I’ve got to admit that I am really impressed with the way that Starbucks has been able to utilize the “halo effect” of the American Presidential election and specifically the renewal of promise brought by now President Barack Obama in a way that is not gimicky or based on novelty. Starbucks has effectively been able to bring a network of its customers together through a combination of online/offline marketing efforts like the I Voted or now Pledge 5 programs. At the same time the company has built much brand equity by discretely attaching themselves to all that Americans (and the rest of the world) have come to hope for in Barack Obama.

While it is obviously the execution of any marketing program that makes it worth doing, with these two campaigns Starbucks has been able to utilize the halo effect from Obama as the reason to call its consumers to action and in doing so has been able to use the Internet to connect the brand to its consumers and consumers to other consumers through their ideas, ideals and sacrifices. Continue Reading…

As the economy worsens and businesses continue to tighten their budgets I find more and more people in need of an emotional boost and a little jolt of re-inspiration to help make them a little bit more passionate about what they do. I am certainly not immune to the need for re-inspiration every now and again and just recently I was thinking of the ways I have been able to accomplish this for myself (or clients) and some of the innovative ways I have seen others do it. I think that many of these ideas can be implemented in both small (even your own one person) businesses and within departments or groups at large companies, the point is that there is a ton you can do for under $100 per employee (you can decide if it is monthly, yearly etc).

Specialized Business/Mini Cards

I know that many businesses hold their logo and branding guidelines as sacrosanct and would be appaled by this suggestion, but I find that this is one of the greatest ways you can inspire your employees (or yourself). My suggestion is that you order 100 mini cards from Moo.com and either spend some time designing them yourself or (in the case of a company that wants to protect branding) offer multiple “funky” or at least alternatively themed images that employees could choose from and let each person include the information they want – Facebook or LinkedIn Page, Twitter Name etc – as an alternative to their regular corporate cards. If you are doing it for yourself it is a fun and interesting way to take a good look at your business and find some new images and looks to inspire you and at the same time it also allows you to update the information on your regular cards for use in specialized (say Tweetups) settings.

For less than $35 you can get 100 individualized cards and a snazzy case for the cards. Pretty simple but also a nice little boost.

Give Incentives & Give Back

I have previously written about my idea of discontinuing swag at trade shows in favour of companies donating to charity in a trade for swiping my show pass and gathering my information. I also think that companies and individuals can inspire by combining a little bit of personal indulgence with giving back to a cause of choice. Of course there are those people who will say they would rather just have money, but I think that giving someone $100 is cheesy and really has little to no impact. With that said, if you take the time to choose a few different gift card (best with online redemption ability) options and let your employees choose the one (e.g. Amazon for the everything, Home Depot for the home builder, Blue Nile for the a real indulgence) that suits them best and combine it with a few charity options and let them choose the one they want to donate to for $100 you will have given a gift to your employee and let them donate (I think it is important to make the donation in the employee’s name so they know you didn’t do it for the tax receipt and also so it is indeed their donation) to a cause they believe in. If this is not a way to show people that you are willing to be creative and show them that you value them I don’t know what is.

Listen & Act

One of the trends we have seen in consumer relations is the two way conversations that are happening between companies like Dell, Zappos, Starbucks (see my post on the My Starbucks Idea site) and their customers. If you take a look at the Starbucks site, you will note that many of the suggestions that have been implemented were for the most part extremely low cost implementations (e.g. putting a spill protector in the cups, a birthday program) for a tremendous gain in customer loyalty. There is absolutely no reason why you should not be seeking the same feedback from your employees. The most important point in this regard is that you are willing to act on the ideas given and just as important, communicate the actions you are taking. Why not establish an internal site like the Starbucks site to share ideas received and actions taken? Although this does not impact people from a direct incentive perspective, there is little that is more inspiring than a boss who is willing to listen.

Team = Family

You want the people who work for you to care about your business as much as you do but lets be honest if they are not owners (and even then) it is hard for them to ever feel the same sense of passion that you carry around. With that said I cannot tell you the amount of business owners who tell me their employees are like family, my question back often is “do you think your employees feel the same way about you” or even more to the point “do you really believe your employees would consider themselves treated like family?” For the organizations that can honestly say yes I say kudos to you but for everyone else I think you need to take a step back and realize that if you want to talk family then you should get to know who your employees care about. You know who your family cares about and you know who your closest friends care about so why don’t you show your employees that you want to get to know them as well. Staying within my $100 budget why not organize a series of events, outings and get togethers in which the employee brings a guest to each. For an average of $33 per outing you could arrange a lunch at a local restaurant, bowling/ice skating/etc or even be as creative spending the money on bringing in day care for a day and going on a day outing to a mall or attraction with your employees.

Beer/Wine/Spirits = The Ultimate Inspiration

It is easy as the boss to try to be magnanamous and throw down your credit card to pay for drinks when you and your employees go out on a Thursday afternoon, but I am going to let you in on a little secret, they fully expected you to pay for those drinks (its why they are hanging out with you) and if you didn’t you would have looked cheap. So how can I also say that buying a beer for your employees can be one of the most inspirational things you will do for them? It is all in the way you do it that matters. Your employees do not want to hang out with you if they feel that you are just doing the obligitory thing and if you have never really interacted with them outside of their job functions this will be difficult to correct. However, if you are willing to step off the pedistal and be one of the “guys/gals” for a bit then you will be a much more effective leader and spending $100 per employee will seem like the best expenditure you make. My suggestion is that you make a monthly “order in” night with your team where a team member gets to pick a restaurant from which to order food and another employee is given some $ (again you can stick to my $100) to head to the local beer and liquor store and ensure everyone can let loose. You can throw in some music, rent a movie, do what ever you choose but just turn work into a dorm room for a couple of hours and your employees will look forward to it all month, I guarantee it.  *My only caveat (sometimes I hate the lawyer in me) is that you must provide a cab slip that day for all people so that nobody has to drive*

Give Feedback – The $0 Inspiration Tool

Formal reviews are so yesterday. People will tell you that it is only the millenials who want instant gratification and feedback but lets be honest, it is all of us. It doesn’t matter if you are 23 or 63, when you do a good job on something you want to have people tell you so. It is inspiring to hear that people appreciated your efforts and value your work. When you were a little kid and your parents put your “A” paper on the fridge didn’t it make you want to continue on that same level? When I get a complement at work that  means something to me I often still tell my parents (insert wife if I had one) about it. My point is that we absolutely relish getting feedback and since your organization is certianly not going to pay to have 360 reviews done every time someone needs a pat on the back I would recommend that you immediately check out Rypple. Finally a way to both seek and receive feedback in a manner that actually allows it to be timely and informal.

In conclusion, there is obviously no better inspirational tool than leading by example but sometimes you need a little pick me up and so I’ve shared these. I would love to hear your simple and cost effective ways to inspire and motivate.

One of the areas where companies inevitably spend money but see absolutely no return is in the area of company clothing and trade show give-aways. The company clothing for your employees at trade shows is ok, so is producing some t-shirts or ball caps with your logo but please do not try to convince me that giving away crap (and let’s be honest for the most part it is crap) with your logo on it does anything for your business. I say this fully cognisant of the fact that it absolutely boosts team spirit to give your employees some logo’d clothing but in terms of appealing to consumers partners and as importantly investors, free spending in this area can actually be detrimental and be a sign of either ego or just poor decision making. Don’t take my word for it, Mark Cuban recently wrote on his blog “Never ever ever buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a start-up is when someone sends me logo polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public it’s ok to buy for your own folks, but if you really think someone is going to wear your Yobaby.com polo you sent them in public, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money.”

In fact, I actually think that in the economic times we are facing companies that can be creative with the whole idea of “swag” – taking it from pointless gimmicks to something that actually promotes your brand – can be huge winners. If you feel the need to hand out branded items why not be creative and at the same time do some good? My idea for you is very easy to implement, actually captures leads for you (something your hoodie sweatshirt isn’t doing) and at the same time is a way to give the same $ you are spending to a worthwhile cause.

Changing The Game – Be Charitable & Do More Business

Instead of whatever crappy gift you were going to get branded – let’s take a budget of $15 per item – get some really funky business cards (check out some creative ones here or here) or some other wallet size item and have it custom printed with some info about a charity of your choice and a URL to visit. Give the card holder notice that by visiting the URL (set a custom URL like www.yourcompany.com/charity so people know this is specific to the fed you gave them) and upon submitting their contact info (or whatever you seem necessary) you will donate $2 to the charity referenced on the card. Give each card a unique code to ensure it is entered only once and be sure to put up one of those fancy charity thermometers showing just how much money has been raised to date. You may also want to be generous and start off your fund with an initial donation which will have the bonus of people assuming many before them have participated.

The total cost to you of a promtion like this is actually probably lower than any other swag and you accomplish the business goal of gathering leads and building your business. Although it might be cool to think of thousands of people waking around in your branded gear, in reality it is not going to happen. Spend your money on something that will actually grow your business and at the same time will prove you have a staunchly business mind but a generous human heart.

Oh ya and if you really “must” have someone showoff your branded gear you may as well check out girlinyourshirt – at least that way you get the satisfaction of knowing your t-shirt gets some love (heck I’d love your shirt for $75 too).