One of the communication tools many organizations embrace with great enthusiasm to gather their audiences around the answer to “why we exist?” is the tried and true mission statement. Corporate mission statements are fun to create because they are usually created in an “off site” creative session– usually in exotic places where the participants can get a nice tan or play golf in the bargain.

For all the attention and effort the crafting of a mission statement receives from business leaders and consultants who create them, most of them sound something like this:

“Our purpose is deeply rooted in a strong commitment to professionally build long term, high impact relationships with our customers so we may leverage the existing equities within our effective product innovations to stay competitive in tomorrow’s challenging business environment”.

Pure gibberish!  I venture to say many of these statements were created using the Dilbert Automatic Mission Statement Generator (which apparently is no longer on line because I can’t seem to find a direct link to the site through Google search).  Nobody cares about mission statements except the people who create them. They serve no other purpose than wall décor in the lobby, or to make the creators feel better about not having a simple compelling proposition of real value to share.

One of the components of our corporate identity and brand development practice is to help organizations define who they are and why they matter to people. Inevitably the identity conversation is driven by the CEO who exclaims, “We need a strong mission statement!” Upon hearing these words, everyone in the room begins to nod their head up and down and the great work of crafting the definitive mission statement begins.  In my experience, most of these efforts are a major waste of time, energy and money. Nobody outside the group cares.  To focus stakeholders on the answer to “why we exist’, we suggest you consider something much simpler, far more powerful and useful.

Create a Mantra not a Mission Statement.

A mantra is defined as a word, sound or statement repeated frequently to aid in concentration of thought. In Sanskrit, mantra literally means “instrument of thought”.  In business, and particularly in marketing communications, I suggest a mantra is a highly effective organizing principal or idea easily shared by people who care. A mantra, unlike a mission statement, is a short 3-5 word statement that clearly defines why your value proposition matters to people.  A mantra is also far more useful in communicating a single differentiating idea about who the organization is and what value it provides people.

A mantra is a powerful, energy infused chant that everyone inside and outside your organization can instantly get their heads around.

A mantra is far more useful in creating meaning than the verbosity of a mission statement. Here are a some mantra ideas for some well-known brands:

Federal Express = peace of mind

Target = good design for everybody

Nike = authentic athletic performance

Patagonia = eco-friendly weather proof fashion

You get the idea. Nothing complex, romantic, or clever about a mantra–but it is a far more compelling and memorable way to define the meaning of who you are and why you matter to people. A good mantra can even become a customer facing tag line. “We Try Harder” is a classic mantra example from Avis.

If you are in charge of corporate or marketing communications in your organization, and your CEO wants some tweaks to your mission statement, perhaps you could suggest creating a mantra instead. Make it easy for people to know what your organization or brand stands for. If you should choose to create one, make sure it is no longer than 5 words.

By the way, our mantra here at PULL Brand Innovation is “influence by design”. In three simple words we tell you what benefit we provide your business and how we provide it. We don’t have a mission statement.

The number one topic and trend many CMO’s are integrating into their marketing mix is the use of social media. Marketers are trying to figure out how to get their brands invited to the social conversation, so they can do more marketing. In my view, social marketing is an oxymoron.

Marketing is not exactly a “social” activity. Often, it’s a rude interruption. Regardless, the term “social media marketing” is now firmly established in our current marketing lexicon.  Many marketers continue to struggle with determining which discipline owns the social media effort within their organizations. Is it in the domain of advertising, PR, HR, IT? Social media, for all the attention it receives, is still largely a jump ball. The new breed of folks who will drive, create and maintain marketing communication content through all the social media platforms are still unformed and mainly siloed .  Who ever owns the social media initiatives, the big job is to get the marketer embedded in the “social”, and once there, pile on the  “marketing”.  The truth is consumers are not listening. Here’s why:

There is no place for marketing in social media.

Think about being at a party having an enjoyable conversation with someone of like mind, then some annoying person interrupts your conversation to tell you how great they are and why you should engage with them. This is basically what most  “social marketing” really is.  People hate being interrupted.

Most marketers now hire some form of  “digital” advertising agency to provide the expertise to execute marketing campaigns in the social media space.  Here’s what most marketers and their agencies do not get–digital advertising is still advertising!  Advertising is an interruption. More so within the context of our user controlled, crowd-sourcing social web.  The social web is a real live conversation. It’s not a media pipe that marketers can own to shove messages through.

As a “media business”, Facebook and Twitter (the most successful social platforms) are still not big money-making media businesses like their traditional cousins (TV, print, outdoor) have been. I’m not suggesting they won’t be highly profitable someday, but right now they’re not. The reason is simple–the social web is by invitation only and marketing messages are not welcome. All of the social media platforms continue to struggle with the design of an advertising revenue business model that will not destroy the fabric of the social conversation they have thus far enabled.

There are exceptions.

This is not to say that marketing messages don’t go “viral”– many do. Unlike the social sharing platforms, YouTube  (and other video sharing portals) are now pretty close to being what traditional broadcast has always been. The only difference is the ability for people to pass the content links around. Sharing links is the social part. What makes content worthy of being shared is usually associated with an entertainment value, not necessarily the marketer’s embedded sales proposition. However, entertaining people is not enough to earn admission to the tribe.

The Evian babies spot above is a good example of an entertaining viral message. Because of it’s paid-placement, the spot has been viewed by nearly 2 million people on YouTube. A case could be made that it was a successful test because the marketer has decided to roll it out into traditional broadcast media. To me, this is just traditional paid advertising re-purposed. I wouldn’t call this social media marketing because it’s not a two-way conversation.

How to get invited to the conversation.

Marketers want to get consumers “engaged” with their brand, and the web is where most of us are these days.  You don’t get invited to the real conversation by plastering blinking banners everywhere. Social media is about contribution and sharing, not selling. It’s about being an invited participant to a tribal conversation because you have first added value to the tribe. The best way to get invited is to be trusted. Brands earn trust just like people do– keep your promises, be cool to people, add value to the tribe first, make a difference over time.  Nothing new here. A recent post from Mashable The Social Media Guide offers an interesting story on how a few brands are using social media to create real world connections. You may find that interesting as well. When your value proposition is a welcome part of the conversation, it’s value will naturally be shared with others, When that happens you’re no longer marketing, you’re contributing. When you’re contributing you’ll be remarkable. We used to call this good ‘ol word-of-mouth.

How is your brand contributing to the tribe in which it seeks to belong?

I’m curious about how things work, especially what makes an idea have the mental stickyness in commnication. Recently I came across an interesting bit of information on the human brain from Roy Williams, a self-professed wizard of persuasion. You can learn about Roy and his work here. Like Roy, I have a fascination with how the human brain works. If you’re involved in communication of any kind, I think it’s useful to have at least a basic understanding of how the grey matter between our ears processes information.  Think about this idea from Roy:

You’re a marketing message... Your hope is to arrive at the Emerald City, located in the prefrontal cortex of the human brain, that place where decisions are made in the mind. However the journey to the Emerald City is long and difficult because the prefrontal cortex is the most isolated part of the brain that gathers information from the outside world. How will you, a marketing message, find your way to the Emerald City? Follow the yellow brick road of course.

But there’s a catch.

In order to travel the yellow brick road, you must first pass through a tollbooth called “Broca’s Area”.  Positioned next to the ear, Broca’s area screens all sensory input coming into the brain. In order for you, a marketing message, to pass, the price at Broca’s tollbooth is very steep indeed. When confronted with all sensory input, Broca cries, “Interest me! Surprise me with something I didn’t know. If you are not carrying new information or a new perspective, you’ll not enter the yellow brick road to the Emerald City!”. Broca turns away everything he “sees coming”.  Broca hates the predictable. This is the brain’s way of focusing your conscious attention.

The Yellow Brick Road that runs from Broca’s area to the Emerald City is called the “dorsolateral prefrontal association area” of the brain. In neuroscience parlance it’s known as working memory. We’ll call it imagination. According to neurological science, working memory (imagination) has three parts: the central executive, the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketchpad.

The central executive chooses where to direct your attention. (after Broca has decided what does or doesn’t matter). The central executive decides what matters the most.

The phonological loop rehearses sound. Like when a song that gets stuck in your head, the phonological loop is a cul-de-sac on the Yellow Brick Road.

The visuospatial sketchpad is where you “see” things that have never happened. Like a movie screen in your mind.

Amazingly, all this happens on the Yellow Brick Road of the dorsolateral prefrontal association area of your brain.  A part not connected to your eye, but to your ear. So If you are a marketing message, you better sound very seductive and irresistible if you want to pass through the tollbooth of Broca’s area on your way to the Emerald City.

We can think of no other industry where giving away strategic or creative advice for free, as a prerequisite for determining one’s worthiness and capability, is so embraced than in our industry.

We find spec presentations to be one of the most perplexing business development practices in the marketing/advertising/creative services industry. Speculative strategic or creative work, or free pitching, is a convention that must be done away with.  Many clients, search consultants, and new business development firms may declare this impossible, but I believe the practice is outdated and does more harm than good in the long run.

With the US vs.THEM mentality that permeates most agency/client relationships, it might be easy to justify why this practice is so accepted. One of the compelling voices and opinions in our business on the evils of free pitching comes from Blair Ens. His “win without pitching” manifesto has been widely embraced by clients and marketing firms of all shapes and sizes.

For sure, this dialogue is a step in the right direction. It’s an uphill battle, yet more firms are resisting this practice, still winning business, and serving their clients well.  We count ourselves among them. We are willing to buck the system and stand up for the value we bring to our client’s business. As a result, we have discovered there is a better method to win our client’s trust, serve them well, and grow our business profitably.

We hold our heads high.

There are two kinds of marketing firms–value creators and order-takers. Value creators are highly specialized experts in a particular practice discipline or industry category.  We see ourselves as equal practitioners to our client-side counterparts, retained to bring useful solutions to our client’s business problems. We have specialized expertise that is not in abundant supply within the client organization, and our positioning reflects that. A client who insists that we devalue our expertise by giving it for free is not a client we would enjoy working for. In my 30 years of experience working with clients, rarely do they value what they don’t pay for. If our business relationship is marginalized right from the start, we won’t be given the opportunity to add much real value anyway. To those we say, “thank you for your interest” and pass.

We will not solve business problems without being financially engaged.

Value creators won’t part with their highest value product without appropriate compensation. If we demonstrate to our clients that we don’t value our best product, why should they? We say to these clients,  “we save our best thinking for paying clients”. It makes no economic sense whatsoever to have our best thinking going to business we don’t currently have. It’s also a dis-service to our paying clients.

We are specialists, not generalists.

As Value Creators, we are positioned as narrowly focused experts. We continually develop our skills, talent and processes to deepen and enrich our expertise so that we may add greater value to our client’s business. We don’t “partner” with our clients. That’s a term used by likable order-takers, not problem-solvers or expert advisers.  As our expertise deepens, our impact on helping create bigger business outcomes for our clients grows and expands in equal measure.

We replace the “pitch” with a conversation.

Our interactions with prospective clients are not about pitching and selling, but rather about conversations to determine if there is a “fit” between the two parties. The basis of this lies in our understanding of the client’s need, and in our determination if our specialized expertise can serve them well. It’s far better to say no early and often, than to waste the precious time of all concerned. We don’t diminish the client’s rightful desire to feel confident about hiring us. We do that through knowledge sharing right here on the blog. It’s time to come together under better circumstances that through the cumbersome RFP and review process.

Our pitch to you.

PULL Brand Innovation is dedicated to serving marketing teams who seek ideas and strategies to successfully launch new products, transform brands to create bigger futures. We help you gain greater clarity and confidence in the strategic and creative decisions that impact your marketing success. We deliver on that promise by seamlessly integrating the disciplines of consumer insight, brand strategy and brand development.

To prove this claim, you can view a featured case story appearing on the upper right of every page of our blog. In each example, we illustrate how our expertise added value to our paying client’s marketing success.

If you see a fit, we’d love to start a conversation. We wish you much success in your brand building initiatives!