When pictures and words aren't enough, make more

The black and white photos of professionals in thoughtful workplace poses were warm and inviting against their green backgrounds. Each piece of collateral stacked neatly next to one another along the far wall of the lobby highlighted everything from recruiting to learning to performance to compensation and more. I pictured their online resources that included articles, white papers, reports, case studies, podcasts, webcasts, seminars, conferences...

I thought, "Wow, this company has done such a great job at defining themselves in the marketplace. There should be no mistaking what they do."

Months later I'm reading Bill Kutik's Human Resource Executive article titled What Does Taleo Do Exactly? and the difficulty that many companies have defining and differentiating in the marketplace becomes painfully clear. Too bad that's the only thing that does.

From Bill's article:

At Taleo World, its recent user conference in San Francisco, CEO Mike Gregoire publicly owned up to all of that and even showed this breakout of its customers (large and small) using each of its applications:

• Recruiting: 85 percent
• Learning: 13 percent
• Performance: 12 percent
• Compensation: 4 percent

After all the product development, acquisitions, integrations, a big ol' bucket of marcom money and a bevy of marketing and media relations pros as well as outside agencies and educating and evangelizing the marketplace, they're still known as a recruiting software company and are utilized as such. We're talking years now. With their own customers.

Bill's right on the money when he writes, "When the market doesn't know what your company does, it's the fault of marketing. That's why they call it that."

But it sure takes a heck of a lot of marketing and most companies today face this daunting task daily. Defining brand and then educating and evangelizing in the marketplace ain't no simple trick of pretty pictures and fancy words over simply a few months. The white noise alone is deafening to the point where we can't see or hear beyond our own arm's length.

Unfortunately there's still a disconnect between what CEOs' expect from marketing and what CMOs' can deliver, hence the revolving marketing doors that lead to the HR B2B street covered with shards of broken economic dreams.

We still keep giving it a go, though. Acording to MarketingProfs:

"Despite a lack of confidence in the overall US economy, CMOs are planning to increase spending on all forms of marketing over the next 12 months, particularly the share of budget allocated to social media marketing, according to The CMO Survey. In addition, surveyed CMOs now report their companies are planning to increase spending on marketing hires 7.2% on average over the next 12 months."

Honestly, generating awareness and interest take time, money, heartbeats and consistency, and no matter what, you've got to develop and launch an integrated marketing strategy that includes every imaginable marketing activity known to the human race -- from traditional print advertising to media relations to social media marketing.

Every imaginable activity. Because when pictures and words aren't enough, make more. Really. You're prospects, customers and influencers (inside and out) these days consume awareness in a myriad of diverse ways.

Including going to conferences. See you next week at the 14th Annual HR Technology Conference and Exposition. Don't forget to stop by booth #950 and ask for your very own balloon rabbit ears.

A Tale of Two B2B Brain Wedgies

I was already running late when I stopped by Costco to pick up diapers and laundry detergent.

Two things. That's it. Of course because I was in a hurry, and after one full circle pass, I forgot (again) that the diapers had been moved to the very back of the warehouse.

Argh.

So I went all the way back again and dumped the diapers into the cart next to the detergent. As I made it up the to the check-out stands, I scanned the open ones quickly to pick my safest and quickest bet.

I got behind a mother and her two children with what seemed like a quick-moving line. However, I watched the lines on either side of me recede while the mother in front of me unloaded her bottomless cart onto the check-out counter belt.

My list of to-do's beeped incessantly in my head like an alarm clock just out of reach. The line to the left of me cleared out and so I moved over to it; I could feel the mother's eyes on me.

Too bad, so sad. Daddy's gotta get home. I checked out and quickly looked at the sales receipt and thought, "Wow, that was cheaper than I thought. Cool."

That should've been my first clue, but off to the exit I go! If you're familiar with Costco or Sam's Club you know that you have to show a store clerk your receipt at the exit and they review to ensure everything you bought is on the receipt and in your cart.

"Sir, do you have another receipt?" the kind store clerk asked.

"Um, no, that's it," I answered.

She looked at me and frowned. "I'm sorry, sir. Only the diapers are on the receipt. They must've missed this at check out. Let get someone to help you."

"But how could they miss that? There were only two things? Do I need to go back to check-out?" I asked, feeling time rake it's razor blade nails down my head and back.

"No, sir. Just give me your credit card and wait here. We'll take care of it. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience."

You've got to be kidding, thought. Two things. That's it. And so I waited. And I waited. And I almost fled with just the diapers, but while I waited the mother I had originally gotten in line behind cruised out the door with her burgeoning basket and two kids in two.

She smiled at me as she passed.

Seven minutes later in total (I timed it), I was checked out and on my way, frustrated yet relieved I'd be going home with the family goods.

Two things:

1. Don't rush your marketing and PR out the door unless you've proofread and proofread again. I don't care what your competition is doing and what race you're in. The karmic haunting is palatable.
2. Take care of your customers, whether they're the idiot, you are -- or both.

Thank you. Don't forget to join me and special guest Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR, CEO of Xceptional HR and master blogger of Blogging4Jobs, for a live webinar Digital Storytelling -- What really sells with social - this Thursday, September 22, 1-2 pm ET (10-11 am PT).

HRmarketer Turns Ten! Recap of first decade. Looking ahead to next.

It's our birthday.

The company I founded a decade ago will turn 10 in October. Sing along with us, won't you?

HRmarketer will celebrate 10 years in business this October, 2011. To share in our celebration, we created an HR trivia quiz with the theme "10 questions for 10 years". As of yesterday I was told nobody had submitted a perfect score. Maybe you will be the first - take the quiz here. (we'll give away a few iPads to people who took the quiz at the upcoming HR Technology® Conference & Exposition).

My goodness. A lot of change has occurred the last decade in the HR marketplace. And like most companies, a lot of change has occurred with our own business since we hung out our shingle 10 years ago.

When we first launched HRmarketer.com a decade ago most B2B decision makers got their HR news and information from a few news portals and outside sources like analysts, conferences, and print trade magazines where journalists operated as gatekeepers. And this news was consumed at prescribed times during the day — a lunch hour, after dinner or during commute times.

These more "traditional" outlets remain very important today. But now, we get most of our news from the Internet. And we consume this news throughout the day via email, webinars, podcasts, blogs and on networks like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook where we actively share the news we consume. It's a never ending loop where everyone functions as a news source and few gatekeepers control what news we see.

These new technologies have fundamentally changed the way we consume/share information and how businesses market their products. It has also required us to completely transform our HRmarketer.com software (more on that later).

As I look back on our first decade one thing that hasn't changed are my "three truths about starting a business" that I often share with people considering the move into entrepreneurship. These are:

1. Determine how much it will cost to start the business – double it
2. Determine how much time you’ll spend running the business - double it.
3. Estimate how much money the business will make – half it.

In spite of me personally not being very sentimental and adhering to the old sayings, "you are only as good as your last game" and "past performance is not indicative of future results," I guess 10 years in business deserves a little retrospective blog post. After all, 10 years is an achievement. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% fail within the first five years.

We are still around because of our amazingly talented HRmarketer team - many of whom have have been with me since the beginning. We pride ourselves on being a close business family and I have been truly blessed by this team's friendship and dedication. Our business is still relevant purely and simply because of this team.

So here it goes - a little recap of HRmarketer's first decade.

2001: We formally open for business in my guest house in the Santa Cruz mountains during a deep recession and shortly after 9-11. A vivid memory was our first employee, Pamela, waking me up at 4am making breakfast (loudly) in our Kitchen. Yes, we operate a little differently here in the Silicon Valley. My wife was pregnant and very understanding.

2002: We move to real office space and sell our first HRmarketer.com software license to Matt Pitchford at TruStar Solutions. Thanks Matt.

2003: We formally launch our HRmarketer Services Group to help customers with their marketing and media relations.

2004: We launch the HRmarketer blog. Hey, it was a big deal in 2004! Since then this blog has been recognized on many Top HR blog lists.

2005: HRmarketer.com reports 36 consecutive months of sales growth.

2006: Our best year yet measured by revenue and profits fueled by the growth of the Services Group. We also launched a blogs information database on HRmarketer.com and our Trends in HR Marketing research series.

2007: We launched our HR Directory and Buyers Guide. Today, it is one of the largest HR vendor buyer guides and the directory contains over 5,000 articles, white papers and other useful HR content.

2008: We launched major upgrades to the HRmarketer.com software including a new "alert" system that allowed users to customize over 20 alerts such as speaking opportunities, new journalists, award deadlines, and editorial opportunities - and get them via email, RSS or their software dashboard.

2009: We acquired Outcalt & Associates, the owner of HRVendors.com and the HR Vendor print Phonebook. We also released Conversation Starters, our groundbreaking eBook outlining the importance of participating in social media marketing and how to do it.

2010: HRmarketer achieves record revenue growth in 2010 and we launched our HRmarketer.com "cloud" upgrade with improved measurement and social media features, including a integration with Google Analytics. Also launched a Media & Analyst Relations module helping customers to centrally manage, track and report on their outreach activities.

2011: We launched our HR Tradewinds eNewsletter and a new eBook, The Right Mix: A B2B Marketing Allocation Guide. On the software side, we added new collaboration features, enabling the seamless sharing and management of marketing and PR information. Also expanded HRmarketer.com's information databases to help HR vendors market to departments beyond HR and reach decision makers in IT, Finance, Operations and Procurement.

2012: A peek into the future:

By the time 2012 arrives we will have completely overhauled the HRmarketer.com software platform - 12 months in the making (actually to be launched in the Fall of 2011).

The new platform will leverage the growing popularity and importance of "social" media/networking and the need to capture the online conversations taking place amongst journalists, analysts and other online 'influencers" within the HR and B2B market segments - and to analyze this information to show what's trending, who is driving these conversations and how to seamlessly reach these audiences.

In short, we are rapidly adapting the software by aggregating the right information HR vendors need to implement and manage effective marketing and PR and providing the tools to use this information effectively.

This has always been and always will be the core of what we do. It's our DNA.

But whoa, we're not quite there yet, although we'll be there in October.

So let's stay in the present and celebrate 10 years in business first.

And once again, join us in celebration by taking our HR trivia quiz and then stop by our booth #950 at the 14th Annual HR Technology® Conference & Exposition to see if you won an iPad 2 - and get a sneak preview of our new platform.

We'd love to hear from you.

We're all ears, you know - SocialEars.

Post by HRmarketer CEO Mark Willaman. Join Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Try our HR Tech Trivia contest (pssst, I'll give you some hints)

That one always comes back to haunt me. The name Tapesty.net and the old school days of HR recruitment technology and the front end of the greater dot.com boom, where the internet was bright and shiny with a capital "I" and companies bid big on programmers and engineers and developers to launch them and their tech into online stardom.

Like many today in social and mobile. Smaller, faster, better. Again. Crazy.

Recently I reviewed the list of 95 exhibitors from the first HR Technology Conference & Exposition way back in November of 1998, and there they were -- Tapestry.net -- the sourcing software and services firm I worked for that built talent communities and then with software "artificial intelligence" magic matched applicants to job descriptions.

Like many today in recruitment tech. Are they around still? Nope, and speaking of that, what percentage of companies from that first HR Tech expo do you think are still around today under their same name?

Take a guess. 8%? 18%? 28%? 38%?

I'll give you a hint -- less than a third and more than a quarter. Wow. What a difference a decade and some change makes.

Hey, if you like HR tech trivia, then you should check out our HR tech trivia contest.

Those who answer all the questions correctly will be entered into a drawing for two new iPad 2s that we'll announce at booth #950 at HR Tech on Tuesday, October 4, at 3:45 p.m.!

And why are we running this HR tech trivia contest (it's not one of the HR tech trivia, but give it a go anyway)?

How many years HRmarketer.com has been in business as of this October, 2011?

10 years! Right on. So to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we came up with this 10-question quiz to test your knowledge of the HR B2B tech marketplace over the last decade.

Hey, don't scoff. I already gave you one answer, and how about another question and hint?

What city was the first HR Technology Conference & Expo held at?

Why, the city of brotherly love, of course.

That one was easy, but there are others that aren't so easy, like:

Which industry analyst founded a company named IQ4Hire early in his career?

I'll tell you this -- it's not Paul, Phil or Ringo.

Look for other hints online and you can even ping me if you want some help.

Really. I'm that kind of a guy. We want you to win.

See you at HR Tech!

How Customer Reviews Help You Recruit Star Performers. Or, Don't.

The topic of Online Brand Management as it relates to recruiting candidates is frequently covered and something I know every employer is (or should be) concerned with.

One of the better articles I have read comes from Monster and is titled Online Brand Management: How to Protect your Company’s Online Identity. In this article Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of ReputationDefender discusses the many sites employers need to stay on top of that allow people to rate and review companies, such as Glassdoor - here is Glassdoor's profile for Apple, Inc. Mr. Fertik gives a good listing of similar sites that employers need to monitor.

But what about sites like Yelp and other popular rating sites that allow consumers to rate everything from restaurants to chain retail stores and other professional services?

I was reminded of just how important it is for employers to monitor these sites while dining at a popular local restaurant here in Santa Cruz on Saturday night.

We ate in the bar area and our server/bartender was simply amazing. Great personality, knowledgeable, attentive, efficient, etc. The whole package. The kind of guy that brings customers in and keeps them coming back. If you visit one time he is likely to know your name the next time you return. A restaurant's equivalent to a star programmer at a technology firm.

Every restaurant in Santa Cruz would want this guy working for them.

So how did this particular restaurant recruit him?

They didn't. He recruited them.

As it turns out, this guy was planning a move to Santa Cruz and visited Yelp to find the highest rated restaurants in the area. After studying the reviews he chose the top three businesses he wanted to work at, and applied for a job. The restaurant we dined at Saturday night was the lucky winner.

It got me thinking - how many businesses actively manage their online reviews?

On Yelp most businesses have under a few hundred reviews and maybe a few trickle in each week. It would be easy to manage this volume and there really aren't that many significant review sites to monitor.

Yet, in the five years of me personally being a power user of review sites like Yelp and a few others only one business has ever reached out to me as a result of a review I posted. The business that reached out to me was a hotel in San Francisco. Their company brand manager sent me an email through Yelp thanking me for the review, my business, and offered me their personal contact information in the event I ever had a problem and needed to speak to someone at their company.

Wow.

That hotel is now the only one I stay at when I am in SF.

But this was a positive review! No business where I posted a horrible review has ever reached out to me. Ever. Who knows, if they did reach out, acknowledged the problem and invited me back I may try it again and change my review.

But most businesses - to their detriment - don't pay attention to good or bad reviews, or figure they don't really matter.

And they would never have the opportunity to land that great employee like the star performer I encountered Saturday night.

Post by HRmarketer CEO Mark Willaman. Join Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Crappy brand marketing code be gone

Take heed of a software firm's technical debt, the amount of hastily written code that's never fixed and compounds and complicates the overall platform, new customer deployments and future development over time.

I heard Naomi Bloom talk about that with Bill Kutik last week on his namesake radio show. Then I read that Ward Cunningham first created this analogy. (Ward is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki.)

Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with a rewrite... The danger occurs when the debt is not repaid. Every minute spent on not-quite-right code counts as interest on that debt.

Ah, when the debt is not repaid how the interest rate compounds it...

I hope you are aren't offended by the word "crappy," because there's a lot of it out there and I'm going to use a lot of it in here. Please no need to read on if you are.

If you aren't offended, then take heed of companies whose employment brand and/or product/service brand have a high "brand" debt, where they keep building on top of bad year after year.

I don't care how you spin it, these days you don't need hackers to expose your "brand" debt. Your employees and customers will do that without a hitch on their laptops, smart phones and tablet computers across every social network known to mankind (and even that of alien civilizations). They'll share your good "code" too, but you know how it is -- we always aggregate and commiserate over what's bad.

However, those companies with lots of this credibility "debt" continue to code over the crappy and compound the problem, even though they think a new marketing campaign will help.

Like beer. Go with me here. Mainstream beer has been sold big in this country for many years (although sales have slumped of late).

I like quality, full-bodied beer. India Pale Ales preferably. I do not like mainstream Pilsners, at all, but from when prohibition was repealed until the late 1980s, those beers were basically the only domestic beers in the US market. That's thankfully changed.

So, if a crappy beer introduces two-stage cold activation -- cold and super cold -- or if you introduce a two-stage canned employee recognition plan -- cool and super cool -- or if you introduce a two-stage dysfunctionally indebted software upgrade plan -- smart and super smart --

Shouldn't they all really be called crappy and super crappy?

Crappy brand marketing code be gone, or your employees and customers will be.

(Cold and super cold? That's just stupid.)