With regard to online communications efforts, what do you believe holds most companies back — i.e. lack of understanding, fear of zero-return/costs, inability to commit to a plan, etc?
The biggest hindrance to companies' general, not just online, communications these days is their marketing training. Marketers have been taught for years that it’s all about the sale, moving people down the awareness-trial-evaluation-knowledge-adoption or attention-interest-desire-action scales and developing “strategic communications” based on “consumer insights” that deliver “return-on-investment.” They get caught up in the science and math and forget that the core of what communications is all about is talking to people. I’ve always wanted to answer the question, “What’s our unique selling proposition?” with the answer, “We treat our customers like real people. That’s enough.”
Which recent, or upcoming, SM/communications tool/concept/strategy has stopped you in your tracks and made you say “whoa – that’s great?” If none, what would you need to see to elicit that type of response?
Posterous’ ease of use and automation of the window dressing of a blog is pretty damn impressive. And anything that aggregates and brings one-place, dashboard management to a set of tools gets me fired up. None of the authors/thinkers/philosophers out there are producing much of anything that raises an eyebrow these days, which is sad. But someone will come along and blow us away soon, either with “here’s how you prove ROI for relationships (i.e. social media)” or “here’s the thing that will bring Google down to earth/allow Google to take over the universe.” My guess is that the next big thing is going to be someone who nails semantic and real-time search.
The balance between work and personal life is so important, what do you (or even, wish you did) to maintain your balance? What keep Jason sane?
I wish I learned to say “no” earlier in life. Ultimately, I want to please others. That normally leads to taking on more than you can handle. I’ve learned and am getting better about it, but I wish I’d figured it out a while back. What keeps me sane is unplugging, playing with my kids, talking to my wife, and sitting on my patio with a stiff drink and a cool breeze. Give me that a day or two each week and I’ll be pretty sane.
Thanks for the great conversation Jason. Best of luck and much success with the new gig.
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