Janet Lee Johnson | The Art of Marketing

I’m working with a company in Redwood City, CA, called Smub. Think what you want about the name (I’ve been told ‘I love it,’ ‘I hate it,’ ‘it’s like a porn name…’), what it does is pretty cool.

With Smub, I can shrink and personalize any URL into a memorable link that I can easily share - and it also saves my links in a personal bookmark area in case I forget my “memorable” links. (Which happens.)

I wrote about how easy it is to share Smubs, even at 50MPH here earlier. (And over on the Smub blog I’ve been writing about how to set Smub up, how to use the Smub toolbar, and how Smub’s bookmarks work.) BTW, Smub is free, you just have to register for it.

I’ve honestly had many of my search, saving and storing habits transformed in a few short weeks using Smub. Here’s how:

My Smub Experience

To make a Smub, I just type in smub.it/ to the left of the http:// in the address bar of the page I want to personalize, save or share:

A window pops up and I’ve got the ability to name my Smub - I generally try to be contextual (vs. clever) in my naming scheme (clever usually trips me up later).

For example: this Smub (http://smub.it/jlj/90.9.1) is from the Forrester blog, and describes the 90:9:1 principle, whereby 90% of people read blogs, 9% will comment on them, and only 1% write them in comparison to their social technographics study, just released. (One thing that bugs me right now about Smub is that it’ll automatically change any character - like a colon - into a period. We’ll see if that can’t be changed as part of Beta.)

What’s cool is that anyone can access a Smub, whether they’re registered or not.

From here, I can give my friend Jacob up at Sur la Table a little more background on the concept, which we discussed last night over manhattans and martinis. (I’m certain my explanation at the time was enthusiastic, but a bit muddled…).

If I see him today, I can tell him the Smub, or I can email it to him, Tweet it, post it to my Facebook profile, or my MySpace page.

I usually tag my Smubs for recollection later in my personal bookmarks and can designate a Smub as “shareable” or “personal.” I have created personal Smubs for my bank login page, two clients’ Basecamp accounts, and for the three different email accounts I keep for clients.

The freedom and simplicity of a personal bookmark page is very cool, as I can access my Smubs from any computer (or my iPhone) connected to the web. I no longer have to clutter my browser or my iPhone with bookmarks, or be tied to my own system to be productive.

Sharing Searches, Sharing Sites

But the sharing capabilities go way beyond email, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace…

Now, I can set up a search in Craigslist for my friend Britt, looking for a marketing job in a non-profit organization in the Portland area. She doesn’t use Craigslist, so I can easily do the work for her, and she can check her Smub anytime to see the most recent listings for jobs in the PDX area - you can, too, by heading over to http://smub.it/jlj/marketingnonprofit.

It’s a handy way to share what you can do with those who might not be familiar with the sites you are.

I was on a web conference the other day where one of the invitees didn’t have the email with her access URL handy. Had the organizer Smubbed the page, she could have simply logged on by typing http://smub.it/_____/______. So easily readable, and quick to communicate over the phone.

But what I’m really excited about is the ability to share my Smubs with those who have the Smub toolbar installed. As I mentioned on the Smub blog, it’s a great way to shortcut shortcuts. Anyone who’s downloaded the Smub toolbar can flip among Smubs incredibly easily:

All I’d have to do is tell you the account (jlj) and the “Smubcut” 90.9.1 and you’re there. To see a video of Smub, you can switch to the “janet” account and type in “video.”

Or to see Thierry’s friend Mike’s bio, which he Smubbed for me, anyone with Smub can simply choose “thierry” and “mike.”

Imagine how easily you’d be able to share information with your work team. Two words is all you’d have to share. Go to ________, the Smub user name, and ________, the page.

Personal, memorable, easily shareable.

Smub.

It’s my new favorite tool. And I’m lucky to have ‘em as a client, too.

Andrew Graham of Bear Sterns posed a fascinating observation last week in his Friday “Morning Note” (emailed only, such a shame) when he said:

“The bottom line is it appears that we need to hit Control-Alt-Delete on the economy, and before investors “buy” into the new paradigm, they need to know what the new operating system will be:  The New Deal 2.0, Capitalism 3.1 or the Overlapitalism beta v1.  At least its on sale for the holidays.” 

That got me thinking about marketing in a down economy, and made me ask the question:

Is it Finally Time for Marketers to Hit Control-Alt-Delete on Traditional Marketing?

Unfortunately, marketers control (and live by) the largest discretionary budget in any organization. Programs and people are getting cut or will be victims of “planned obsolescence” as 2009 budgets are being drawn and redrawn.

The harsh reality of the day is that Darwinism has come to every part of every business: adapt, change or die.

At the same time, there are some truisms that still exist:

• Those who continue to market through economic downturns are far more likely to benefit than those who cut their marketing budgets too much during troubled times.

Think about it - the best time to gain visibility with your prospects is when your competition is cutting back. And because so many are cutting back, your messages have more opportunities to get through.

• Those who adapt to the demands of today’s marketplace - I see trends in authenticity, transparency, connectedness and simplicity being demanded all around - will be much more effective in their efforts.

Gone is the ‘coolness’ of excess - look at the automakers reception on Capital Hill as they flew in and out in their corporate jets - even the assumption of a sense of humor (hello, Motrin?). Our bullshit detectors are on high alert as we watch and listen to those who’ve driven our economies and futures to the brink, and even well-researched campaigns aren’t guaranteed to hit the mark.

Everyone suffers when people are inauthentic in their approach to marketing. (Check out Koifish Communications’ excellent post, “The Ethics of Advocacy” for even more fuel for that fire.)

As a result, we are increasingly shutting out “marketing” and “news sources” and turning to our friends and families - our smaller, more intimate and immediate circles of influence - and appreciating them more, sharing information with them, and (likely as a result) bullshitting less.

So are there any bright spots in the marketer’s toolkit?

I’m happy to see more and more explore the notion of marketing through social means. Let’s face it. People trust people they know. And (aside from searching for products and services online) most people ask around of family, friends and (now) their followers for advice when researching and buying pretty much anything… from food to fuel to Facebook.

We’re leaning on each other like never before in my lifetime.

Marketers, listen up. We’re about more than spray and pray messaging… we’re about more than behavioral targeting… it’s time to ask ourselves:

• How are you entering in ongoing conversations about your company, your products, your services?
• Is your entire company (from customer service to product management to sales) listening for mentions of your brand?
• If they hear something, do they know what to say or do?

Whether they occur online or in your local restaurants, malls, offices, hospitals or schools, it’s time to join the ongoing conversations. As marketers, it’s time to:

• Listen more than we speak
• Offer expert service more than braggadocio
• Engage rather than cajole
• And show rather than tell…

Are you ready to rethink everything? I believe it’s finally time to take advantage of a reset.

I spend a lot of time online, and am not afraid to download widgets or tools or ’stuff’ to enhance my own online experience. Mostly I download tools that save me time and energy.

(I just, for example, finally downloaded TweetDeck yesterday, and am not sure I’m going to use it. I love the idea of being able to set up a group of Twitterers to watch, and the tag cloud, but mostly it feels too complicated and (literally) dark. I really like the basic, whimsical Twitter interface.)

I started working for a company last month that has just launched a cool little tool that has really changed the way I think of saving time and energy. Suddenly I can share my work and the savings more easily with others.

I have been entirely too selfish (in many ways) with my online experience, in spite of sharing my more ponderous thoughts here, and my more personal life in Twitter.

Smub: All-in-One Link Branding, Bookmarking, Sharing Tool 

Smub, (sounds like pub, unless you pronounce it with the fabulous French accents the founders have, then it sounds a little like poub) is a remarkably simple tool with a surprising breadth of real world applications. I’ll explain the overview here, and walk through a few case studies here and there over the next few days.

Once you sign up for your Smub account, you simply type Smub.it/ to the left of http:// in any browser (on your PC, your iPhone, your Blackberry…) and you’ll be able to personalize and name your Smub.

Once you see it, you ‘get’ it. Follow this smub to the video on YouTube (I tried to embed the code and it messed up my fancy blog formatting, so I’m smubbing instead!):

smub.it/janet/video

(the actual link reads http://smub.it/janet/video)

Pretty easy to remember. Even for someone on information overload like me.

The Perfect Smub Scenario

Let’s say I’m going to Poppy in Seattle for lunch this weekend. I’ve never been there before, so I head over to Google Maps, where I can see a street by street view of how to get there. It gives me a lovely URL that I can share with others:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=105949487557353234306.00045bff21bb4e60713df

Uh huh. I can type smub.it/ in front of that behemoth and save it under a memorable, share-able name…

smub.it/janet/poppy

That’s something even my mom can hear and remember. So (inevitably, when she calls) I can be in my car going 60 miles an hour up the road, and give her the map I’ve already made for myself by simply saying, “mom, type in http://smub.it/janet/poppy” and you’ll be able to see where we’re going.

I know I could have used TinyURL to do the same thing, but neither my mom nor I would remember this:

tinyurl.com/5wopqr

“No, mom, it’s five… w… o… p…, yes, p as in Peter, QUE r….”

“Yes, P as in Peter.”

“No, I think it’s five w, not four…”

And anyone can read a Smub. You don’t have to be a registered user to do so.

Just type in http://smub.it/janet/smubrelease to any browser and you’re there.

Try it from your smartphone for extra credit. Really, do. The mobile application is especially cool, because you can stay on one page and capture the link to rename, bookmark and share it. Smub is free, and in beta, looking for feedback. I encourage folks to give it a try.

Warning to my friends: pretty soon I’ll be speaking in Smubs: “just go to Janet/video.” “Just go to jlj/twitter”… etc.

There’s an entertaining article today over on the ClickZ network called “Participating in the Visible Backchannel” by Dave Evans. That fabulous phrase, “visible backchannel,” was coined by Ymena Magnum, product line manager of Cloud Computing at Sun.

In the article, Dave started by saying how important it was that a company’s marketing and operations are aligned - because the speed with which information spreads about brands is exponential. He referenced a brand survey conducted on Twitter by Peter Sorgenfrei and Warren Sukernek (a colleague of mine from the Marqui days, with whom I recently reconnected on Twitter), where Twitterers profiled their expectations about brands within Twitter.

Turns out I participated in the brand survey, the results of which were published last week. Here are the highlights (directly from Twittermaven):

• Not surprisingly, most users (89%) agree that brands should engage their customers on Twitter. The majority also have a better impression of brands that use Twitter for customer service (81%).
• Proper usage of Twitter however, is paramount as almost 90% of users would frown upon poor or inappropriate brand use of Twitter.
• The power of a relationship is extremely strong on Twitter. 60% of respondents would recommend a company based on their presence on Twitter and 80% of Twitter users will reward those brands they have key relationships by being more willing to purchase from them.
• Influencers: More than 60% of respondents have 100+ followers and almost 50% of respondents have posted more than 1000 Tweets since they signed up for the service.

So back to Dave’s article… in it he recounted several interactions with the Starbucks brand in real life and in the digital world (they’re blending more and more). Starbucks is on Twitter, and helped him with a problem he was encountering in the stores. (Head on over and read it, you’ll probably have experienced something similar to the stories he told.)

Anyway, he summed it up perfectly for me:

“As you consider the social Web and the impact it has on your brand, consider the survey’s audience: 60 percent are male and the largest age concentration (just over 41 percent) in the 35 to 44 age group. It’s a decidedly mainstream audience, meaning that channels like Twitter are not fringe or youth.

The social Web, and Twitter in particular, can provide valuable, actionable insight. Ignore at your own peril. Get involved, participate, and take the time to assess your organizations’ ability to consistently deliver an excellent experience — across the entire frontline — in service of the brand you’re building.”

People who follow me on Twitter will know much more about me than I’ve ever shared in my business relationships. You can decide whether that’s a good thing, but I have always believed that people do business with people; not with companies, or with brands, or with employees. Ask anyone in sales, business development, marketing or product management: knowing more about the people you’re doing business with is invaluable.

Tuesday’s example: I wanted to talk with someone about some upcoming news. In checking her Twitter feed, I found out she was preparing for a live, online event. I popped over to the live event to catch her wisdom, and found they were having trouble with the audio feed in trying to “join her” to the event. I certainly didn’t want to interrupt her day at that potentially stressful point, did I? Nope.

Wednesday’s example: I needed to get in touch with one of my key influencers on a project. I had sent them an email, and hadn’t heard back within the “normal” time in which he’d usually respond. I checked his Twitter feed, and found they had just landed in SFO for three days in order to attend a conference. I knew immediately that I’d need to find another resource for my project.

I have examples every week like this. Multiply them by the personal delights:

• Getting an offer of fresh arugula from @thisKat’s garden
• Being able to broadcast Stacy Hewett found my wallet in Old Town, and having @TopLingo in LA pass on the goodness
• Finding a presentation by @Turoczy put online that I could enjoy even though I couldn’t make it to the @OEN event (that’s both business and personal, admittedly… but it saved me time)

I hear all the time, “I just don’t understand Twitter…” Perhaps this will convince another person or two to try it out for themselves - both for business and personal use.

Remember though,  you’ve got to give to get. Being active and interesting in Twitter is about more than “I’m eating oatmeal…” It’s a glimpse into your life, yes. But it’s also an explanation of your interests, where you’re going, where you’ve been, and how you’re enchanted/engaged in the moment.