Andy Boyer

Category: Marketing

  • A Few Tips for College Grads Looking for Marketing Jobs

    In the last few months, thanks mainly to my association with the UW Foster School of Business, I’ve been able to meet with a number of top flight students and recent graduates hunting for jobs in Advertising or Marketing.

    I keep seeing a few common themes.  There aren’t that many new marketing jobs out there, many firms who have marketing jobs are cutting people, and many people who currently have these jobs are reinventing themselves so they can keep getting their paychecks.  This does not lead to a simple path to employment for a rookie.

    So, as a person at a company who is hiring, not firing, at the current moment, here are a few things from my personal perspective that I think can help you. (Please note: this point of view is not necessarily endorsed by my company and will not necessarily help your resume get through our screeners.  It’s simply my opinion.)

    • If you are going after a job in marketing, first and foremost, you better be able to market yourself.  Think about the 4 P’s and apply them to you.  Your personal “brand” should be packaged professionally, priced appropriately, promoted in the right areas and you should come to the table with the proper set of skills to provide solutions to the problems that job is designed to deal with.
    • Remember that the job opening is there for the benefit of the company, not you.  Some executive, director or hiring manager has a specific and relevant problem that needs to be solved.  It’s not an opening for a “job.”  It’s a call for someone to provide a solution to an outstanding issue.
    • There is no such thing as “menial work” while you search for a career job.  The market stinks.  We get that.  But showing up every day for work at your barista job shows you understand customers.  Working as a deckhand on a fishing boat illustrates that you will work hard.  Spending 20 hours a week donating time to a non-profit proves you have a general interest in learning skills and networking.  Any of those things prove you are scrappy and worth hiring.
    • This environment favors the scrappy.  The Social Media world makes it easy to prove competence in the field you are interested in.  Take side projects, help friends, work on any marketing gig you can find.
    • Start a blog.  It’s free. It takes 20 minutes a day.  Write about anything professional you read and have an opinion on.  If nothing else, it proves you are reading the things I want my employees to know something about.
    • Know all the tools.  Basecamp, Google Docs, Office Live, Twitter, Flickr, Digg, Delicious, Digsby, etc… just know all the online applications that make collaboration easier.
    • Above all, remember there are two type of people who are distinctly different.  There are unemployed people who want a marketing job, and marketing people who aren’t currently employed.  Be the latter.  
    • Finally, for the non-recent grads.  If you are applying for a senior level role in a small firm, come with a book of business, or at leastthe willingness to build one.  Senior people are expensive.  Small firms rarely have a stack of cash sitting around in which to donate to a new person.  Show that you can generate clients, no matter how small, so that you can help the firm justify your senior level paycheck.

  • Recap from WOMMU

    So this is simply for the Social Media folk in the massive crowd that visits AndyBoyer.com.  Here are a few notes I took away from WOMMU in Miami this week.  This is certainly not representative of all the things that were said down there, but a few things I remember while jotting down notes on the plane.

    • Loved that a Disney SVP said, “You don’t own your brand.  Your customers do.”  I know thi sis not a revolutionary thought, but it’s noteworthy that someone from Disney said it.
    • There really is no good way from Seattle to Miami and back again.
    • Everyone Twitters.  Everyone.
    • It’s time to stop bashing Motrin for the Motrin Mom debacle.  Sure their ad was shite, but by now, Motrin actually gets more sympathy than outrage.  Every conference in America talks about Motrin now, so in the long term, the lunatic fringe that attacked them to no end has actually done Motrin more good than harm.
    • Facebook no longer views MySpace as a competitor.  Think about how intersting that is for a sec.
    • The marketing folks from Ore-Ida gave a brilliant presentation on how they used Social Media to sell Frozen Mashed Potatoes.  When Frozen Mashed Potatoes are using Social Media, we are no longer in Innovator and Early Adopter territory.  Social Media has reached Mainstream plus some.
    • I ran into two brand managers who’s clients had sponsored full-show in product placement on The Celebrity Apprentice.  Cost to run these promos is multi-multi million dollars, and both brands felt they received a positive ROI.
    • BlogTalkRadio.com might actually be the coolest thing I’m not using but should be.
    • 15 minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute.  So when someone in your marketing department says, “We should create a Viral Video,” just continue with the meeting like you heard nothing.
    • If you go to Prime Italian, get the Kobe Meatball.  Just know that the meatball is the size of a small moon, so your table only needs one.
    • The Lenovo Bejing Olympic Promotion is worth looking at from a case study perspective to see how to run a major international promotion.  

    More to be added as I remember.

  • Offline, Un-Social Marketing, from Seattle’s Fuel

    One of the funny things about Social Media is that the whole idea is based on the theory that the Product and Marketing teams care about what is being said out in the blogosphere.  Sure it seems obvious that they would care, but then again….

    Consider an offline situation I’ve run across from a Pioneer Square bar called Fuel.  Other than being the proud host of a party hosted by Mary Kay Latorneau and DJ’d by her young husband, the bar’s claim to fame is being the home of the hardcore Sounders supporters before each home game.  The bar is a natural choice for a rowdy supporters’ group because no one else really goes there.  So the supporters can sing, chant and spend money for 4-5 hours before kickoff.

    You’d think the owner of this bar would be appreciative.  At least, if one of these customers mentioned to the waitress that the beer tasted of soap, that offline customer feedback would be registered, and the beer taps examined.  I myself have been a victim of these soapy taps, going as far to recommend other bars to friends thinking of pre-game settings.  It surprised me when I heard the same soapy beer was beiing served weeks later.

    What’s shocking though, is when a bar owner serves the same soapy beer week after week, and instead of fixing the problem, basically throws a patron out for protesting the taste of soapy beer, using the rationale, “The rest of the crowd doesn’t seem to notice.”  Now the people associated with that patron have shifted their dollars to the bar across the street, called McCoy’s.

    So back to my point.  Igoring what you hear in social media is no different than being a bar owner who ignores a patron.  If someone is going to take the time to say, “Your product is causing me harm and pain.  Here’s an easy way to fix it,” then you really should listen.  Otherwise, you are simply the equivalent of an ignorant bar owner serving soapy beer.

  • What Does Oprah on Twitter Mean for Social Media

    So this is a time sensitive topic, and I’m already a day late, so this quick stream of consciousness will probably not be very well thought out and hence cause people to vehemently comment about how wrong I am.  Oh well.

    So Oprah has joined the Twittierverse with the appropriately chosen moniker @oprah.  She was basically dragged kicking and screaming into it by Ashton Kutcher on his race with CNN to One Million followers.  (BTW, different topic, but you will never hear me say anything negative about Ashton Kutcher.  He is very high on my list of business minded entertainers that I hope to meet someday, not for the star power or Hollywood “glow,” but for the business and marketing insights I could learn.)

    Now the social media world has fallen into a few camps on this.  

    – Predictably, there is the camp who feels like their baby is being exploited now that Oprah has gotten involved.  These are the same type of people who listened to Pearl Jam at a dive bar in downtown Seattle in 1990 and then got mad when they showed up on David Letterman and sold out Madison Square Garden.

    – There’s a camp who thinks Oprah is late to Social Media, and shouldn’t be given any credit at all.

    – There’s a group of people who have never heard of Twitter who are about to sign up for accounts just so they can follow Oprah.

    – And finally, there’s a bunch of people in mainstream media who are going to be calling the “Social Media Expert” in their city to do a 90 second interview on this “blossoming company called Twitter.”

    So here’s my synthesis:  

    Oprah never has and never will need Social Media.  She has the most popular syndicated television program in the history of mankind.  Combine all the impressions from the top 100 “social media superstars,” and I bet that number doesn’t even sniff the kind of eyeballs Oprah generates in TV and print.   And let’s not even begin to joke about revenue.  Take Harpo’s annual revenue in one hand.  Start counting up all the revenue generated by Social Media Superstars in the other.  And let me know when you get to an even balance.

    I work in Social Media, so this may seem like blasphemy, but honestly, Social Media is what you do when you can”t get on Oprah.  If I build the world’s first economical and reliable jet pack, and post videos on YouTube of me flying back and forth to work all day, guys like Michael Arrington and Guy Kawaskai are going to cover it.  But if I get on Oprah, or even 60 Minutes, I better have an army of telephone operators ready to take orders.  It’s a subtle but distinct difference.  

    Said more succinctly, Social Media is what we do to get NOTICED by Oprah’s producers.  It’s not what Oprah needs to do to get noticed by us.  

    That being said, Oprah, as a teacher and educator, please use proper capitalization on your Twitter page.  There’s no reason to join the Twitterverse and then show 50 million kids that the only reason to ever use the “Shift” key on their laptop is to create a smiley face.  

    So Oprah, welcome to our world here in Social Media-ville.  This is what has been created by all of us with lots to say, but nowhere to previously say it.  So come hang out for a while, and then remember us fondly when you are in front of your camera, in your studio, talking to 200 million people.

  • The Sustainable Group

    I’ve been meaning to endorse / promote / plug this company for awhile.  I’m a big fan of The Sustainable Group, an organization run by Brant Williams.  In a nutshell, imagine if all the binders, notebooks and other office items you buy, lose and throw away could be made of bio-degrabable materials instead of plastic.  Now imagine that there are even more benefits.  

    Rather than try to convince you, I’ll just provide a link over to their web site.  Check it out, and email Brant if you have ideas for how to get the word out.

  • Best Online Marketing of the Week

    http://producten.hema.nl/

    I wish I could create stuff like this.  Click the image below to go to the site.

  • KomoNews Gets Twitter (Sometimes)

    It’s almost lunch time, so perhaps I might head down to Dad Watson’s for a Voodoo Chicken sandwich.  But I am saved from being stuck in traffic by none other than KomoNews, who alerts me via Twitter (through my Digsby application) that there is a head-on crash on the Fremont Bridge.  

    This is much more valuable than the story they reposted from the AP earlier today, and shows that they are kind of starting to get the local aspect.  Eventually, I believe they will have KomoNews_Seattle, KomoNews_Tacoma, and KomoNews_Wallingford (character issues notwithstanding) as a way for me to customize how niche I want the feeds to be.  But this is a good start.

    Now, if you want just plain humor, go check out ChuckNorris_

  • Suck it up Haters – Twitter is here for good

    I know – it still makes no sense.  And it still sounds dumb to say you “Tweeted” something.

    But there are times when you have to admit things.  Like when you realized the DVD was replacing the VCR, that EVERYONE would eventually have a mobile phone, blogging was going to be here forever, and you would never again buy music that didn’t come as an .mp3.

    Twitter has reached that stage.  It is here to stay.  It has enough users now that business models are being built around it, even while it doesn’t have one of its own.  And here’s the thing – it doesn’t need one.  Someone will buy it.  If you won’t listen to me, read the charts below – the ones that show 800% growth YoY.  So go get your Twitter account and stop resisting.  It’s free, it’s easy and it’s fun.  Quit making fun of it and use it.

     

     

  • I Become an iLemming

    Well, I finally succumbed to the pressure.

    Since it launched, I’ve seen proud and cheerful owners of the iPhone gleefully show off thier little toy.  In bars, in meetings, in lines at Starbucks, they tauntingly stick it into your face, showing you all the magical things it can do.

    I resisted.  

    I stayed true to my core Blackberry.  I like the Blackberry.  It’s easy to use.  I don’t need real time stock ticket updates or the best way to walk from the Space Needle to Palace Kitchen.  I need a phone and text, and maybe some Internet.

    Saturday, something snapped.  

    Suddenly I realized that the phone had changed.  I knew it before, but I finally admitted to the analogy that we’re in the mobile version of the shift from VCR to DVD, and I still owned a VCR.  And there is no reason to buy another souped up VCR.  It is no longer an issue of iPhone vs Blackberry.  It’s become an issue of mobile devices in 2009 and beyond, vs mobile devices in 2008 and prior.  I knew all of this already, but some light piece of straw finally made that camel’s back break.  And the camel asked for an iPhone.

    Now I’m simply a junior member of the cult.  I look for and will listen to the teachings of those original iPhone disciples.  And I have to admit to myself that I’m more than a little excited to play with all the toys and gimmicks.  

    Now, I haven’t yet stood in line and condescendingly scoffed at those simple “iNots” walking around with their pedestrian devices.  But I’m sure one day, as I breeze through Google Maps or order a video before boarding a plane, I’ll have that smug look of a full fledged cult member.  

    If you are an iPhone Davidian and have a favorite “must-have” application, please let me know.

  • But How Much is My Facebook Page Worth

    So Twitter doesn’t make a dime of revenue.  But there must be value there, since it’s extremely popular and nature abhors a vacuum.  So maybe I’m the one who should generate the revenue from it.  

    For example, suppose Pepsi called me and wanted me to tell all my Twitter friends that Double Caffeinated Clear Blueberry Diet-Pepsi was a one calorie blow pop of hyperactive goodness.  How much would I charge them?

    Well lucky for me, I can go to TweetValue.com and get an estimate.  Turns out all my 60 or so Twitter friends are worth a measley $18.  Which actually sounds like a lot of money to me because it’s around to a $300 CPM.  Pepsi media buyer, call in the next 48 hours and I’ll give you a special deal price of $10 for each January tweet, and we’ll see how it goes.  

    Maybe one day I can get as valuable as Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter feed, which is a reachable $302. Barack Obama’s value of $41,000 seems a little unattainable.

    But, I do wonder what would I get to message my Facebook friends?