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How To Be A Market Maker
How To Be A Market Maker
"I found the inspiration to be a market maker from an unlikely source: Cornflakes with John Lennon..."
humanity, and storytelling. The Pixar team created movies that somehow turned animated objects like toy cowboys into fully realized characters injected with humanity. In doing so, Pixar made it cool for anyone to enjoy a family film: single gay male urbanites, suburban parents, children, teens too self-consciously hip for Bambi to name but a few demographics. Pixar has touched. Pixar launched animated movies that children can enjoy again as fully-grown adults and that adults can enjoy for the first time without children in tow. By contrast, even Disney classics like Snow White and Pinocchio are forever remembered as animated family movies that children appreciate the most. As Brent Schlender wrote in a Fast Company recollection of Steve Jobs, Pixar upended the entire business model of animation. Although Jobs's contributions to Pixar were more financial than creative, the company succeeded because Jobs recognized that at its core, Pixar is a content company, not a creator of computer animation. But market makers don't always bankroll visionary companies or launch new products. As a onetime Apple employee named Guy Kawasaki demonstrates, you can also influence behavior by acting as a catalyst for someone else's creations. Watch Steve Jobs deliver the 2005 Stanford commencement address >
As Kawasaki is the first to tell you, he did not create the title of marketing evangelist. (The title existed before he joined Apple.) But he certainly defined evangelism through practical application, and in doing so he learned the difference between evangelism and sales. He would later make the distinction this way: "Sales is rooted in what's good for me. Evangelism is rooted in what's good for you." And Apple's success, rooted in a loyal following among passionate user groups, was a testament to his work. Kawasaki became a public figure after he started teaching others about the art of evangelism by speaking, and writing best-selling books such as the aforementioned Selling the Dream, in which he put a stake in the ground by defining evangelism in ambitious terms: Evangelism is the process of convincing people to believe in your product or idea as much as you do. It means selling your dream by using fervor, zeal, guts, and cunning. He was an early adopter of digital, using a popular blog, How to Change the World, as a launching pad to build a brand via social media (although he would later turn his attention away from blogging and focus on using platforms like Google Plus and Twitter to share content via social media). Throughout his career, Kawasaki has epitomized the role of idea curator. As a founding member of Garage Ventures, he's seeded start-ups. He launched Alltop, an online newsstand that curates best social media and news on the web. If idea curators are "the new superheros of the Web" in the words of Fast Company, then surely he's the first of the great superheroes. Here's how he describes his role in his ebook, What the Plus: Google+ for the Rest of Us: By necessity I became a curator, which means that I find good stuff and point people to it. Curating is a valuable skill because there is an abundance of good content but many people dont have the time to find it. The best curators find things before anyone else does. This is not to say that as a curator, Kawasaki lacks a personal vision. In his latest book, Enchantment, he articulates a clear vision for how marketers can build enduring relationships through our personal values and behavior. As I wrote when I reviewed Enchantment in 2011, Guy wants marketers and entrepreneurs to aspire for something more ambitious: changing the world one person at a time through behavioral attributes such as trustworthiness and likability. In other words, being a marketing evangelist starts with building personal trust and treating other people with respect. Focus on values and the great marketing and communication skills will follow. For instance, communicating with clarity and brevity is not just good marketing but also reflects deeper values of respecting other people and their time. Watch Guy Kawasaki discuss the art of enchantment >
Guy's personal appeal even influences his two most recent books What the Plus and APE: How to Publish a Book. What the Plus is ostensibly an in-depth look at the Google Plus social media platform, but he really offers a manifesto for people to treat each other with respect on social media. He urges people to treat their social sites as their homes and respect the sites of others as well. APE, published in December 2012, is a guide to self-publishing, and as you might expect, the book contains in-depth tips for how to write, edit, design, and market a book. But whereas some pundits might focus on the mechanics of self-publishing and marketing, Kawasaki also discusses the importance of an author's personal behavior as a factor in helping a book succeed. In a chapter that describes how to build a personal brand, he and co-author Shawn Welch write, "Likeability is the second pillar of a personal brand. Jerks seldom build great brands." He goes on to write, "If you want people to like you, you have to like them first. This means accepting people no matter their race, creed, net worth, religion, gender, politics, sexual orientation, or your perception of their level of intelligence. It means not imposing your values on others." Kawasaki is like a Trojan Horse: you read his ideas expecting to become a better marketer, and then he slips in thoughtful advice about how to be a better person. He does so with credibility because he links personal likeability and values to successful marketing. By celebrating and promoting the talents of those around him, Guy Kawasaki is an evangelist in more ways than one.
As the Body Shop grew in popularity expanding to 20 locations in Europe and Asia by 1984 so did the scale of her social campaigning. In 1985, she used shop windows of her stores to promote the Greenpeace Save the Whales movement "the first explicit tie-in between products and causes," according to The Guardian. She and the Body Shop actively lobbied against animal testing in other businesses, which led to the banning of testing of cosmetics on animals in Britain in 1997 (and across Europe after her death). Her adoption of fair trade practices was nothing short of revolutionary. Instead of buying her cosmetics ingredients at the lowest prices possible from the commodities markets, she sourced raw products from exporters from developing countries in order to promote their economic growth. For instance, after visiting local farms in Nicaragua in 1998, she started importing sesame seed oil from 130 farmers in Achupa, Nicaragua, which helped the town rebuild from Hurricane Mitch. After she learned about Amazonian tribes protesting against a hydroelectric project that would have flooded their lands, she agreed to buy Brazil nuts (used to make moisturizers and conditioners), which created revenue that the tribes needed to protect their lands. Had Roddick been performing pure acts of charity in her trade practices, the Body Shop would have become a charming story about doing good but nothing more. The reason her fair trade practices spread to other businesses is that the Body Shop flourished because of them. Because Roddick cleverly and loudly drew attention to her practices, she attracted consumers who felt that buying her products contributed to a greater good. Owning a Body Shop skin moisturizer meant helping to protect a rainforest in Brazil. Eventually, so many businesses would become interested in fair trade practices that a Fairtrade International Organization would arise in order to secure better deals for farmers and workers and certify businesses that follow fair trade practices. What's more, Roddick made it not just acceptable but desirable for companies ranging from Ben & Jerry's to Starbucks to espouse practices of corporate social responsibility as part of their business growth models. Today her spirit lives on through the growth of the B Corps movement in the United States, through which corporations such as Patagonia are certified for adhering to best practices in corporate accountability. For instance, one of the reasons Ben & Jerry's was certified as a B Corp member is that the company devotes nearly half of its cost of goods sold to helping smaller suppliers. The Body Shop would eventually expand to more than 2,600 locations globally and generate about $1 billion in annual revenue, and Roddick remained a passionate activist to her last days. After being diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2004, she became an active lobbyist for public funding to stop the disease which was just one of many causes she championed. Guy Kawasaki would characterize her as "the quintessential evangelist" selling not just a product, but also a dream for making the world better.
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Throughout his career, Ertegun would have an active hand in developing and promoting the careers of musical giants across several genres. In the 1970s, Atlantic rescued the Rolling Stones from the brink of financial bankruptcy and elevated the band to mainstream cultural icons. His personal commitment to Led Zeppelin not only signing them to Atlantic but hanging out with the band all night amid post-concert backstage debauchery helped propel a band that dominated and influenced modern hard rock. When he died after tripping and hitting his head backstage at a Rolling Stones concert in 2006, his loss was so widely felt in the music world that Led Zeppelin eventually reunited after 25 years to play a benefit concert in his honor. Ahmet Ertegun's greatest gift to music was his eye for talent and the will to mold that talent into wildly popular music that broke through different genres. He and legendary Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler "could hear the talent in its rawest form before even the talent knew what it wanted to do." But he did more than find talent he shaped it. He played the music of Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey for Ruth Brown to teach her blues and develop her singing style. He actively collaborated with Ray Charles in the studio in 1953 and pushed him until Charles found his break-through with "I Got a Woman." An important distinction needs to be made: he was not a tastemaker or molder of talent just because he loved music and he wanted to make a ton of money (although music and the creature comforts that come with wealth were important to him): he loved his artists. As Neil Young said at a tribute to Ertegun held in 2007: "Ahmet was our man. I just hope today's musicians have someone like Ahmet taking care of them." Watch Ahmet Ertegun's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 >
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Passion
Steve Jobs best exemplifies a trait common to all market marketers: a burning passion. Steve Jobs "put passion into products," noted James B. Stewart in one of the many heart-felt tributes to Jobs written in the aftermath of his death in 2011. In his acclaimed biography, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson describes the moment when Jobs unveiled iTunes to jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, who turned out to be an indifferent audience: "Watch what it can do!" Jobs kept insisting when Marsalis's attention would wander. "See how the interface works." Marsalis later recalled, "I don't care much about computers, and kept telling him so, but he goes on for two hours. He was a man possessed. After a while, I started looking at him and not the computer, because I was so fascinated with his passion." Isaacson also recounts the time Jobs decided to make a major overhaul to the design of the iPhone as the project neared completion, telling designer Jonathan Ive that "'I didn't sleep last night because I realized that I just don't love it' ... Ive, to his dismay, instantly realized Jobs was right." In fact, Jobs expressed his passion for design in every aspect of his life. He personally supervised the construction of an oldfashioned brick factory-style building for Pixar, and according to Brent Schlender, if the colors of the custom-made bricks were not distributed evenly enough, Jobs made the bricklayers tear apart the bricks and start over. (But those exacting standards also had a down side. When people failed to live up to what he wanted, he could be brutal and insufferable, as you can read in Ben Austin's Wired August 2012 cover piece, "Do You Really Want to Be Like Steve Jobs?".) All the market makers profiled in this white paper demonstrate passion. Anita Roddick, founder of the Body Shop, was passionate about human rights, and, in particular, women's rights. The entire premise behind the Body Shop was selling cosmetics without sexism and eschewing the cult of youth. Guy Kawasaki is passionate about injecting enchanting values and practices in the work place and if you've ever worked with him, you know he has an equally strong zeal for clear, simple communication. Ahmet Ertegun, co-founder of Atlantic Records, was so passionate about music that he sometimes lived in the studio with the artists on his label.
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go get XYZ to write software, and they in turn will get more customers to buy your software and buy Macs'," he said in an interview with Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell. "We never thought it through that much. That's what happened, but that was not the plan." Similarly, Anita Roddick once famously said about the early days of the Body Shop, "We recycled everything, not because we were environmentally friendly but because we didn't have enough bottles. It was a good idea. What was unique about it, with no intent at all, no marketing nous, was that it translated across cultures, across geographical barriers and social structures. It wasn't a sophisticated plan, it just happened like that." By contrast, Jobs and Ertegun seemingly revealed from Day One, long before they even became famous. But all four of our market makers have made their marks.
Taking Risks
Ahmet Ertegun was a market maker in the truest sense of the word. He was also a risk taker and a willingness to take risks is the fourth major attribute of market makers. Market makers are willing to try and fail. Founding a pop record company in the 1940s was in fact an enormous risk: there were no rules, no best practices, and no mentors from which to learn. When Ertegun and his business partners attempted to get the business off the ground in its early days, Ertegun nearly went broke, and Atlantic nearly went out of business. And we all know about the risks that Steve Jobs took, not all of which worked, such as the NeXT. The Body Shop had no reason to succeed: Anita Roddick had zero business experience and was taking on a well-entrenched industry. Guy Kawasaki left the comforts of Apple to essentially create his own brand. Their willingness to risk reflects their ability to dream.
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2. Be a thought leader
Another effective way to be a marketer maker is to become a publisher of your own vision, which is what thought leadership is all about. The explosion of social publishing platforms Wordpress and Tumblr, to name a few make it possible for you to create your own imprint with practically zero barrier to entry. (Blogging is the route I've chosen.) If you don't fancy yourself a writer, then express your vision with sight and sound that's why Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube exist. You can also work through your employer's own social media and thought leadership programs and I assume any enlightened company has one now. Contribute to your company blog and let your community manager handle the heavy lifting. Nominate yourself as a speaker for SXSW and other events. Embracing the role of thought leader means being bold enough to leave a personal imprint on everything you do through your vision and ideas, even when you are not publishing white papers or delivering speeches. For instance, years ago, I was in charge of creating the agenda and managing a meeting of creative account teams for a services firm. Running an event is a hard job, but you can wield enormous influence through the role. For me, exerting influence meant shaking up the agenda by bringing in successful producer and musician Dave Stewart to appear. The choice of Dave Stewart reflected my personal belief that creativity and fresh ideas were shaping the future of digital advertising. In a session that was jarring, shocking, and never boring, Stewart showed everyone in the audience what the creative process looks like from the inside out and challenged everyone in the room to think differently about their jobs. Dave Stewart was the kind of speaker who creates discomfort. The staid marketers and even the more forward-thinking creative types listened in stunned silence at times as Dave shared with us some of the more controversial work he's done. I knew I was on to something with Dave after the presentation when attendees walked up to me and almost unanimously said, "He made me think." A market maker should provide an experience that makes you think.
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3. Be a social catalyst
If you flat-out lack the time and energy to be a thought leader, then you can still play the role of catalyst by empowering other people your fellow employees to inject fresh ideas in your company. Social media has given rise to a new era of employee empowerment. You can become a powerful catalyst by helping your employees to unleash their ideas as Guy Kawasaki does. Even with the advent of social media, most major companies view branding as the province of the top executives and the marketing team, never to be really trusted in the hands of rank-and-file employees. But as Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research wrote in his book Empowered, companies like Best Buy are waking up to the power of their own employees to represent their brands and are giving them tools to do it. Among the best corporate social catalysts are Intel's Ekaterina Walter and Ford's Scott Monty, who have used their positions as social evangelists to open up the cultures of the companies they represent. (That's exactly what I've been asked to do at iCrossing, and as I explained to PSFK in 2011, I'm excited and energized to be playing a role in the change occurring across many industries.) Being a social catalyst is not a mysterious process. Again, tools exist to help you such as social media guidelines and strategies (which you should assign yourself to create). Many of those tools can be found for free across the social world. For instance, here is a link to iCrossing's. And here are 200 more from other organizations. Go ahead. Download and adapt them for your needs.
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Jeff Bezos
Has completely disrupted industries ranging from retailing to publishing
Walt Disney
Invented family entertainment
Ahmet Ertegun
Influenced the face of popular music
Steve Jobs
Embedded technology in just about every aspect of our lives
Guy Kawasaki
Helped turn consumers into marketers
Phil Knight
"Just Do It" made personal achievement cool for everyone; helped launch modern-day cult of sports celebrity
Madonna
Shaped the look and style of the MTV Generation and constantly reinvents herself
Jim Murphy
Made technology sexy to CMOs
Anita Roddick
Launched capitalism with a conscience
ICROSSING, INC., A HEARST COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Oprah Winfrey
Her Book Club was the ultimate taste maker
Mark Zuckerberg
Has helped redefined how we socialize
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