How to be a great client

As a client, your job isn’t to be innovative. Your job is to foster innovation. Big difference.

Fostering innovation is a discipline, a profession in fact. It involves making difficult choices and causing important things to get shipped out the door. Here are a few thoughts to get you started.

• Before engaging with the innovator, foster discipline among yourself and your team. Be honest about what success looks like and what your resources actually are.
• If you can't write down clear ground rules about which rules are firm and which can be broken on the path to a creative solution, how can you expect the innovator to figure it out?
• Simplify the problem relentlessly, and be prepared to accept an elegant solution that satisfies the simplest problem you can describe.
• After you write down the ground rules, revise them to eliminate constraints that are only on the list because they've always been on the list.
• Hire the right person. Don't ask a mason to paint your house. Part of your job is to find someone who is already in the sweet spot you're looking for, or someone who is eager and able to get there.
• Demand thrashing early in the process. Force innovations and decisions to be made near the beginning of the project, not in a crazy charrette at the end.
• Be honest about resources. While false resource constraints may help you once or twice, the people you're working with demand your respect, which includes telling them the truth.
• Pay as much as you need to solve the problem, which might be more than you want to. If you pay less than that, you'll end up wasting all your money. Why would a great innovator work cheap?
• Cede all issues of irrelevant personal taste to the innovator. I don't care if you hate the curves on the new logo. Just because you write the check doesn't mean your personal aesthetic sense is relevant.
• Run interference. While innovation sometimes never arrives, more often it's there but someone in your office killed it.
• Raise the bar. Over and over again, raise the bar. Impossible a week ago is not good enough. You want stuff that is impossible today, because as they say at Yoyodyne, the future begins tomorrow.
• When you find a faux innovator, run. Don't stick with someone who doesn't deserve the hard work you're doing to clear a path.
• Celebrate the innovator. Sure, you deserve a ton of credit. But you'll attract more innovators and do even better work next time if innovators understand how much they benefit from working with you.

This blog was reposted from Seth Godin's blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com/. Stay tuned for a CAMA podcast interview with Seth in 2010

Join the Charlotte AMA on December 9th for Branding in 2010: Your Company, Your Career and You

As 2009 draws to a close, individuals and companies are seeking more and better ways to differentiate and stand out both in the job market and in the marketplace.

Join the Charlotte AMA at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille on December 9th as we utilize the Charlotte AMA Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to analyze and discuss the concept of brand positioning from multiple facets. You’ll learn strategies for creating indelible brand impressions that make you (or your company) uniquely distinguishable from the competition.

During a series of four roundtable presentation sessions, you’ll investigate personal and corporate brand positioning from the perspectives of the following four SIGs:

• Branding SIG. Facilitated by Rebecka Nelli, CEO of TRREX Inc.
• Interactive SIG. Facilitated by Spencer Williams, National Account Manager for Westwood Radio Networks
• Market Research SIG. Facilitated by Bill McDowell, Senior Partner at Accelerant Research
• Cause Marketing SIG. Facilitated by Sheila Neisler, Principal of Catalyst Consulting
  

Be a part of this highly interactive meeting format, as you bounce your branding ideas off Charlotte’s best and brightest, and learn to see your brand challenges and solutions from a different light. This meeting is all about you. Bring your questions, curiosity and lots of business cards.

Register online through December 8th at: http://www.charlotteama.com

Eating at Your Competition’s Market Share: Join the Charlotte AMA November 11^th to Learn How the Bloom Grocery Chain Gets it Done

Successful marketing professionals know a recession offers many opportunities to both increase market share and leverage their company for even higher returns in the recovery. Join the Charlotte AMA at our November meeting as Angie Hunter, Marketing Director at Bloom, discusses the keys to the grocery store chain’s brand success, as well as Bloom’s plans to challenge Harris Teeter with the opening of their newest store in the heart of Dilworth.

At this program, marketers will:

• Comprehend the rationale and process behind Bloom’s “different kind of grocery store” branding strategy.
• Understand Bloom’s use of strategic planning and research in their concept development process.
• Walk away with tools and strategies for differentiating their brands in a crowded marketplace.

Individuals may register online for the event now through November 10th by visiting http://www.charlotteama.com/register.html

How to Use Facebook as a Weapon

Many so-called experts are trying to fill young people with fear about what they should post in their Facebook accounts. They make the case the school admissions staff and company recruiters are going to check your Facebook page and ding you for the stupid things you did. (Who among us has not done something stupid when we were young, but I digress.)

This advice is mostly defensive: “Don’t do this,” “don’t do that,” “someday it will catch up with you, and you’ll regret it.” This is, in my opinion, back asswards. You should assume that schools and companies are checking you Facebook page and use this to your advantage. I provide more details here about how to use Facebook as a weapon.

For more Facebook news and tips, check out Facebook.alltop too.

Author: Guy Kawasaki http://blog.guykawasaki.com/

Read more: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/page/2/#ixzz0UESErjPz

Join us for Charlotte’s Next Big Idea October 20th

In a nod to Donny Deutsch and his program "The Big Idea" on CNBC, pitch your business ideas and get great marketing feedback from Charlotte’s best and brightest entrepreneurs at the Charlotte AMA’s October event. Our panel of experts will include:

• Julie Rose (Moderator) WFAE News Team
• Louis J. Foreman Founder and Chief Executive, Enventys
• Winn Madrey Executive Vice President Topics Education
• Jim Bailey Founder, CEO and President Red Moon Marketing
  
• DATE: Tuesday, October 20, 2009; 5:30 p.m. Networking, food and bar; 6:30 p.m. Program
• VENUE: Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, 911 E Morehead St # 200, Charlotte, NC 28204-2856:
• PRICE: $20.00 AMA members/students pre-registered and paid online; $28.00 Affiliate members paid online; $35.00 Non-members pre-registered and paid on line
• Register online by Monday, October 19th: http://www.charlotteama.com/register.html

Are you a member?

Professional associations offer valuable and rewarding experiences that enhance professional credibility and broaden networks for active members. For those of you, who have already made the wise decision to join a professional association, pass this on to your friends. However if you have not yet joined a professional association, keep reading!

There are several reasons why you may not have joined. Maybe you have commitment issues, or your calendar is filled to the brim with activities. Or perhaps you just never gave a professional association much consideration. Whatever the reason, you are missing out on five key benefits that only members enjoy.

1. Industry exposure - Often professional associations will have guest speakers attend meetings and share their areas of expertise with members.
2. Learning opportunities - Many professional associations, like the Charlotte chapter of the American Marketing Association, will offer members an opportunity to volunteer in an area of interest. This gives you the chance to explore, take on new responsibilities, and gain some practical experience outside of your workplace.
3. Industry specific training - Most associations offer workshops and other forms of training that address hot topics in your field. Attending these training sessions can help you stay abreast of industry trends.
4. Professional credibility - Joining a professional association indicates that you are serious about your career and that you know how to take initiative.
5. Networking, Networking... and did I mention Networking? - The saying "It's not what you know, but who you know.", will always have some relevance in our professional lives. So be sociable and sincere while you get to know your fellow members. You never know what may come of the relationships that you build.

Keri Glover

Winning Words of Wisdom: September 16 CAMA Meeting to Focus on Best Practices in B2B and B2C

The Charlotte chapter of the American Marketing Association (CAMA) is pleased to host the Carolinas Winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Awards on September 16 in an engaging panel discussion on navigating this recession and beyond. This year’s nominees and winners averaged a 91 percent increase in sales growth. Learn how they did it at our September meeting. In November, they will represent the Carolinas at the National Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in Palm Springs, Fla.

Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) experts participating in the event panel are Bob Salvin, Founder & CEO, Salvin Dental Specialties; Frank Spencer, President and CEO, Cogdell Spencer; and Philip Maung, Founder and CEO, Hissho Sushi.

Meeting attendees will enjoy pre-meeting networking opportunities and food at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille beginning at 5:30 p.m. Admissions costs are $20 for current CAMA members and students; and $35 for non-members and all walk-ins. Individuals may register online for the event now through September 15 by visiting http://www.charlotteama.com.