Ok, it’s time for my annual rant about political correctness and when it gets in the way of just basic courtesy and beliefs.

Every holiday season I have a simple thing I’ve done for many, many years — starting after Thanksgiving I begin saying Merry Christmas as a casual greeting or leaving. I grew up that way. It was and is a casual thing, not a big deal.

No, No. No
A few years ago I grew very angry when the fast food chain Wendy’s forbad their employees from saying Merry Christmas, even if the customer said it first. (Not an urban myth, I tried it and was told by an apologetic employee he couldn’t say Merry Christmas back.) I understood the need to show tolerance for someone else’s beliefs, but once the customer says it, then where is the harm in responding. So I’ve never been back to Wendy’s.

Each year I would cheerfully (a labor for this grumpy old man), chirp “Merry Christmas” and get lots of reactions. Some people would look up, almost in surprise as if I’d said the ancient Christian greeting “May the Lord be with you.” Then I would get a smile, or a sheepish look around to see who was listening or a meek “Merry Christmas” mumbled back to me. Never mind. I meant what I said not as a test but as true feeling. I did wish them a Merry Christmas.

More Than Words
You see it’s not just the words, but the thought behind it that matters. I honestly wish you a Merry Christmas. It’s the perfect time of the year to smile, be happy and proud of who we are and the fact we get to proclaim our beliefs openly and without fear.

So this year when I began my Merry Christmasing a funny thing happened. No puzzled looks, no hesitation, no awkward feeling, just a quick and resounding response. Most gleefully say Merry Christmas back, but this year, for the first time ever, I’m getting back Happy Hanukkah. Now I’m looking for my first Happy Kwanzaa.

What a cool feeling that we can share our beliefs with one another in a tolerant and understanding way. All smiles, all good cheer. Wish we had this little bubble of good tidings all year long.

So, at least in my little world, my Merry Christmas rant has become a Merry Christmas chant. I encourage you to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanzaa when you meet and leave people. Friends, family business associates, everyone. It can’t hurt.

And if you want a corporate example to follow, I’m extremely proud that our client, Whataburger, doesn’t just say Merry Christmas, they put up posters, have window clings and a sign right at the drive-thru all loudly proclaiming “Merry Christmas.” Bold, huh? No commercial message, no buy me now, just a simple and genuine personal message.

This is a tough season for some. Saying Merry Christmas will help, but, if you can, I encourage you to find someone or some group to give to who has a need greater then yours. Your giving is the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas
steve

One common form of marketing communications is to intrude. It’s a fairly unsophisticated tactic where you place something in the way of a reader, listener or viewer so they have to go around it or endure it to get to what they really want.

Sounds bad, doesn’t it. But for many decades it was considered the norm and widely accepted as THE way to promote your product or service. But then came the Internet, permission based marketing and, well, the consumer just took over and said “I’m not gonna take it anymore.” Make no mistake, however, this form of communications still lives and thrives in places, but because intrusion communication inflicts itself unwanted and unannounced on the receiver, it is now considered by some to be akin to spam.

Most all marketing communications in the past was intrusion based. The goal was to literally surround the audience with messages from all sides and at all times for a short period. The result was a reaction — the audience would shop, buy or think about your product, service or cause they way you intended. It was, and can still be, quite effective.

The Consumer Takes Control

Enter the Internet and Social Media where the consumer takes control.

As the Internet took hold, much of the communications flow shifted from intrusive to demand-based, meaning that the user took control of what communications they would allow to reach them and when they would accept it. If they wanted it, they would go find it.

The first communications domino to fall was e-mail. Permission requirements (and laws) which were originally meant to curtail spam, also stopped marketers from spewing unwanted deals and spiels e-mails into our inboxes much as they had filled our mailboxes with direct mail in years past.

Banner advertising was next to be curtailed. As the ads became bigger and more intrusive, software and browser plug-ins became available that blocked banner ads from appearing on our web pages. So, in the inevitable game of leapfrog, pop-up pages popped up (sorry, couldn’t resist). And, as an answer, pop-up blocker software became common in all major browsers. And so on and so on.

Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!

It’s a struggle. Old-line marketers trying old-style intrusive techniques in the new world of eMarketing. These marketers try their old tactics online for a while, it doesn’t work and they proclaim loudly that interactive marketing is a failure. While smart marketers recognize that the whole paradigm of communications is shifting and they adapt their strategies to meet the changes.

“I think that advertisers are getting increasingly sophisticated about this notion that social networking is a new medium, that if you approach it [as] you have approached traditional advertising on a traditional publisher, you won’t be successful,” said Facebook’s Tim Kendall in an interview with eMarketer. (http://www.emarketer.com/Articles/Print.aspx?id=1006700) “If you approach it with the thought of, ‘How do I interrupt the user in their flow through a site?’ it’s not going to work.”

Marketing is rapidly moving from intrusive to engaging. A far better, and more respectful way to treat your customer or prospect but significantly more difficult.

The Bully

It’s tempting, I know. If you have the money you can just bully your way with a heavy dose of advertising frequency to pound your way to attention. Decent, memorable creative and lots of media and the audience moves. But you we learned nothing from the recent presidential elections it is that media channels have already changed and the old way are far less effective than before.

The Friend

Engagement communications is harder to pull off. It’s tough being honest and appealing to your audience, entertaining them, informing them. Dare I say it? Actually trying to help them find what they want at the risk that it may not be your product or service.

Today’s marketing communications is trying to be useful, relevant and friendly, not just obnoxious and bullying.

Not Simply Black and White

Like most changes in communications, this transition to engaging communications won’t erase all that has come before it. No, traditional methods will still live for many, many years. But the migration has begun and as marketers you owe it to your company and yourself to rethink your strategy and look at what you’re doing through the eyes of your audience. Is what you are doing to communicate being openly received or is it being resisted?

If you are struggling with your audience, then something is wrong. There are too many companies that are well liked, even loved for us not to see that a bond between company and customer is entirely possible.

Look for new channels — social networks, ad and message placement avenues that present themselves when someone is actively looking for your product or service. Sounds effective to me, both for the audience and the marketer. And a whole lot less stressful.

It’s harder work and isn’t much cheaper, but the impact may be quicker and longer lasting. You may actually forge a dialogue with your customer. Dare I say, a relationship.

What a radical idea?

steve