Flush The Recession Simply & Ecologically

The Bathroom Blogfest 09 theme is "Flush The Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces." To me that captures creativity - flush out useless assumptions - and simplicity - flush out needless complexity - and paves the way for relentless focus on what matters to end users and customers. Doing so allows you to explore - or plunge into - forgotten spaces and unexpected approaches for solving insurmountable challenges including ecological ones.

Jim Gould shared how "making things simple is not simple." But, simple can be elegant and, as BJ Fogg explained, simplifying successfully can be persuasive.

For example, being inspired by a walnut shell to create an asymmetrical bathtub as described in MetropolisMag.com Comfort Zone. What a beautiful and simple solution! The end result is ergonomic and optimized for reclining on one end and reading from the other. The material insulates better; the tub is molded in a single less costly and time-consuming operation not subject to cracks along seams; the interior incline insures that no water remains in the tub.

Another example is identifying supply chain solutions for supporting sustainable tissue paper products as Kimberly-Clark has via WWF's Global Forest & Trade Network. Again, simple.

And, although done here to save money, what about shifting from four-ply to two-ply tissue as the California Riverside County government has [interesting perk, wouldn't you say?].

As I observe elegant and simple solutions around me, I can't help but be impressed. They solve problems and do so in an eye-catching and memorable way. They are also practical and efficient.

Take this toilet from the recently renovated ladiesroom at the NYC Princeton Club.

And, what about developing elegant and practical approaches to flushing with less water? Here, also from the NYC Princeton Club ladies room, an art-like chrome flush mechanism. Notice the two flushing options...

Although more utilitarian, the ladiesroom from the Herman Miller office in NYC, the first LEED Gold space in the city, also offers a two flush option.

I discovered it this past June 30th, 2009, when I attended a luncheon panel on The Green Consumer: Fact, Fiction and the Future of Marketing sponsored by The Women's Network for a Sustainable Future with Andrea Learned.

This was my first experience having a choice between high or low water volume to use. My reaction: simple, practical and ecologically responsible.

Don't you love these type solutions? I do.

Thanks to the Bathroom Blogfest, I've had the opportunity to pay attention and admire ones that truly seem to Flush The Recession, simply and ecologically.

Thank you for reading and participating in Bathroom Blogfest 09.

I hope this post inspires you to find inspiration everywhere you look and to consider new approaches to the tried and true.

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BJ Fogg's Persuasive Bathroom Epiphany: MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer 09

BJ Fogg, Founder and Director of the Persuasive Technology Lab of Stanford University, described his persuasive behavior model via a bathroom epiphany scenario during MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer in Chicago, Oct. 21-22, 2009.

Definitely an appropriate and fascinating addition to Bathroom Blogfest 09!

BJ's keynote was titled Design For Change: Why Facebook & Twitter are Winning. He shared his research into how computers affect persuasion [i.e., captology], with particular focus on persuasive social networks like Facebook. Intrigued?

You should be as his presentation gets to the heart of how we increasingly communicate using the technology platforms available and try to generate behavior changes - i.e., persuade others to take an action - that benefit us/our brand/our products and/or services.

It also puts into better perspective offline persuasion.

Imagine this bathroom scenario: BJ Fogg faces himself in the mirror and doesn't like what he sees. That vision motivates him to seek out "hope in a bottle" [i.e., Olay Regenerist], which requires a behavior change [dutiful application]. A missed trigger, though, prevents an application. The only way to amend the oversight is by placing the trigger in BJ's path so he can't miss it.

In terms of BJ Fogg's Behavior Model, three elements are necessary. They must also be present together at the same time:
+ trigger
+ motivation
+ ability

Triggers come in two forms: hot or cold. We should aspire to HOT triggers as they allow you to take action now [e.g., pick up a free copy, just roasted coffee from EAT on Swallow Street, buy tickets here]. A cold trigger on the other hand enables no immediate action [think a print ad or radio spot call to action; you must do several something elses before taking action]. Cold triggers have become cheap and unimportant.

Particularly effective is combining a hot trigger with a facilitator [e.g., save the box so you can take your designer hotel soap home].

Core motivators include:
+ pleasure/instant gratification vs. pain
+ hope/anticipation of something good vs. fear
+ social acceptance vs. rejection

BJ urges the lightest touch of motivation that works [e.g., think of the subtlety of eBay or LinkedIn]. Also, once the motivation identified, you can focus on the triggers and facilitators.

Ability is critical. If the person whose behavior you are trying to change cannot do what you ask him/her to do, you will not effect change.

You must also increase that ability by simplifying rather than through training. For example: Twitter is popular because it is so easy to use; it requires no training.

Simplicity - defined by 6 factors that change depending on the individual and the context - makes it easier for people to take on a new behavior.

The 6 simplicity factors include: time, money, physical effort, brain cycles, social deviance and non-routine. BJ's Behavior Model section on ability includes a 12 minute video explaining his simplicity framework from which I learned that simplicity is a function of the scarcest resource at that moment [e.g., if I am time-crunched, don't make me jump through intellectual hoops to take action] and that expectations play a key role in the perception of simplicity.

Applying all of this to Facebook which BJ Fogg considers extremely effective in triggering persuasion [hence the successful Stanford Facebook Class], consider the many Facebook triggers you receive notice of via email [photo tagging, comment strings,...], the status update ritual, the reflexes [comment, like, etc.]. Facebook has created rituals around these triggers, making it easy to take on new behaviors.

Once certain behaviors in place, you can evaluate how to further change behavior. According to BJ, 35 ways to change behavior exist, depending on what schedule vs. what type of behavior change. He expects to have his Behavior Grid formalized by Thanksgiving...

Some other interesting observations:
+ think clearly and run many trials
+ think small, ok to fail
+ winning rituals become the platforms of tomorrow
+ everything big started out small

As I digest this framework for behavior and persuasion, I can't help but think through examples of hot not-to-be-missed triggers combined with motivation level and ability to take on a certain action.

It has me reconsidering my off- and on-line actions and appreciating the truly simple and effective ones that persuade me to change behavior.

What about you? What do you think? How do you see implementing persuasion in what you do?

Here is the .47s MarketingProfs video of BJ Fogg Will Be In Chicago and the social media release on the event. Mack Collier's Recap of the Digital Marketing Mixer includes a section on BJ Fogg's presentation.

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Making Things Simple Is Not Simple - Simplicity In Design Solutions

I'm running behind on my Bathroom Blogfest 09 posts. My originally planned post for today - about BJ Fogg's MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer keynote - isn't done. Instead, I'll share with you tomorrow's post with thoughts on Simplicity and Simple Design Solutions for a space that shares kinship with bathrooms...

Simplicity.

My friend Jim Gould from the Floor Covering Institute recently spent time in China visiting factories. In one, he encountered a marvelous sign placed in the men's bathroom. He, unfortunately, had no camera on hand, but he did send me an email with the words from the sign:

"Making Things Simple is not Simple."

Perfect - don't you think? From all perspectives.

Simplicity in Design Solutions

In early September, FastCompany.com featured this Exclusive Interview: The Invention of the Automist which caught my attention. The Automist is an award-winning fire-fighting faucet for the kitchen which is where "60% of all residential fires start."

Simplicity played an important role in the design solution that the two designers, Yusuf Muhammed and Paul Thomas, came up with: they needed one that was "cheap and easy to retrofit, passive, and effective." Simple, right? But not simple.

The Automist faucet "has misting nozzles in its base, and is fitted with two parts: A under-sink, high-pressure pump--not too different from car-wash hoses--that diffuses the mist, and a fire-detecting sensor that can't be thrown off by false alarms. Rather than dousing a fire, the Automist quickly creates a dense fog--an airborne water concentration of 30%, which is enough to contain a fire and control its heat."

Here you see a rendering of the Automist faucet.

I recommend that you watch the product video, too.

Making Things Simple is Not Simple.

But, it is beautiful and effective.

Happy Bathroom Blogfest 09! Flush the Recession and Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces.

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Listening to Customers & Bathroom Blogfest 09

One reason for participating in the Bathroom Blogfest - other than its role in enhancing the customer retail experience - is the opportunity to apply a fresh perspective on subjects often taken for granted. Take listening to customers.

I've mentioned listening before -- with Twitter and as a starting point for simple marketing.

Listening is critical.

How often do you listen to your customers? How frequently do you try to walk in her shoes to remind yourself of the points that Liane Li Evans cautioned us against in Liane Evans Blends Social Media & Search For Greater Marketing Impact? How do your customers refer to you and your products? Is it toilet or is it commode?

Fortunately, listening to customers can take place at any time, both online and offline. It's a matter of getting started and being open to the resulting interactions.

Via Twitter, I came across Faith Sheridan and learned that her bathroom design had been chosen for the HGTV's Designer's Challenge. It successfully created a serene and relaxing spa-like setting in what used to be an uninspiring master bathroom. I guarantee that Faith was able to envision and bring to life such a wonderful design because she listened closely to the homeowners and how they described their dream. Watch the video linked to from her blogpost; you'll get a feel for the space and how unique it is now.

And, via a LinkedIn lead that Copywriting Maven Roberta Rosenberg forwarded me -via Facebook- I discovered KBB, the UK based Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom Industry's largest exhibition and network and KBB News.

I explored further and found a Twitter account @kbb news, a LinkedIn Group, and Flickr photo sets with the most lovely bathroom images... Oh, and they also have a blog, Grahame's KBB blog, active since August of 2008. All platforms for listening to customers.

[Interestingly, the National Kitchen & Bath Association [the US equivalent?] website, although it offers plenty of interesting consumer Kitchen & Bath tools, and lots of kitchen and bath inspiration, doesn't offer access to social tools. I remember their having a blogger back in 2007...]

How do you listen to your customers? How do you elicit feedback from them or simply observe how they go about interacting with you?

And, how accessible are you to them?

Listening leads to insights. Insights allow you to truly Flush The Recession. Perhaps you haven't ventured far into your customers' listening space up til now. I'm hopeful that you will want to plunge into those forgotten spaces, start listening [definitely rethink the experience that your bathrooms offer customers] and turn those insights into innovations that differentiate you from everyone else.

Simple marketing starts with listening, no?

Happy Bathroom Blogfest 09!


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Liana Evans Blends Social Media & Search For Greater Marketing Impact

The Emergence and Rise of Mass Social Media originally uploaded by JASElabs.
In yesterday's post Bathroom Blogfest 2009: Ready To Flush Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces, I promised a recap of Liane Evans at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer in Chicago addressing "Blending Social Media and Search: Marketing for a Greater Impact: Understanding it's about being found."

Liana "Li" Evans is director of social media with Serengeti Communications. She exudes intense passion for social media and search combined with deep knowledge and her session put into practical perspective how to market for greater impact.

Something we all need, right?

The premise that immediately resonated with me was being found online. It's something I'm reminded of each day and preach intensely to those around me.

Truly, it's not about pushing or forcing irrelevant messages that don't engage end users. Now, the combination of social with search creates opportunities to interact, have conversations, and share perspectives with and generally create relevant meaning for customers. Think about it, social media represents conversation + strong elements of customer service and public relations; it's focused on longterm relationship building [e.g., Zappos gets 75% of new customers via social word of mouth].

[Look at the search results a query like "Charleston dance" delivers: a combination of video clips, Wikipedia, about and historic entries... even a Facebook link. All mostly social results.]

But search isn't limited to just search engines. YouTube, for example, is the 2nd most important source of searches and Craigslist, MySpace and Facebook matter, too.

At the same time, marketers should realize that the Breakup has happened. Our end user customers determine what's important, not us.

Rather than trust a brand's description of benefits, they form their appreciation based on what they glean from their social network. Relevance to them and their lives matters. Brands that listen and observe what's going on have a chance to take part in the relevance. They can even create relevance by participating in social media tools like blogs - which are valuable archives for permanent, searchable and resuable content [vs. say a telephone script or call that gets repeated ad infinitum] - and being open to interaction.

That's where SEO plays a fundamental role, ensuring that blog post title tags, digital assets and content are optimized, that they are tagged and the content categorized.

Now, getting back to being found online.

Understanding - and listening to - your customers and audience is absolutely KEY! That means understanding how they search, what language they use and how they prefer to consume content?

Critical questions. Basic ones, too.

As Li asked us, if a potential customer searches for 'toilet' and all of your content has been written from the perspective of 'commode,' what are your chances for being found?

Our terms, acronyms and industry lingo are meaningless. Customers will search for what they need using their language. Don't you think it would be valuable to be found when they do so?

Finally, remember that your audience decides what is valuable, not you. Your content should be portable and easy to share [which makes it easy to find, too!]. Don't be stingy: link to others, say thank you and spread the love and remember it isn't all about you: other people make it easy to find you as much as a search engine does.

Additional advice: learn to write; be sure to listen and don't delegate social media to interns; they just don't know and can't speak to customers for you.

Of the 8 Killer Social Media and Digital Marketing Quotes that Jay Baer listed in his post 33 Hot Social Media and Digital Marketing Tips from last week's MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer conference, three came from Li Evans...

“Content Doesn’t Win. Optimized Content Wins” – Li Evans
“Your Customers Are Listening in Social Media. And So Are Search Engines” – Li Evans
“Tactics Without a Strategy is Worse Than Doing Nothing at All” – Li Evans

Listen carefully to your customers, understand how they go about searching and then integrate that knowledge into your digital presence. Blend social media with search and you will create greater marketing impact! After all, content built on "commode" when your customers search on "toilet" does you no good...

Happy Bathroom Blogfest 09!


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Bathroom Blogfest 2009: Ready To Flush Recession & Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces

Are you ready? I hope so since the 2009 Bathroom Blogfest is ready to "Flush The Recession and Plunge Into Forgotten Spaces" and offer suggestions and inspiration for simplicity and social integrated into your marketing...

I've just issued a publishing plan for the week on Flooring The Consumer.

Time to share with you what's in store for The Simple Marketing Blog, too. Here goes:

Monday: A recap of Liane Evans' MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer 09 presentation titled "Blending Social Media and Search" during which she touched on bathrooms.

Tuesday: Listening to customers showcases bathroom innovation and creativity - a sure way to Flush The Recession, right?

Wednesday: Another recap from the MarketingProfs recent Digital Mixer 2009 in Chicago. This time of BJ Fogg, who brilliantly shared with us epiphany-persuasion moments that happened to have taken place in -yes, you guessed it- a bathroom during his keynote presentation titled "Design For Behavior: Why Facebook & Twitter Are Winning."

Thursday: Simple Design Solutions for an interesting space that shares kinship with Bathrooms...

Friday: How green and simplicity express themselves in bathrooms.

Please note that I am holding a Kaboom contest this week. Details to be released tomorrow on Flooring The Consumer. My readers here are eligible, too...

And, now, here is the first post for this week's event: David Reich's Bathroom Blogfest post titled Going on the Go.

Look for more unusual perspectives from the bloggers participating in Bathroom Blogfest ’09:

• Susan Abbott at Customer Experience Crossroads http://www.customercrossroads.com
• Reshma Anand at Qualitative Research Blog http://onqualitativeresearch.blogspot.com/
• Shannon Bilby at From the Floors Up http://fromthefloorsup.com/
• Shannon Bilby and Brad Millner at My Big Bob’s Blog http://blog.mybigbobs.com/
• Laurence Borel at Blog Till You Drop http://www.laurenceborel.com/
• Jeanne Byington at The Importance of Earnest Service http://blog.jmbyington.com/
• Becky Carroll at Customers Rock! http://www.customersrock.net
• Leslie Clagett at KB Culture www.kbculture.blogspot.com
• Katie Clark at Practical Katie http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/
• Iris Shreve Garrott at Checking In and Checking Out http://circulating.wordpress.com/
• Julie at Julie’s Cleaning Secrets Blog http://cleaningsecrets.greatcleaners.com/
• Marianna Hayes at Results Revolution http://www.resultsrevolution.com
• Maria Palma at People To People Service http://www.people2peopleservice.com/
• Professor Toilet at Professor Toilet’s Blog http://www.professortoilet.com/
• David Reich at My 2 Cents http://reichcomm.typepad.com/
• Bethany Richmond at The Carpet and Rug Institute Blog http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com
• Carolyn Townes at Becoming a Woman of Purpose http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com
• Stephanie Weaver at Experienceology http://experienceology.blogspot.com
• C.B. Whittemore at Flooring The Consumer http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com and Simple Marketing Blog http://www.SimpleMarketingBlog.com
• Linda Wright at Lindaloo.com: Build Better Business with Better Bathrooms http://lindaloo.com/

Happy Bathroom Blogfest 2009!

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Integrating Social Into Traditional: 10 Daily Fix Tips For Remarkable Blogger Events

My latest post on the MarketingProfs Daily Fix appeared on 10/6/09. It's titled "Integrating Social Into Traditional: 10 Tips For A Remarkable Blogger Event."

The genesis for this post was a blogger event I attended earlier this year. Having taken part in several blogger events, I had high expectations for quality interaction, for well-thought out details, for traditional basics, in what looked to be classier surroundings than normal.

Although I met a charming person whose conversation about his products inspired me, I was disappointed. The event could have been so much more than it was -- regardless of whether it was blogger focused or not, and even moreso given the blogger angle.

I'm a practical marketer. I'm also intensely optimistic and like to learn from situations. My solution to this type disappointment is to think through events I've organized and attended, compare and contrast them [something I learned to do well studying Art History at Smith College], and compile a list of Tips that integrate social into traditional and pave the way for an Outstanding Event with Bloggers.

Hence the article.

A special thanks for two additional tips that my commentors contributed:
+ Don't overlook the value of picking up the phone [from Sonny Gill]
+ Consider having greeters at the entrance [from Elaine Fogel]

Do others come to mind?

Thanks for reading.

Note: Thank you to PerkettPRsuasion for including my article in their Persuasive Picks for the week of 10/5/09!

Added 8/31/2010: Influencer Marketing is Hard/Influencers Suck from Rocket Watcher



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