amaatlanta

June 27, 2015

by Jo Ann Herold, Global Chief Marketing Officer at Interface

When I graduated with a degree in communication and journalism, I learned quickly that the academic environment had not fully prepared me for the real world. My first job was in Field Marketing at Shoney’s and Captain D’s. My role was to advise franchisees on how to grow their business. A big takeaway is that as a 21-year-old recent college graduate, the franchisees I worked with had a lot more to teach me. As a result, I was going to need to be responsible for my continued education.

So, what did I do?

The first thing I did was join AMA. www.AMA-Atlanta.com
I went to hear the AMA’s speakers and continuing education. The programs opened my eyes to how smart marketers think and gave me tools and insights on what is the latest thinking in business and marketing. I also went back to school later and earned an MBA.

Second, I discovered that most successful people have strong mentors. I have been so lucky to have several mentors. I want to give them a shout out and express my gratitude.

Nancy Gibson was my first mentor. She and I worked together for 10 years while at HoneyBaked Ham. Whip-smart, strategic, loyal to her people and irreverent are traits that I love about Nancy. She was formerly the Global Director of Diet Coke in the 90s. While working together @ HoneyBaked, she taught me about brand management and the importance of listening to the consumer. She is back at Coke and continues to be a rock star. She heads up global shopper marketing and serves to inspire others at Coke. www.coca-cola.com

I think about Nancy almost every day. I often write down WWND…code for What Would Nancy Do?! Her fun personality–coupled with her wit and wisdom always are in style.

Ken Bernhardt is another person for whom I would walk through fire for. For those who don’t Ken, you should. He has been involved in AMA for 30 years. He was President 20 years ago. He’s a Professor at Georgia State and has taught and mentored many people. Ken helped me grow as a young chief marketing officer at HoneyBaked. He introduced me to the Georgia State Marketing Roundtable and helped provide further education on what successful marketers do to grow sales and profits. Ken is always willing and able to lend a hand. Moreover, Ken recently won AMA’s Lifetime achievement recognition and helped raise over $100,000 for AMA scholarships. He helps Atlanta and marketers in so many ways.

I had the privilege to work with one of my mentors while I am at Arby’s. I reached out to her over a decade ago when a read an article about her in Nation’s Restaurant News. I cold called her and asked her to go to lunch. I was surprised when she said, “yes.” She didn’t say yes because she had lots of free time. At that time, she was CEO of Church’s Chicken. She said yes because she believed in the value of helping others grow. From there, Hala went on to become CEO of Susan G. Komen. Through the work at Arby’s, and its Foundation, we worked to End Childhood Hunger through Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry initiative. I was lucky to work with Hala on a daily basis and help drive profitable sales for the iconic and beloved Arby’s brand.

Now, I have the wonderful opportunity to work for Interface. It is a company filled with purpose and truly “walks the walk.” I love the people, the culture and our products. www.interface.com

I feel fortunate to have such tremendous resources and mentors. Curiously, do you have a mentor? If so, who is it?

Video screenshot from Millennials in the Workplace - AMA Atlanta Signature Luncheon - panel

Video Clips: Millennials in the Workplace – AMA Atlanta February 2015 Signature Luncheon

By amaatlanta

April 30, 2015

Millennials in the Workplace

According to research conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value, many of the myths plaguing Millennials are, in fact, not true. We’ve pulled three of the five busted myths, some uncomfortable truths and some recommendations directly from the report for you to see.

Here are a few other top takeaways from the event from Twitter users:

Are you putting social listening to work for your brand? While effective real-time listening and response can have a huge impact on your bottom line, it does require a sound strategy and the right team in place. Our Social Media Marketing team can help you with both developing and executing a successful social listening strategy to drive your business forward.

Interested in learning more? Check out our recent study on social media monitoring and how real-time listening can drive Twitter ROI.

—

From the BKV Blog.

How to Repurpose Research for Killer Content Marketing

By amaatlanta

December 1, 2014

By Amanda Batista, Content Marketing Manager, Oracle Marketing Cloud

Content marketing inspiration is everywhere you look. For teams managing limited headcount and/or budget, it’s especially important to leverage various marketing activities across your organization and turn them into content opportunities.

You want to mine the gold in your own backyard, if you will.

This approach is what the content team at Oracle Marketing Cloud aimed to achieve with our ‘Journey to Modern Marketing’ campaign, a program that included a variety of content tactics, including high-value gated eBooks, videos, and blog posts.

The program started with a research study conducted in tandem with BtoB Magazine to learn about the modern marketer—from our audience’s perspective.

The study uncovered five attributes or competencies that comprise the modern marketer: Targeting, Engagement, Conversion, Analysis, and Technology. We used these points, what we refer to as The 5 Tenets of Modern Marketing, as a springboard for the integrated content campaign that ultimately spanned all our digital channels.

We introduced the first content asset in the series during our Modern Marketing Experience event in Europe last year, creating a focal point for the content’s main character, Modern Mark, as well as a social media presence to support engagement and program awareness.

Video as the Star

The guides, social components, and promotion for the blog lived on a landing page where an ungated video was used to engage visitors and support the educational assets.

The story of “Modern Mark’s Journey to Modern Marketing” was packaged into six videos in total: Five covering a tenet each and one trailer video, which was shared via social media and our blog to tease the upcoming content. Each of the videos supported the messaging of the guides created around the Modern Marketing theme in an engaging, entertaining way.

As a feature component in our multi-channel campaign, video helped to drive interest and awareness to our 5 Tenets collateral. This resulted in a 120% increase in engagement and an 85% increase in attribution to the creation of MQLs.

In addition to supporting a prospecting campaign, the content also garnered significant and repeated engagement with current customers. The use of “reciprocal” content featuring an ungated video with gated follow-up content provided lead scoring and interest qualification opportunities for prioritized outreach.

Lessons learned from the Oracle Marketing Cloud team:

Social media continues to be a very important channel for engagement/MQL contribution
Multi-channel approaches to engagement are effective in unifying the audience experience
Video is a great engagement tool to provide entry points to other channels
Video formatted in a series is a great way to generate interest around the “Journey” content concept, and keeps audiences engaged in their learning

In addition to video, here are other content components of the program:

High-Value eBooks

We created an eBook for each of the five tenets (the final will be released this month), which were the centerpiece offerings on each landing page and in demand gen emails. Each eBook was written in a how-to fashion to provide a prescriptive approach to managing each tenet of modern marketing. We also included case study examples and customer quotes, to focus on use cases and successes.

Blog Posts

Excerpts from each of the eBooks were used as blog posts to support the launch of all the guides. We offered bulleted lists, core steps, and takeaways with calls to action to visit the landing page. We also included the embedded journey videos into the posts for added engagement.

Social Media Posts

Images of Modern Mark steered our communities to engage with the content across Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+. We used unique URLs to track the activity across social networks to understand where to allocate our ad spend most meaningfully.

Crafty content marketers know how to use what they have to maximize resources and budget, and to ensure your content messaging is consistent across the organization.

How do you mind the content gold in your own backyard?

Creativity + Analytics = Innovation

By amaatlanta

May 23, 2014

What is innovation? Is it sheer creativity, or is it research and analytics? André Macklin, Sr. Director of Partnerships & Innovation at Cartoon Network says it’s a combination of both.

André was nice enough to speak at our YP event a few weeks ago and share his definition of innovation. He gave us some great examples of how Cartoon Network (CN) has been able to analyze the behaviors of their target audiences and create campaigns that keep them coming back for more. (Not to mention we all walked away with some really cool swag!)

So what did we learn? When starting his presentation, André spoke about two campaigns CN had recently launched for both their main audience (kids 6-14 yrs. old) and then for their older, Adult Swim college audience (adults 18-22 yrs. old). Here’s a brief recap of each:

Cartoon Network App –
What are kids doing these days? Well, they’re constantly on their mobile devices; either watching a video or playing a game. After noticing this behavior across multiple studies, it was a no-brainer for the CN team to develop a mobile app that incorporated both. So, they launched an app that allows kids to watch a video on the top half of their screen while playing a game on the bottom half. The cool part – if they flip the device to the left or the right, it automatically goes to a full screen of either the video or game. (Now they’re never going to put down their iPads!)
The Adult Swim Fun House College Tour –
First, imagine an inflatable house. Then, envision each room being your favorite Adult Swim show. Voila — there you have it, the Fun House! The Adult Swim team took this inflatable, one-of-a-kind experience on the road and targeted local universities throughout the country. As they were observing the kick-off event at Comic-Con last year, they quickly noticed that their fans were obsessed with scoring an Adult Swim T-shirt! At each of the events, fans would stand in huge lines just to get a free shirt. After putting two and two together, they quickly came up with the idea to run a T-shirt design contest on their website. The result – well, they had so many entries their website, the judges were overwhelmed!

After explaining each of the campaigns, it was evident to us all that the creative part was the obvious next step after looking at the research and insights that were right in front of them.

Where does someone begin when trying to create a magical experience like CN’s? André walked us through this innovative process that included the following steps:

Understand Objectives – what are you really trying to accomplish?
Lean on Insights – utilize the research you have and generate ideas from it. Having the research to back you will make it easier to ‘sell the idea’ to your team.
Brainstorm LOTS of Ideas – bad ideas are necessary before you get to the BIG ideas.
Filter Ideas – prioritize the ideas that make it to the next stage, but hold on to the others for a rainy day.
Execute It – cross your fingers and go for it!
Value Failures – failures happen; learn from it, document and share them and you’ll be smarter the next time.

When closing the presentation, André pointed out something that was very valid, “It’s important to realize some of the most innovative companies had really, really crappy ideas at some point!”

Once again, a big thanks to André for sharing his experiences with us and don’t forget, the YP’s have one more event — our AMA End of the Year Party! Stay tuned for more details…

Guest post by Jennifer Groese (@JGroese), YP SIG member.

Managing Volunteers

By amaatlanta

April 16, 2014

From Lyn Turknett, President, Turknett Leadership Group

What’s the biggest problem you’ve ever had managing volunteers? If you’ve ever been a volunteer, and have let a volunteer commitment slip to meet a “real work” deadline, you likely know what most people answer: holding people accountable when you have no authority over them.

Interestingly, though, that problem is one of the reasons that management guru Peter Drucker insisted that volunteering for a nonprofit or association was the best management training available. And if that was true decades ago for Drucker, it’s even more true today, as our work becomes less about managing tasks and more about leading knowledge workers who have a lot of choice about where they work. We can rarely use our position of power to make things happen, even in our day jobs.

To manage volunteers, you have to do the same three things any leader must do – you have to create a shared vision, build strong relationships, and then execute, finding ways to manage accountability and assure follow through. Creating a shared vision is the first step. Dan Pink, in his book Drive, argues that people are motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In a volunteer situation it’s important to build on the sense of mission and purpose that people often feel when committing volunteer time. Tell your team why you are committed to the cause, and, if possible, ask each person to share their commitment so that others can hear. Work to build a vision for each project you work on as well. Why are we doing this? What will it look like when we finish? What will make us proud?

In leadership, it’s important to be aware of two things at all times – one’s own personality and propensities, and the exact situation at hand. That awareness is especially important as you build a team and manage execution. Most of us find one of those areas of leadership more difficult than the other – either it’s easier for us to build relationships and a strong team, or it’s easier to hold ourselves and others accountable and manage follow through. I have found two models especially useful as leaders build the skills they need – the Leadership Character Model ™ and situational leadership.

Leadership Character

Leadership is grounded in character – people willingly follow only leaders they trust and respect. In a business setting, people may stay on the team of a scoundrel for a paycheck only, but you can rest assured that in a volunteer situation they will quickly jump ship. The Leadership Character Model™ is a representation of the kind of character anyone needs to lead, whether they are running a Fortune 50 company or a volunteer fundraiser. Leadership Character is visually represented as a scale, with Integrity as the strong, solid base and Respect and Responsibility balanced on either side. On the Respect side leaders must develop Empathy, Humility, Emotional Mastery, and Lack of Blame. On the Responsibility side of the scale they must develop and demonstrate Accountability, Self-confidence, Courage, and Focus on the Whole. Most of us find one of those areas of leadership more difficult than the others. Balancing the two sides is key – if someone on your team isn’t pulling her weight you need a pitch-perfect balance of empathy and accountability to address the issue.

The Leadership Character Model ™

Situational Leadership

Situational leadership theory was first developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard when collaborating on the first edition of Management of Organizational Behavior in 1969 – and it is just as useful today as it was then. The idea is that leadership style needs to vary according to the situation and according to the maturity/developmental level of the person they are managing. Leadership styles are basically combinations of Direction and Support. If you are strong and balanced on the two sides of the Leadership Character scale, you will find both Direction and Support relatively easy. If you are high on Responsibility and low on Respect, though, you may find Support difficult. If you low on Responsibility and high on Respect, Support may come easily but you may struggle getting people to follow through, especially when you are leading only by influence.

Developmental level varies not simply by person but by task. For example, if you have a seasoned accountant on your volunteer team, that person may be at a top development level for most tasks within his or her company, but will may be new to the volunteer organization and in need of information and close management.

Ken Blanchard’s describes Development Level is a combination of competence and commitment. He says that when people start a job – or join a committee – they are highly motivated and committed, but their competence is low. At Developmental Level 1 volunteers need lots of Direction. They are eager at that time for tons of information, but too often no one takes advantage of that motivation and hunger for information. Remember that when you are leading volunteers. When a new person joins as a volunteer, you will strengthen motivation if you provide great orientation. Include things like:

A history of the organization and a description of all programs
Names and a bit of history on current leaders — too often names get thrown around and the new volunteer feels like an outsider.
An explanation of the most common acronyms of the organization and a sheet that describes the rest.

At Developmental Level 2 people still need a good bit of Direction, but now they’ve likely lost some of that beginning enthusiasm – and perhaps they’ve encountered some roadblocks. Now they need both Direction and Support – information, project plans, and deadlines along with appreciation and supportive conversation.

A few ideas for support might be:

Send frequent notes of appreciation, and encourage the group to do the same for each other. You can bet that every volunteer frequently thinks, “I don’t have to do this; this is not my real job.” The next thought is, “And someone should thank me.”
Keep mission front and center. You want everyone thinking first about why they are doing this – the mission of the organization and the cause they are trying to advance.
Let volunteers participate in idea generation and brainstorming. The more excited volunteers are about the mission of the organization the more they want to add their voice. If you are in the meeting, hear all the voices and acknowledge, but keep the meeting moving toward closure.
Make meetings fun when you can. You may want to set meeting ground rules that all agree on early on. I find the ground rule of balanced participation extremely helpful in any meeting. One option for expressing this is: “We need all voices. Speak up if you tend to be reticent, and limit your air time if you tend to be very vocal.”
Connect people who would benefit from knowing one other – that can help the volunteer experience be even more helpful for a career, and certainly builds loyalty.

Many of us, no matter what our natural propensity, struggle with holding others accountable when we are not in charge. There are some great ideas in Stanley Portny’s Project Management for Dummies. A few that may be helpful when managing volunteers are:

Be specific regarding end results, time frames, and expected levels of effort
Get a specific commitment!
Put it in writing
Emphasize the urgency and importance of the assignment
Tell others about the person’s commitment
Agree on a plan for monitoring the person’s work (in a volunteer setting this will mean setting deadlines that all are aware of)
Always acknowledge good performance – never forget the support!

At Developmental Level 3, according to Blanchard, people are knowledgeable about the task, and don’t need much direction, but may still lack confidence, and often need support, encouragement, and a willing ear. At the volunteer may be more confident and competent about that project than you are. I remember a year when I served as the leader of all the major events for an Association. One person on my team had managed the major fundraiser for several years, and had the project down cold. She did a phenomenal job, and any meddling from me would have added nothing. That’s the kind of volunteer we are all hoping to grow – and become!

SUMMARY: It’s been said that if you can manage volunteers you can manage anyone. Why? Because in a volunteer setting you are leading by influence only – you have no real authority over those you lead. The same leadership principles apply – just more so. Begin by establishing a shared vision that all feel excited about, and build strong relationships with everyone on your team. As you lead, think constantly about balancing empathy and respect with accountability and follow through. Provide lots of information and direction in the beginning, especially for new volunteers, set up systems for monitoring, and be ready with support and appreciation as the volunteer gains experience in his or her role.

National Volunteer Week

By amaatlanta

April 7, 2014

Did you know that April 6-12 is National Volunteer Week? President Richard Nixon established National Volunteer Week with an executive order in 1974 as a way to recognize and celebrate the efforts of volunteers. AMA Atlanta would like to acknowledge and thank all of our fantastic volunteers! We couldn’t do what we do without you!

A special shout out to our AMAzing AMY Awards volunteer team. The event was a huge success and would not have been the same without all of your hard work!

Jessica Byrd: Jessica is a visual communications specialist who advises businesses and organizations on how to effectively leverage print and digital communications in their daily marketing efforts. A graduate of Clemson University’s Graphic Communications Program, Jessica moved to Atlanta in June of 2013 and is actively involved in both the AMY’s and DECA AMA committees.

“I love AMA for all the wonderful resources, engaging events and great people!”

Dawn Hill: Dawn is a Media Director, Planning & Buying at Media Brokers International. She has experience planning and executing both national and local campaigns in all media verticals.

“I love AMA because of the people I meets at events and through volunteering.”

Hayley Johns: Hayley is a public relations professional at Jackson Spalding, one of the largest independent communications firms in the Southeast with offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Athens, Ga. Since joining Jackson Spalding in 2008, Hayley has worked on a broad cross-section of accounts including media outreach and events for large real estate clients, marketing collateral for a regional transportation initiative, social media for a not-for-profit campaign and communications support for one of the world’s most recognizable brands.

“I love being a part of the AMA Atlanta chapter because of the unique opportunity to collaborate with marketing professionals from agencies and companies across Atlanta.”

Keri Lyons: Keri is a graduate from the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!) and works for Brandmovers Inc., a global leader in digital engagement, as an Account Manager. She is an avid dog lover, has a huge passion for her Georgia Bulldogs, and most recently developed an obsession with watching Angel and Buffy on Netflix.

“I began volunteering for the AMYs Awards in 2011 during my internship at Engauge. I love planning events, so being a volunteer for one of Atlanta’s biggest events was very exciting for me. It was also a great way for me to meet professionals in the Atlanta community who have definitely helped shape my career to what it is today. Since then, I have joined AMA and have continued to assist with the AMY Awards and enjoy every minute. Can’t wait to start helping with next year’s awards!”

Jim Reynolds: Originally from Boston, Jim has over 15 years of digital marketing, communications and brand management experience. With a background in analytics, Jim helps companies to develop brand building communications programs across a wide range of social, digital and traditional marketing platforms.

“Joining the AMA was one of the best career decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve had the opportunity to meet, work with and learn from some of the best in the industry. It’s been a great experience far exceeding my expectations.”

Andrea Sadtler: Andrea is part of the Corporate Partnerships team for the Atlanta & Gwinnett Braves and can be your go-to girl for sponsorship opportunities with the teams. She moved to Atlanta from Chicago after getting married on May 26^th and resides in Buckhead with her husband, Andrew.

“The AMY’s was my first experience with AMA and I have loved the opportunities it has provided me with getting to know some of the most influential people who live and work in my new home!”

To view a slideshow of AMA’s volunteers in action, click here. For more information on how you can get involved email our Volunteers Chair – Lisa Maclellon.

Congratulations 2014 DECA Scholarship Winners

By amaatlanta

March 25, 2014

Congratulations to the 2014 DECA Scholarship winners – Sarah Green and Sage Fuller. Thank you to AMA board member Brandon Pelissero, Roshonda Coleman and AMA President Renee Spurlin for judging.

Sage Fuller from Alcovy High School – $500 winner

Sarah Green from South Forsyth High School – $1,000 winner

Millennials in the Workplace

The Pharrell Tweet was Four Years in the Making

Know When to Put Down the Mic

Use Social Listening to Inform Marketing & Product Development

Here are a few other top takeaways from the event from Twitter users:

Leadership Character

Situational Leadership

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