Archive for October, 2010

« Older Entries

Internal Communications as the CEO’s best friend

Friday, October 29th, 2010

I wonder how many people realize the importance of the Internal/Employee Communications role as relates to the CEO?  This concept has really rung true with me having worked closely with CEOs over the past few years, supporting them with, and advising them on internal communications. 

As I thought about this other day, it dawned on me that a good internal communications person can in fact be a CEO’s best friend, confidant, and advisor.  He or she can in some cases make or break it for a CEO vis a vis staff.  

Creating and promoting what is effectively the CEO’s brand – and voice - internally is critical for the success of the CEO, the relationship with employees, and the overall health of the company.  

The key here is trust and respect on the part of the CEO, and “getting it” – both valuing the role of internal/employee communications (and therefore the function) and understanding the importance of doing it right.  If a CEO can see that the internal communications function has his or her back, and knows their stuff, then it paves the way for a great relationship, a strong CEO brand, and a positive culture within the organization. 

How many CEOs have you worked with who are like this?

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | 1 Comment »

A non profit that really gets needs-based marketing, and evolves accordingly

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

If you think about it, non profits by nature are “needs-based”, and they are also “target audience-based” – two of the most fundamental marketing principles.  You might even say they are the ultimate marketers, because they start with the basics – a target audience with an unfulfilled need – their “raison d’être”. 

I was struck recently by an evolution in the “product/service” offering of a non profit, Camp Oochigeas, which is in part funded by the Tour For Kids cycling fundraising event that I participate in organized the Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation. 

The Camp was created so kids living with cancer could simply be kids and attend summer camp, even while undergoing treatment…meeting an unfulfilled need of a very specific target audience.  What’s particularly brilliant is that over the years it has extended this basic offering to include in-hospital (Ooch on the 8th at SickKids Hospital in Toronto) for those who are not able to leave the hospital – bringing camp to them.  And, most recently, it has extended this further to include Ooch Downtown and Ooch in the City, an in-community offering. 

This last evolution is particularly interesting because it is in part, I believe, based on a recognition that their target audience has changed, and that a Muskoka camp offering isn’t for everyone, especially with the diverse “new to Canada” ethnic as well as inner city populations it is now serving, for which a Muskoka wilderness “camp” environment is not familiar, or perhaps even desired, and therefore simply not appropriate – in other words not a need for these segments of their target audience. 

Kudos to Camp Oochigeas for recognizing the changing nature of the target audience they are serving, and the corresponding changing need they must fulfill – a great example of keeping a pulse on the market and responding to it.  They are an excellent example of the opposite of “if you build it they will come” – marketing at its best don’t you think?

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Marketing | Add a comment »

How visual are we really?

Friday, October 15th, 2010

One of the things that I had reinforced in me at the last company I worked for was that people are first and foremost visual by nature.  Coupled with this is the concept that people don’t necessarily “read” when they see text, because they intuitively know what it is thanks to a spatial cue that accompanies it.  In the case of the Internet and software or applications like Internet Explorer or Email, the visual cue could be a button, some sort of navigation, or simply the spatial aspect within a layout, combined with the actual words.  For example, you may know that the OK, CANCEL, DELETE, MARK AS UNREAD etc. buttons are in a certain order or position, so that a quick visual scan – or your memory – tells you intuitively which to click on.  I happen to agree with these concepts, but recently while travelling in Europe this was called into question. 

While using a public computer at the hotel I was staying at in Krakow, Poland, all the text was in Polish – a language I do not know at all.  I thought I might be saved and able to manage because of the visual cues for navigation which I was familiar with, but without an understanding of the text I was lost, and didn’t trust myself to properly remember what each choice corresponded to in English.  I am normally very visual and almost don’t look at the words in these situations, but it all fell apart for me without an understanding of the text – and this from someone who generally has a very photographic memory!  

So this example shows that we need a combination or “bundle” of cues – textual and spatial – to guide us.  Or maybe my photographic memory is just letting me down?  Or maybe in a “foreign” situation, I simply did not trust my instinct?  Whatever the case, I was somewhat limited in what I could do online because I did not know the language and could not remember my visual or spatial cues.  

How do you think you operate?  And how do you think you’d fare in a foreign language using the Internet or doing something else requiring navigation online?  Are you “visual” enough to manage?

Tags: ,
Posted in Marketing | Add a comment »

« Older Entries