Are You For or Against? It’s All About the Message

Health Care Reform Protester, via Flickr Creative Commons RRR Photos

You probably wonder where the rest of the question is: “For or against – what??” I would argue that it might not matter. That it might depend on the way the question was worded, or the argument was presented, or what day of the week it is, or whether or not you had a good night’s sleep.

That’s not meant to be as snarky as it might sound. I’m writing this following the news that the ‘historic’ health care reform bill was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives just before midnight last night. This after an exhausting year+ of very public discourse – much of it heated, and certainly contrary debate. In truth the debate has raged on and off for a few decades, but it got real wild, scary and ugly this past year. I admit to being a political junky, in that I follow the news on several stations every day, more than once, and also via online sources (including Twitter), blogs, late night parody shows like the Colbert Report and The Daily Show, and sometimes from an old-fashioned print newspaper.

Since I’m in the communications business, I tend to dissect the way messages are constructed and delivered. So much of our ‘news’ (here in the U.S.) is really opinion being couched in leading questions. So if someone asks me, ‘Are you for or against health care reform?’ I’d surely want to know a) who was asking the question, b) what the larger context was, and c) how my answer would be delivered.

I have a wish. I wish that communications professionals – that includes PR folks, journalists, publishers, even marketers and advertisers – would be more upfront about their agendas. If you are trying to persuade me to agree with you, state your position clearly first. Then I can choose to agree or disagree. Stop name-calling, lying, making up facts or other methods of trickery to get people to agree with you. Honest. Open. Dialogue.

Yeah, I’m on a soapbox. And anyone reading this has the right to disagree with me. I’ll try to state the facts as I know them, and you do the same. Advertising can work this way too. It doesn’t have to be misleading to be persuasive. It can be entertaining.

I’m glad and relieved that this bill was finally passed, albeit I don’t think it’s as historic as I’d hoped it would be. Lot’s of people I know feel the same way – but just as many are crying ‘Armageddon‘ (I mean, seriously? Just a little melodramatic on that one?). The saddest thing is that the same folks who tried to stall/stop/spread lies about reform have now immediately jumped into new attempts to overturn things at the State level and threaten to repeal the legislation if a new party comes to power in the next election.

Too much. I’m against those who are always against. And if you keep shouting so loudly – I’m just going to turn you off.

–Donna

P.S. This blog is purely opinion, supported by a few facts.

Glitter in the Air: Multi-tasking with Breathtaking Results

Pink's Grammy Performance - Singing upside down and spinning

If you didn’t catch the Grammy’s on the last day of January, and somehow missed various clips aired on the news of Pink’s performance, “Glitter in the Air“, take a few minutes to see it now. Even if this music is not in your blip.fm Playlist, there’s something amazing in this performance that illustrates beautifully the power of layered communication and the results of muti-tasking when done awesomely well.

In this example, the performer engaged the audience on many levels: Visually, audibly, and tactile sensory (water droplets sprayed a large percentage of the audience.) But even more than that – Pink was doing at least three things at the same time – none of which are easy. Singing upside down?? Come on! At the same time holding poses only gymnasts and Cirque du Soleil performers can muster (in a nearly see-through garment which attested to her physical fitness). And spinning…around and around and around. Super. Ultra. Impressive.

Why do I care – or more to the point – why should you care? Because if you want your business to be brilliantly successful, at least one of your strategic goals should include ‘wowing‘ the client/customer at some point. In marketing, we try to achieve that through a combination of incredible creative, strong content, and of course measuring results. My strongest recommendation to clients is to execute communications on multiple levels using various medium, with targeted messages – to have the best chance of reaching broad audiences suffering from information overload. Oh. That was too many words. The goal: get attention. Better goal: keep attention, and motivate action.

As per usual, today was a typical multi-tasking day, including business and family activities. When the evening rolled around and I was finishing up a presentation I’ll be making on Wed in La Jolla (a gorgeous spot near San Diego, CA), I needed a little creative uplift. Music can give me that, so I popped open iTunes and chose Pink’s song. It’s kind of moody, a little ‘throaty’ like classic female blues, and I remembered the surprising performance vividly. Inspiration – and awesomeness – can go a long way.

Now I’m ready to jump on that plane tomorrow and ‘wow’ someone.

–Donna

Have You Planted Survival Seeds?

Survival Seed Bank - "$149 Until We Run Out"

Ok, it started out as curiosity after Stephen Colbert did another brilliant “Report” on something that sounded too crazy to be true. Turned out it’s absolutely true! Sites are selling – and hyping – ‘Non-hybrid survival seeds’, with which to plant a ‘Full Acre Crisis Garden‘.

One persuasive message says if you don’t plant your garden within a year, you could be dead! Yikes!

Did I forget to mention that these seeds will also be MORE VALUABLE than gold or silver, in a meltdown? At a price of $149.00, I certainly hope so.

I must have had my head in the sand for the past several years, as I was unaware of this important need – but apparently there are many concerned citizens worrying about this, blogging about where to find seeds, and of course selling them.

Well, I’m concerned about survival as well. Of my family and friends, my business, and of course my clients and their businesses. So now that I’m reminded that a crisis could be upon us at any minute, I’m ready to plant some seeds!

Survival seeds in my garden:

• Heirloom Listening Vines
• Laughter Time Lettuce
• Never-Give-Up-on-You Roots
• Kept Promises Beans
• Commitment Corn
• Innovation Onions
• Passion Fruit

That’s my short list. Now that I’m clued in to the long-term ramifications of crisis gardening – I’m going to keep searching for more absolutely necessary seeds to plant.

What survival seeds are you planting?

–Donna

Sugar, Honey or Splenda? Just How Sweet R U?

Dripping Honey, by Balakov, Flickr Creative Commons

Several different articles – and conversations – converged in my brain this morning. It just took about 17 hours for me to get some thinking time for expression.

It started with the piece: Why Flattery is Effective – Research – Harvard Business Review. Definitely worth the read. The gist of it is – we all like compliments. They motivate us. Duh. Let me think, would I rather hear ‘your hair style makes you look matronly… your suit is drab…you were too blunt and pushy in the meeting…your report had no conclusion… you bored the audience to death…OR, would I rather someone told me ‘your hair is lovely/shiny today…your blouse is such a cheerful color…that was terrific diplomacy in a tough meeting…your report supplied important data…you really engaged the audience.’ Hmmmm. Let me give that a NANO SECOND (or less) of thought.

Tell me something good!

The point of the article is that persuasion works best when it’s positive. Even if it’s a lie.

My Twitter pal @Beth_Warren wrote about that recently on her blog post The Fine Art of Lying. And she got some hate mail about it! Go figure. Liars don’t like to be called on it.

But where are we drawing a line? My mother (and maybe grandmother, great-grandmother, all the aunties, who knows how many generations of wise women in the family) used to tell me, “You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar!”. And being the sort of smart-ass, inquisitive, provoking child that I was – I responded with, “Why would I want to catch nasty old flies anyway???” Or something along those lines.

Yea, these many years – ahem, decades – later, I work in the communications business which more often than not is accused of ‘spin’, ‘fabrication’ (another polite word for lying), or ‘misleading’ through messaging. And sadly it can be true. Advertising plays on our emotions A LOT, if it’s any good. And if we feel happy, flattered, engaged, we feel better about that brand.

But what about authenticity? How far should we go to be diplomatic, kind, ‘sweet’? As Beth pointed out, when your best friend or partner asks you ‘does this make my ass look fat?’ – are you supposed to give an honest answer? As my wise husband would reply (who should have been a diplomat) it’s a losing ‘Do you still beat your wife?‘ kind of setup.

I’d like to think we provide our clients with truth whenever possible. However, there are occasions when the direct and literal response may be a harmful one. So – I lie. Or ‘fib’, or dissemble, prevaricate, tell tall tales, make oblique references…

You get it. We all get it. It’s the way we agree to enact social discourse. I’m thinking Jane Austen – all the ‘nicey nice’ phrases to describe someone, more often resorting to what they are ‘not’ rather than what they ‘are’.

Perhaps this is a ramble brought about by many thoughts. Trying to decide if sweetening things up – with the real deal, or the artificial stuff – is what we need to motivate each other.

On that note, I think I’ll have a truffle and sleep on it.

-Donna

Ten Days of Broken Promises

10 Days Lost...

I promised myself starting March 1st I’d be more self-disciplined and write something in my blog – EVERY DAY.

Well, today is March 11th and I missed days 1-10.

Yeah, I feel like a loser with a capital “L”. And I can make a long list of excuses like how busy I am writing for my clients, attending meetings, solving problems and just taking care of life as a mom, wife and business owner. But that doesn’t really cut it. It’s what I choose to do that matters. I’m really good at hitting client deadlines. It’s my job. So why don’t I hit my own deadlines? Choice. I choose to put off writing “MarketUP Musings”.

Then I read some interesting blogs by a couple of Canadian communicators I admire – @dannybrown and @knealemann – and I got inspired to get off my duff, so to speak, and DO SOMETHING. Today. Right now.

Danny inspired me to sign up for Earth Hour, contact friends to do the same, send messages via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and post it on my blog. Viral activism. He also inspired me to submit a story about what social media means to me. He’s such a great storyteller, he stimulates discussion.

Kneale reaches out to people. A true communicator in every sense. Plus he’s funny. And he questions things. And he promotes action. This morning he made me smile through my tiredness, which gave me more energy and then – I got busy.

Part then of my social media story is this: the connections that are made that are unexpected and sometimes stimulative, promoting new thoughts and discourse. We’re all familiar with slumps: creative ones, personal relationship types, financial markets, business cycles. Ebb and flow. The difference between successful companies – and individuals – compared to failed ones is that successful types work through problems, recreate energy and motivate themselves and others to achieve goals.

That’s what I believe my job is as a communicator, whether through PR, marketing messages, branding or developing strategy – it’s to continue to engage and inspire action.

Now that I got that off my chest, here are some simply fun references to what can happen in 10 Days:

Ten Days in Africa – Out of the Box board game.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days – Sappy romantic comedy.

The Year the World Lost 10 Days – Seriously! You might think, ‘WTF?’, but it happened.

10 Days Late – Song by Third Eye Blind

What could YOU do in 10 days?

As Kneale says, “Cheers you!”

–Donna