Dear CEO:

The choice is no longer yours.

Your clients, prospects, vendors, distribution channels and the rest of the free world expect you to be on Twitter. Failure to adapt to this shift in communications is a personal failure. A failure that will continue to limit your long term career goals and the overall success of the business you’re charged to run. Not to mention the business success your employees count on for their paycheck and livelihood.

The choice is no longer yours because you can no longer market to people where and when you want to. Consumers today have too many choices. Since you refuse to play within the rules of today, consider an analogy of the past.

The television was invented and for the longest time you had three networks to advertise on. It was fairly simple to run ads on television, there were only three choices. Then cable television came along, and the choices for consumers became almost endless. Suddenly choosing where to market on television became more challenging, and yet at the same time more effective. Now we have Hulu, which threatens the entire cable model.

The three major networks were the mediums of the past. The expansion of cable television represents the vast sea of social platforms where consumers continue to spend more and more time. Hulu represents the forever shifting world we live in.

Twitter is just the surface, but if your company hasn’t dipped their toe in the social media abyss, Twitter is where to start. Your group of contacts and the rest of the free world are looking for you on Twitter. What will you offer them? How long will it take you to realize you must adapt?

Ask the guy 20 years ago that didn’t want to start using email. How did he turn out? What’s he doing now? Most likely looking for work. Name any successful company or organization that is innovative and admired that isn’t on Twitter.

Adapt or become irrelevant.

Sincerely,

Lessing-Flynn

We spend a lot of time talking on this blog about other people’s marketing, and probably not enough time talking about the things that happen around Lessing-Flynn. So upon the news that our own Emily Beckmann (that’s two N’s) is now engaged to Mr. Levi Nichols. Here’s a gem that sprouted up on Twitter, courtesy of Chris English.

As always, we remind you to tweet responsibly, but using the #Nicholbeck hashtag is highly encouraged.

Congratulations Emily and Levi!

BTC Capital Management – a wealth management firm owned by Bankers Trust Company – aims to reach a unique audience: high net-worth individuals, corporations and institutions.

We knew communicating with these audiences would require a unique strategy. Websites, blogs and social media alone wouldn’t suffice. Nor would conventional tactics like direct mailers, brochures, press releases or media buys be effective for persuading high net-worth individuals, corporations or institutions to entrust millions of dollars to BTC Capital Management.

No, there needed to be something personal and tangible. A marketing piece that didn’t come out and scream “Look at our marketing collateral!” So we pitched the idea of publishing a magazine. It would be sharply designed and eloquently penned. A classy and sophisticated magazine that a multi-millionaire or the head of a financial institution might realistically pick up and read.

This was the idea behind LEAD Magazine – a biannual publication we helped BTC Capital Management launch in the spring of 2011. In each of the first two editions we featured four members of the BTC Cap team, the long-form copy style of magazine profiles proving to be the perfect form for capturing the personality and expertise of the investment professionals.

LEAD magazine – which goes out to approximately 3,000 clients, prospects and members of the investment community – was an immediate success. While our friends at BTC Cap wouldn’t disclose how much new business it helped generate, we’re told that it was instrumental in landing some new clients. And when new clients mean millions of dollars for the BTC Cap team to manage, it’s no wonder they decided to give LEAD a permanent spot on its roster of marketing publications.

When it comes to ad placement, there are two types of marketers.

1. Highly targeted.  These are the folks that talk demographics, geo-graphics, psycho-graphics, contextual based, seasonal, regional and the list goes on.

2. Blitz. These are the folks you see everywhere. Even when its not at all relevant.

While writing a different blog post about Flash technology, I came across a story about Catherine Zeta Jones being flashed (not the technology) with some amusing pictures of her running and looking shocked. Turns out, this is a scene from a movie she is filming and not real.

So while being highly amused by the story, I couldn’t help but notice a political ad by Mitt Romney in a poorly placed position. You can only imagine for yourself what I’ve covered up.

I’m sure the Romney campaign is less than thrilled with this placement. But the bigger question is why are they running ads on a celebrity site called Posh24? A site that runs stories on the Kardashians, the Jonas Brothers and apparently fake flashers.

This is where being a blitz marketer can make you appear disingenuous and inconsistent. Real “Conservative” of you, Mitt.

If you or your company are sending any commercial electronic messages to or from Canada, it’s in your best interest to research and follow the new CASL.

Canada’s new anti-spam law, known as Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (Bill C-28) or CASL for short, was enacted in December of 2010 and is slated to enter into force shortly – as soon as the first few months of 2012. The CASL intends to support e-commerce by deterring spam, spyware, identity theft, and more by enforcing higher consent strategies and strict monetary penalties.

What is the CASL?

The CASL is Canada’s new anti-spam law, which mandates that consumers must opt-in to all e-mail marketing. The law applies to all Commercial Electronic Messages, an overriding term for SMS text, instant messaging, e-mail and all forms of digital communication, where either the sender or the receiver is located in Canada. The CASL also prohibits the installation of Online Behavioral Advertising tracking devices without consent.

How is the new CASL different from other anti-spam laws?

CASL may have one of the broadest scopes of any anti-spam law in the world. The new CASL mandates an opt-in system to e-mail marketing, which is different from PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), a primarily a content-based system and US CAN-SPAM Act, a primarily e-mail opt-out system. Also, the CASL has higher penalties for infringement – up to $10 million for companies and $1 millions for individuals.

What does this mean for me?

Appoint someone within your company to take ownership of the new CASL to make sure your company is compliant with the new legislation. Otherwise, you could end up making a very costly mistake.

Also consider:

• Reviewing your e-mailing lists to ensure all consumers have given either expressed or implied consent to be on your list. Make sure you keep records of the consent. Proof of consent is helpful if a complaint is made about a commercial electronic message.
• Using an opt-in or double opt-in method for obtaining contact information for subscribers who wish to be added to your electronic mailing list.
• Making sure the content in your e-mail campaign is targeted, timely and relevant to your subscribers. (This should be the case will all e-mail marketing campaigns!)
• Providing your e-mail recipients an easy, clearly visible opt-out option.

(As one can imagine, there are many different regulations, limitations, exemptions, requirements and penalties under the CASL. It’s wise to consult legal council for any and all questions related to the new legislation.)

Since the new legislation gives more power to the consumer – whereas, the consumer is able to opt-in to whom they wish to hear from – do you think this will force marketers and businesses to create more relevant and quality content?

By now you’ve heard the news all over Facebook, Twitter, CNN, ABC News, you name it – about “Kmart Angels” paying off people’s layaway orders. Now, I’m just as optimistic as the next guy about the Pay It Forward concept, but you’re telling me that people in multiple states all around the same time decided to pay off some layaway accounts? And all of them at Kmart?

Makes you wonder, are we all suckers to a brilliant marketing campaign?

Let’s say you’re a marketer or in public relations at Kmart. When’s the last time you’ve had some positive PR? The last big PR you received was when Martha Stewart was in jail and you were only mentioned because she has her name on some of the products sold at your store. Let’s also say you’re going to pitch the idea to the company. It goes something like this.

“So here’s an idea. Lets anonymously pay off about ten layaway accounts in multiple areas of the country. We’ll have our employees call the customers to tell them the news, and get this, we’ll do it right before Christmas. Hopefully we’ll get some local news coverage, and it will be a great feel good story. Best case scenario, we inspire others to payoff layaway accounts all over the country. Oh yeah, we’ll probably get a ton of new layaway accounts.”

If I’m hearing the pitch my only concern is being found out. I’d move on this concept immediately and take the chance.

And before you leave some scathing comment about how we took something so wonderful and stole it from Whooville, let’s be clear. Kmart – you’re brilliant. The multiple group of anonymous people who have been inspired to act and pay off other layaway accounts anonymously, we applaud you. You are what makes this country great and provide the spirit of giving that Christmas is all about.

But why is no one else questioning the validity of the inspiration?

Someone more noteworthy than myself once said the best defense strategy you can employ in the event of a zombie outbreak is to build a fortress made of failed zombie movie scripts and hope for the best. (Editor’s Note: Did somebody really say this, or are you just making it up?)

Zombies never go out of style. They’re like cat videos – people just can’t get enough of them. As a society, we’re all just too enamored with the idea of being a dead man’s entrée to let the cultural phenomenon, well, die. (Editor’s Note: cute)

So zombies are everywhere. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that the chances are very good that someone you know is or could become a zombie. And that sucks for them (Editor’s Note: Vampire joke in a zombie blog, really?).

Unfortunately it could happen to you, too. In fact, your website or blog could be coming down with a case of zombie and you aren’t even aware of it.

(Editor’s Note: We sincerely apologize for the agonizingly drawn out introduction. We now go to “5 Signs that Your Website is a Zombie” already in progress.)

…and that’s the first sign your website could be a zombie.

2.  Your Site Is Dead

A severe lack of vitality is the primary indicator that your website is a zombie.  As in it doesn’t have a pulse. There is nothing active or – shall we say alive – on your site. This can easily be remedied by adding a Twitter feed or a corporate video. Heck, even some flash production will help. Anything other than aged copy and static images that haven’t been changed since the site was originally built. (Editor’s Note: Finally, something of substance.)

3. Your Site Is Visibly Wounded

There’s no such thing as a good-looking zombie. After all, they’re dead. And they usually become dead by bleeding to death after having massive amounts of flesh chewed off. (Editor’s Note: Imagery’s a little strong here – consider toning down.) When obvious problems to your website go unfixed for extended periods of time, your regular visitors will take note. Broken links. Blatant typos. Undersized or irrelevant images. Bad navigation. All signs that your site is a not-so-good-looking zombie.

4. Your Site Smells like 2009

Zombies smell disgusting because they’re dead and have been dead for some time. (Editor’s Note: But have you ever actually smelled one?) (Author’s Note: Yes) Are there indicators on your site that illustrate just how long it’s been since you’ve made any updates? Does “Copyright 2009” appear in your footer? Was your last news update or blog post from that year as well? Is your contact information accurate?

5. Your Site Isn’t You

Aside from looking and smelling like death, you can also spot a zombie by his or her peculiar behavior. For instance, it isn’t like Debbie Williams, that nice woman from church who bakes the most delicious oatmeal cookies, to go around chewing people’s faces off. (Editor’s Note: Again, the imagery’s a little strong here.) (Author’s Note: Noted) So watching her chew someone’s face off would likely make you pause and think, “You know, Debbie’s just not herself today.” (Editor’s Note: Seriously.)

Is your site really you? Do the color scheme and design reflect your personality as a company? Does the content – from blog posts to the About Us page – capture who you are as a company? If the personality of your website doesn’t mirror the personality of your company, people will take notice. They’ll see your site for what it is: a zombie chewing people’s faces off. (Editor’s Note: Whatever, I give up).

Your print ads won an Addy award, but didn’t generate the sales numbers you forecasted. You pull them.

Your radio spots were a dud. Maybe it was the script? You pull them too.

Your billboard, while clever as hell, had no call to action. You pull that too.

Your social media efforts have proven to be more work than you thought and no matter what you try, you just aren’t seeing the kinds of returns you expected. Sorry, there’s no rip cord to pull for the parachute here.

If your brand has walked to the edge of the great abyss and looked down into the social media plunge you know there’s really no turning back. Like they say in James Cameron’s movie, The Abyss..

“This here’s a bottomless pit, baby, two and a half miles, straight down.”

But don’t let that get you down. Truth is probably what you need right now. And the truth is once you start down the Abyss that is social media- listening to and engaging customers, creating relevant content sometimes for multiple audiences in the form of blog posts, pod casts, videos, white papers, and measuring the results of what drives traffic to your Website, what truly engages, what people actually say about your industry and your brand, you have both a run on sentence and a ton of work to do.

The debates of whether or not to jump off the edge and into the Social Media Abyss are over. If you’re not using social media today, you’ve already lost to your competition. So, if you’re swimming in the Abyss your only option is to “Go Dory” from Finding Nemo and just keep swimming.

Jeez, how many ocean related movies is this guy going to use?

Just one more.

Failure to keep your social media efforts alive in the Abyss are the difference between creating one of the best sci-fi movies ever made like James Cameron did, or being the scourge of the ocean like Kevin Costner’s career since he starred, appeared in Water World.

There’s plenty of talk today about mobile marketing. Think of the B2C market like a well-flowing tapped keg. There’s plenty of discussion surrounding driving traffic to retail and consumer based campaigns.

But what if you are in the B2B space? That keg is largely untapped. And because of that, your company has the chance to succeed where your competitors fail. Your mobile website doesn’t need to win awards for the amazing technology it offers. Like all mobile marketing, your mobile website needs to offer utility. Consider your customer or prospect’s situation when they pull up your mobile site on their phone. Then feed the need.

No matter what B2B world you play in, here’s our top five things every B2B mobile site needs.

5. Location.

Mobile = Utility. If I am thinking enough of you to visit your website from my smart phone, I need something specific. I’m not looking to read case studies. Chances are, I want to know where you are located. I might be dropping by to give you the business. Do users a favor and hook them up with a map and they’ll be even more motivated. Have more than one location? Provide a search feature, or better yet, build your mobile website so that it recognizes the location of the mobile device and then serves up the closest location.

4. Phone Number

I have a question I need answered right now. How can I contact you? This should be front and center. If I have to dig for it, I might be trying to recall other businesses that offer the same things you do.

3. Social Platforms

Someone has told me you were a company to check out. Hook me up with a feed to your Twitter account, blog, and a link to your Facebook page. I probably don’t have time to fully engage now, but I’d be interested in doing it later. Let me in by letting me follow, like and read.

2. Dealer / Distributor / Technical Support

This one is critical for B2B marketers. If I am interested in these features, I either sell your product, distribute your product or need help fixing a product you sold me. I want some FAQs, some key contact information, and perhaps even the ability to send in a trouble shooting question. If you’re really on top of it, you might include some basic video that answers the trouble shooting questions most often asked.

1. Brief Overview of Services

Again, BRIEF! What do you sell? Who do you sell it to? Who sells it for you? Why do you do it better than anyone else? How can I learn more – > Contact Button = Success. Get in, get out.