In October I had to queue to get into the Likeminds Conference in Exeter. This time I was one of the many getting kicked out by Scott Gould at the end of the night!

Well they went and did again didn’t they? The organisers, speakers and delegates raised the bar without creating one! “People to people” was the focus of this full day conference which threw up just as many questions as answers, but that’s the point.

There were particular vibrant and engaging presentations from Jonathan Akwue, Joanne Jacobs, Olivier Blanchard and the irrepressible Chris Brogan. Even the thought of Chris stood on stage in his Superman underpants did nothing to dissuade the audience (sorry you needed to be in the room to get that one!)

There was nothing irksome about the day. Superbly organised with a truly community feel, we all felt a little bit human again. The key lightbulb moments;

1. “When you give people a voice, you have to be prepared for what they are going to say.” Jonathan Akwue. That one  is for all you leaders out there!

2. “Understand, participate and then lead.” John Bell. Yep you got to eat an elephant in bite sized chunks.

3. “Having a prescence in social media is worthless unless you do something with it.” Olivier Blanchard. You know sometimes a blinding flash of the obvious is so bloomin’ powerful.

4. “You have to make people feel special.” Chris Brogan. Many of us commented we did feel special!

The buzz in the room was inspiring and so positive, there were obviously no Daily Mail readers in sight! People talk a lot about the social media hype. I’m curious to what they mean by that. Social media for many businesses is the Titanic’s iceberg and its no good re arranging the deckchairs on the old ship anymore. Its a difficult time for many companies. But, perhaps by humanising the relationships we have with people, we can actually thrive.

This conference showed that even in six months not just the technology has moved on, but so has our thinking. It can’t be taken as a token gesture, its serious stuff and it has serious implications. Miss the next one? Er no!

It’s an interesting question. If social media is to, actually it has, taken over and because of the demands of the new marketing approach that’s emerging, why do we need a marketing department at all? In his blog post http://thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/becoming-p2p-principal-characteristics-of-the-new-social-business/ Olivier Blanchard sets out that a P2P business (people to people) doesn’t even need a Social Media Director citing that social media is completely embedded in the organisation. He has a point!

Social media removes the need for one department to be responsible for marketing. Indeed, perhaps if a company does have a marketing department, they are completely subverting what social media can do. Marketing, in the future, will be about valuable conversations, enlightening collaborations and strong connections, all wrapped snuggly in a ‘word of mouth’ blanket!

In fact here’s a suggestion, if we are moving from B2C/B2B to P2P, perhaps we need to merge human resource and marketing departments. They have a lot in common in the suggested P2P environment. Retention of staff/customers, loyal customers/staff, great conversations, cultural shifts in expectations and bevhaviour, the way we treat people, the relationships we have, brand equity and so on and so on.

It makes sense, there is so much synergy between the two disciplines now that it would be a shame to miss an opportunity to add value to the P2P relationships we have both internally and externally. By the way, Olivier’s post is well worth the read!

This a great, simple post explaining what social media is and how to manage it:

http://lornali.com/online-reputation-management/6-steps-for-creating-a-social-media-marketing-roadmap-plan

Social media should, at least, be considered in any marketing strategy you devise.

There is an enterprising small business newsagent near where I live! He’s come up with the ingenius idea that he can sell bread re-packaged at a premium price. He started by crumbling loaves of bread that were out of date and packing it up in a see through plastic bag and selling obviously to customers as ‘Duck Bread.’

It went down a storm….so much so he is now buying cheap bread in large quantities and immediately re-packaging it into ‘Duck Bread’ even before its gone out of date! The price of the loaf of bread to him is 34p and he is selling it at £1.50! Okay it’s not going to make him a millionaire but nice profit and as he mentions (yes I went into the shop to ask him about it) he has seen extra customers in the shop buying other produce as a direct result of the ‘Duck Bread’ being on display outside the shop.

It doesn’t cost him anymore to make the ‘Duck Bread,’ in fact it’s costing him less, for perhaps an inferior product. I guess the ducks don’t mind!! The newsagent has found customers who are willing to pay a lot more if given a reason to do so…it’s ‘Duck Bread.’

This says more about the customer buying the bread than the enterpreneurial newsagent. The customer is paying for their lack of price curiosity. Perhaps when it comes to feeding the ducks it doesn’t matter?

Re-packaging products and services could be making us all a little more profit!! Interesting thought for the weekend………

Leadership not management is now the key to driving out more production, outstanding creative work and new ideas. So why are we small businesses having so many problems? Well we’re selling more intellect and less material. The emphasis today is on managing the human imagination not production lines. Our peoples expectations have changed but ours haven’t and our customer’s expectations have changed but perhaps ours have not! Trust, respect and loyalty are missing and we only have ourselves to blame.

There are some key concerns….many small businesses have done just the opposite of what they should have done – order and conformity rather than free thinking and risk taking. Many small businesses could not have frustrated their people any more if they had tried to and as small business owners/managers we are so reluctant to let go. It all leads to limited growth and mediocre performance in many cases.

So, small businesses will need to be able to manage change better in the future. They will have to be less organised and less controlled by a single brain. Founders, managing directors beware! Growth will be limited not by production or developing the latest product but by your ability to recruit and retain the best people in the business.

The widespread trend towards interconnectedness will accelerate continuously leading us towards being more nimble, innovative and continuously self modifying. Small, autonomous, flexible businesses will be the ideal structure in the future and your people will have a share equity in those same businesses.

We’re going to have to share responsibility, demand accountability and drive towards common goals. Our jobs as Directors will be less about control and more about disrupting the status quo.

We are exposed to an average of 3500 brands a day. Brand orientated businesses are twice as likely to succeed. 80% of businesses with a strong brand focus have operating profits almost twice as high as the sector average. We’re shifting from profit generation to value creation for all stakeholders and we’re now operating in a world that’s no longer based on the manufacture and trading of tangible products but the creation and delivery of intangible services.

Some of the worlds strongest brands today were not even a twinkle in their creators eyes twelve years ago; ipod, eBay, Google, Innocent Drinks, Big Brother, Harry Potter. We are entering a new culture of mobile usage, organic, downloadable entertainment, male grooming and social networks.

It means instead of messaging people how good we are, we need to involve them. Instead of promising we need to deliver, interactive replaces passive, look and feel is history, it’s actually about experience. And finally, instead of having an audience as customers you have a community of customers!

What on earth is going on? Your most significant question at the moment; is your business strategy designed for a static world or for a changing one? And is it changing in a fundamental way?

Somehow we need to get a grip and work out how to make the intangibles tangible!

If you don’t want to do yesterday’s exercise try this one……in the next 10 days (okay it may take little more time to organise,) round up some of your colleagues and visit two ‘real’ businesses you admire. Hold an open minded discussion with them on what they do well, what they want to improve on, what their challenges are. How do they deal with some of the particular problems you have? What are their aspirations for the future?

Believe me you’ll learn a hell of a lot……