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Oct 16 2021

Why Rolling Stone’s List of Greatest Songs Ever Doesn’t Suck

One of the great maxims of my life has been the following: “Trust your gut, but DON’T conflate your initial reaction with your gut reaction.” E.g. you meet someone at first and you’re thrown off by something; then you realize that your initial reaction — “hey, this dude is over the top crazy!” — morphs over time into “this dude knows his stuff.”

Thus, a few weeks back, when Rolling Stone came out with its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the first reaction of shock and awe was replaced, in my book, with a gut feel that…well, if you asked 50 different people (which Rolling Stone did) what their 50 greatest songs were, you’d get a pretty random list.

So with this post we thought we’d set out to show how random a list you could get, and how objective musical tastes can be across the board.

Top Ten Songs of All Time

We reached out to some fellow music lovers and ended up with a few completely different Top Ten All-Time Greatest Songs lists. We even created a hashtag, #TopTenSongs.

So here we go:

John Puccio, Communications Consultant

10. Everclear, ‘Santa Monica‘

The lyrics describe many people’s attitudes about the current state of affairs in this country. Especially mine. I, too, want to live beside the ocean and watch the world die. Is it timeless or just timely? No idea. Do I overvalue songs that change tempo, start slow and build momentum? Do I pose too many questions? Perhaps, but if you don’t like this song, we can’t be friends.

9. Blondie, ‘Heart of Glass‘

Is it disco? Is it new wave? Does it matter? It’s Debbie Harry, and she is perfect. As the kids say, this song slaps. Also, Debbie Harry.

8. INXS, ‘New Sensation‘

Does it have killer guitar riffs? Check. Drum machine? Check. A saxophone? Check. Semi-androgynous lead singer with a Jim Morrison vibe? You’re goddamn right it does! It’s 1987 and INXS rules. People forget, but this band was ubiquitous for about 2 1/2 years in the late 80s and this song captures the zeitgeist of that time like no other. This despite sounding as if it were recorded yesterday.

7. U2, ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday‘

Is that an electric fiddle being played under the driving military drum beat? Brilliant nuance to a song describing war-torn Northern Ireland during the Troubles. How long must we sing this song? If anyone remembers U2 one-hundred years from now, it will be for this track. Bonus points for it being recorded before Bono became an insufferable douchebag.

6. Radiohead, ‘Bodysnatchers‘

It begins with a sustained hard rhythm. The tempo steadily increases as the cacophony builds, the beat shifts, shifts again until it reaches a frenetic climax that leaves you exhausted. It’s then you realize, this song is the sonic equivalent to the greatest fuck you ever had.

5. Pearl Jam, ‘Black‘

It is the summer of 1993. It’s 2am in the kitchen of a beach house full of college kids. This song comes on and a few start singing along. They are quickly joined by others and soon everyone in the house is belting this song out in unison. A communal experience that no one present will ever forget. Black is the greatest song of the grunge era, It was, is, and forever shall be, the anthem of Generation X.

4. Audioslave, ‘Like A Stone‘

Truly great songs can be rearranged drastically and still be brilliant. This is such a song. As arranged originally by the hard rock supergroup, it delivers perfectly with Rage Against the Machine supporting lead singer Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, the greatest voice of 90s hard rock (RIP). Tom Morello does Tom Morello things and the song rocks hard until the end of the bridge – where it breaks into a slow acoustic ballad of melancholic regret. Of all the great songs Soundgarden and RATM individually produced, they never surpassed the achievement of this collaborative track.

3. Bob Dylan, ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright‘

This song is the first of two in a row that are poetry set to music, but you could say that about every song Bob Dylan ever wrote. The Nobel Prize committee agrees. But of all of his brilliant work, none cut quite to the bone like this song about the end of a relationship. Covered countless times but never delivered better than the version he originally recorded. People think breaking up with Taylor Swift is dangerous, but if Dylan ever wrote a song about you (Positively 4th Street, Idiot Wind, etc.), you’d need actual stitches for all the phrases that drew blood.

2. The Shirelles, ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow‘

Written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and perfectly delivered by the Shirelles with the help of swelling strings, this song is as beautiful as it is heart-wrenching. Besides the raw emotion of a young woman’s vulnerability and the listener’s knowledge that she is about to be lied to and have her heart broken, the song was downright subversive for America in 1960. Good girls were not even supposed to contemplate such things, let alone ask the question. This song is, also, poetry set to gorgeous music.

1. The Beach Boys, ‘God Only Knows‘

Produced by musical savant Brian Wilson, lyrics written by the indispensable Tony Asher, sung by the Wilson/Love clan, and backed by the legendary studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew – God Only Knows is the closest thing that exists to a perfect pop song. It takes balls to start a love song with the line “I may not always love you” but the irony works in a song where the protagonist is trying to convince himself that his existence is not hopeless without her. Of course, he knows that is not true. From the album that inspired the Beatles to make Sergeant Pepper – Pet Sounds was the last great work by the Beach Boys. The transatlantic competition between the two groups was never a fair fight: Lennon, McCarthy and producer George Martin versus an outnumbered Brian Wilson. If Mike Love were your sounding board, you’d have a nervous breakdown too.

Honorable Mentions:

“February Seven” – Avett Brothers; “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – Tears For Fears; “Brilliant Disguise” – Bruce Springsteen; “Sultans of Swing” – Dire Straits; “Cathy’s Clown” – Everly Brothers; “Dancing Queen” – ABBA; “Psycho Killer” – Talking Heads; “Australia” – The Shins; “Heroes” – David Bowie; “Father and Son” – Cat Stevens; “Thunderclouds” – Sia, Diplo & Labrinth; “The Way” – Fastball

Anonymous Bob

Note that Anonymous Bob is a pseudonym for someone who chose to remain anonymous.

10. Fitz and The Tantrums, Don’t Gotta Work It Out

These guys had precisely ONE good album and it was a doozy.

9. The Producers, ‘Operation‘

The Producers Obligatory Atlanta shoutout – pick your own favorite Producers song – fine with me. Drummer Bryan Holmes is a monster. He’s bringing Neal Peart chops to three minute pop songs.

8. Failure, ‘Sergeant Politeness‘

7. Bleu, ‘Feet Don’t Fail‘

Acceptable substitutes include anything Jellyfish ever did. Throwing this one out there because his album “Redhead” is perfect. Skip everything he did after.

6. Metallica Damage, Inc.

Metallica Track down some raw board tapes of Hetfield playing live in his prime and you’ll be reminded he is a different breed.

5. Steely Dan, ‘The Fez‘

Sex hat song. Yessir.

4. Joni Mitchell, ‘All I Want‘

I didn’t figure out Joni until I was 35 and that’s a lot of missed time.

3. Mase, Feel So Good

2. The Beatles,’Blackbird‘

Picking the best Beatles tune is stupid but this one has a unique vibe…also, I can play this particularly well and it’s scored me some tail.

1. George Gershwin, ‘Rhapsody in Blue‘

America’s best song.

John Simley, Communications Executive

10. Blue Oyster Cult, ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper‘

This could make the list purely on the strength of the production, especially the miking of the drums. Add to that the great guitar riff that runs all through the song.

9. Jethro Tull, ‘Living in the Past‘

A very sophisticated sleeper hit in 5/4 time and with a gorgeous flute accompaniment.

8. David Bowie, ‘Golden Years‘

An excellent showcase for Bowie’s voice, built over a hypnotic F# to E riff and even a B diminished in the bridge. Plus, he whistles a great counter melody at the end.

7. Elton John, ‘Blue Eyes‘

Elton sings in an unusually low register here, with his piano accompanied by vibraphone on a song with at least 16 chord changes. It all resolves beautifully. Arguably, this is his best song.

6. Gordon Lightfoot, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald‘

Probably the most perfectly constructed story of a real event, complete with a conclusion and denouement (“Lake Huron rolls, Superior Sings…”). All the more amazing, it was recorded on the first take.

5. Simon and Garfunkel, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water‘

This one makes the list just for its poetry and Art Garfunkel’s beautiful voice. The only thing keeping it from perfection is the overworked orchestration at the end, so better to listen to a live version.

Bonus link to the Central Park Concert version:

4. Marvin Gaye, ‘Inner City Blues‘

No list is complete without Marvin Gaye, and this is his best: a jazz-inflected reading of economic despair.

3. Roberta Flack, ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face‘

Roberta Flack has one of the most beautiful voices in music, and this song is just gorgeous – led by her stunning vocal.

2. The Beach Boys, ‘Good Vibrations‘

This is a story about chasing a girl stitched together from several sections. The harmonies are perfect and the instrumentation is exceeded only by Strawberry Fields.

1. The Beatles, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever‘

Bruce Springsteen said songs are just dreams you can share, and this one is John Lennon’s recollection of his childhood. It has a great melody, sophisticated chord changes, and a lot of psychedelic instrumentation – particularly on the fadeout. It’s perfectly executed.

Stephen Barrigar, Marketing Executive

10. M83, ‘Midnight City’

The perfect start to the new decade that sounded fresh throughout, despite the 80s sax solo that completes the song. Brought together with a superb video, this song is just amazing.

9. Arcade Fire, ‘Wake Up‘

Out of nowhere they came and before you knew it, Canadian music was back to being relevant. 5 members, 7 members, 11 members, it didn’t matter how many were on stage, there is nothing better live than the chorus of Wake Up.

8. Pulp, ‘Common People‘

You had to be there. There was Blur, there was Oasis, there was Brit Pop, but the true definition of the Brit Pop sound is “Common People” by Pulp. Infectious, relevant, timely – the perfect song to sum up a generational moment.

7. Prince & The Revolution, ‘Let’s Go Crazy‘

Considered the little sibling to “When Doves Cry,” “Let’s Go Crazy” kicks off Purple Rain the movie and the soundtrack and there is no 24 consecutive weeks at number 1 for the album without this song. This song helped change Prince from a singer to a musician.

6. The Beatles, ‘A Day in the Life‘

Basically put an end to any debate over who was the greatest band of the time. A wonderful blend of two songs and the greatest band’s great song.

5. MGMT, ‘Time to Pretend‘

Lightning in a bottle.

4. Depeche Mode, ‘Enjoy the Silence‘

Never in my life have a heard a song once and thought – yup, that’s the best song that’s going to be released this year. In February 1990, Depeche Mode achieved that.

3. The Verve, ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony‘

There was always promise with the Verve and their previous album had two legit anthems with History and On Your Own, but in 1997 with that “borrowed” Rolling Stone background, they achieved perfection. To this day, sounds fresh and outstanding.

2. The Waterboys, ‘The Whole of the Moon‘

There are two types of people in this world, those who love “The Whole of the Moon,” and those who have never heard “The Whole of the Moon.” Released to little fanfare except for preppies who made their own mixed tapes and John Hughes movie soundtrack hunters, “The Whole of the Moon” is a wonderful poem to the sound of the 80s.

1. New Order, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle‘

You can tell the age of anyone who makes their best of list, because the number 1 song will have been released between the ages of 15-24. This is the perfect song. And my kids hate it.

Honorable Mentions:

Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin’” — this song will be remembered in 100 years

The Beach Boys, “God Only Knows” – the perfect love song

Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On” – basically sums up a whole moment in time

Aretha Franklin, “Respect” – I’m not saying Rolling Stone is wrong, I’m just saying it’s not my number one

Queen and David Bowie, “Under Pressure” — the greatest bassline of all time

Jerry Beach, Sportswriter

10. Bruce Springsteen, ‘Queen of the Supermarket‘

There’s literally hundreds of Bruce songs most people would choose before this off his much-maligned “Workin’ On A Dream” album. But of all his songs about blue collar life, there’s something special in how he finds flashes of beauty from an anonymous woman working the supermarket. And there’s a wonderful suddenness to the final verse: “As I lift my groceries into my car, I turn back for a moment and catch a smile that blows this whole fucking place apart.” (It also helps my first true love worked at the local supermarket after we broke up; I tried wooing her back–unsuccessfully, I should note…)

9. U2, ‘Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?‘

I’m perfectly content with “One” going down as U2’s greatest song and a candidate for a top-10 song all-time. But this is one of the best bitter post-breakup songs of all-time. “Well you lied to me, cause I asked you to. Baby, can we still be friends?”

8. Bob Seger, ‘The Fire Inside‘

There’s no shortage of timeless and iconic Seger songs about growing up. This one, about what happens between growing up and growing old and when one’s investments in his or her passions are no longer guaranteed to be returned, hits in a different way. “And it comes to you how it all slips away, youth and beauty are gone one day, no matter what you dream or feel or say, it all ends in dust and disarray.”

7. Alanis Morrissette, ‘Hand In My Pocket‘

In the moment, I HATED “You Oughta Know” with the passion of a thousand suns (don’t mind it now). But this song, coming out my last year of college, nailed the uncertainty and melancholy of trekking out into the real world. It’s not a great sign for me or Generation X it still does so a quarter-century later. “And what it boils down to is nobody’s got it figured out quite yet.”

6. Led Zeppelin, ‘Rock & Roll‘

There is a point in every young man’s life when driving around in his parents’ car with this blasting out of the speakers is the coolest fucking thing he can do.

5. Night Ranger, ‘When You Close Your Eyes‘

A simple, feel-good mid-tempo, harmony-filled hard rock song, until you get to that point in life when the line “Ain’t no good for an old memory to mean so much today” hits you right in the solar plexus.

4. Billy Joel, ‘Keeping The Faith‘

I won’t argue if anyone wants to declare “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” is not just Billy’s best song but the greatest song ever written about life in America, or that “Goodnight Saigon” is a more important work (especially the last 20 years, with 9/11 first responders singing the chorus live). But this, too, is a perfect song and deceptively simple. “The good ol’ days weren’t always good and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems” is a pretty great way to go thru life.

3. Pearl Jam, ‘Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town‘

This song was on Vs., which came out my first semester away at college and as I sensed a growing disconnect–unwanted but inevitable–with some of my hometown friends. “I’ve changed by not changing at all, small town predicts my fate.”

2. Extreme, ‘Hole Hearted‘

A great songwriter creates songs that mean entirely different things to his or her listeners. As a writer, the final line of this song — “Should’ve known I’d fall short with the things I’d do”– motivates me. A good friend of mine, who sadly died in 2018, saw this song as a symbol of the constant effort and failure associated with trying to be a good Catholic. The song was the final track on a concept album about an impressionable boy trying to make his way in a world drenched in decadence. What does it really mean? Whatever you want it to mean.

1. Gerry Rafferty, ‘Baker Street‘

Just my favorite song of all-time. Great story-telling enhanced by that haunting, evocative sax solo. The Foo Fighters’ cover of this might be better than the original.

Dave Van de Walle, Area 224

10*. Constantines, ‘Working Full-Time’

I put this tenth on my top ten and guarantee that no one else voted for it; it’s from a pretty obscure Canadian band called Constantines. These guys are up there with bands like The Bravery and Del Amitri in my book: acts that should have been much much bigger than they turned out to be.

This particular ditty is off their “Tournament of Hearts” album, released in 2005.

The video is an outstanding stop-motion animation piece that needs to be seen, but the song itself has the right mix of catchy guitar riffs and psychotic drums to sneak into my list. I overplay this video, when you see it, you’ll see why.*

*That’s a nod to erstwhile Toronto Blue Jays First Baseman Fred McGriff, who gave us this classic:

10*. Urge Overkill, ‘The Break‘

First of all, it’s my website, so, after oscillating between this song and the song above for the number 10 slot, I called a draw and both get listed.

I maintain this is the perfect 90s rock song. Impeccably crafted, with an unheard of “verse-chorus-chorus-verse-chorus” structure, this song even tells the story of the band itself: UO could not get a break in the 90s. Despite getting tons of street cred from another song (“Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” originally sung by Neil Diamond, featured in the movie Pulp Fiction), this Chicago band was never as ubiquitous in the 90s on Chicago radio as Smashing Pumpkins.

The video, too, is pure UO-level hubris. Eddie “The King” Roeser and Nash Kato were over-the-top in love with the whole scene, man. “Everything ends in a heartache.” They, too, couldn’t get a break; like the other occupant of my number ten slot, Urge Overkill could have sold out stadiums if they had played their cards right and maybe ended up in a few more Tarantino movies.

This song makes me want a cigarette and I don’t even smoke.

9. Adele, ‘Rolling in the Deep‘

This song is an instant freaking classic that sounds as good today as it sounded the first 150 times you heard it. Adele seemed to come out of nowhere and, well, then she was everywhere and it was tough to get away from hearing this song. But you didn’t mind because she was ADELE and gosh darnit this sounded better than any soul song you heard from the 60s or any Motown ditty.

Here’s a bonus link to a cover of the song by Linkin Park.

8. Queens of the Stone Age, ‘Little Sister‘

Mark Twain is credited with the line “I apologize for writing a long letter, as I didn’t have the time to write a shorter one.” This song is the short letter Twain meant to write, tells a story of an illicit love affair, and succeeds in melting faces with its guitar solo.

7. Foals, ‘Mountain at My Gates‘

When pressed by “Canadian Steve” for my “Songs of the Decade” list for the 2010s, this song came in number 1. Guitar and bass and keyboards and the voice range of the uber-cool Yiannis Phillippakis melded together and it’s absolute dynamite.

6. Geto Boys, ‘Mind Playing Tricks on Me‘

When the late, great Bushwick Bill drops lyrics like “It was dark as fuck on the street/My hands were all bloody from punching on the concrete,” and it’s, maybe, the fifth-best line in the song?

This is, simply, the greatest rap song ever created.

5. Led Zeppelin, ‘Fool in the Rain‘

We’re not going for a list of “favorite” songs here, we’re going for “greatest” songs. Sure, “Stairway” is phenomenal, and you could list dozens of spectacular pieces from Zep, but oh my gosh, this one? The whistle leading to the abrupt tempo shift in the middle? John Bonham, whose drum kit must have included extra appendages? Robert Plant’s voice range? That guitar toward the end? I applaud the frenetic song structure here and this is (IMHO) this band’s greatest work.

(Bonus link: isolated John Bonham drum track.)

4. Michael Jackson, ‘Beat It‘

See above for the relative difficulty of picking the greatest song from one of the greatest artists of all time.

For me, the combination of Michael being Michael plus EDDIE VAN HALEN on the guitar gets this into the top ten.

3. Yes, ‘Roundabout‘

If 70s prog-rock chose a fight song, this would be it. This song, to channel SNL’s Stefon, has everything: psychedelic keyboards, lyrics that make you ask if the mushrooms were that good while reading Walden, guitar solos that suggest you it’s time to drag race in your ’72 Cutlass Supreme.

2. The Who, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again‘

Before it became the scream that launched a thousand memes — thanks, David Caruso — this 1971 track provides one of the greatest synthesizer solos ever, right before the line “Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss.” Then the sunglasses go on.

(Bonus link: Pussy Riot covered this song.)

1 Pearl Jam, ‘Corduroy‘

If the true meaning of the song — that Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder wrote it as a lamentation to the fact that a knockoff of a corduroy jacket that he wore was being sold for hundreds of dollars — is true, then it’s quite the story. If not, “Everything has chains/absolutely nothing’s changed” remains a heck of a line. Are famous people like Eddie chained down by fame? Or is it just a jacket at Spencer’s in the mall?

Vitalogy is Pearl Jam’s last great album; this song is the band’s finest hour, and, oddly (though probably on purpose) the lyrics aren’t in the book jacket that came with the CD. The song leaves you with the feeling — one that’s confirmed if you see the band live — that, as the song fades, the band would rather it kept on going.

Honorable Mentions:

Ellie Goulding, “Lights” (An absolutely amazing pop/dance/trance number; bonus points for playing as the credits rolled in the movie “Spring Breakers.”)

Eric B and Rakim, “Paid in Full” (The soundtrack of early hip hop and Rakim drops rhymes like nobody’s business. “Thinking of a master plan…” Bonus points for including Ofra Haza in the tune; Eric B’s ability to drop tracks on top of tracks on top of other tracks turns a minute-or-so of Rakim rhyming into HOLY CRAP OH MY DEAR LORD!!!)

The Smiths, “The Queen Is Dead” (Cancel Morrissey all you want; this band owned the mid-80s and this leads off a top-to-bottom staggeringly good album.)

Rush, “Subdivisions” (I’ll admit to having switched from mildly acknowledging the existence of Rush to appreciating how insane a three-piece they were; Neil Peart is on the short list of greatest drummers ever.)

AWOLNATION, “Sail“

So…What Do You Think?

Feel free to weigh in on Twitter with the hashtag #TopTenSongs. Would love to read your own lists!

May 26 2020

Why This Blog Came Back

“In These Uncertain Times…”

That, it seems, is how just about every brand ad begins during the coronavirus slowdown. “The Great Pause” is what some pundits are starting to call it; as opposed to being “The Pause That Refreshes,” it’s “The Pause That’s Uncertain.” Nobody knows what’s next, nobody knows where it’s going, nobody knows if we’ll ever be allowed in a restaurant or arena ever again. It’s uncertain.

Let Uncertainty Be Your Friend

I’ve had this blog for longer than I care to admit — a quick check shows posts that date back to September 2009; jogging my blogging memory and I realize the site was rebuilt after a pretty bad hack around Labor Day of that year — and I decided to jump back into the fray after a nearly four-year hiatus. Why?

Content + Communications Consulting

So yeah, I’m like millions of others: the end of a content and communications contract in early March has left me looking for the next thing, while trying to launch the next thing, and also maintaining productivity levels and continuing to try to do what I do well. You know, in the face of…uncertainty.

The focus? “Content” and “Communications Consulting.”

Content can mean many things to many people; your definition of content could include a really deep 2000-word treatise on what you deem to be important. Delivered without a plan and it’s likely to fall flat.

Communications Consulting means making sure that that content plan only includes the 2000-word treatise if it’s going to resonate with your intended audiences.

This Can Mean Advice You’re Not Ready to Hear

Bringing us back to “In These Uncertain Times…” No, brand managers, we don’t want to hear that phrase ever again. “Optics” are interesting things. What you thought was a good brand message during your Zoom strategy session is not resonating with folks the way that you want it to; I think it sounds kinda dumb. (I’m not alone; I blogged about this phenomenon and what an economic comeback might look like over at Metacoin, one of the other sites under the Area 224 Ltd. aegis.)

I mention that because I’ve never been afraid to actually call a company, a brand, or a leader onto the carpet if the idea is bad. Or if the time isn’t right. Or if the optics just won’t be any good.

How Can I Help?

I’ve been part of Fortune 300 Public Relations teams that managed messages during crises and leadership changes. I’ve been a staff communicator for energy industry product launches. I’ve served in roles with global financial services consultancies and with not-for-profit clients. I’ve seen a few things, but I’m always delivering more than what’s asked and working to see around blind corners with a combination of strategic consulting and tactical delivery.

I’ll keep blogging at Metacoin — where I cover emerging crypto projects and the role of Bitcoin — and promise to do more wine, beer, and spirits reviews at Metasip, too.

But expect to see more here at Area 224, where I stand ready to help you and your company achieve your business goals through content and communications that, together, drive results.

Sep 09 2016

Behold: A Podcast

Dave from Area 224 hosted a podcast today. Our guest was John Puccio of Tempus Media.

We’re talking about the inflection point between traditional PR tactics and real-life events…and we hope you’ll enjoy it.

You can listen here (at this link that shows a way-too-big picture of Dave).

Apr 21 2015

Social Selling: What Could POSSIBLY Go Wrong?

Ready to bleed out of your eye sockets? I certainly am – and it has nothing to do with the usual corporate PR missteps or business foul-ups that we often study here on the blog.

I have heard the term “social selling” way too often this week. Everywhere I seem to turn on social media, there’s another pundit talking about social selling. It’s often done in the context of one tool or another – “Use LinkedIn to grow your network and sell to them,” or “Spend twenty minutes a day on Twitter to maximize your funnel.” Social Selling – an awesome concept in theory, but…What Could POSSIBLY Go Wrong?

Lots, people. Lots and lots and lots could possibly go wrong. And I’m here to share a few of the things I’m seeing – “ripped from the headlines,” so to speak.

1. You’re Thinking “Tool (or Technology or Tactic) FIRST”

So you know where I’m coming from…I have worked with some brilliant people in my 20-plus year career. Marketers. Sales Executives. Operations Leaders. Front-line Dynamos. I’ve watched as people created magic out of thin air, or “sold the sizzle” in sales speak.

The common theme is that they either understood the strategy or created a clear strategy that optimized everyone’s chance for success. You knew, for instance, exactly WHY you were doing something (putting all of the Trade Show Calendar into a spreadsheet) and WHAT that something would be used for (discussion with the CEO on which events were most important and what sort of budget and staffing would support the Trade Show Calendar). It’s a lot less painful to do that research when you know exactly why you’re doing that research. Excel and your love of Pivot Tables does not drive your Trade Show Calendar – the chance to drive real business outcomes (in the form of a ginormous stack of leads that can be turned into either qualified prospects or people who might want to receive more information over time) drives your Trade Show Calendar.

Ages ago – in Internet time, maybe epochs ago – Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li wrote a book called “Groundswell” that was, at the time, groundbreaking. The key learning from this book (for me, at least) was the concept of “POST.” People (who you’re wanting to connect with), Objective (what you want to accomplish from connecting with them), Strategy (the series of tactics that will get you to the desired objective), and then and only then…Technology (Twitter, LinkedIn, Your Blog, etc.).

Today’s “Social Selling” Love-Fest seems to stem entirely from love of Technology, Tactic, or Tool. And that is part of what’s driving me insane.

The guy or gal who understands LinkedIn is leveraging his or her ubiquity on that platform into “let’s do a social selling thing!” gigs. They then meander into HQ, signed up by someone in a sales role who says “let’s get the social person here,” and then…BOOM! There’s a training session! There’s a rah-rah speech! The needle is moved!

That last part is highly questionable.

Why doesn’t it work? Scroll back up there to the WHY behind the WHAT. Which brings us to point two:

2. You’re Just a Number, Just Moving Through the Funnel

Yup, that’s the other problem here – You actually ARE just a number.

I don’t mean to diminish the fine work being done by some folks in “Social Selling.” However, those people are rare birds.

What is more likely is a process that looks like this:

Boss says “do social selling.”
Given a playbook, front-line sales person starts blasting out notes, or focusing on scattershot “content marketing,” or decides to build their LinkedIn network purely for the purpose of having a spreadsheet of contacts.
Front-line sales person then tracks everything – because you have to prove the value of social selling, and because Boss has likely paid big bucks for some solution (LinkedIn, Salesforce, etc.).
Numbers are tracked and…
It doesn’t work. Something breaks down somewhere.

I’ve seen this movie over and over. There’s rarely a strategy, rarely an objective. Instead, it’s just someone protecting his or her own turf.

Time to Move On to the Next Hot Thing

I had a consulting project several years ago that was eerily similar to a lot of the above. “Social Selling” was…well let’s just say there was a different social media tactic, and the idea was that it – could have been Twitter, could have been Facebook, could have been Plaxo – was going to change the way this company did business.

But the company didn’t even embrace clarity around what the heck they were doing, instead holding onto a “dog” of a product, and wanting social to dig them out of a hole that social wasn’t going to dig them out of.

It was a short project for me, doomed to fail; we met some of the objectives but it was an impossible task.

What Wins? CLARITY

If you’re selling something enterprise-wide, you’re not going to win through a Social Selling campaign alone. You know that, and management should know that. What you should demand is clarity:

Clarity of Objective. What are we trying to accomplish?
Clarity of Message. What message are we looking to convey, when, and to whom?
Clarity of Strategy. Why are you building the trade show calendar again?
Clarity of Tactics. At some point, you will need to figure out which ones to cross off the list. You can’t be everywhere – and you can’t fall in love with LinkedIn or Twitter or Facebook just because it’s cool. Go back again to point 1 and repeat.

I don’t think “Social Selling” is inherently bad. I just wish it accompanied some good old fashioned thinking. And wasn’t a substitute for a real, live strategy.

Mar 22 2015

Facebook Ads and the Race to the Bottom

Ever watched an industry race to the bottom? It’s scary…and I’m watching it happen in the intersection of Facebook, “Social,” Search, and Integrated Marketing Communications. Here’s more:

First, I’ll get the shameless plug out of the way; it does actually relate to today’s subject – “Facebook Ads and the Race to the Bottom” – because the sites I’m working on are petri dishes in our global marketing lab (of sorts) here at Area 224 HQ. We’re all-meta, all the time, as we started with a site called Metasip almost two years ago, and have expanded to include Metakitchen within the last few weeks. These sites are a number of things: review sites, engagement portals, and a hub where those who promote things (Metasip does alcohol, Metakitchen does all things related to food) can connect. [End of shameless plug.]

Part and parcel of the work at Area 224 is to prove the value of what we do – integrated marketing communications (not just public relations) as a discipline that, when working hand in hand with a company’s business strategy, can indeed have bottom line results. We used to talk about this as something we called “Objective-oriented marketing;” the belief that you’re barking up the wrong tree if you’re working on a tactic (usually social, often sold to you by either a shyster or an amateur or – WORSE – an amateur shyster) that isn’t in line with a business strategy.

I’ve said this often as an independent practitioner: I will turn down work if I believe it to be a waste of the company’s money. I prefer sleeping at night to cashing checks that don’t seem right, and adding value is something I pride myself in doing.

Bringing us to today’s point:

Facebook ads are precipitating a race to the bottom in social media, in search engine optimization, and in integrated marketing communications.

Firstable, the numbers

Here’s a screen shot from a recent ad campaign we conducted on behalf of Metasip.

While that might look like a lot of mumbo jumbo to the outsider, it’s really rather simple in the grand scheme, and let me walk you through the numbers that are there so you have the background you need. (If you know all this already, scroll down to the subhead that says “You Need a Strategy” and pick up the article from there.)

We ran this campaign for 24 hours (under “Schedule” above) and we spent $20.00. The ad had an “Objective” of “Post Engagements,” and those are defined in this little screenshot (which we got from mousing over the question mark above the number “66.” [N.B. We chose a campaign that is typical of the dozens of campaigns we have run on Facebook throughout the past year. Your experience may vary – and, if you have more money to spend, you may get better results than we did. But let’s use this as a really good example to support our case.]

The actions that Facebook considers Post Engagements are things like:

Clicking the “Like” button on the post (one we wrote about cheap red wine)
Clicking the Like button on the Metasip Page
Clicking through to read the post itself – on Facebook or on our website
Clicking through to comment on the post itself

The easy, quick, and “meaty” math goes like this:

$20.00 in spend, divided by 66 “post engagements” equals an average cost of $0.30 per engagement.

You Need a Strategy

I had a flashback the other day to my time running a startup and sitting down with an executive – someone who is well-regarded as having a sort of magic touch when it comes to business. I had a service I was selling, he had a business that could have used my service to promote itself, but he was hung up on one number – ONE NUMBER – that drove all of his thinking.

The number happened to be “CPM,” in case you’re wondering, and the problem for me – the one thing that kept us from working together – was that I did not play in the CPM space. At all. Couldn’t – even though my online education portal was in the business of “microtargeting” and we had a strategy to market and find students who were interested in schools that were off the beaten path, and this guy’s property fit our description of a target market, he had only ever worked in a CPM space. Spend $10, get 1,000 views of your ad and your CPM is $10.

This particular executive was blessed: he had a crazy large budget to work with and could put scads of people to work to spend that budget on a variety of marketing tactics. He was also successful at his business because of the strategy that drove these tactics. The fact that our portal didn’t fit into his way of doing business – because it was new, undefined, different, and “not the way we’ve always done things” – was fine in the grand scheme (in fact, it was one of the big learnings for me, and eventually drove me out of that particular industry and, instead, to launching Area 224).

Post Engagements are the “New CPM”

Flash forward to more recent history and my discussions with another, totally different type of executive. Different can be good, different can be bad and, in this case, different is just different. And illuminating: this executive has always done things a certain way – and that certain way involves Facebook as the sum total of her marketing strategy.

We went down the following road, and here’s what the back-and-forth looked like, in brief, with some of the specifics around price changed to protect the innocent.

Me: I understand that you’re looking for help promoting your business, and you’re looking to outsource a piece of your marketing communications strategy to an outside consultant. We can put together a rather robust proposal, but would love to talk about your business strategy first.

Her: Our strategy is already set. How much does it cost to work with you?

Me: Well, we normally don’t do one-offs without an understanding of what you want to get out of it, but a typical program gets you…[WORDS, BULLET POINTS, TACTICS THAT SOUND GOOD] and will cost you…[WORDS, NUMBERS, ETC.].

Here’s where I start to get rather afraid that this is going downhill, but I’m still interested in hearing her thoughts.

Her: That sounds like way too much for us. In fact, our last Facebook Ad campaign got us 3,000 views and a couple hundred engagements and we only spent $20! You’re exponentially more than that, and there are no guarantees of success.

Me: We’re talking more robust, actual engagement – not the BS FB engagement. Trust me, the value you’ll receive in actual content and actual time spent building community and actually engaging with your fans, followers, and friends – and not just on Facebook but on the other platforms we’ll work with you on – we’ll be able to prove that there’s way more value there when the program is done…as long as we can understand what your business strategy and your marketing strategy look like.

Her: Are you willing to go pay-for-performance with this campaign?

“Everyone’s an Armchair Marketer…”

Well before I ran the startup, I was a VP of Global PR at a Financial Services firm; before that, I spent time in a division of the same firm with a boss whose mantra was quite direct – “marketing exists to support sales.” It was great: we did everything in consultation with the sales teams, and if it wasn’t something that they could sell behind, we weren’t going to put marketing dollars toward it.

In one discussion with a line manager who, also, had a very specific charge, we were told that ours might be the most difficult job in the entire company. This is because, in this executive’s assessment, “Everyone’s an Armchair Marketer.”

Think about it: an executive in the pre-social media days is told by a friend “hey, you should write a white paper and use it as a marketing tool!” Not knowing any better, he suggests it to the marketing team; he may also control the purse strings and say that it’s a good use of money, so you might as well give it a try. Voila, the “White Paper Strategy” is born.

Now, in the Social Media Era – or, even more directly, the Facebook Ads Era – not only does the executive hear about a marketing tool that works, or that is cheap, or, WORSE, works and is cheap…this executive, like our mini-case study above, has already TRIED the marketing tool.

And guess what: Facebook doesn’t ask what your Business Strategy is. And they don’t really ask what your Marketing Strategy is, either…they just want you to buy their version of “engagement.” Whether you buy it directly or buy it from someone else who does the dirty work, you’re just aiming for the lowest cost for that engagement. Right?

The Race to the Bottom Never Ends Well…

…For anyone.

Our problem with what Facebook is doing to the entire Integrated Marketing Communications suite stems from those engagement numbers our executive above is touting. If they’re getting 30 cents per “engagement” then why wouldn’t they continue getting 30 cents an engagement and just spend a few hundred dollars, tops, in order to get over a thousand engagements and the world will beat a virtual path to their door.

The executive doesn’t need us to help them – they only need a few bucks of juice on their corporate credit card. Engagements are coming. They’re the armchair marketer.

The Danger for the Executive: Facebook is selling you “engagements” but not giving you any sense of real, true value behind those engagements. What’s a Like really worth? What’s a visit to your site worth? What about someone “liking” the post but never ever doing anything else. Ever.

The Danger for Facebook: These engagements may be valuable in the grand scheme, but they’re pretty much done in a vacuum. And as the cost gets driven downward, the engagements become less and less valuable – nut just in the true dollar sense, but in the perception as well. “A buck a like? I can get you pennies a like!”

The Danger for the Consultant (not just guys like me, but the independent consultant who dabbles in social media “without a license”): There is always going to be someone who can “do it for less.” My $10,000 proposal to align your marketing strategy with your business strategy and measure a whole host of outcomes and drive real bottom-line engagement doesn’t stand a chance when presented to an armchair marketer who can spend $20 on a bunch of page views and outsource the remainder to someone in their dining room who can do a one-off campaign on Pinterest for $150.

Facebook’s definition of “engagement”

When the real work takes time, building the strategy should be of utmost importance to the business executive. And to the marketing consultant, the desire to have those real discussions – something akin to “discovery” for the lawyer – is the thing that should drive every single engagement.

The problem, as I see it, is this awful use of “engagement” as a thing that can be measured in clicks. It’s scary, but it’s Facebook’s business and that’s why they’re successful.

I shied away from working with the executive above because it was obvious, to me, that the well had been poisoned by Facebook. In her mind, engagement is a thing that Facebook handles, and they do it inexpensively. Her strategy doesn’t need me – Facebook is giving her the impression that engagement IS the strategy, the Facebook definition of engagement is the only way to do it, and Bob’s Your Uncle. (In other words, don’t hire Dave – hire Facebook, or hire Dave’s competitor for a fraction of the cost for that component, or just whip up a faux strategy on your own and…)

My biggest concern

My biggest concern is that Facebook Ads – and their perceived effectiveness, which isn’t grounded in the real world but their version of it – leads to laziness on the part of everyone in marketing, and a Race to the Bottom. There’s no need for a strategy when you have Facebook, and there’s no need for someone to help you with the strategy when you can whip up your own.

We’re all racing to the bottom. And it won’t end well.