A Disastrous Marketing Success
Today I was planning to attend a teleseminar given by two experts in negotiation, one being Jim Camp, author of the book No, which I've mentioned on this bog and recommended to people, and a former FBI special agent who was a main kidnapping negotiator for the agency. In fact, I was supposed to listen to it at the very time I'm writing this.
So why am I not learning something useful instead of writing? Because the teleseminar was a complete and total technical mess. At first all you could hear was a moderator, incessant beeping as people came onto the line, and, eventually, Jim Camp who had to dial in through some separate means and tell the moderator that neither of the guests had been able to be heard, as everyone who dialed the published number was automatically put on mute.
Oops.
They discussed it back and for a minute or two, constantly being interrupted by all the beeps, an experience that you've probably seen only as a small annoyance if you've ever been party to a conference call. Camp suggested that perhaps everyone could drop off the call, give the guests five minutes, and then call back. This was at around quarter after the hour.
I tried hanging up and giving it a few minutes. The beeping was even worse than before, and one lone, thin voice kept saying, "Hello ... hello ... hello ..." The very popularity of the event and its resulting size was causing all the problems that drove me and, probably, thousands more away from the call and onto something productive. That became a complete waste of everyone's time and left Camp's organization appearing unable to handle operational planning. Not good if you're in the negotiation business.
Double oops.
If you're going to be successful as a freelancer, or even help a client work on a marketing campaign, then you need to be cognizant of the problems brought about by success. I'm sure you've heard people, who were surprised by and unprepared for a strong positive response to marketing, say, "It's a good problem to have." The only difficulty with this phrase is that it's completely wrong. It's not a good problem to have. It's never a good problem to have.
There's nothing good about being unprepared for success. In fact, to call it a good problem is like a backward expression of sour grapes. Instead of writing off failure as something you wouldn't want, you're writing off not being ready for having succeeded. This is only an excuse for a lack of planning and anticipation that are part of smart business.
When you are planning any event or activity -- marketing campaign, customer relations outreach, technical conference, or what have you -- these issues need to be brought up at the onset. As part of the creative team, you should at least ask some of the questions:
Don't fall into this trap of poor self definition. Go off and consider what skills and abilities you actually bring to an engagement, whether corporate writing or editorial, and how you make a client more successful and keep the company or person from wasting money, time, and energy. Look at the hats you actually wear during the process, and in a relaxed way make sure people realize this. Why be a "freelancer" when you could realize that you are a communications consultant and be paid accordingly better?
So why am I not learning something useful instead of writing? Because the teleseminar was a complete and total technical mess. At first all you could hear was a moderator, incessant beeping as people came onto the line, and, eventually, Jim Camp who had to dial in through some separate means and tell the moderator that neither of the guests had been able to be heard, as everyone who dialed the published number was automatically put on mute.
Oops.
They discussed it back and for a minute or two, constantly being interrupted by all the beeps, an experience that you've probably seen only as a small annoyance if you've ever been party to a conference call. Camp suggested that perhaps everyone could drop off the call, give the guests five minutes, and then call back. This was at around quarter after the hour.
I tried hanging up and giving it a few minutes. The beeping was even worse than before, and one lone, thin voice kept saying, "Hello ... hello ... hello ..." The very popularity of the event and its resulting size was causing all the problems that drove me and, probably, thousands more away from the call and onto something productive. That became a complete waste of everyone's time and left Camp's organization appearing unable to handle operational planning. Not good if you're in the negotiation business.
Double oops.
If you're going to be successful as a freelancer, or even help a client work on a marketing campaign, then you need to be cognizant of the problems brought about by success. I'm sure you've heard people, who were surprised by and unprepared for a strong positive response to marketing, say, "It's a good problem to have." The only difficulty with this phrase is that it's completely wrong. It's not a good problem to have. It's never a good problem to have.
There's nothing good about being unprepared for success. In fact, to call it a good problem is like a backward expression of sour grapes. Instead of writing off failure as something you wouldn't want, you're writing off not being ready for having succeeded. This is only an excuse for a lack of planning and anticipation that are part of smart business.
When you are planning any event or activity -- marketing campaign, customer relations outreach, technical conference, or what have you -- these issues need to be brought up at the onset. As part of the creative team, you should at least ask some of the questions:
- Is there an upper limit on the number of people who should be invited? (Should there be a response mechanism that can restrict the eventual number?)
- Are there any technical restrictions that might require particular directions? (Should we tell people to press the number 6 immediately after getting on to mute themselves?)
- Has anyone tested the venue? (Is it possible to can the beeps?)
- Is there a better mechanism to deliver the content? (Did anyone consider an interview format podcast for release on the web, possibly only to people who would fill out a form and qualify themselves?)
- What are alternative plans if something doesn't work as required? (Is there a separate number for those who need to talk?)
- If everything blows up, are there at least tentative emergency response plans that might help repair some of the damage and transform the experience into something useful? (Will someone tape a podcast, make it available, and provide an additional white paper or some other inexpensive-to-produce and yet valuable-to-receive apology?)
Don't fall into this trap of poor self definition. Go off and consider what skills and abilities you actually bring to an engagement, whether corporate writing or editorial, and how you make a client more successful and keep the company or person from wasting money, time, and energy. Look at the hats you actually wear during the process, and in a relaxed way make sure people realize this. Why be a "freelancer" when you could realize that you are a communications consultant and be paid accordingly better?
Labels: consulting, marketing, negotiation, operations
posted by Erik Sherman | 4:10 PM
3 Comments:
I was once paid to speak in a webinar that turned into a complete clusterfuck. It's a terrible experience because you're dealing in real time and it's impossible to stall while you try to figure out what the hell is wrong. At least in real life seminars if the powerpoint doesn't work then the presenter can keep talking while the technician works in the background to get things up and running, but the Webinar format often leaves you in a death trap.
Learning to handle a webinar can be tough. I've appeared on or moderated various types of online events. They are the sort of thing where you want to nail down every technical question and do a complete dry run to be sure that you know what to do.
I love this post, Erik. I was hired more than 2 years ago for a long-term gig. I was hired to edit one section and proof some things and that was it.. That evolved into so SO much more, indcluding public appearances, web video work, TV spot... I knew it was good for the magazine AND me.
But the minute the financial belt started to tighten, I got called on the carpet for working too many freelance hours. When I calmly showed them the original list of responsibilities vs. the current list of responsibilities, it seemed to mean nothing. The publisher railed that I was hired for $X amount, why wasn't I still charging $X (forget that I had cleared my increase with the editor; she kept her mouth shut about that).
My point? You are so right: I became a full-fledged communications consultant, providing content and constantly searching for ways to market the work to an ever widening audience. But I pegged myself to one pay because they never looked at me as a communications consultant.
Lesson learned.
And I will never do a webinar without a dry run!
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