atkinson advisor

Alterian surveyed 1,000 consumers for its “Your Brand: At Risk or Ready for Growth” report. The findings were interesting but not surprising:

• Nearly 60 percent of consumers feel that companies are primarily interested in selling any product or service to customers rather than selling the product or service that is right for a particular customer.
• Only 9 percent trust companies to act in customers’ best interests.
  About one third of respondents using social media think that companies are genuinely interested in them versus only 16 percent of the overall respondents.
• A mere 5 percent trust advertising and only 8 percent trust in what a company says about itself.
• Only 17 percent of respondents think that companies take note of their feedback. But 75 percent say that “there would be a positive impact from companies taking more time to find out about their needs.”
• More than 80 percent of respondents cited an interest in co-creating products and services. Additionally, 82 percent said that participating in the development of a product or service would increase their likelihood to recommend that company.

The full report is available on the Alterian website.

By Scott Stratten

We picked up a copy of Scott Stratten’s new book a few weeks ago at the Nashville stop of his “UnBook Tour.” In UnMarketing, Stratten calls for reconsidering traditional sales and marketing tactics like cold-calling and, instead, focusing efforts at the top of the Hierarchy of Buying.

Current satisfied customers are at the top, then referrals by a trusted source and current relationships that have yet to purchase. Cold-calling and search through ads are techniques that target the bottom of the pyramid. Competition at the bottom is fierce, and your chances of reaching a receptive audience are slim.

Stratten argues that business is built on relationships, and social media is one way to build and strengthen those relationships with clients and prospects. He provides some case studies for how (and how not) to engage with influencers through social media and gives good tactical advice for increasing newsletter subscriptions and dealing with defectors in blog comments.

Stratten practices what he preaches. Instead of calling around North America to try to find venues that would book his tour, he used Twitter to engage with his audience and asked which cities would be interested in hosting him. It worked. His 30-city tour will run through Dec. 4.

Entrepreneur ran an article recently about the impact of excessive communication interruptions in the workplace. The article was titled “Blunt the e-mail interruption.”

A few of the findings from the article:

• E-mail volume is growing at a rate of 66 percent a year.
• The average employee checks e-mail 50 times a day and responds to 77 instant messages.
• University of Minnesota researchers discovered that frequent interruptions caused error rates on other work to double.

Research suggests the brain can focus successfully on one task at a time and that frequent switching reduces productivity. The Entrepreneur article highlights how several companies have purposefully created time without interruptions to improve productivity.

The opposing school of thought is that businesspeople cannot afford to unplug given the volume of information that is important to our everyday business lives and the speed with which that information is moving. The proponents of this approach are more apt to embrace social media and the constant connectedness that it brings.

What do you think? Is multitasking good or bad?

Businesses often tout the strength of its team and exult, “Our greatest competitive advantage is our people.” Some experts estimate talent can account for as much as half of a company’s market value.

Yet rarely do you see the people unless you engage with the company.

The equation has flipped thanks to social media. It’s now affordable, practical, and srategic for employees to build a dynamic online presence that connects them with potential customers and existing clients. It’s powerful stuff.

The new equation also raises some interesting marketing challenges that businesses will have to tackle.

• Who controls the content? Right now, marketing departments have complete control of their marketing message. Social media requires giving up some of that control and trusting employees to do the right thing. Social media guidelines are a must for any business.
• What’s the balance of professional insights to personal information? Social media is predicated on personality. Too much business information = pushy sales. Too much personal information = TMI.
• Why invest in employee branding when they could leave? This is a valid concern. Pioneers in the area of employee branding will be able to point to their investment in an employee’s brand as a reason point for staying. Eventually we believe employee branding will be a necessity for attracting and retaining any top talent.

SmartBrief produces daily newsletters for 100+ business associations in more than 25 industries, including business, education, health care, and travel. The website makes free subscriptions available to anyone. SmartBrief also produces its own daily newsletters about leadership, workforce, entrepreneurs, social media, technology, and sustainability.

A recent statistic caught us off guard. The following are the top five countries in the world by population:

1. China — 1.33 billion
2. India — 1.17 billion
3. United States — 307 million
4. Indonesia — 230 million
5. Brazil — 191 million

If Facebook were a country, it would be No. 4 in this list. The wunderkind of social networking has topped 250 million users worldwide. Nearly half of those users log on to the Web site every day.

And to think that Facebook barely existed five years ago.

And to think that Facebook still hasn’t figured out how to make much money yet.