(This was originally posted on the CreateWOWmarketing Blog on 10/19/10)

Have you ever seen a great NFL quarterback run to the sidelines and look into the playbook? Neither have I… So why is it that so many marketers out there are generating rote, boring plans for their clients based on “plays” they learned back in the bush leagues?

The traditional approach to marketing is too linear for today’s world. Today’s target audience is constantly moving, growing and learning new technologies. But much of the marketing we see today is still formulaic and trite, as if someone in 1976 created “The Playbook For Successful Marketing” and it’s been dogmatically followed ever since? Cold. Unfeeling. Corporate.

How ’bout I let you in on a secret…

Dogmatic playbook-marketing isn’t viable any longer. The game has changed. Sure, marketing can follow a plan / structure. Marketing can (should) have strategy. But if you think the formulaic mindset you (they) used in 1976 (or earlier for you MadMen fans) will work, you’re going to fail abjectly!

The playbooks are outdated. The systems set forth by or mentors, while still brilliant, are tired. And they (dare I say it?) are singular-minded, focusing on agency award hardware… not the client nor its community. The days of super-star agency quarterbacks in the big, Manhattan corner office are over!

Stop and look around your office (if you have one). There’s value there, you just have to see it. The biggest asset you’ll find are the actual human beings that work WITH you!

Here’s a note for our “Super-Star” marketing quarterbacks:

Marketing Has Taken A More Emotional, Community-Focused Approach

That’s what I like about social media. Adding social media to marketing has taken the ritualistic, dogma of “old school” and turned it on its ear. It allows fresh minds, the “rebels” of the community to work organically on the sidelines, changing the plays and calling options as they see the defense set up. Sure, the goal is the same – get the client’s product or service noticed and to generate actions or a purchase.

I’ll say it again. Our job is to, “… get the client’s product or service noticed and to generate actions or a purchase.”

That’s IT. No more. No less.

GOAL!

When a client brings their product or service to you, the first thing that happens to you and your team is you form an EMOTIONAL response or “Feeling” about it. Immediately, that elicits a LOGICAL action plan on how to deal with it.

STOP THERE!

Don’t pick up the “1976 Playbook For Successful Marketing.” Because I guarantee, if the client hasn’t heard the rhetoric yet, the marketplace has and you’re going to get sacked. You need to out-think the defense! Create marketing that makes people say “WOW!!” (Or something similar).

Be quicker. Be original. Be passionate. Call the option. Use a flea-flicker or the hail-Mary pass from time-to-time. It may be unexpected, but THAT’s what people respond to.

Have you seen marketing that’s disregarded all the traditional plays and succeeded? I have.

Do you have a client that needs a passionate, community-driven plan instead of the same old rhetoric? Create even a little “WOW” and they’ll see the end-zone.

Until the next huddle…

Keep Cooking (silly sports metaphors for everything),
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

Look deeply into my eyes… you are feeling veeeery sleepy… sleeeeepy… deeeeper… deeeeeeeeper… relax and let the social media mystique take you to a happier place. Deeeeper…

Yeah, sometimes I feel like social media has cast some kind of spell over businesses, specifically the marketing departments of some companies. It’s easy to be seduced. It’s easy to be swayed by viral videos, tweets and blogs with thousands of readers. It’s easy to think that social media can be the magic pill to fix marketing mishaps. But in our passionate pursuit to capture the social media magic, maybe we should be mindful of the limits to ANY marketing tool – ESPECIALLY social media.

Social media can’t fix a broken branding model.
Broken brands need to back up to the beginning and find the TRUE Brand (Truthful, Relevant, Unique, Engaging) that lies within. I’ve written about this before, so I won’t go into the specifics, but social media won’t make you something you’re simply not ABLE to be. What social media WILL do is amplify and accelerate the core values and attributes (as well as the ugly flaws) of your brand. So be cautious of where you step.

Social media can’t substitute for strategy.
Obvious? I guess not. Sure, we’ve all seen those companies with the languishing Twitter account or empty FaceBook pages. Or the contrary – companies screaming, “Become our fan on FaceBook,” without much further engagement or incentive for the end users… WHY? Without strategy and objectives how do you know if social media is a successful addition to your marketing? And the number of fans or followers of your account does NOT equate to marketing success.

Social media can’t succeed without a TRUE focus on the customer.
While this should be part of the above strategy, I wanted to make sure that I brought attention to it. If all you’re about is pushing messages about your company / product / service, etc… then you need an ego check. This is SOCIAL media. If you want to have TRUE customer engagement, you need to show you care for the benefits of the customer, not just pumping your own bloated ego.

Social media is not a stand-alone solution.
I’ve been in the marketing and advertising industry since… well, let’s just say my first job didn’t involve a single computer. And guess what, companies successfully marketed themselves. Some even made money! In all seriousness, being a practitioner of social media does not make one a marketing guru. Sure the tools are great and they have their applications in “modern communications,” but without EXPERIENCED marketing strategy, advertising, public relations, traditional media and a good understanding of digital technologies, you’re just adding to the noise.

So before that “Social Media Magician” starts with their hocus-pocus pitch that social media is the answer to all of your marketing woes, just blink. Clear your eyes of the social media smoke-n-mirrors and take a clear look at your marketing. If social media can be integrated into your marketing plan, you’ll see it. If you can’t see it, and still need to know, then consult a professional marketer with a mastery of social media marketing tactics.

When you’re looking for TRUE social media marketing integration. Think of those you follow online. Who would you trust with your company’s brand? Then, ask the question SOCIALLY.

Keep Cooking! (Strategic marketing decisions…)
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

When it comes to a little friendly competition, I’m all game.  I love the challenge.  I love the strategy.  And obviously, my friends over at Lessing Flynn advertising agency, think the same way.

At the end of what was an extremely busy social media week for Central Iowa, we were made aware of a little competition brewing in the advertising agency social media ring.

The competition?

In short, there was a Michael Glass poll created asking, of 45 ad agencies listed, who had better social media reach?  Who had true social media skills? (click the image below to go to the poll)

As the poll started to grow legs, it was evident that the two overwhelming leaders in the group was an agency out of North Carolina by the name of Media Two and our own Ad Mavericks (Lessing Flynn) from little ol’ Iowa.

For me, it started Thursday afternoon when I saw a tweet…  innocuous at first, but in its tone was more of a challenge, thrown down to all central Iowa social media professionals, purveyors and hobbyists.  As I continued to monitor the conversation, the tone became, well, more of a battle royale. Here’s a sample…

You can check out Ad Maverick’s complete Twitter stream here.

The game was on.

Some of the contenders never had a chance, but as Mr. Glass’s poll grew from a couple hundred respondents to well over 600 (at the time of this post), the competition for “Social Media Agency of the Month” was obviously between Media Two and Ad Mavericks.  The two pulling away with double and triple the number of votes of other agencies.

What was driving the polls?  Well, social media, silly!

Both agencies had a reputation to define and defend.  So much so that Media Two, in typical, politicized, mud slinging fun, posted a (sightly) myopic commentary on the viability of social media surviving  in the Midwest, trying to discredit Ad Mavericks. (shame on you Media Two…)

With true, Midwestern grace and poise, Ad Mavericks responded with their own post, or should I say call-to-arms; making a great argument for their cause as well as some of the best examples of social media success one could think of for Iowa and the Midwest as a whole.  Iowans – social media savvy businesses, compulsively connected individuals, huge social media celebrities – have made the medium truly viable for the “fly-over” states.  In contradiction to Media Two’s tongue-in-cheek jab at Iowa, Ad Mavericks raised the flag of social media superiority for the state and solidified the reputation Iowans have taken pride in – humbly and honestly.

I encourage you to review the poll entries.  Weigh your thoughts on both Media Two and Ad Mavericks and vote your conscience.

With that, what a week it’s been in Iowa.

On top of the usual social media buzz Iowa generates, Iowa’s week started off with an astoundingly successful Highlight Midwest, where entrepreneurs, techies and the social media strong merged in downtown Des Moines to spread the good word, educate and perpetuate the great things that are happening with technology and social media throughout the Midwest.  Even more specific to advertising agencies, Love Scott & Associates just sponsored the DSMCVB Social Media Marketing Workshop where top Iowa businesses converged to discuss social media as it applies in marketing, public relations and human resources (more here).  And promotions for the upcoming I_Blog Conference started hitting the social media stratosphere in earnest to bring businesses and individuals together to create an even stronger force in Midwestern social media.

Competition is good.  Cooperation is better.

Social media fosters both competition and cooperation in a way that traditional media has never been able.  While the competition on Mr. Glass’s poll is fun and driven by silly jabs at the competitors; the nature of the poll is serious. Who does have true social media chops?  Is it a Midwest vs. East coast competition – Iowa vs. North Carolina?

Or what if we took this week’s experiences and made it social media driving the greater good through communication within and between our respective communities?

Food for thought…

Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef

P.S. As a side point, if there were a write-in option for the poll, this post would be solely about The Brand Chef and the silliness between Ad Mavericks and Media Two would be a moot point. I wish luck to both agencies.  They’re both great social media purveyors and advocates, providing great value to the medium.  May the best agency win.