and Deidre Breakenridge

4. Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity by Avinash Kaushik

5. The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect With Your Customers by Marketing With Meaning by Bob Gilbreath Listen First Sell Later

6. Listen First Sell Later by Bob Poole

7. I Love you More than my Dog: Five Decisions That Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Times and Bad by Jeanne Bliss

8. Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands can Compete Against Brand Leaders by Adam Morgan (2009 reprint)

9. FREE: The Future of Radical Price by Chris Anderson

10. Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation by Tim Brown

11. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great In Front of Any Audience by Carmine Gallo

12. Power of Less The: Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life by Leo Babauta

13. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes and the Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen by Chris McDougall

Other books you think should be on this list?

 

Books I plan to read in the New Year:

1. Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves by A Penenberg

2. Googled: The End of the World As We Know It by Ken Auletta/What Would Google Do? By Jeff Jarvis

3. The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarella

4. Chief Culture Officer: How to Create a Living, Breathing Corporation by Grant McCraken

5. Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations by Garr Reynolds (due December 28, 2009)

6. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink (due out December 29, 2009)

7. Lynchpin: Are You Indispensible? by Seth Godin (due out January 26, 2010)

8. Rework by Jason Fried (due out March 9, 2010)

What about you? What's on your list to read?

 

Other blogs to read related to these favorite books of 2009:

If You Charged For Your Content, Would Anyone Pay? By Jonathan Richman Dose of Digital blog

Marketing With Meaning: Is there any other way? Advertising Age

Pharma: Are Current DTC Ads Meaningful? By Ellen Hoenig Notes From the Back of the Book blog

How Marketing With Meaning Can Save Pharma (3 Part Series) by Jonathan Richman

Book Review: I love You More Than My Dog - Small Business Trends

Pharma: Say NO To More Bullets! and Presentation Tips  by Ellen Hoenig

Pharma: Is Your Marketing Designed to Engage and Educate or Sell?  By Ellen Hoenig

For my list of top books of 2008 and 2007, click here.

Happy New Year to all! See you in 2010!

 

 

 

Pharma: Is Your Marketing Designed To Engage And Educate Or Sell?

As Marketers, we've long been conditioned to "sell", also known as the fourth Marketing P: Promotion.  Increasingly, however, the world of Marketing is shifting from a model of selling and shouting to one of listening, engagement, dialogue and education. Pharma is no exception to this change.  A recent study by about.com outlined in eMarketer points to success with current pharma advertising, but also highlights opportunities for improvement that are consistent with the continued shift in consumer mindset.

Key Takeaways

Following diagnosis from their Physician, most consumers use the web to find more information about their condition, a smaller percent use search engines to better understand treatment options or the particular medication that they've been prescribed.  Only 35% trust what the doctor says and fill the prescription without further search or education.

Currently, more than four in 10 Internet users told About.com that pharma ads made them aware of treatment options and educated them about symptom and conditions; 17% felt like they could speak more knowledgeably with their doctor because of pharmaceutical advertising.

After seeing healthcare ads, 38% of respondents said they talked with their doctor and 36% researched the advertised drug online. In addition, 13% of Internet users visited the pharmaceutical company's Website.

When surveyed about what would catch their attention, Internet users were most likely to say info about specific conditions (29%) and medication side effects (28%); also information about how to cope with the condition (20%), followed by free trial offers (18%).

How Can Pharma Continue to Improve Engagement and Communication?

1. Combine 'relevant' education into every communication; surround the target consumer/patient with a mix of branded and unbranded communications, and branded and educational messaging. 
2. Consider where the patient is along the treatment pathway and customize engagement to reflect information and education needs. Adding a personalized touch can dramatically help improve trial or web sign-ups. (See more on Personalization in my next blog)
3. Don't be afraid to speak to the potential side effects; balanced benefit and risk information is what consumers (and FDA) want.  Most consumers recognize that along with the benefits of a particular treatment comes some side effect(s)--why not provide the information upfront, including potential ways to deal with the side effects...This might also begin to instill a bond of trust and authenticity...Moving forward, pharma companies will do well by providing easy to understand risk-benefit comparisons for consumers...
4. Shout the condition that your medication treats to increase stopping power. While this might sound obvious, many online and off line DTC ads continue to overlook the need to scream the condition they are treating. With the onslaught of messages that a typical consumer sees each day, this is a costly mistake, but one that is relatively easy to fix. (Marketers and Advertising Creatives alike often hate to shout out the condition thinking its redundant or isn't visually elegant, but its often the single best way to immediately grab your patients' attention. It usually takes one round of qualitative for marketers and their agencies to be convinced...)
5. Don't just focus on your medication--Help patients and their families treat and cope with the 'whole' condition and the 'whole' person.  This goes beyond providing a few tips or tools or links to third parties...and goes beyond any one advertisement.
6. Listen First-Sell Later.  Everyday consumers are telling  us that they don't want to be sold to or shouted at, but engaged in a meaningful conversation, to hear from others like themselves. How best to understand someone's needs and wants if not by listening first? 

Bob Poole has written a great book with many, thoughtful nuggets to consider: 

Customers and prospects know their problems much better than you do.  Don't make the mistake of thinking that you already have the solutions. To assume you know the solution before you really understand the problem, is like a physician writing a prescription before making a diagnosis. 

Learn to listen -really listen. It's how you establish trust, rapport, and relationships.

Listen. Create value. Follow through. Keep your word. Maintain the relationship. Listen more.

Stop being a salesperson. Become a solutions provider. You'll be much more productive. It's more fun. And, it's the right thing to do.

People have to buy YOU before they buy anything FROM you.

Burn your story into the hearts and minds of the people who want-who need-to hear it. We can all create and tell stories that are entertaining, educational, and emotional.

What kind of fun are you building into your business? When is the last time you did something fun with your customers?                                                                                                                                                                  

Pharma: Which do you do first, Listen or Sell?  As an industry, isn't it time we made listening a greater priority? If we listen first, won't engagement and increased sales follow? Thoughts?

Avoiding the Tropicana squeeze...What do your best customers deeply appreciate about you?

...back in the saddle after a few tough weeks of keeping up with a few sizable family health issues and keeping up with the work...

So much of a marketers time is spent thinking about how to build brand awareness and attract new consumers...

BUT it seems that even the best marketers overlook --or don't test with enough rigor --what changes and improvements to attract new users will mean to current customers and loyalists (if we can even continue to use this term in the 21st century...). 

New Coke is perhaps the most famous example....but there have been many others...back in November, a new Motrin IB ad campaign incited both non-customers and customers alike to twitter and complain so much about the new ad that within 48 hours J&J appologized and announced its withdrawl from the marketplace.

Most recently...Pepsi's Tripicana Orange juice (NYT) brought on its own PR nightmare with the launch of its new packaging and "Squeeze" advertising campaign. Most of the negative buzz surrounded the new carton packaging which loyal consumers found both difficult to distinguish at the grocery shelf ["Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?" the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. "Because I do, and the new cartons stink."] and devoid of the imagery that they have come to associate with their Tripicana brand...and yes, many, including me, at first glance thought the new carton was a new generic OJ brand...

...I have to admit that I was was confused the first time I tried to buy my children their favorite 'pulp-free' Tropicana product. At the shelf, the line of cartons looked so generic that I walked up and down the refrigerator case looking for the one with the orange with the straw coming out of it...heaven for bid  that I bring home a 'generic' OJ for my three boys!  [...though now that I know what to buy, I can see that the graphics are cleaner and have to admit that my kids like the new cap that looks like an orange!]

...As a result, in less than two months, the new packaging was scrapped and the old packaging will return.  Also returning will be the longtime Tropicana brand symbol, an orange from which a straw protrudes. The symbol, meant to evoke fresh taste, had been replaced on the new packages by a glass of orange juice.

"We underestimated the deep emotional bond" that our most loyal consumers had with the original packaging, said Mr. Campbell, president at Tropicana North America..."Those consumers are very important to us, so we responded...What we didn't get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have. That wasn't something that came out in the research."

Well herein lies the first marketer's dilemma...what research?

Did it really not come out in the research or is it that they didn't hear it because it wasn't something that they were listening for or wanting to hear? And were there enough brand loyalists included in the research?  [Having spent 20+ years in marketing, I can only imagine the political capital that would have been needed to stop the new packaging freight train as it was getting ready to leave the station...]

Across marketing today, but especially pharmaceutical marketing where patent lives are relatively short, most effort is still spent listening and talking with potential new patients or caregivers.  Despite the on-again, off-again push to improve adherence-- due to the huge dollars and health issues  associated with consumers either not taking their medicine the way its prescribed (compliance) or not sticking with it month to month (persistence)--the amount of time listening and speaking with current users and loyalists is relatively small and often a HUGE missed opportunity.

From my experience, there really is no substitute for deeply understanding the emotional values and intrinsic product differences that loyal customers attach to your brand.  And now with the growing use of web 2.0 and social media venues, there are even more ways to listen and gain that learning real time and cost effectively.  Recently, I was working with one of my clients and we had a chance to spend time with current and loyal users for the first time since the product was launched--our learning was invaluable and rich with inspiration--the perfect reminder never to overlook your loyal customers! Any other thoughts?

BTW, I do like the new "Squeeze" ad campaign and think it visually captures an emotional moment or connection each parent would love to achieve during those few precious minutes of breakfast time with our families...and the campaign captures wonderful imagery of both moms and dads sharing these magical moments with their children...

 

Who's using social media to help stop the peanut butter spread of fear?

My friend Janet Johnson and long time blogger and social media expert...wrote of her recent learning as she helped her client Academic Network spring into action as the news of the Salmonella Typhimurium began to unfold. (They're a Stericycle company, whose job it is to help manage recalled peanut and peanut paste products by getting them out of stores and destroying them.)  

Having set up the listening systems for her client, they were able to listen and anticipate--predicting things before it hit the broader media. 

Anticipating Risks to Mitigate Them

To illustrate this, Janet writes in Stop Spreading Peanut Butter Fear:

"We started monitoring the web (Twitter, Facebook, other social media sites) for conversations about peanuts, and the experience was quite amazing.

Some highlights:

• We were able to predict the spread of the recall from people to pet food - days before any announcement
• We predicted the spread of fear from peanut products to peanut butter in jars weeks before peanut butter jar sales dropped off by 25%
• We reached out to associations (like the Grocery Manufacturer's Association and the American Peanut Council) to help them handle the huge job of getting the right information out to people online. No one listened.
• People talk about peanut butteronline a lot (probably second only to bacon) and we watched the hysteria grow exponentially the day after the inauguration, when Tweets and posts like this appeared:

...and it really hasn't stopped. Victims of the peanut recall are not only the poor unfortunate souls, families and pets who ate the tainted stuff; but the businesses who are losing millions in sales of perfectly good products.

Traditional Response Fell on Deaf Ears - While Hysteria Grew

As the fear of peanuts, peanut paste and peanut butter spread in that first few weeks, no onefrom the food industry proactively reached out to consumers online. If they did, I didn't see it.

Oh, sure, there were press releases announcing that products were safe, but unless you were subscribing via RSS to certain key phrases, they were falling on relatively deaf ears - as evidenced by the falling sales of peanut butter products of all kinds.

Apparently the food industry (and those who represent them) are glacially slow in their platforms and processes; and were unable to react to the needs of consumers and deliver information in the right channels of communication.

Meanwhile, Online...  People Reached Out to Help..."

Yet...what I also find interesting is that the US GOVERNMENT seized the moment during this crisis to launch a social media collaboration...

The CDC joined together in a unique, interagency collaboration with US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and FDA to use interactive and social media to enhance the response to the the recent Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak and associated recalls of peanut containing products. You can read more about their efforts in the CDC Director's Blog Health Marketing Musings from Jay M. Bernhardt, PhD, MPH: Social Media Marketing on Salmonella Typhimurium. 

Jay writes  "Even as CDC is using well-established, traditional public health channels to disseminate critical information, we also are lunching cutting-edge, audience-centered tools to reach the public directly... Some products created for this response include podcasts, widgets, mobile-accessible content at mcdc.gov, Twitter..."

You can visit the Social Media Collaboration page or follow the two twitter feeds: FDA recalls or CDC Emergency.

WOW! Government actively using and exploring social media, twitter and the like, before private business...

Who would have thunk...

Attention industry and marketers alike...are you ready?