The “Got Milk?” Man, Chartreuse, & Liz Singing in Harmony

March 29, 2006 by Liz

Where We Live and Breathe

Advertising has a responsibility to act like a thing that is going to be unavoidably in the environment, where we live and breathe. And we have a responsibility to make that work in such a way that it is welcomed and not scorned.

–Jeff Goodby, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, of “Got Milk?” fame as quoted in BusinessWeekonline, Advertising Advice from the “Got Milk” Man

When a guy knows what he’s talking about, almost everything he says is worth quoting. That’s how I felt reading BusinessWeekonline Managing Editor, David Kiley’s interview with Jeff Goodby, the guy behind such famous advertising as the “Got Milk?” slogan. I wished that Mr. Goodby was required reading for every designer that I ever met or would meet. But then all of the good ones already subscribe to what Jeff Goodby was saying.

Mr. Goodby was talking about how the audience gets to pick what’s good.

I suppose it’s crystal clear already that he and I agree completely, but that’s not what this article is about. This article is about a three-way conversation that’s been happening on three different subjects, in three different places, the same thing has been being said.

The “Got Milk?” Man, Chartreuse, and Liz

Jeff Goodby, Chartreuse, BETA, and Liz Strauss. What do we three have in common? A clear vision of how to reach and keep one. On three slightly different notes, we three each say things that sound a lot alike. Heck if we were on a street corner, we’d be doing some great harmony and collecting some serious cash.

Jeff Goodby said

Our job is to come up with more advertising that people actually seek out. It’s the same way with successful design. When you design something right, people don’t just accept it, they seek it out. And then they tell their friends about it or show it off.

Chartreuse said

Look at Overture (now Yahoo Search Marketing).

These are the most profitable advertising business models around, because consumers tell advertisers what theyÃ¢â¬â¢re looking for first, rather than advertisers telling consumers what they should buy and hoping for the best.

I said

Everett knew that being who you are is a bond with the community. It the basis on which all relationships are forged. Being any less and youÃ¢â¬â¢re only a bad facsimile of what you could be. Your personal brand can be the strongest advantage you bring to your business life.

Be brand YOU and youÃ¢â¬â¢re the only one. No one can compete with that.

Three separate takes on the same subject–Henry Ford you had a great idea, but your work is done. Rest in peace. The assembly line has lost its promise, and one-size-fits-all now fits no one.

Analysis–What Are We Saying?

Content is king, but the king reports to the Emperor. The Audience-Emperor knows damn well whether we’re wearing clothes and which designer made them too. We already decide what is relevant content to us and we tell advertisers by the way we use search engines. We already decide what ads work by the products we spend our money on. Jeff Goodby gets that, that’s why he respects us and voices a responsibility to keeping our environment filled with advertising we enjoy. He realizes he is one of us.

Advertising we seek out. There’s a concept–a simple wonder, a basic what if. The advertisers who get it will be the ones who are us, not the ones who think, “They versus us.”

Strategy–To Promote Your Business

None of us are partners in a fabulous San Francisco Advertising firm. Though I’d love to work for Mr. Goodby, I don’t suppose he’ll be offering me a job soon. I’m guessing you’re probably in the same place as I am. So how might we push this analysis into strategy for our brand and our businesses?

Be authentic, practical, and nice. Don’t promote your business on its glorious, high falutin’ intangible values. Do needs-benefits selling. Know me and what I need and show me how you provide it better, with more-invested, gentler service than the other guy ever could.
Make it fun to work with you. No matter what you’re involved in, it should be something that adds to the world of enjoyment. Fun is magnetic and always feels free. It’s hard enough to find these days. Jeff Goodby says it has to be simple and interesting to the consumer in the way the cowabduction spoof he did for Milk Producers was, if you want folks to seek it out. If you offer that kind of creativity to me, you can bet, I’ll not only seek it out, I’ll forgive the occasional slip.
Let me be who I am. Don’t try to change the way I do things. Trust that I know my needs better than you do. Show me how I can do what I already do more easily. That will win my loyalty. That will get me to talk about what a good relationship you have with your customers.
Let me be smarter than you are. and sweeter too. Chartreuse says, “Treat the smart girls like they are pretty and the pretty girls like they are smart.” Believe me, it works for boys too. That is the key to customer relationships and to building customer evangelists. That is the intangible value-added, making the customer the center of all you do.
Know the upside-down nature of the Internet. Understand that it will move out into the real-world environment, not the other way around. Make something so good that folks will seek you out to find it. We find what works well and stick with it. We will keep looking until the one worth sticking with is found.
Offer a product or a service that fills an actual need I have. I put this last on purpose. The changes in the world are happening so fast that needs are opening at an unprecedented rate of explosion. Some will close right back up again by getting filled or expiring. Think through the product or service you offer. Make certain it has staying power, be sure that I am willing and able to pay what it will cost you to make it available. Then add that you include the unique BIG IDEA of your brand so that I will only want YOU to do the work for me.

The power base has slowly shifted to the audience-consumer. A busines without customers is not a business. I have that tatooed where you cannot look.

More MSM Unhappiness

Until now control of the distribution channels and advertising markets, limited what the consumer could access, but with the WWW shopping mall, I can search the world over to find that little store that has the “just right” item I am looking for. I no longer need to settle for one-size fits all.

Chartreuse and I know this. We see it in our friends and ourselves. Smart advertisers, such as Jeff Goodby, are well aware of this too. Those who cannot see it–the telcos, Internet providers and the Mainstream Media–will fight to save the old world way of doing business. They want to keep those advertising dollars that Jeff Goodby sees turning into entertaining Internet websites that advertise as well as delight.

There is significant money involved and significant changes to life styles should Jeff Goodby’s vision of advertising–one that Chartreuse and I also see–become the future. Were I the Mainstream Media, I don’t think I would want to lose control.

Everyday the world gets smaller. At the moment, you and I get larger and more powerful. Some folks don’t like that idea.

Personally, I do.

It would be hard to break out into a chorus of “Blue Moon” under a streetlight in Chicago with Chartreuse and Jeff Goodby, if someone else were around telling us what to do.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Creative Wonder 101 as Promotion and Problem Solving

March 28, 2006 by Liz

Wondering

We look at each other wondering what the other is thinking but we never say a thing.
–Dave Matthews, Ants Marching

Did you ever wonder the same thing about someone you were with?
Did you ever wonder what the story was behind a song you like?
Do you wonder how some singers get to be famous when they can’t sing?
Do you wonder about things as much as I do?
Are you wondering why I’m asking so many questions?

What Is Wondering ?

Wondering is that sense of awe mixed with curiosity that little kids and imaginative grown-ups get when they see something out-of-this-world unbelievable. It’s the real feeling behind words like awesome, incredible, amazing, stunning, and wonderful.

Wondering is looking at a starry sky and thinking that there are more stars and more universes than you can possibly count, . . . that numbers go on into infinity, . . . that space is a vacuum without any sound at all . . . that the light from the stars can travel days just to reach us. Wondering is trying to get your mind around the idea that biggest jerk on the planet can appear to be happily married with kids who seem to like him–and can have more money than we’ll ever dream of having.

I wonder about everything. I’m wondering right now if you’re going to wonder why I wrote these words, or if you’re even going to read them.

Wondering is a thinking skill. Name a genius who didn’t have wondering as a core competency.

Creative Wondering 101

Creative wondering is opening your brain to the kind of questions you used to have when you were much shorter than you are now. It’s like brainstorming with questions. If you’re looking to solve a problem, wondering is a painless way to get where you want to be. Point your brain in the right direction, and your wondering takes you to a variety of possible solutions.

These are three benefits of creative wondering that make it useful to everyone. It’s funny kids know these things automatically and most grown-ups need to learn them all over again.

Wondering works best when you’re relaxed and in turn is relaxing.
Wondering is personally flexible. You can wonder into a journal or notepad to capture your thoughts, but you don’t have to.
Wondering is mobile, and therefore, it increases productivity. You can do it anywhere. It’s a useful skill for when you’re waiting in traffic or for that doctor who’s always an hour late. Wondering works in the shower. Reading usually does not.

A Warm-Up

If you haven’t wondered for a while, you might be a little tight. Stretch your brain a bit with warm-up questions. Here are a few:

What if? . . . How come? . . . Who was? . . . What belongs? . . . Why did? . . . Who the heck? . . . Who’s idea? . . . Where was I? . . . What’s wrong with this picture? . . . When did that happen? . . . Who died and made you king? . . . What would Brad and Angelina have to say about this? . . . Why him? Why her? Why it? Why now? Why bother? WHY NOT? and What will I do when I win the lottery?

You could write them down and take notes under each one. Go for it, if that’s the kind of wonderer you are. Don’t you dare, if you don’t want to. It’s wrong to take the fun out of wondering. Then you would spend your time wondering why you are wondering . . . That kind of wandering wondering gets you nowhere.

Wondering to Solve Problems

Now you’re ready to start looking at the serious stuff with a new lens of wondering. Don’t let anything off the hook. Question the whole world, like you questioned your parents when you were three years old.

If you need a solution, do some serious wondering about the problem.

Wonder why it’s a problem to start with.
Then throw that passel of questions in the warm-up at the problem to pull out the bits that you’re not seeing clearly. Obssess over every detail with every possible question you might think of to wonder about. One caveat–exclude questions that illicit an emotional response. Just the facts for now, please.
Do at least 5 What ifs? to get to a variety of possible solutions. Skip the What happeneds? until you’ve found a solid solution.
When you have a critical mass of possible solutions laid out, challenge them with questions again–more what ifs? and what makes you think sos? A couple of I wonder, if we changed this one thing here, would that be betters? might work now.
When you’ve got that solid solution tested with questions, then you can go back to the What happeneds? to make sure that you don’t end up solving the same problem again and again. The answers will be so much less emotionally-laden now that you have a solution in hand or already in process.

Wondering as a Promotional Tool

Wondering, asking questions as pure curiosity can get you to a solution that you might not get any other way. I’ve seen it happen. It is a powerful skill to add to your personal branding brochure-resume. Learning to live with a wondering view will automatically incorporate itself into your branding BIG idea.

To be able to say,

I can lead a team to a high trust environment, where problem solving is open questioning based on challenging assumptions and wondering about possible outcomes.

is an impressive thing.

I repeat. Name me a genius who didn’t have wondering as a core competency. Wondering will lead you to learn things that other folks don’t even think about. That’s a trait of a leader.

I can’t help but wonder what you’re thinking right now. What are you going to do with this information? I wonder how many ways you’ll find to use wondering to promote yourself and your business in the next 15 minutes.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Your Resume-The Brand YOU Brochure

March 27, 2006 by Liz

Forget the Rules

The rules are for everyone. Personal brand is about showing you are the only one.Somewhere along the line, you probably learned rules about writing resumes. What I’m about to tell you is going to break them. I like breaking rules, especially when that works in our favor. I don’t usually do it when it doesn’t.

You don’t need a resume anyway. You need something that works like one, but is more than that.

Get Rid of the List

It’s easy to think of a resume as a list – three suits, two blue, one gray, of what you’ve done and to write it off as a painful requirement of job acquisition. That’s a major missed opportunity. With a few tweaks, your resume can be a dynamic tool in your personal branding strategy.

Throw away the list as concept.

Think about Brand YOU and promotional tools.

You’re making a personal branding brochure. Just let other people think it’s a resume. They’ve been confused before.

A Personal Branding Brochure

Imagine that you’re a product — a Ferrari. Your resume is your specification sheet. Add some marketing copy, and you’re well on your way to a promotional brochure for that Ferrari. On my own resume I include the usual career experience with the chronological job history, but that is page 2.

On page 1, I include branding information built around my branding big idea – that I am a leader and a strategist with a proven track record and competencies in several key areas of publishing. I want the person reading my resume to read this first, to know what I can do before where I did it. The former is more important than the latter. As you read through, you might notice how I took the opportunity to further my brand identity by targeting first statement under each core competency.

Turn a resume into a personal branding brochure.

Use It as a Promotional Tool

Change the way you look at your resume, and you soon find a world of uses for it. Use it as you do your business card. Just this week I sent mine to a business friend with a note saying, “Let me know if my voice might help you in the meetings with the publishers you told me about.” Design it into your blog’s About Page to let your readers know more about you, your brand, and your business.

I use my “branding brochure” a lot when I’m networking.

It’s one more way to let people know you’re not just another suit. You’re uniquely valuable.
Without you, the world would be missing something–the one and only Brand YOU.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Critical Skill 1: Strategic Deep Thinking

March 23, 2006 by Liz

No More Faster, Faster

We live in fast food culture, where now and yesterday seem to be the timing of every answer. “Faster, Faster,” was great when I was at the carnival as a child, but I’m not sure it’s the best answer for making decisions about my business or my future. I’m all for doing strategic deep thinking about important decisions, but our environment doesn’t do much to support or even to teach how to think deeply or strategically.

We sort everything into top ten lists. We find out the what of things and sometimes the how, but hardly ever the why. We ask for things done, but not necessarily done right. We stop looking as soon as we find the first answer. These are not the traits of a deep, strategic thinkers.

Thinking Deeper

Thinking deeply and strategically isn’t popular, but it is valuable. The folks who can do it are prized and sought after. They are also incredibly secure. How do they get to the thoughts that are past the surface? Here are some of the things that strategic thinkers do. These are all things anyone can do.

Go past the first answer. When you’re faced with a problem, once you find answer 1, keep looking for answers 2, 3, and 4.
Get a friend to find the holes in your thinking. Pick someone who wasn’t involved in finding the solution. Anyone involved in the thinking can’t see the flaws in it.
Set your thinking on the back burner and revisit it in an hour or so. This is the same concept as letting yourself sleep on it. Research has proved that it works. Tell yourself that you’re going to put the idea in your subconscious to work on it. I always touch the back of my head when I do this. When I return to the problem later, I find new information to work with.
Try on your thinking as you try on your clothes. Remember, we’re outside of the box here. This might sound silly at first, but it works. Take an inventory of how the idea feels in your gut, in your fingers, and in your toes. If something doesn’t feel right, explore what that is. You’d be surprised how much knowledge you carry in the cells outside of your brain.
Discount the obvious, and look for the invisible. Ask yourself outright, “What am I missing here?” When you find it, adjust your old solution to cover the new information too.
If someone disagrees with your solution, include his or her thinking as part of the problem. This IS one case where two ideas can work to become more than the whole. Keep your own goal, but add the new ones to the mix. You’ll find the new solution stronger than the one you originally reached.

These are just a few ways to take your thinking deeper than what I call the “skin of the pudding.” I like to think deeply, because I like to know that my answer will stand when I have to defend it.

It might not be faster, faster, but it’s worth it to know that the answer will last and last.

What parts of your brand could use some strategic, deep thinking?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Brand YOU–What’s the BIG IDEA?

March 22, 2006 by Liz

What’s Your Big Idea?

Now that you know how to capitalize on your strengths and make your weaknesses irrelevant, you can work on the big idea of your personal brand.
WhatÃ¢â¬â¢s the big idea? People talk about the big idea of someoneÃ¢â¬â¢s personal brand quite often really. YouÃ¢â¬â¢ve probably even made big idea statements yourself. They sound like these.

Call Mario. He can do anything.
That Vanessa, sheÃ¢â¬â¢s so sweet.
If you want it organized, AnneÃ¢â¬â¢s the one.
MartinÃ¢â¬â¢s a whiz. HeÃ¢â¬â¢ll have this figured out in minutes.
I donÃ¢â¬â¢t know about Cat. She canÃ¢â¬â¢t find anything. Look at her desk.

ThereÃ¢â¬â¢s no question that folks who make such statements have a big idea about the people theyÃ¢â¬â¢re describing. The descriptions might be accurate, or they might not be. The point is that the people talking believe them. The people being described have communicated those traits strongly over time.

The big idea of your personal brand is the most powerful point of your unique value. It’s the one sentence that folks can believe in it and can share with others easily. As I said earlier

Everything about you contributes to your personal brandÃ¢â¬âeverything you say or donÃ¢â¬â¢t say, what you wear, your tone of voice, the look of your space, the look on your face, the way you shake hands. The quality of your work is an immense part of your brand, but not, by any means, all of it. Even there it matters whether itÃ¢â¬â¢s on time, done with friendliness, with teamwork, with innovation and flexibility.

I Promise

Now is the time to decide the answer to this question

If you were known for one attribute, skill, or competency what would you want it to be?

ItÃ¢â¬â¢s a tough question, I know. However once you decide, you will have found your big ideaÃ¢â¬âthe focus of your personal brand. That will be what everyone sees when they see you, your work, your signature. ItÃ¢â¬â¢s the promise that you stand for. Think of your big idea as a promise that you know you will always keep.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Brand YOU–Making Your Weaknesses Irrelevant

March 20, 2006 by Liz

Identify Your Weaknesses

Often the easiest way to see your weaknesses is by looking at the flipside of your strengths. For example, if a strength is that you are detailed-oriented and accurate at checking specs, it’s likely that you’re not strong at seeing the big picture. Developing process models probably isn’t what you do best. In another scenario, if you’re innovative, you might take too many risks. If you value hard-won knowledge of the fundamentals, you might take far too few. Identifying your strengths is only half of the story. Next you need to be real about your weaknesses. Start by knowing everyone has them, and that knowing yours is the first step toward managing them effectively.

Get Curious to Shore Up Weaknesses

One of my weaknesses comes from my strength in perception. Information about people and how they think comes easily to me through normal interaction and conversation. It’s almost as if I can pick up signals from the air about who they are and what they think. Unfortunately the skill is not reciprocal, it puts the other person at a disadvantage, often making that person uncomfortable–uncomfortable being with me.Now that you’ve found your weaknesses. Look at the skills that stand behind them. If you have trouble with the big picture, get curious about it. Start asking folks who like the big picture why they go there. See what values there are in having a strength in that area. Here’s an example of how just that helped me.

My corresponding weakness is I’m the poster child for small talk. I’ve never developed the skill or the habit. Until I realized I had the weakness, I saw absolutely no purpose for it. Then I got curious. I watched and talked to people who do small talk well. I saw how it helps establish personal relationships and boundaries between people–sort of mini agreements made by conversation. I still don’t start conversations with “How’s the weather?” or “How about them bears?” But I’ve learned not to jump right in with “on page 32 you can see where I . . . ”

No matter how good I get at it, small talk will always be an acquired still not a talent, but a skill that I work on when I can. These days it’s far less of a weakness and now it’s at least an option when I need it. Folks aren’t so uncomfortable when I start talking . . . I say a few things before I get to page 32.

Then Make Your Weaknesses Irrelevant

In like manner, no one–except my oldest brother, who’ll tell you he’s perfect already–will ever be free of weaknesses. No one can make them disappear, but anyone can control and shore them up. You can minimize their impact and make them irrelevant. They don’t need to be a burden in the marketplace, in your business or in your job. Here are some ways you might do that.

Always volunteer for jobs that play to your strengths. Taking advantages of such opportunities gives you a chance to showcase your strengths in new ways–to be known for what you do well. Volunteering to your strengths is a fabulous way of promoting your personal brand.
Go into a learning mode about your weaknesses. Be honest about where you do better with support. People see that as integrity. In other words, avoid the temptation to oversell your skills. People find out soon enough what you can’t do. Overselling your skills only makes your weaknesses seem larger. That’s the quickest way to kill your personal brand.
Value people who have strengths that correspond to your weaknesses. Look first at the ones who make you crazy. Usually the reason folks drive us crazy is because they care deeply about what we hate. That fact makes them exceptional at tasks that we don’t do well. As a big-picture person, I’m wise to value detailed-oriented people, and always seek them out as partners. That makes us both stronger. It puts my big picture strength and their detail competency together and makes our weaknesses irrelevant to the task we do together.
Add extra check steps for any task that involves your weaknesses. Know that those tasks will require more time for you than they do for folks who have those skills as a strength.
Within any situation, you can probably think of several ways to keep your weaknesses in control, if you stop to assess what strengths and weaknesses you’ll be working with before you start the task.

Now you’ve established the core of your personal brand. You know your strengths and weaknesses. When you’re asked about them in a first meeting–with a client or at an interview–you can articulate how you play to your strengths and manage your weaknesses.

You can articulate the unique value of your strengths and how they meet real needs with actions and benefits. You have strategies for minimizing the impact of your weaknesses. You can talk about your competencies with competence, clarity, and confidence. That’s a dynamic personal brand.

You’re well ahead of the game already. All it took was a look in the mirror and using what you found there.

–ME “Liz” Strauss