Is there such a thing as “Successful FAIL”?
Jun 10th
A {grow} Community Week Contribution by Caroline Di Diego (aka Casudi)
Failure is a stigma in our culture, so we tend to put it out of our minds, and avoid it at all costs. Yet, failure is unavoidable … and according to Seth Godin and many other entrepreneurial gurus, quite desirable.
I have been in business more than 20 years and consider a successful FAILURE as a pivot point, not necessarily a stopping point. Here is the story of my most recent “FAIL” credential!
In May 2010, I founded emidaASIA with Alex Conrad, a seasoned entrepreneur with vast experience in Asia. We had the idea of introducing ‘mobile money’ to the “un-banked” population in Asia. Those without bank accounts could engage in commerce via their mobile phones, thus taking a giant step into the 21st century.
We licensed technology from Emida, a leader in prepaid global solutions, with operations in 40 countries outside Asia and $1+ billion annual payments. They are a smart, profitable, established company, and I had personally known the CEO for over 10 years. In fact I had brought some of the first angel investors to the company!
We did all the right things: we set goals, and had measurable milestones to success, with realistic time frames. We separated strategy from tactics and knew the signs to look for in a strategic FAIL (failure to execute the overall plan in the defined timeframe) versus a tactical FAIL (failure to execute the individual steps which result in accomplishments along the way).
Our first goal was to test the viability of this exciting new business model in Asia.
Our mobile products were developed to target opportunities for mobile customers to connect through our product — driving more traffic on the network, more transactions and more revenue and profits. Good for everyone’s bottom line!
Fast forward — a year later — we were just not getting traction and the team was faced with the fact that we were failing.
But a bigger decision was HOW to fail? We had to review assumptions, and analyze missed goals, (and there were many), including our conviction that we would be able to spread the Emida ”rest-of-world” scenario straight across Asia.
Some of the tactical goals we missed were related to the time & cost to bring a partner to contract; technical back-up for multi-language implementation; and finding key personnel to run local operations.
We also found that our market assessment and business model assumptions were incorrect:
- Market saturation was rapidly increasing with seemingly competitive products often with no transactional history…..
- Local operators were reluctant to get too far ahead of the market, they were unwilling to select our product over competitor’s mobile wallets……
- Government and bank approvals can be excruciatingly slow. We should have given more consideration to the ‘gray’ and ‘black’ aspects of soliciting approvals……
- Our licensing model was too thin to support a viable business to pay us, and multiple 3rd parties who expected a piece of the transactional pie…. As a self-funding company, staying power to wait a couple of years for critical mass was not there.
We were facing rapidly saturating markets, impossibly slow and murky approval processes, and seriously diminished margin expectations.
So now what? We recognized that we had a “strategic FAIL”, and came to a quick decision. While it no longer made sense to move forward as planned, it also did not make sense just to simply walk away … there was a lot of brand equity established.
We quickly established a new partnering agreement with Emida, which transitioned the emidaASIA brand equity and market intelligence over to them. Combined with their resources and experience in other parts of the world, our equity enabled Emida to build on our gains with a fresh look.
Although we failed, we did salvage the project and gained a wealth of knowledge through our demise:
- Build in flexibility to account for changing market conditions — even when we thought our assessment was solid.
- Licensed technology is a great way to get a quick start in a marketplace, but you have to be able to accurately communicate to the marketplace what they are investing in? (IP and/or mega traction)
- Scaling rapidly across a continent benefited from a key partner.
- Although our major thrust was a failure, in the process, we identified MANY exciting business opportunities in related niches, including predictive analytics for the mobile money transactions.
So stay tuned, we’re not done yet! New ideas and businesses will emerge from the ashes!
Don’t you agree that this was a successful failure?
Caroline Di Diego (CASUDI) is a multi-faceted entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience with early-stage companies, building effective start-up teams, creating workable business models, and bringing new technologies successfully to market (well usually!). You can find her blog at www.esse-group.com and follow her on Twitter @CASUDI
The Anatomy of Truly “Social” Business
Jun 9th
A {grow} Community Week Contribution by Kneale Mann
There is increasing discussion these days about developing a “social business.” The vital word to remember in this name is business — real work tied to a bottom line.
The social business doesn’t start or end in the digital space but rather in the human universe. It includes the creation of a true collaborative, two-way exchange that embraces internal and external customer connection and service.
Labels such as social media, social networking, and social marketing are often misused. Social media are a collection of channels. Social networking is interaction between people through myriad digital and human channels. And social marketing embraces many channels to achieve social good. Channels are simply options.
So How Can You Make Your Company Social?
First it requires superior products or services. Creating an environment where it’s fun to work that has nothing to offer clients is a not a business. We can get distracted by the temptations of the social web and allow emotion to rule the day when we use words such as media and social. But without business, it’s a hobby shrouded in theory. Our customers don’t care how many blog subscribers we have or who visits our YouTube channel. They may ‘like’ our Facebook group but that does not constitute a relationship, yet. They bought our stuff and they expect it to do what we said it would do. So we need an actual business that has customers or the potential of customers before we can build a social business.
Communications and marketing in a truly social business are not necessarily departments; they are tied to every function everyone does every day. Teamwork in a social business does not consist of butt covering, “good enough,” or that isn’t my job declarations. It embraces an understanding of the strengths of each and every person and how they complement the rest of the team. Building a social business is hard work but can be the single most important tactic you can employ to increase profits.
People Buy from People
The construction of a social business requires the realization that human beings build the bottom line, not websites or slick messaging. It is also an environment where stakeholders understand we are all suppliers and we are all customers. We all live on both sides of the counter.
Have you ever been to a restaurant where the person serving you seems to have the best job in the world? Think about the last time you met a convenience store clerk who smiled, made eye contact and meant it when they wished you a good day. The little things are often the biggest things that can make your company social.
Different Things Different Results
Mark or any of the wonderful people in the {grow} community can help companies build on past success and increase their chances of future success. But that begins with the deep desire to look at the way they’re doing business inside and outside of their organization.
It means they may feel uncomfortable for a while but they’ll be in good hands because the goal is to improve, not point fingers or increase workload simply to keep busy. The clear focus is to create an environment where both stakeholders and customers want to be great … and that is how sustained growth is achieved. Building a social business goes well beyond channels and websites.
How can building a truly social business help your bottom line?
Kneale Mann has worked in media and marketing for 27 years. He is the owner and digital marketing strategist, writer and speaker at YouIntegrate. Mann helps medium to large sized organizations improve their digital presence and revenue. Kneale can be reached by email at knealemann@gmail.com. Kneale’s website is www.youintegrate.com and on Twitter he is @knealemann
The 7 Dwarves Present 7 Silly Social Media Myths
Jun 8th
A {grow} Community Week Contribution by Marjorie Clayman
Once you have been around the blogosphere and Twitter for awhile, you look back on your early days in the online space much like you probably look back on childhood. “Remember when I thought the tooth fairy was real” “Remember when I thought a cookie would make me feel better?”
There are a lot of Social Media myths that I’ve uncovered over the last year or so, and I thought that seven gentlemen from your childhood could do a much better job of presenting these myths than I ever could. So without further delay, the 7 Dwarves present 7 Silly Social Media Myths.
Sneezy: Sneezy wishes to combat the myth that people are always interested in every detail about, well, you. The fact is that most people are in the online world because they have an objective, and for most folks, hearing about every sneeze in your life doesn’t help them along. Some personal details are good, but reporting every event in vivid and graphic detail is something you learn to avoid pretty quickly.
Sleepy: Sleepy would like to tell you that Social Media is not something that is so easy you can do it in your sleep. In fact, that idea that Twitter is really just a place to talk about what you ate for dinner is not nearly the whole story. Social Media actually takes a lot of planning, time, and hard work.
Dopey: Dopey wants to impart to you that the myth that you can say whatever you want online is not true. If you badmouth your client, your boss, or your mother-in-law, you are playing with fire, and it’s a darned silly thing to do. In a time when potential and existing employers are coming through social platforms to see what you’re up to, a little censorship can be a bosom buddy.
Doc: Doc has a big problem with the myth that anyone can be an expert online. He points out that he is called doc because he is a certified doctor. Unless you truly are a: jedi, ninja, expert, boss, top banana, or any other such term, you should probably not include those words in your Twitter profile. In fact, even if you are a complete and total ninja, Doc suggests not broadcasting this belief. It makes you look kind of dopey.
Happy: Although he’s an optimistic kind of guy, Happy said he wanted to talk about the fact that not everyone will become a millionaire just because they tweet a lot. In fact, a lot of the millionaires on Twitter were successful long before that little bird started tweeting. Have reasonable objectives and you’re more likely to be, er, content.
Bashful: The myth that people will naturally gravitate to your blog, your Twitter account, or your anything else online is a myth that needs to be shed rather quickly if you want to succeed online. You can’t be a wallflower if you want to achieve your goals. You have to get out there and mix it up, no matter who you are.
Grumpy: Finally, there’s Grumpy. Grumpy is taking this moment to say that focusing on controversy, cuss words, and harsh criticism is not the best way to get attention online. It might work for a short period of time, but it’s not a way to encourage people to commit to you over the long haul. Just because Grumpy got famous for his grumpiness doesn’t mean just anyone can.
So there you have it. Seven myths about Social Media dispelled fully by the 7 Dwarves. Did they miss anything?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Margie Clayman is the 3rd generation at her family’s marketing firm, Clayman Advertising (www.clayad.com) and is the resident blogger at margieclayman.com (www.margieclayman.com).
Case study: How 20 high school students ignited a social media success
Jun 7th
Now here is a neat trick. Precisely as your read this exciting guest post from the brilliant Jon Buscall, I will be meeting him for the first time in Stockholm, Sweden. Jon has become one of my oldest and dearest Twitter friends so the timing of this post is only fitting. Enjoy! ~ Mark
This is a story to inspire even the grumpiest social media naysayer.
If a group of 20 senior high school students can get their heads around social media marketing in the space of a couple of weeks, contribute to a marketing strategy, and help slash an annual marketing budget by over 70 percent whilst delivering improved results, just think what you could do if you let your people loose to explore their own creativity!
The Backstory
Back in 2009 my company started running the marketing campaign for a local Stockholm high school. The school’s income is based solely on the $16,000 it receives per annum per student, paid by the local municipality. Faced with declining numbers of kids born sixteen years ago, the market was becoming increasingly competitive with schools vying for students. Marketing costs were escalating as ad agencies sensed there was money to be made but the school wanted to invest more in facilities for existing students rather than lining marketers’ pockets.
After I met with the school management team and grasped their unique selling point of an academic education in English, I set about persuading the school to launch a daily blog, a Facebook Page and to get on Twitter ASAP.
For that academic year I personally handled the account, ghost blogging and tweeting on a daily basis. My favorite anecdote from that year has to be the student I connected with on Twitter who ended up joining the school. Not bad, eh? $16,000 for a single tweet!
Well, obviously it was more than a tweet, but you get the point! The student visited the school and talked to students and staff after we connected online. But the point is a tweet alerted her to the possibilities found at the school.
Within a year applications to the school were up, marketing costs were down considerably and everything, as the saying goes, was pretty much peachy creamy.
The competition responds
By the start of the next academic year every school in Stockholm seemed to have a blog, a Facebook Page, a Twitter account and a lavish video made by a local ad agency. All the schools — and their ad agencies were following our lead and jumping on the bandwagon. It represented a new revenue stream for the agencies of course. Two months later I would see one school giving away badges with the familiar Facebook “Like” icon on at the annual Stockholm schools recruitment fair.
With the market increasingly competitive and the school looking to invest in books and the building rather than even more marketing, we looked at different solutions. In the end, having spent a decade as a full-time university lecturer I decided to accept the school’s offer to run a Communications class this academic year with the brief to get students involved in the social media campaign. Essentially, they were to be my team of marketing interns.
… and the students take over!
I jumped at the chance to experience what 18-19 year olds were up to, but I quickly discovered they didn’t have a clue about brand personas, integrated marketing campaigns, business blogs or the power of Facebook as a marketing tool. So we started out listening to an array of internet marketing podcasts, reading business blogs and immersing ourselves in content marketing and social media strategy.
Sure, the students’ first blog posts and ventures into podcasting weren’t spectacular but very quickly they were producing material that could be published and included in the school’s online presence. Seizing on this I set up a project where they were required to produce material ahead of the first of three annual Open Houses that are the school’s key recruitment events.
Equipped with cameras, digital recorders and a sense of enthusiasm that I personally find hard to muster when it comes to trying to get people to talk on camera, off they went.
The results were spectacular:
- The video at the top of the article was viewed more than 7,000 times — 5,000 times the week right before Open House!
- Another garnered over 3,000 viewers.
The students promoted their efforts across their social media profiles and I chipped in with a bit of blogging on the school website.
We watched and waited with baited breath to see our results.
It’s All About Creativity & the Network
A rough poll taken in the class showed that on average each student had 450 Facebook “friends”. No wonder word of mouth spread quickly. Teens aren’t just connected to teens their age. Brothers and sisters, relatives and so on, follow each other’s Walls.
And we seeing BIG results. On an extremely cold January evening just after Christmas over 700 prospective students came along to Open House to find out about the school. This was double the figure for the same event the previous year. The school auditorium was so full the principal had to give her introductory welcome speech a second time.
Having grasped the value of showing and not just telling, the students recorded this event to show prospective students ahead of the April Open House just what it’s like to visit the school.
Applications to the school doubled this year and the grade-point average for applicants is considerably higher than last year. Sure, some of this has to do with the commitment of the staff and school management, as well as the efforts of my company to help them along; however, 20 communications students are responsible for a massive portion of this success.
I’m in awe of what they’ve helped the school achieve.
A Few Observations by the Old Guy
I understand how marketing works and I think I have a pretty good understanding of social media. Sharing these skills seemed to set off a spark in these teens and they jumped onboard the social media train with enthusiam rarely seen in a company environment where people are PAID to be enthusiastic!
With passion and dedication they created content that didn’t just impress me, it made me sit up and really take notice. It also struck a chord with their peers, who to judge by the numbers preferred the school’s low-fi 2 minute videos to the glossy 5 minute clips other schools had invested in.
To the students’ credit, the results of this “experiment” were so much better than I dared imagine that the principal has asked me to come back and run the same course with another group in the fall.
Thinking about it now I can see that the experience has taught me an important lesson that all of us working in business should remember: if you can inspire your employees to become an active part of your social media marketing campaign you can reach new goals.
These kids were extremely busy just like your employees, juggling lots of tasks throughout the year. However with a bit of planning (thanks Basecamp!) and training they were able to create content and execute the strategy we’d discussed.
Transfer that kind of approach to your software company, your airline, your food store, your agency or corporation and you can see the possibilities. Just as my students proudly shared their efforts with their network, so will your people help your business reach new people.
Getting the social media content creation out of the hands of your professional marketers and into the hands of the people actually doing the job in your business will have far reaching benefits.
These students were not just involved. They were IGNITED. What are the implications for your own business?
Jon Buscall <http://www.twitter.com/jonbuscall> runs Stockholm-based digital communications agency Jontus Media. He blogs at www.jontusmedia.com/blog Oh, and he has five <http://www.bassethounds.nu>basset hounds!
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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