CopyDiva

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The campaign is over. There are no more doors to knock on, no more registered voters to call. The sense of hope and accomplishment felt by the team I worked with at 372 Main Street in Longmont, Colorado, was very moving. It’s clear that our work in Longmont made a difference, not just for Barack Obama but for the congressional race as well. We helped sway the tide to enormous numbers of mail-in ballots and early voters, so the lines were sporadic at every polling place in Longmont. We got more people activated and out to vote.

Volunteering

Working with these dedicated volunteers was an absolute pleasure, and it reminded me how critical volunteerism is to the future of our country. In other efforts where I volunteer, it has become more and more of a struggle, in the past 5 years or so, to get people to commit time to volunteering, leaving fewer people to shoulder the work that would be more fun and rewarding if shared by more people. I truly hope that many of you who volunteered for the campaign will now spend time volunteering again in your local communities, helping out causes you believe in. Try it. You might be surprised at how it changes your outlook on life.

We live in a country where more and more people are unhappy and feel disconnected. Taking part in your local community is a good way to counter that disconnection.

The campaign

From the first day I volunteered with the Obama campaign, it felt different. The philosophy of voter activation was built on respect of people’s ideas. We were asked to never argue with people about their beliefs. The goal being that even if we disagree, its ok, and we can still be friendly and respectful. This worked well, as I was even thanked by some McCain supporters who just wanted to talk to someone about what they believed.

We were never to use any scare tactics, but try to engage people in a discussion on issues that were important to them. I have to say, even though there were some angry people we spoke to — yesterday, one of our canvassers got chased by a woman swatting a broom around — generally speaking, the experience was worthwhile, and made an impact for Obama. Even on nights where I would have a few people hang-up on me, others on the phone bank would tell heartening stories from their night, so we’d all leave feeling good about what we were doing, whether we had a good or a bad night.

What I learned

Sure, everything didn’t go smoothly. I’d get 5 reminder calls to come in and volunteer for shifts I didn’t sign up for. We ran out of literature. The data entry forms were prone to errors. But, the efforts were organized and created opportunities for a lot of people to help, like:

• Shawna, the school teacher who ran 3 canvass trainings a day every weekend, then went out and canvassed too
• Will, the Brit who came here on his own dime months ago to volunteer for the campaign and spent every day there
• the anonymous guy who’d drop off bags of Burger King hamburgers at lunch and dinner time
• Padma, who quit her job to volunteer full time for the campaign, running phone banks and being the resident trouble shooter
• the woman who coordinated all the food, providing us with delicious, home-cooked meals for lunch and dinner every day during the last weeks of the campaign
• all the people who canvassed, phone banked, did lit drops, drove people to the polls. Some did one shift, some did one shift a day, one shift a week
• June and the rest of the people who came from California last week to help with whatever was needed

It’s a testament to the inclusiveness of the campaign that this was a very diverse group of people - white and black, immigrants, English and Spanish speaking, gay and straight, high school and college students, young families, retirees, doctors, tech workers, single parents, people who work 2 jobs and people who don’t have a job.

The campaign is over, but the hard work is really just beginning. Don’t forget what Obama said last night — that we have to do this together. That means we all have to stop thinking about ourselves. Reach out and help others. Some can do the heavy lifting, some can do the smaller stuff (like buying the hamburgers). But everyone has to pitch in.

Today I went boating on a small lake in northwestern Connecticut with my son and my mother. We had the option of renting a small variety of boats – 1 and 2 person kayaks, 1,2 and 4 person canoes, rowboats, paddle boats, even a motor boat. My son decided to be a lone ranger and chose a bright red kayak. My mom and I took the stalwart Coleman two-person canoe. The reason for our choice? The simple problem of portage — not dragging the boat down to the lake (frowned upon by the rental company) and trying to carry it up and down a rocky slope without dropping it. This became the key selling point for us.

Once portaged and situated, a relaxing and fun morning of boating was had by all, with my son playing chicken with his kayak across the chosen path of the canoe.

So what does this have to do with marketing, you may be wondering? Well, ponder the reasoning behind our selections. My son went for the cool looking, sleek and fast moving kayak. My mom and I, being more “old school,” went for the classic (though granted it wasn’t aluminum) forest green canoe, lumbering yet nimble in its own way. Each of us was looking for something in particular in the lake boating experience. (Here’s where it relates to marketing, so pay attention now) So, even though you may sell a particular product or service, don’t assume you understand the feelings behind why a customer selects your product or service. There could be lots of reasons, and even if you ask, you probably won’t get the real answer, because the customer may not be aware themselves.

Are you the industry standard or the largest provider? That will appeal to some. Is the competition’s just easier to buy? Like our portage problem, even though we checked out a few canoes first based purely on looks or size, the mere fact that we could lift the boat became the key selling point. If your purchase process is complicated, confusing or just long, you can lose the sale if your competitor makes it easy. Especially if you’re in a commoditized market. Even if you’re not, chances are if the purchase step is frustrating, customers may dip their oars elsewhere, thinking if the purchase process is difficult or confusing, what will customer service be like? Even after doing all the research and comparison shopping, a small glitch (it’s just too darn heavy) may make the difference between a purchase and a pass.

This book is certainly not new. It was published in 1998 — how about that for ancient history in the business world! But, that being said, it is by far one of the best books I have ever read about nurturing creativity and innovation within the typical confines of creative death that exist in corporations. The message in this book still falls on deaf ears today across most businesses, where creativity and innovation are regularly stifled.

MacKenzie worked at Hallmark for 30 years, originally starting off as a sketch artist and eventually worming his way into getting Hallmark to let him loose within the company to jump start creativity and innovation. How? With the job title of Creative Paradox, MacKenzie spent years putting together what he calls diversions with a purpose, shaking up the rules, traditions and “normal” ways of doing things within Hallmark to eliminate the mediocrity that comes with doing things the same way all time (just because they worked in the past). By taking orbit off the hairball (the corporate culture), MacKenzie shows how he helped foster innovation at Hallmark during his tenure (though after he left, apparently it was back to business as usual.

Even the way the book is presented isn’t the typical business book — drawings, weird type, colors — the presentation of the information is also all about the point of the book, which is that you don’t have to follow the same formula all the time. In fact, you might just create something brilliant if you don’t.

Buy it and keep it close by during those moments of corporate drudgery…

Every writer I know says that the hardest thing about writing is the start — actually laying down that first sentence. Once that’s done, the rest (usually) just follows naturally. So, I guess you could say that’s my biggest and best excuse for waiting and waiting to log my first post on this, the Copy Diva Blog.

Now that I got that over with (phew), let me explain a few things about this blog. I hope to stay on topic with commentary, how-to’s, book reviews and other assorted entries related to business-to-business marketing and copywriting, as well as more general business communications. I will probably veer off topic every now and then until I get the hang of it all, so be patient with me (though you’re always welcome to comment).