MOBI - not MOBY

If you're not Linked In to me, or following my tweets (I don't judge), you wouldn't know about my perfect day last Thursday. I was having lunch with best-selling business book author Marc Effron at the Tribeca Grill. It was beautiful weather, and also the day of the Tribeca Film Festival Judges Luncheon. Marc and I were discussing plans for BRANDEMiX to revamp his website.

"Marc", I said, the trend is .mobi and iPhone doesn't support flash. Just to add more context, I was telling him that his website (and BRANDEMiX's too) was built in flash- the cutting edge of technology last year but that was then and this is now. The new iPhone G4 will be released this summer and according to the recent buzz, they still won't support flash technology.

As it turned out, Marc has an Android phone and immediately checked to see if he could access his website. No luck.

With 90%+ of all resumes coming to you via online, the internet may well be the first touchpoint in your relationship building process with candidates-of-choice. That's why it's critical for you to stay ahead of the technology as you build your digital Employer Brand.

For the bean counters:

• Over 95% of new phones sold today have web browsers and over 70 million US consumers/ employees use them regularly.
• Cell phone penetration in the US has surpassed cable TV, web
  access and Home PCs
• 11/9/09 Facebook announced that 1/4 of their monthly worldwide visits or 65 million visits, are via mobile.
  

Designing for .mobi is different from designing for flash. It's a new world where content is king and less is more (think 140 characters.) Easy navigation is critical for engagement and download speed will drive the experience. (This will be paramount once we begin the era of pay-for-play when cell phone carriers start charging us for our time online.)

What is your takeaway?
Take a look at your current website and start thinking of it in terms of a horizontal spreadsheet-
6 rows down and 6 across. Work with a digital architect to create a great experience for the digital natives. (Note: you can sidestep your internal IT department because you're only creating a mirror-site- something that will work in tandem with, and not in lieu of your current site.)

Start thinking in terms of the Twitter standard 140 characters, or 1.4 clicks to content. (I made that up.) Build out one pillar of your employer brand as tech geek and show your audience that you want to participate in the dialogue on any technology platform.

OK. I'm done with .mobi- and moving onto Moby.

Back to lunch at the Tribeca Grill. As we were watching the famous procession of Tribeca Festival Judges pass our table: everyone from Jessica Alba, Zach Braff and Whoopie Goldberg, Moby wasn't there.

Best from BRANDEland.

Candidate Care- Does Anyone Really Care?

Generally speaking, Candidate Care is a pet peeve of mine and I have the utmost respect for anyone who gets it right. It means putting your best presence forward all the time.

Oft times, particularly in the period of high unemployment, forgotten are the lowly candidates-- candidates who may turn into employees, customers, clients and investors.

Simple things can make a difference like returning emails, providing one point of contact, giving someone your undivided attention during an interview and providing them with written information in advance of their interview to let them know what they can expect when they show up.

More? Be on time for your interview, offer coffee, food, free company products and how about a list of the best business books you've read this year.


Best practice? How about implementing a Candidate Care Policy. Here's one I just swiped off the internet:

Candidate Care Policy

Treat candidates with respect

• Treat candidates as professionals and like customers or investors and ensure they are kept informed through every step of the process
• Respect the candidate's time and avoid requesting excess information
• Answer questions quickly and honestly
• Ask the candidate what their expectations are and get their feedback during the process.

Provide accurate and current information on the job

• Inform candidates on issues such as work/life balance, job sharing, flexible arrangements and career opportunities
• Only post jobs that are realistically available to outside candidates
• Remove job ads that have been filled as soon as possible.

Provide information on the selection process

• Notify candidates promptly when their initial application is received, accepted or rejected
• Tell candidates about the entire hiring process, including minimum,maximum time frames, who they will meet and the finalist selection criteria
• Give honest feedback and be positive and constructive.

The interview process

• Ensure best practice interview techniques are adopted and candidates experience a fair and legal interview
• Limit the number of interviews
• Respect the candidate's current employment by organising interview times and locations that are convenient for them
• Make the interview a conversation between equals and not adversarial
• Where possible give candidates the chance to speak to current employees. This will help to reassure candidates that the role is being realistically represented.

The offer process

• Make a fair offer within the candidate's expectations
• Give the candidate information that will aid their evaluation of the job such as bonus potential, job security, and career development
• Don't place pressure on the candidate to make a decision straight away and reassure them that whatever the decision, it is the right one for them
• Give the candidate the option to gracefully back out of a job during the first three months.

Keep in regular contact

• For those people who are still looking for work, phone or email candidates regularly to let them know that we are still looking for opportunities for them even if there is no news
• Keep notes on the database about each candidate’s current status and keep track of who you have and have not contacted to avoid duplication of effort
• Email registered candidates to obtain an update on their status, and to ascertain if they are still looking for a position. People appreciate the follow up.

And always remember

- How important it is for the person to get the job that they want, and how important it is for the client to hire the right person.

Where do you begin? Try looking at your Employer Value Proposition or your Employer Brand Pillars. (If you can't readily access them, shoot BRANDEMiX an email and we'll help you find them.) If one says you care about employees, please don't blow off the candidates.

After all, candidates are people too. In part 2, we'll talk about Vendor Care ; )

The Toyota Way Back

According to the NY Times today, Toyota’s chief executive, Akio Toyoda, told investment analysts that communication was to blame for the crisis surrounding the company, not defects on its cars. Mr. Toyoda said the company had been the subject of “negative reporting”.

He has also pledged to have more communication with his dealers and has claimed to already taken 'a number of important steps' to improve communications with regulators and customers, who’s loyalty he believes, will help them through the situation.

Isn’t there a group he’s missing?

Given the recent safety problems, negative publicity and downward stock performance, it might also be an optimal time for Toyota to consider an internal employee communications campaign to reinvigorate the brand from the inside out.

Exactly 9 years ago, in April 2001, the Toyota Motor Corporation adopted the “Toyota Way” an expression of values and conduct guidelines that all Toyota employees should embrace.

Under the two headings, or "pillars," of Respect for People and Continuous Improvement, Toyota sums up the values and conduct guidelines with the following five principles:
• Challenge
• Kaizen (improvement)
• Genchi Genbutsu (go and see)
• Respect
• Teamwork

A branding expert like myself, might consider these to be their brand pillars, and had they stayed true to them, they may have avoided the problems they face today.

For Toyota, finding internal support may not be initially easy. Consider 2 of the 14 Principles that are part of the Toyota Way:

Principle 1
• Base your management decisions on a long-term philosophy, even at the expense of short-term financial goals.

Principle 5
• Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right the first time.

With more than 50,000 employees in the US alone, Toyota needs to launch internal research to uncover the teams applying these principles, and then highlight the positive efforts on its business.

Through a solid communication campaign that shows the relevance of the Toyota Way in today’s troubled climate, and the recognitionof those embracing the Toyota Way, they can continue to build on the success of their strong culture.

It’s another case of a brand gone bad, but I believe that the Toyota Way can be their way back to the top.

Now can someone just tell Mr. Toyoda about BRANDEMiX?

The Magic is in the MiX!

I often get emails from BRANDEblog readers who want a more complete picture of what BRANDEMiX does. So, for that audience only, I would like to share more information about our unique niche in the marketplace.

FOB's (friends of BRANDEMiX) can skip this one.

BRANDEMiX is a B2E agency- we connect brands to people- your people - the one's you care about- the talented employees that advance your business goals. The competitors that you wish worked on your team. The engaged ambassadors of your brand who keep your customers coming back.

Think of us as a bridge connecting your marketing, advertising, internal communications and human resources. This powerful synergy creates a veritable BRAND FORTRESS – consistent, indisputable, relevant and meaningful messages across all print and interactive channels.

All with one singular goal—to foster connections.

Our unique value is in our ability to create, deliver and manage an end-to-end program from strategy through launch.

We have demonstrated success in creating:
Benefit Communications
Change Management Communications
Employer Brand Development
Event Marketing & Support
Internal Communications
Interactive Marketing
Media Planning & Placement
Qualitative Research
Recruitment Advertising
Social Networking
Training and e-Learning
Website Development

Any questions?

Corporate Career Sites: All You Really Need to Know You Learn from School.

Is revamping your Corporate Career site on your to-do list? Has it been there for more than 6 months because trying to keep up with the latest trends and technology is too scary?

Here’s a thought to cheer you up. What if, instead of Talent Acquisition, you were responsible for Student Enrollment at a mid-tier college? What if you were branding your Value Propositions to 16 -18-year olds? Being a smart marketeer, you would no-doubt want to incorporate all the bells and whistles that would appeal to today’s teens, but who’s more wired than they are?

Now THAT’S Scary!

Hopefully you’re feeling somewhat better now but wait…

Today’s college-bound senior will be tomorrow’s new job seeker. (Well, tomorrow in 4+ years.)

If you’re really trying to stay ahead of the Talent Acquisition curve, you’d be well advised to pay attention to trends among teens and keep up with the latest news from Student Enrollment Marketing front.

For instance:

According to a variety of research from Pew, Forrester and Alloy Media, today’s teens blog half as much as they did 3 years ago and only 8% use Twitter. They don’t send many emails, and their activities on social networking sites are declining. More and more, they are accessing college websites through mobile devices – iphones over others.

Personalized home pages, SEM, chat rooms and virtual tours are very effective in driving in students and making them take notice.

Bob Johnson is a consultant to Higher Education and each week offers a link to Best Practice web pages from Colleges and Universities- here are a few he’s highlighted in recent weeks:

The College of Charleston for a free campus tour app. (Not as pricey as you think.)

Elon University for bringing the value propositions front and center. (I like this for ease of navigation.)

Carleton College for their report on giving. (Definitely something that Millennials hold important.)

There are tremendous similarities in recruitment marketing and student enrollment marketing. The two pieces of good news for you is that the schools need to stay ahead of the technology curve, and they are usually very restrained in funding.

So I urge you to pay more attention to what they’re doing. In doing so, you may well get a bit more mileage out of any Career Site improvements you’re thinking of making. At BRANDEMiX, we do!

For more information about Career Site enhancements, leveraging your employe brand through your Career Site or Career Site usability studies, contact me.

INVERTISING: I might be on to something! --

Greetings from Jody O'rdioni-

In honor of St. Pat's this week- I bring you the latest from Noreen O'Leary at Adweek. With special thanks to my friend Bruce O'Dorskind at The Dorskind Group.

Madison Avenue Wakes Up To Employer Branding

Employee Benefits: Workers as Brand Ambassadors
The trend seems to be accelerating, but are consumers convinced?
March 15, 2010
Lowe's employees star in current spots.
In the battle to win over consumers during difficult economic times, marketers are sending their employees to the front lines. The trend seems to be accelerating. Last week, Zappos introduced a new pitch with puppets fronting actual recordings of employee-customer service calls. Last month, Lowe's launched a campaign with store associates advising cash-strapped DIY consumers.

Those campaigns come after several others celebrating the rank and file. Over the past year or so, Southwest Airlines, Ford, Domino's, Bank of America, General Electric, Exxon Mobile and Verizon have featured staffers or actors playing them.

The use of workers to humanize corporate entities has been a time-honored marketing tradition, of course. But in an era of Web 2.0 transparency, their visibility takes on greater meaning, signaling the higher importance of customer service in the marketing mix. More subliminally, as America's battered consumers have lost faith in the institutions they hold responsible for the current economic mess -- and are angry with corporations behind massive layoffs -- staffers offer a kind of peer credibility as corporate advocates.

Companies whose images had taken a public flogging often made use of the marketing tactic. Bank of America used associates in blunt, no-frills ads with the unscripted spots addressing "stressed" consumers, those who had lost their jobs and others just trying to survive. "We weren't there to sell to them, but just to let them know we were trying to work with them," said Meredith Verdone, BofA brand and advertising executive. "The reaction we got was how it humanized the bank, which was important to rebuilding trust."

Last summer, General Electric employees personified CEO Jeffrey Immelt's public remarks about the imperative for American manufacturing renewal. In commercials like "Wrench," GE staffers from its aircraft, engine, healthcare and energy businesses participated in a relay toss of a wrench around their respective units, with a voiceover describing GE as a company creating "innovation today for America's tomorrow." Said Judy Hu, GE global executive director, advertising and branding: "We focused on the idea that we innovate with technological solutions to solve the world's toughest challenges, but what we do everyday is just as important."

Lowe's is reaching beyond a customer service message in its positioning of staffers as guides to help navigate remodeling projects -- work that might have been given to tradesmen before plunging home values and disappearing home-equity lines of credit. "Consumers' mind-sets have changed," said Tom Lamb, vp, consumer marketing at Lowe's. "It's forced us to rethink our offerings. There's a return to sweat equity and expense control. Customers are looking for a lot more advice."

Domino's Pizza last year learned how employee representation -- unauthorized as well as legitimate -- could cut both ways. The chain was doing damage control last spring after two former rogue employees posted an online video showing disgusting food preparation, which quickly went viral. Earlier in the year, TV spots showed Domino's CEO Dave Brandon as a man of the people in a spot where he criticized corporate and Wall Street bailouts, saying he was bailing out the "hard-working people on Main Street" with a new price promotion. Russell Weiner, Domino's evp, CMO, said subsequent testing scores increased "tremendously above the norm.

By year's end, franchisees and employees became part of a pitch touting the launch of a new Domino's recipe, at the expense of the company's previous offering. Weiner explained, without irony, "It's about being transparent as a company; we're showing you the people who make your food."

Like others interviewed for this story, he underscored the morale boost to staffers. "The campaign became great 'invertising' as well," he said. "Our franchisees and employees loved seeing themselves. It was compelling to consumers and motivating to our staffers."

Not all employee reps move the needle for every marketer. Last April, Nationwide Insurance rolled out a campaign themed "I Am on Your Side" showing agents describing actual customer stories. The company has since scrapped the idea. "The 'I am' communication and stories were all great, but we didn't break through. Those were extraordinary stories, and we made them very powerful. But maybe we were talking to ourselves a bit," said Steven Schreibman, Nationwide vp, advertising, brand management. "At the end of the day, the consumer doesn't care so much about what you did for someone else. That's harder to project. They want to know: 'What's in it for me?'" Similarly, H&R Block dropped its "I've got people" employee ad focus and unveiled a new pitch in December that looked at tax preparation from more of a consumer point of view.

Rob Frankel, a New York marketing consultant, is also skeptical about the popular marketing tack: "Viewers aren't hoodwinked. They know they're watching a 30-second TV spot paid for by a company."

“Half” Joke Reveals Real HR Truth

Yesterday I met with the VP of Human Resources at a Fortune 500 company. I asked him how many people he had working for him and he said “About half.”
[sound]

Though he said it in jest, it’s no secret that workplace morale- intrinsically tied to workplace productivity, is down. In January a Conference Board survey found that only 45% of those polled were satisfied with their jobs. Last month, Addecco Group North America released results of a survey to see if American workers were still “in love” with their jobs, and only 39% said that the economic situation caused them to appreciate their jobs more.

With the economy stabilizing and in many cases improving, popular thinking is that employees will be jumping ship, and the “war for talent” will be back as a hot topic.

But what about the Loyalists. Or the Lazyists? The ones that aren’t looking for a new job or leaving any time soon. Maybe they’ve downshifted their efforts to match demand. Maybe they’ve gotten used to marching to a slower tempo. Will they wake up one Monday and start giving 110%?

The internet is full of quick, cheap and tidy ideas on how to improve workplace morale. They range from cuddles (recognition) and huddles (go-team-go) to thank-you notes, free lunches and time off for good behavior.

But I contend that these broad brush strokes do little to improve culture or morale or raise the needle of employee engagement in any significant way. (I invite you to disagree and leave a comment with your proven favorites.)

Rather, now is the time to survey your population and get a baseline understanding of the current climate.

Are your employees connected to business?
Do they understand the goals and how their work contributes to the success of the enterprise?
Do you understand the top three places they might seek employment if your organization ceased to exist, and why?
Do you have systems in place that compensate employees for accomplishing goals large and small?

If your company has “taken a break” from launching employee surveys out of fear of what they will reveal, I urge you to bring them back.

We are at the pinnacle of new and noteworthy times when HR can drive the rally, and implement focused ideas, tied to business goals that improve culture.

At the very least, you will have real insights from which to compare next year, or build a solid communications plan that drives employee engagement. (For help with survey or plan call us). At best, you have validated your own contribution to growth and revenue of the company you call home.

Later in the conversation, I asked him if he had any metrics around his recruitment advertising results. He said that he’s wasting half the money he spends- the trouble is, he doesn’t know which half. [sound]