The big theme of the iMedia Breakthrough Summit was mobile. We covered everything from location based apps to augmented reality. Yet, we didn’t spend a lot of time on the one marketing tool that’s becoming more and more prevalent: QR Codes. At MARC USA, we started placing QR codes on all business cards months ago. I guess we were just ahead of the curve. That’s wezog thinking for you.
At our Pittsburgh office a stuffed lion (not a real one you PETA people) greets visitors and team members. According to Wikipedia, the lion “traditionally symbolises bravery, valour, strength, and royalty.” Those are some seriously desirable attributes. It’s no wonder the lion is considered the king of all beasts.
True story, one night I was working late and happened into the mailroom. It was pitch black and when I turned on the light, the lion was in their to not only greet me, but scare the crap out of me.
I’m out on blogger vacation this week. The keys to TheKmiecs.com have been turned over to a few, select, awesome guest writers. The following has not been edited by me and is the work and effort of the original author. I appreciate the time and thinking that went into this post and hope you will too. Enjoy!
Students spend a lot of time selecting a major and mastering classes and assignments. But, not all students recognize there is more to an education than school! Your education before a first job isn’t complete without at least one internship. Internships provide real value through experience, networking opportunities, teamwork, and exposure to potential jobs!
Jessica Frey
Associate Interactive Account Executive, MARC USA, Pittsburgh
St. Vincent College, Bachelor of Arts in Communications
Undergraduate internships with WordWrite Communications and the Pittsburgh Pirates
My LinkedIn profile is my “website.”
Have you heard the phrase, “Instant Credibility?” Me too. Conceptually, I understand what it means. For years I always believed that my resume and body of work should afford me some level of credibility. It does in some circles. That history is what gets me invited to participate in books, conferences, and panels. If you will, I’ve got industry credibility.
Ok – that’s nice. But, industry credibility really doesn’t help you with the people you work with. Your body of work, the references you have, and your resume get you the interview, but they don’t get you the job. You’ve got to earn the job, by establishing some level of credibility with the people who are doing the evaluating.
Even once you have the job – your previous experience, accomplishments, and accolades while nice, don’t really give you credibility. You have to earn credibility. I recently joined MARC USA as the Director of Interactive Marketing Innovation. While it would be nice to have “instant credibility.” The fact is, that’s just not realistic. Everyday in the office, every conversation, every email, every presentation are chances to build credibility. I/we have to prove ourselves as worthy of the hire.
When I was younger, this frustrated the hell out of me. Now, it excites the hell out of me. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times where I feel my body of work should be reason enough to validate a decision, point of view, recommendation, or decision. However, when that happens, I remind myself that I haven’t earned their trust yet.
That’s really the essence of credibility – TRUST. Who you are and what you”ve done don’t really matter unless people trust you. It’s their trust that allows you to be credible. Earning trust isn’t easy. It doesn’t happen overnight. Nope, it’s often a painstaking and lengthy process, but it can be a lot of fun. It’s a challenge. If who you are and what you”ve done is the appetizer – what you actually do when you’re hired is the meal.
People need to see up close and personal your value. With the rise of “social media” and a wide open (gulp) transparent web we’re constantly being evaluated. Every tweet, status update, and blog post is being reviewed and added to what someone already knows about you (eg your LinkedIn profile). Every interaction, small or big, is under scrutiny. That doesn’t mean you should change what you say and who you are. Just the opposite. I’d argue you should be the person you are, wherever you are, whenever you are. Be authentic. You just need to understand the consequences.
Credibility is something we all want. Take my word for it – it doesn’t come fast, it doesn’t come easy, and it doesn’t come cheap. You can’t buy it. You’ve got to earn it. Start now.
The word innovation has always perplexed me. It’s a vague term really. What might seem innovative to one person can be banal to another. You can’t really measure innovation because we can’t really agree on what defines it. Yet, despite how ambiguous the word innovation is, it’s something every organization craves.
My current title is Director, Interactive Marketing Innovation. My job is to be ahead of the curve and not be recommending things published in the trade pubs like AdAge and AdWeek. Not because they aren’t great publications, but because often they’re 6 months behind the curve. My expectations for myself are high. I pride myself on being always in the know and more importantly always thinking about the interactive space in new, different, and sometimes unexplored ways.
Many times, I fail. Failing is part of the job. There’s not better example of innovation coming through failure than the Post It Note. Half the fun in trying to be innovative is failing. You learn from failure if you don’t let failure beat you down.
The toughest aspect of innovation is remaining hungry and committed to innovating. Sounds crazy right? Seriously though, think about it. There’s plenty of examples of companies that were once innovative, who failed to continue innovating, and ended up a dinosaur. Case in point, Polaroid. These guys were the original creators of the instant photo…or what has now become the digital photo. They opted not to invest in digital photography and where are they today? Bankrupt.
See here’s the thing with innovation. There’s always someone else out there who’s hungrier than you. There’s some 16 year old wonder child right now in his garage concepting the next evolution of Facebook. That’s the thought that keeps me on my toes.
I’ve been thinking about innovation a great deal lately; specifically innovation as it relates to twitter. Twitter is being hailed as an innovative tool. I sorta disagree. My contention is that when twitter first launched it was innovative. But, where’s the innovation been since they launched? There most innovative enhancement was adding a search feature. Except they didn’t create the twitter search engine. Instead they opted to “innovate” by acquiring Summize. Is that really innovative? Go ahead look back at the evolution of twitter, you’ll be hard pressed to find any new and innovative features beyond adding search.
Most of the twitter innovation is taking place AROUND twitter. Twitter’s very open API makes innovating around twitter easy and fast. Making their API so accessible has helped make possible tools like Tweetdeck, Tweetie, Twitter Grader, Skimmer, and Twitter Analyzer. These tools offers features and options that twitter has elected to neglect. For example with Tweetdeck I can segment the people I follow into different groups. Tweetie lets me manage multiple accounts, which is quite useful when you are representing yourself and a company/brand. Twitter Analyzer lets me pinpoint where in the world (using Google Maps) my followers are from. Those are some pretty damn cool and useful features, if you ask me.
The only problem with all of this innovation taking place around twitter is that there’s little to no brand or experience consistency. Tweetie, Tweetdeck, and Twitter.com all offer completely different and unique experiences with twitter. Would this ever fly with Ritz Carlton, BMW, Tiffany & Co., Pepsi, or McDonalds? We’ve had this concept of consistency in the brand experience beaten into our heads since the beginning of time. How can this be a good thing for twitter? I suppose you could argue that by having so many different ways to interface with twitter, users are in control, and will be more apt to stay loyal. Me, I don’t buy it.
You’d think with all the great features being offered elsewhere, twitter would pick the best of the best features and start integrating them into Twitter.com. If all these other individuals and companies can innovate, why can’t twitter? Have the folks at twitter gotten lazy? Are they content to just be the API and let others innovate around them?
Maybe twitter’s innovation angle is the API or maybe innovation is so nebulous I can’t see the innovation taking place. What do you think?
Head of Social Media at Walgreens. Interactive marketer, innovator, boat rocker, continuous learner, movie lover, risk taker, dad and all around good guy. I'm always up for a spirited conversation. These are my thoughts and ramblings, not those of my employer.
