Ant Hill Marketing

Planar Systems took an important step this week and sat down with Portland Business Journal technology reporter Erik Siemers to talk about their strategy for growth. Planar outlined steps the company took to safeguard the viability of the business though the economic downturn and how Planar is intelligently positioning itself to be in front of an explosive technology trend that is the growing demand for digital signage.  

I applaud companies who take an honest, forthright approach to communicating their story and even going so far as to share lessons learned particularly through something as difficult as the global economic reset that has occurred over the last several years. In this day and age of audience centric communications if you can’t come across as a real person who is being transparent and sensitive to the needs of your customers, partners and community – you will run into trouble.
 
What I would challenge companies to think about moving forward is how we communicate to our stakeholders, customers, partners, investors and neighbors when the going gets tough and we’d rather not say anything.  There is an opportunity there and you shouldn’t miss it.

When things are bad economically or if your company is going through a crisis – this is exactly the time you should step up and speak authentically about what you are doing to address the problem. Speak about what you’ve learned through the process as new information comes to light, and frankly, take a humble approach to whatever challenge your company has faced. The ability to demonstrate courage and transparency even in the face of adversity to me is what thought leadership is really all about. Don’t do it alone, prepare, find a smart PR person that will tell you the truth, not just feed you your own company Kool-Aid®, and then go within yourself and find that voice deep inside that believes in the mission of your company, your employees and the product or services you provide your customers.  And, to coin an oft used phrase, just do it.

Planar's new Clarity Matrix Touch LCD Video Wall

The annual InnoTech conference was held yesterday at the Oregon Convention Center and it appeared to be a very successful year. The overall attendance looked strong, the speaking session line-up was interesting, and the energy was positive. A few members of the Ant Hill team went to take in the speaking sessions, including some from the eMarketing Summit, and we all walked out with a list of things to do, so we must have learned something.

As I took in the experience, I tried to note a few things that jumped out at me about the conference.  Here is my top 10 list:

1. Best Speaker: Eric Dishman, Intel Architecture Group. Eric is clearly a smart guy and he has a knack for taking his vast knowledge about health innovation, synthesizing it down to a few key points, and expressing it in a way the audience can understand. I could listen to the guy all day.
2. B2B Anyone? It struck me that InnoTech is a business-to-business conference, but that most of the eMarketing Summit speakers talked only about consumer mobile and social marketing strategies. B2B companies have a lot to learn from consumer examples, for sure, but it would be nice to hear more of a B2B perspective at a B2B conference.
3. Separate Lives. Thanks to Kelly Feller, Intel’s social media guru, I now feel comfortable with my decision to keep my business and personal life separate when it comes to Facebook.  If it’s good enough for her…
4. Virtual Insanity. I felt sorry for all the exhibitors located next to the ASG Game Truck. I would have had one of those virtual guns pointed at my virtual head if I had to listen to that racket all day. I suspect most of the post-show beer was drunk in that part of the hall.
5. PowerPoint Skills. PowerPoint was introduced in the 1980s, so you’d think users would have it mastered.  Nope. Type-heavy slides, small fonts, and bad artwork are still the norm.
6. Portland Foodies Unite! Cooking Light magazine has a huge spread about the Portland food scene this month, yet our convention center serves up a paltry set of options to our visitors. What do you say work a deal with the food cart vendors to give attendees some quick, easy and tasty options right outside the front doors. Fuego burrito anyone?
7. Buzzword Bingo. Most speakers were pretty good at explaining their ideas in a way the audience could understand and without a heavy dose of selling, but a few just couldn’t help themselves.
8. Good Vibe. It has been a couple years since I’ve been to InnoTech, but the attendance and energy was good. There is clearly some optimism about the future.
9. Parking Deal. Did you know it only costs $9 to park all day in the convention center lot? I didn’t.  I paid $12 to plug my meter. Lesson learned.
10. I’ll Be Back. Sign me up for next year.