Over the last 9 months I have fired up the business of shorespeak and brought the message of Increasing MQ- Memorability Quotient to thousands of folks across the U.S.
During my talks I outline the 10 MQ Clues. These are the catalysts to increasing your memorability with clients, prospects, friends and family.
One of these 10 is Communication.
As part of the talk I tell audiences that they need to figure out ways to connect with folks that might be a departure from the methods they employed previously. Snail mail, out – email in. Email, out – text messaging in. Expensive ads out, relating to communities of clients, prospects, customers (any and all of the above) – in.
Communication as defined in Wikipedia is: a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods.Exchange requires feedback.
Of the dozens of definitions available to cite I chose this because communication does require several methods (listening, talking, verbal, non-verbal). In addition, the ‘exchange/feedback’ portion resonated as well.
As business creeps (dives?) into recession, companies are looking for ways to communicate with clients and prospects in ways that will maximize their message, gather market intelligence about their brands, engage in 2 way dialog with their customers, and uncover potential fan bases.
At the same time companies are all about finding ways to minimize their cost.
Enter New Media, or Social Media if you prefer.
While most of the technology associated with this communication endeavor is new – many tools, sites and services are under 3 years old – the power of their reach is undeniable.
Frequently, when assessing the merits of a New Media plan, companies will get hung up on traditional measurements to assess the value of entering this new medium.
Often the deadly ROI – Return On Investment is held out as the pivotal determinant of success.
Just as the applications available to users of New Media are new and different, so to is the way ROI needs to be evaluated.
For an excellent perspective on ROI and New Media, the following is posted from Ron Ploof at RonAmok. As a leader in the New Media space, and the co-founder of a firm that specializes in New Media consulting, Ron is uniquely qualified to address ROI:
How do you divide by zero?
When I speak to business owners, the most common question that I field about New Media is: “But what about Return on Investment (ROI)?” The question is fair enough. If I, as a businessman and your New Media Evangelist, am “spreading the gospel” of New Media, I should be able to make a business case. Right?
So let’s give it a try:
- If I spend $10,000 and get $11,000 back, then I have a return on my investment of 10%.
- Or, if I invest $100,000 into new software that saves me $40,000 per year, that investment will pay for itself in two and a half years.
Profit is a two variable equation. If I can increase revenues and/or reduce costs, then I have a positive Return on Investment.
But what happens if I invest $0 and get some sort of benefit from it? How do I then calculate ROI? How does one divide by zero?
For example:
- I can download WordPress and have a blog up and running on my own site – at no cost.
- I can use my little hand-held digital camera to record a video demo of my product, place it on YouTube, and pay zilch for every person who sees it.
- I can build a page on Facebook or Linked-in, connect with colleagues, get introduced to prospects, and get answers from trusted resources – for nadda.
- I can microblog on Twitter, breaking industry news, pointing customers to relevant information, or providing expertise to those who seek it – for scratch.
- I can take digital photographs at a trade show, load them onto Flickr, and share them with my favorite customers – for nil.
- And I can use RSS to keep me informed about my industry, my customers, and my finances – for bupkis.
Therefore, if I receive ANY increase in revenue or reduction in costs from my cashless investment in these technologies, whether it be a sale, a prospect to call on, or a piece of branding, the ROI is infinite.
The bean counter will quip, “But, Ron. Time is money.”
Yes it is. And that’s the basis of my argument. Management is about determining the proper use of corporate resources. Because New Media technologies offer such high (divide by zero) leverage, managers should at least consider if a small investment of time makes sense. The upside is too high to ignore.
Let’s take one example. I know a blogger who writes for a large corporation. He writes a blog post every other week. He’s told me that he spends, on average, two hours per post. After 6 months of blogging, he had built an audience of about 300 RSS subscribers.
Let’s say that the fully burdened cost of his position (salary, benefits, office, computer) is $200,000 per year. Rounding that number to $100 per hour (for a 40 hour week), the blogger’s employer is spending $200 every time delivers a message to 300 PRESENT subscribers.
But a blog isn’t a one shot deal like that of a marketing campaign, tradeshow booth, or corporate newsletter. A blog represents a growing repository of relevant content – a searchable database for both PRESENT and FUTURE readers. Today my example blogger has over 500 subscribers. With every additional subscriber, his cost per prospect/customer touch is shrinking, from $0.66 to $0.40.
That’s the investment. Now let’s look at possible returns. While gaining an audience, your corporate blogger is:
- establishing trust with a growing audience
- becoming a respected expert in your company’s field
- becoming sought-after resource as opposed to yet another person to be avoided
Therefore, what is the ROI if your blogger:
- is asked to speak at a major industry conference?
- accompanies your business development people on a sales call?
- spurs a customer to contact your company directly?
- can instantly respond to the fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) that your competitor is spreading about your company?
Are “returns” such as these worth prioritizing and “investment” of one hour per week? Are they worth 1/40th of your employee’s fully burdened cost?
Something to consider as you start your FY2009 planning?
Clearly Ron delivers a compelling case for New Media and a re-framing of the traditional measurements used to determine return.
During this recession, and long after prosperity returns, it makes more than perfect sense to evaluate the benefits of this most memorable form of communication.
