Where's the disconnect?

Meerman Scott

Seth Godin quipped that engagement is hitting people with the right message at the right time so as to have them take action [engage]. I think we have to take that word engage and thus precise moment further. To truly engage, at least in my head, you have to be enchanted, you have to be moved, you have to yearn for more so much so that you have no choice but to act on your desires. It the deepest throes of emotion. Words like love, anger and the many nuances of each come to mind. It’s not just a like, unlike, +1 or the such. It’s deeper.

Mr. Apartment Manager Man; “I am done.”

It’s not unlike the gentleman I met with last Friday evening. He, unfortunately, was moving out of our Central West End Community. Reason? In his words, “I am done.”

You see about three weeks ago, the entire roof of his five story building blew off and landed in the parking lot beside and the street in front. Thank the one that governs it all that no one was hurt as it could have been really bad.

In response to the situation; our team entered every apartment in the building and place plastic over beds, electronics and the such. Most were thankful. Not the gentleman I met on Friday. His beef? We did not leave him a note to let him know we had been in his apartment.

Engage

Somewhere in the wake of the roof being pulled off the building by straight lined winds; his attention got engaged. The premise aside; he was moved by an aggressive deep seated emotion. He engaged with some ill language and barbed personal remarks for the onsite team and the rest of our Mills management team. He got so engaged that he ended up leaving the property.

The Point

I think we are headed toward true engagement – we are not there yet. We use the word but in it’s loosest of senses. We are in the early innings of a very long ball game that is frankly destined for infinite extra innings. Think in terms of singularity. Think in terms of love, hate and other extremes. That’s engagement. For now we are just courting. Or, at best out on a blind date and liking our mate because our friends suggested we should. Now it’s up to us and the million other people out there participating with brands to fall in love or fall in hate.

What do you think?

Photo tip to: Online Ninja Blog

It’s All About People, Stupid

We are going to start the day by discussing the introduction chapter of the book Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements. Likely one of the best books I have read this year. The goal here is to help our team capture the true essence of the word engagement, a term that has and will continue to illicit a healthy amount of good and bad debate. I am of the camp and a firm believer that it exists and that if a team of writers can truly capture it – the result will be game changing. I think the authors of Brains of Fire give real tangible meaning to engagement and as such we hope to model their call for being igniters in an effort to engage our communities in a movement(s).

People Buy People

It does not matter if you are in a B2B or B2C business – people buy people. They don’t buy fancy brochures, marketing speak, fancy promotions, ads or campaigns. In fact, the Brains on Fire authors describe brochures as “pretty trash.” I can’t say I disagree with them. It is a waste of money that can be otherwise invested in the growth of people.

I have long suggested that organizations are born into the world to serve the people that serve it. Take the money you are thinking about investing in creating a fancy brochure [don't forget to include the time your team devotes to the creation] and invest it in growing someone. Our blogging summit is about just that. We are taking the time to help people to become  better writers. And, in turn the hope is that they ignite like kind passions in other people.

Part of Something Bigger Than Self

It’s been said before and it will be said again; people just want to be a part of something bigger than self. You can debate the point from the perspective of religion, politics, social change agents or even Maslow’s hierarchy. It’s just fundamental to who were are as humans. Look at some of the movements in Brains on Fire, look at the Susan G. Komen movement or simply watch an episode of Extreme Makeover. People would trip over themselves to be a part of that experience. And, I would wager that it goes beyond some of the otherwise shallow reasons we could easily come up with.

In short, it taps our need to feel valued and important.

Stop Being A Marketer – Instead, Be an Igniter

The first part of that sub-title has been written about more times than I care to count. The second part however, is a topic that I think needs some traction as it relates to businesses leveraging their innate need to provide the platforms and support for movements to take place. Brains on Fire [can I call it B of F?] is a great catalyst for the discussion.

We live in a crowded world and, to borrow a term I fell in love with a number a years ago, an Attention Economy. I can’t recall the stat off the top of my head but I am sure it is well North of 1,000 marketing messages cross through our brain on a given day. Whoa! That is crazy to think about. North of 1,000 so I am sure it would suffice to say that your message [our message] is likely lost in the sea of bobbing billboards, print ads and aging signage.

Many companies are shifting gears and making their businesses more social in nature. More open in nature. More compelling in nature. And, it all starts with the Igniter. It starts with the person that Cares as much if not more than you do. It starts with the person that feels your pain and celebrates your successes sometimes before you even know about them. It’s that group of people out there that would tattoo your brand on their forehead if they knew it would help you create one more compelling relationship.

Here we go!

In summary, we intend to help people remember [I don't think you ever really forget] that it’s all about people. We want to bring the discussion around to the fact that people buy from other people and that if you harness the power of those relationships, you can turn it into a movement that allows for people to be a part of something bigger than themselves. And, lastly, we really want to create a legion of igniters at Mills Apartments!

A design and technology consultancy dedicated to helping organizations make their brands and technology relevant, usable and beautiful. We are trouble making, data pillaging idealists obsessed with usability and design that works.

I like troublemakers! Anyone who is willing to put it out there like that is worthy of some press in my opinion! I do wonder what a data pillaging idealist is. A swag realist? Seems not to go together – sounds cool though.

I’ve never heard of Engrain and only ran across them because of a Google Alert I have set up for terms related to multifamily. So this in not an endorsement of any sort, neither is it an invitation for Engrain to solicit business – I just love the gumption and could not help but to say as much.

Does anyone have experience with the group?

One item of note: I tried to follow them on Twitter but got the protected tweets message – kind of a #fail but maybe there is good reason. And, the post I made to their Facebook wall letting them know I wanted to follow them on Twitter but could not was removed – kind of a uber #fail. Maybe that has to do with that data pillaging idealist thing – swag it in the spirit of perfection. It is – after all – all about appearances.

That aside – I love the spirit of this organization and look forward to tracking their successes. Check out their website – they show off some pretty cool stuff related to our space.

Your safeguarding ignoblist [Read: tongue in cheek]

Tell them about waking up on a crisp fall morning and taking a run in Forest Park just one block over from your apartment. Tell them about stopping back by Velocity Coffee Shop to have a cup of coffee – served by a friendly Barista named Tracy who rarely smiles but wants to. Tell them about the free copies of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the St. Louis Dispatch. Tell them about the free wifi. And, oh – it’s a bike shop too with cool bike motif everywhere. The bathroom even has a cool chalkboard where you once drew a giant dragon that looked as if it were eating the giant flower someone else drew.

Tell them about Papa John’s pizza and Subway at the end of the block where Tony and Charles remember your name and serve you with a smile. Tell them about Atlas Restaurant located in the heart of the neighborhood and the amazing food and desserts that they serve. Tell them about The Loop and The Central West End [very cool Saint Louis neighborhood hangouts] being just one mile away and don’t forget to mention the friendly cab driver resident who will drive you over while entertaining you with great conversation. Tell them about all the fun nights you had in those neighborhoods.

Tell them about Mr. and Mrs. Wang who own the dry cleaners right next door to Papa John’s and how they wash and fold clothes for $0.75 a pound. Tell them how much you love the fact that each Christmas they give your children big canisters of candy as a thank you for your business.

Tell them about the dog park even if you are not a pet lover – not even in the least.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is the neighborhood that I fell in love with in Saint Louis. Oh yeah, and I lived in a great apartment that overlooked a tree lined street that looks amazing in the fall.

Tell them with conviction how much you love the neighborhood the rest will fall right into place.

It’s All About Energy

John Gerzema and Ed Lebar discuss energy and what it means to a brand in their book:  The Brand Bubble. In chapter two they use a poignant quote from Woody Allen’s Annie Hall to set the stage for the difference that energy makes to a brand “A relationship, I think, is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And what I think we got on our hands is a dead shark.”

Why is Energy Important

Any great brand must keep moving forward in order to remain relevant in the hearts of consumers and it takes energy to do that. The advent of the Internet coupled with the development of social mediums have made staples like; awareness, trust, regard and esteem simply the price of admission. Even then trust in brands has declined 50%, according to John who is the Chief Insights Officer at Young and Rubicam. Simply put, the reason energy is so important is that it boosts differentiation. People are tired and they are looking for stuff and things that pick them up and keep them vibrant. Brands that fill that void by staying fresh and relevant will win the lions share of loyalty in consumers – if there is such a thing anymore. Those who don’t will die like the shark that flips his fins for the last time.

What Can You do to Create Energy

You can dig deeper into the lives of your prospects and residents. Let’s step out of our industry and look at an example of this. Frito Lay dug in and found that the bulk of their consumers had more money on the first of the month than they did at the end of the month. Armed with that information, they decided to sell bigger packs during that time and scale back to smaller packs during the middle days of the month.

Could we maximize our brand building efforts on the same theory? Could we convince major ILS’s to allow us to scale ads up and down relative to the ebbs and flows of the prospect’s pocket book? How about the ebbs and flows of their search habits? Could we then provide relevancy and vibrancy on their terms and relevant to their emotions?

Energy is the difference that makes a difference for your multifamily management brand – what are you doing to create it?

Update: [6.22.9] Seth provides a great concept on creating energy…Circling the big domino

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