We find ourselves today living in the proverbial forest, trying to answer the timeless question: If a tree falls and no one is there to hear it, does it make any sound? Except in our world, the question is more appropriately: If a marketer stands at the peak of a mountain with the largest bullhorn imaginable, touting his wares to the limits of his capabilities, is anyone truly listening?

Here’s the thing: It’s our job as marketers to constantly assess new opportunities to help sell products and services. This is both necessary and good. And, in fact, if your people aren’t doing the same thing, you need to find new people. The problem comes in the assessment. Just because a marketer thinks something is great, if the target market doesn’t adopt it, it won’t work.

Because of this duty to assess and evaluate, marketers occasionally get wrapped up in “shiny object syndrome”, where we think every new thing is awesome. In reality, some are and some are not (I’m looking at you, Vine.)

As if this assessment wasn’t tough enough, sometimes things take a long time to ramp up and gain traction and sometimes they grab attention seemingly overnight (I’m looking at you, Pinterest.) The real danger is putting too much trust in your instincts and becoming a focus group of one. Much better to test the waters and let the data help determine the direction you go.

To illustrate, here are a few telling statistics from the latest research performed by Exact Target appropriately titled “Marketers from Mars”:

• 61% of surveyed marketers follow at least one brand or company on Twitter, only 12% of consumers do the same. Likewise, while 86% of marketers have liked a brand on Facebook, only 58% of consumers admit to becoming a brand’s Facebook fan
• While 90% of marketers own a smartphone, only 51% of consumers do
• The study shows 48% of marketers use Twitter, and only 31% of smartphone users and 10% of non-smartphone consumers do
• Interestingly, the consumers have adopted Pinterest, Instagram and Foursquare at much higher percentages than marketers. (Maybe that’s why people are still using them?)

This chart shows adoption of marketing channels and the differences between marketers and consumers

In the statistical analysis, though, there is one channel where everyone– consumers and marketers alike– seem to see eye to eye: Email.

Consider this:

• 98% of marketers and 93% of consumers say they receive at least one permission-based email per day, according to the study.
• When asked how they MOST often connect with brands and companies they trust, both marketers (45%) and consumers (36% with a smartphone, 49% without a smartphone), said Email. Facebook was a distant second.
• And both start their days by checking Email first: 76% of marketers, 69% of consumers.

Finally, relevancy continues to grow in importance. Everyone (67% of marketers, 59% of consumers) reports being more selective about giving companies their email addresses over the past year.

The lesson is clear. It’s extremely important to explore new channels as they become available and open yourself to the possibility that any one of them could become the next big thing. In the midst of this exploration, you simply can’t ignore the channels that continue to drive results. And for the time being, Email continues to be the king of engagement. You need to get both arms around a workable strategy and get it implemented, sooner rather than later. (If you’d like to talk with us about the best ways to do that, send a note to Anne and ask for a free assessment of your situation.)

If you’d like to see the complete Marketers from Mars research report, you can download the full PDF here.

The post Marketer Beware: That Shiny Object is Just a Distraction appeared first on Bird Feed.

I learned, from a company much bigger than mine (and probably yours) that it’s possible to be totally self-absorbed while having no self-awareness. I thought it was impossible. I was wrong.

I also learned (from the same enlightening dude) that if you’re hoping to build your own credibility and likability, it’s not a good idea to do so at the expense of everyone else on the stage. And the people in the audience. And everyone else on the planet. The result? You come off sounding like an ass and people Tweet suggestions that you change your self-imposed title to “Digital Douchebag.” (Which, in case you didn’t know, is never a good thing.)

I learned that Michael J. Fox is bigger than life, better than most of us combined, and one of the most inspirational people living and breathing. His courage, humility, and obvious love for his wife and family were on display so strongly that you couldn’t help but love him. He offered a personal perspective on what many of us would consider a tragedy that was both surprising and genuine: “I tell people Parkinson’s is a gift,” he said. “The gift that keeps on taking, but a gift just the same.” And you know what? He meant it. This guy is a rock star.

“I realized my happiness would grow with my acceptance and in inverse proportion to my expectations.” -Michael J Fox Brilliant. #ET12

— Jim Cota (@jimcota) October 16, 2012

I learned that while we all understand that our customers are individuals, we really need to begin treating them that way. We need to spend more time on improving strategy and execution, instead of taking the easy way out. We need to get significant buy-in from everyone who has a stake in our success, and then patiently explain how sending the right message to the right person in the right channel will benefit everyone.

I learned a lot from Charlene Li, in spite of her slide deck. Her intelligence and smooth delivery made her shine onstage; her PowerPoint presentation, not so much.

I learned that content is king and nothing works as well as blogging for lead generation. Not surprisingly, blogging more often (creating more content) works better than writing less frequently.

I learned “How to Save a Life.”

I learned that not testing at all is lazy, A/B testing is a good start, but Taguchi testing is like a rocket scientist married a physicist, had a baby and fed it nothing but steroids and Red Bull. Truly fascinating stuff.

Plan for success, prepare for everything. Very well executed Connections 2012.

I sat at lunch on Tuesday pondering the magnitude of this event. It was along the lines of putting together ten weddings a day for four days. And then adding a couple of extravagant parties for good measure. Still, I found I was continually surprised but the attention to detail put forth by Amanda Leet and her team. Examples: I returned to the JW Marriott late one night to find that they had left snacks of popcorn and cupcakes in the lobby (orange, of course.) They fearlessly planned an outdoor concert in Indiana in October, and were prepared with ponchos for rain and scarves and earmuffs for cold. To reward their planning, neither turned out to be necessary. The lesson? Plan to succeed, but prepare for absolutely everything.

I realized on Wednesday that there are “talkers” and there are “doers” in this great big, beautiful world of ours. When you attend an event like this, the talkers will expand your thinking and the doers will expand your doing.

Finally, I learned that hydration was the one thing missing in my Survival Guide. I learned this the hard way at 6a on Wednesday morning when I blacked out while standing in the bathroom. Twice. By the time I was done bouncing my head off hard surfaces, the bathroom looked like a crime scene and my face wasn’t much better. Knowing that I was due to take the stage that afternoon to discuss Healthcare and Services marketing, I considered — while still lying on on my back in the tub — backing out. But then I heard the voice of Michael Fox with his uncannily perfect comedic timing saying, “A woman gave birth in a tree. What have you got?”

I was on the stage that afternoon, cut and bruised and aching, completely hydrated. After all, you get out what you put in. And at Connections, they expect you to give it all you’ve got.

Related articles

• 5 Things Michael J. Fox Can Teach Us About Business, Happiness and Life
• Connections 2012 Survival Guide
• Charlene Li shares 6 keys to a successful blogging strategy

The post Key Takeaways from Exact Target’s Connections 2012 appeared first on Bird Feed.

On the surface, this seems like a very big deal. In fact, it’s even bigger than that.

For those of us in the marketing, we’re continually focusing on improving communications efforts to be more useful, meaningful, and important to customers. This often means tailoring content through segmentation (delivering the right message to the right people); improving the content and call to action to optimize results; or simply trying to create the most appealing design. All of these are important efforts.

But much of it may be wasted if the people opening that email are looking at a screen that’s a little more than three inches. Without a certain level of pre-established trust and a dynamite subject line, your carefully crafted message may never be seen.

Now consider this: you may not even know how to recognize a dynamite subject line, because consumers have a uniquely fickle nature. For example, we recently sent an email with a subject line that read:

The Clickable, Trackable, Lovable Nature of Email Marketing

What you might not know is that this subject line was selected because it was tested to have a 5% higher open rate than the other option. The interesting thing about this test was that the losing subject line read:

The clickable, trackable, lovable nature of email marketing

Surprised? We were too.

But that’s very often the result in testing. Ask anyone who regularly performs A/B tests and they will all tell you they’ve occasionally been surprised by the results.

Just in case you’re thinking that 5% is a pretty small number, remember that it adds up. If your list has 10,000 people on it, the difference is 500; for 100,000 it’s 5,000; for a million it’s 50,000. Is testing important? You make the call. But keep in mind that more people are looking at your email on their phones, so they will likely see who it’s from and the subject line. Some might even see the a bit of the first sentence. Can you afford to guess at what might get their attention? Probably not.

(Once you’ve determined the right subject line, the next step is to optimize those emails for mobile devices. We’ll get to that in another post.)

(*Source: Litmus research)

The post For the first time, more emails get opened on smartphones than desktops appeared first on Bird Feed.

That’s quite a bit of stuff to cram into a few days, and we haven’t even talked about the other keynotes, the hundreds of break out sessions, the Hub Crawl, or the multitude of one-off connections you’ll make in the hallways, bars, and late-night after parties.

At this point, in fact, you may be looking at the schedule and wondering how you’ll be able to absorb any new information after leaving Steak-n-Shake at 4am.

Fear not, this Connections 2012 Survival Guide is here to help!

First Rule of Connections: Sleep Often
No matter how comfortable your bed is at the J.W. Marriott, just know that you won’t be spending much time in it. This conference is very nearly a 24-hour-a-day event, so you’ll need to bank some sleep before you get here. It’s probably best to sleep a lot between now and then. A nap is probably in order right now.

Mastering the Schedule
If you’ve spent any time at all perusing the agenda, you’ve likely experienced some level of panic. Relax. Breath deeply. No one expects you to attend everything, and it’s impossible anyway. The key here is to cherry pick: Find the top ten things you feel you must attend each day, get them on your schedule, and be as faithful as possible. And then know that there’s a good chance at least four of them will be pre-empted by something else. Acceptance and flexibility is key.

Don’t Miss a Keynote
Trust me on this one. You’ll regret it if you do.

Spend Some Time in the Hub
There are some really cool things happening around the platform, and the Hub is where they’re showcased. Walk through a few times, pick up some tchotchkes, have a few enlightening conversations. Don’t spend all day in there, and don’t worry too much about getting your ‘passport’ stamped. If you do, you’re sure to miss something else more important.

Go ‘Celebrity’ Spotting
You’re expecting coffee with Michael J. Fox, cocktails with David Blaine, and a personal jam session with The Fray. Truth is, stranger things have happened.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for Scott Dorsey, Scott McCorkle, and Chris Baggott. And don’t forget that Joel Book will be there. Here’s the key: Try not to get misty-eyed and nervous. A casual nod, maybe a quick handshake, or even a “I like your work” are perfectly acceptable. Keep in mind that though they might seem like rock stars, they still put their pants on one leg at a time. (Except for Dorsey, who has been known to change into a caped outfit in phone booths.)

Prepare to be Caffeinated
Repeat after me: “Starbucks is my friend”. That’s why why there’s one in the lobby and the most popular perks are Starbucks Gift Cards. Red Bull works too. If you’re still having trouble, try a quick nap in the Social Media Lounge.

Last Rule of Connections: Talk About Connections
Ultimately, this isn’t *Fight Club*. Everyone expects you to talk about it, so be ready to multitask: You’ll have to take notes, make pithy comments on Twitter, and blog about your experience while still paying attention. If this sounds like too much, then do the last thing first: pay attention. There are nuggets to be mined here, so be prepared to find them and go back to work and put them to use.

The post Connections 2012 Survival Guide appeared first on Bird Feed.

Thankfully, we no longer live in a time where we have to guess what’s working and what isn’t. In fact, in some ways, the bigger problem today is wading through a myriad of data to glean important insights. This job can be so tedious and difficult that many marketers (or business owners) consistently throw up their hands while trying to make sense of some of the analytics available.

Not true with email, however. Email boasts so many traits that marketers need and want that it should be the number one crush for all of them. But it’s not. And it may not be for you, either. But I’m willing to wager that it might be by the time you’re finished reading.

Imagine this: You have something to say, or sell. A message to deliver to someone you’re certain will benefit from hearing it. You sit down, blank page beckoning, and you write. You edit, you delete, you write some more. You sweat the details, cut half of it out and re-write it. Eventually you get to a place where your carefully crafted message sings: it gets quickly to the point while still retaining enough creative license to sell the sizzle…

Next step: Send it. Yes, send it.

With nearly every other item in the marketer’s toolkit, the next steps are time intensive and energy-sapping. They involve complicated production or lengthy printing or copious editing. They are almost never simply delivering. That’s the first reason email is so powerful: You can literally have an idea one minute, craft the message the next, and put it in the hands of your customers and prospects the next.

But there’s more. Much more.

So your message arrives and one of few things happen. It goes something like this: The person you want to talk to either opens it or they don’t. A really simple decision diagram: yes or no. If they don’t, you can examine your subject line with a critical eye, revise it, and try again.

If they do open it, they will either take the action you want (click a link, send a reply, call you back, etc.) or they won’t. Again, a simple decision tree. If they don’t, you can look at the content with a critical eye, discern what the missing ingredient is or how to improve the message, and try again.

This immediate feedback mechanism and flexible messaging are emails next great trait. At each step of the process, you learn something valuable about your effort, even if it’s knowing that your subject line wasn’t good enough to get me to open and read your mail. All of the additional information can be used to further refine your message.

If they do take the action you want, well done! From concept to conversion in a few minutes. William Lever and his brother would be proud.

Now, one of the things that’s a little lost in this marketing tale is how we know what happens with those messages we send. And that is email’s final big asset: tracking the things that matter. Who opens your message? Who doesn’t? Who clicks and who doesn’t? What did they click and why? Once they clicked, where did they go and how long did they stay?

Imagine having this kind of information about a newspaper ad or a TV spot or an outdoor board. This is very heady, very powerful stuff, and we haven’t even touched on any of the other things you can do with email. Things like A/B testing, list segmentation, triggered sends, or any of the other readily available aspects of email that can really knock your socks off.

Those poor ol’ Lever Brothers built an empire out of soap while knowingly wasting half of their marketing budget. Imagine what they could have done with a tool like email.

Imagine what you could do…

Want to know more? Let us know and we’ll be happy to give you a brief tour and some insights you can immediately put to work.

The post The Clickable, Trackable, Lovable Nature of Email Marketing appeared first on Bird Feed.

Subj: Please update your information at [clientdomain].com

Dear [clientdomain].com,

Rare Bird Inc is hereby announcing a new upgrade for Content management system. We’ve upgraded our new SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) encryption servers to serve our customers for a better and secure system service.

We strongly advice all our customers to update their account information with us due to recent changes in our systems.

You can do this by clicking the url link below.

rarebirdinc-[phishingdomain].com/admin/?website=[clientdomain].com

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Please understand that this is a security measure that is meant to help protect you and your account. Most importantly you are advised to complete every section accordingly without leaving a part out.

We apologize for any inconveniencies.

If you choose to ignore our request, your account may be suspended temporarily.

Rare Bird Inc
P.O. Box 90254
Indianapolis, IN 46290
===========

The problem is, the message didn’t come from us. And the web address it leads you to is not ours, either. If you’re not careful, you could be easily persuaded that this was something important. You might visit the site, enter your Username and Password, and realize too late the damaging results.

It’s a fairly slick attempt. It would appear that they accessed our domain records to find out who our clients were and targeted them directly. Of course, we wouldn’t be alone in this… I suspect that there are literally thousands of domains registered that are being used in schemes like this.

What should you do?

First, be very careful any time you receive an unsolicited request for email and password information. Whether it’s from us, another company you work with, a social network, or (God forbid) your bank. If you didn’t initiate the contact, chances are you shouldn’t be responding to it.

Second, if you have a question about the legitimacy of a message you’ve received, do what Nathan did this morning: contact the company directly and ask.

Finally, if it’s too late and you’ve already fallen for it, you’ll need to immediately change your access credentials, pretty much wherever you might use the same information. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Be careful! It’s a jungle out there!

The post Phishing scheme targeting web users for access credentials appeared first on Bird Feed.

The paradox, of course, is that the elevator pitch is becoming more ubiquitous and more important. Even though strangers rarely talk to each other in an elevator, we’re constantly talking with strangers all over the world online in bios and descriptions on social media. It’s probably time to take another look at yours and see if it needs attention.

There are three problems with most elevator pitches:

They’re about you.
To communicate well with someone, especially someone you don’t know, you’ll need to keep in mind that they aren’t likely to be very interested in you. The best communicators frame their message in relation to the person they’re talking with.

This is one of the reasons that elevator pitches can be so hard to create. If you’ve only just met someone, trying to frame your reason for existence in a way that is meaningful to them is extremely hard. Unless you’re selling something everyone needs, before you start talking you need to know something about the person standing in front of you.

Once you have that, you can craft your message to relate to their needs. Yes, I said “craft” as in “figure out at that moment what you need to say.” This pitch really shouldn’t be written out months in advance; it needs to flow at the moment you need it. And, ideally, if you then turn to the next person you meet, your pitch should be slightly different to reflect the differences between these two people.

They have no context.
Part of understanding the person you’re talking to is getting a feel for what they know and understand. If you start explaining what you do in words that they don’t understand, you won’t get very far. Remember that the point is to communicate, to help someone get to the point where they either want to know more about you or, at the very least, could walk away and explain it to someone else.

For example, two microbiologists should explain what they do to each other in a completely different way than they should explain it to me. So the first thing you need to do is set the parameters for the conversation. If you’re that biologist, you might start with, “Are you in scientific research?” If the answer is negative, then you’ll need to start at a completely different level.

They use words that have no meaning.
Once you’ve got a handle on who you’re talking to and how what you do might be of interest to them, the hard part begins. This, truly, is where things really fall apart. To understand how, we’re going to back up all the way English class.

Somewhere in our past, most of us had a well-meaning teacher that encouraged us to use interesting and descriptive language. To please them (and maybe to get a better grade) we began writing with a Thesaurus close at hand. Suddenly “boring” words began getting swapped out for much, much “better” ones. “Use” became “leverage”, “beginning” became “inceptive”, and everyone became a “thought leader.”

If you remember nothing else, remember this: You are telling a story. Using short words will pack more punch, help people understand you, and make your message more memorable. (For a great examination of the power of short words, see this article by Michael Lydon.)

Now that you know what to do, here’s how to do it.
There are a variety of books, articles, and tools to help you craft your elevator pitch. But I would argue that you already have everything you need rolling around in your mind. You should write down some thoughts, concepts, and ideas to help formulate it, but don’t memorize it. These things are hardly ever used in a meaningful way when your interaction is limited to only thirty seconds, so think of it instead as the opening salvo of a conversation.

Then: be concise, clear, and engaging. People aren’t keen stand still and silent while someone rattles off everything they can do like a laundry list. Instead, frame your work in relation to them, in words they understand and be sincerely interested in what they have to say.

Got your elevator pitch honed to a fine edge? I’d love to hear it: add it to the comments below.

(Edit: Seth Godin agrees. Be sure to see his recent remarks on the elevator speech.]

Related articles

• No one ever bought anything on an elevator

The post Why elevator pitches suck (maybe even yours)… and how to fix them appeared first on Bird Feed.

The trouble is, these answers are never simple and are almost always not what the person asking the question wants to hear. Often, the answer includes words like “nurturing” and “patience” and all kinds of other traits that don’t sit well with someone in a hurry. They also include lots of stuff about “noise” and “competition” and “consumer fatigue” and (increasingly) “attention deficit”.  Again, these aren’t the types of things business owners and salespeople like to hear. But the truth is, as they say, occasionally painful.

I recently saw an infographic that is superb at illustrating the problem. It was created by business intelligence company DOMO in an attempt to visualize the “avalanche of digital activity” that is taking place between brands and consumers, every minute of every day. (A nod to Joel Book of Exact Target for sharing this with me.)

Let me repeat, just to be clear: That is what happens every minute of every day. I’m sure it only took you a few seconds to see the problem. Consumers, including you and I, are being bombarded by information. Every brand you’ve ever heard of, and all the others you haven’t, are competing fiercely for your attention. It’s no wonder that many people feel stressed and harried. It’s also no surprise it’s becoming increasingly difficult to be heard.  So the question is, with all of this coming at us from every direction, what gets through? What’s the best way to communicate with customers?

Joel Book makes a useful observation:

While the Internet has made it easier and faster for consumers to browse websites, access content, download apps, share opinions, and meet up with friends at popular social networking sites, I think the important question marketers must ask themselves is, “Which channels are working best to drive sales and aid customer retention?”

The answer to this question is permission-based Email.

As reported in the 2012 Channel Preference Survey Report from ExactTarget:

• 77% of U.S. Internet users prefer email for permission-based promotional messages
• 66% have made a purchase as a result of a marketing message received by email

And just in case you think Email only works for “business getting,” think again.  Email is also #1 for “business keeping.” 76% of consumers surveyed said they prefer Email for customer service messages.

Even among all of the competition – or perhaps because of it – email continues to be the gold standard for breaking through the clutter and communicating effectively. So the real question is, what are you doing to make the most of it?

The post Ever feel like you’re speaking and no one is hearing you? Here’s why: appeared first on Bird Feed.

When I think about the reasons I love this city: the atmosphere, the hospitality, the spirit, the ever-changing and evolving communities; I realize it’s the people that make it great. People who are always willing to put others first; to step in to the breech; to volunteer time, talent and treasure to help others. You might just call it Midwestern sensibility. Regardless of where people may have orginated, once they settle here, their better selves seem to rise to the surface. We’re so nice, even Raider’s fans elevate their behavior while they’re here.

It’s not surprising then, that a program like Baskets of Hope was a Midwestern project. Started in St. Louis around 2002, the idea was to provide gift baskets to kids with serious illnesses to help lift their spirits. Kurt Warner was involved at the early stages, and when they asked him who else might be interested in getting involved, he mentioned Tony Dungy. The program branched to Indianapolis in 2002 and Dungy became the National Spokesperson. Today, Basket of Hope delivers thousands of baskets to over 17 hospitals and Ronald McDonald Houses around the country each year. The baskets are given to the children and contain age appropriate toys, games, crafts, movies, pre-loaded MP3 players, gift certificates to Prestige Portraits, and much more. In many cases, the baskets are hand-delivered by celebrities, sports stars, and community leaders. Parents also receive Hope Totes, filled with bibles, journals, inspirational books and music to provide encouragement and support during difficult times.

With the Superbowl coming to Indiana for the first time, some of that Midwestern sensibility got mixed up with some Midwestern creativity and Super Baskets of Hope was born. The idea was both simple and ambitious: Fill 7,000 baskets with products that represent Indiana and send them to every city with an NFL franchise, nearly doubling the reach Baskets of Hope in one massive undertaking.

Volunteers were recruited and planning took off. Volunteers from around the city quickly signed up to plan the event, coordinate communications, solicit sponsorships, and organize the effort. Soon after, sponsors began signing on and products began flowing: The Colts and Pacers, Vera Bradley, Lids, The Tony Stewart Foundation (with Office Depot and Sharpie), The Saturday Evening Post, Package Right Corporation, Gilchrist & Soames, Musical DNA, Fundex, KLOVE, U Design Jewelry and many more donated goods to help fill the baskets.

In addition the products, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, WTHR 13, Oxford Financial, Harrison College, University of Notre Dame, Ball State University, IU Health, and many others donated money and services to support the effort.

Now, with a little more than a month to go, nearly everything is in place, but more help is needed. There are two major endeavors left: filling the 7,000 baskets and deliverying them to each of the NFL cities. Fortunately, they have plenty of volunteers signed up to help fill and prepare the baskets. What is really needed now is funding for delivering the baskets. The logistics and costs involved with transporting thousands of baskets to cities across the country are daunting.

How can you help? I knew you’d ask… The web site (www.superbasketsofhope.org) has additional information about the program, including links to learn more about getting involved and making a donation. You’ll also find a map that shows which hospitals in each city will be recieving baskets, which is a nice way to see exactly what all the effort is for. If you’d like to do more, please visit the web site of Baskets of Hope (www.basketsofhope.org). It contains more information on how the program works, which cities are currently active, and opportunities for involvement long after the Superbowl has moved on to the next destination.

Who knows, maybe with a little luck, a little effort, and a dose of Midwestern sensibility, the momentum created by Super Baskets of Hope will help the program take root in several new cities and bring a smile to more children suffering from serious illness. And that would be even better than lifting the Lombardi trophy again.

Update: The basket-assembly day went perfectly! More than 250,000 items were lovingly placed into 7,000 baskets by a 1,000 volunteers. Those baskets were then loaded into UPS trucks and set to 60 cities across the country where they are being delivered by NFL coaches, players, and cheerleaders. The best news? Representatives from New Orleans (next year’s Superbowl venue) were on hand to see for themselves how they could continue what was started here in Indianapolis.

There has been quite a bit of coverage about the whole event, and if you’re interested you can read more about it on the Facebook page for Riley Children’s Foundation

The post Super Baskets of Hope aims to lighten the spirits of 7,000 kids appeared first on Bird Feed.

Plan to survive anything with Survivor or Statistic

In business, as in life, planning is everything. As you look forward to 2012 and make plans for sales, growth and strategic initiatives, there’s a key area that must not be overlooked: Business Continuity Planning. Many people have a sense that continuity planning– commonly called disaster planning– is primarily concerned with natural disasters: fires, floods, tornados, etc. This misnomer has led to a common misconception that a plan is unlikely to be needed, making the continuity plan the most often overlooked part of running a successful organization.

That’s why I feel that “business continuity planning” is a much better description of both what it is and why it’s important. It means that you’re preparing for anything that might interrupt the normal flow of business and planning to enable the operation to continue in spite of what happens. In today’s environment, this might be having the phone system go out, or having the server that runs the web site crash, or having an employee say the wrong thing on Twitter that causes a firestorm of bad press and ill tempers, or even having a key employee arrested.

Just thinking about it for a few moments, there are several stories from the past year that come to mind, in each case continuity planning could have made a huge difference in the outcome. Here are a couple examples:

• After the earthquake in Japan, a large auto company had to stop producing black trucks because their only supplier of black paint was located in Japan.
• FedEx had to respond to a public relations nightmare after one of their employees was caught on tape throwing a package over a 6-foot fence. The package contained a brand new computer monitor. Within a few days, the video had been seen nearly 8 million times. (You can watch the video on YouTube.)

Why is planning so important? Statistics show that nearly 85% of all companies that suffer some form of interruption fail within two years. Having a plan for what might happen and, more importantly, being able to immediately respond to any threat, can be the difference between success and failure. In most cases, you will know what needs to be done, but planning for it removes the delay in your response, ensures clear communication among key personnel, and enables the business to reach a new normal as quickly as possible.

• If your business is internet based, what would you do without phone lines or access to the internet? What would you do if your web site crashed because your hosting provider lost power… for three days?
• If your business is heavily reliant on one key supplier, how would you cope if they went out of business… tomorrow?
• If you run a service business that relies on a large workforce, how would you cope with an outbreak of avian flu that kept 60% of them home for week?

Considering and answering these types of questions is the foundational tool for building a workable business continuity plan. Knowing what questions to ask, where to find the answers, and how to communicate those answers to the right people is what makes the plan successful. One of the best business continuity and disaster planning tools I’ve seen is Survivor or Statistic. This software as a service application will lead you, step by step, through the questions and help you develop the answers that will work for your business. It then stores the answers in an easily accessible manner and gives you the necessary tools to build an emergency response plan.

Listen, you’re the boss. People expect you to have their backs, regardless of what comes your way. Planning to survive is the best way to improve your chances.

The post Business Continuity Planning with Survivor or Statistic appeared first on Bird Feed.