When leaders are speaking to audiences that are under stress–even if the audience is merely tired or distracted–the leader can take the amygdala into account in determining how the content is structured and how the audience is engaged. Here are five ways to engage effectively:

1.Establish connection before saying anything substantive. And remember that the connection is physical. Techniques to connect include asking for the audience’s attention, if only with a powerful and warm greeting, followed by silence and eye contact. The key is to make sure the audience isn’t doing something else so that they pay attention.

2.Say the most important thing first once you have their attention. The most important thing should be a powerful framing statement that will control the meaning of all that follows. Remember that frames have to precede facts.

3.Close with a recapitulation of the powerful framing statement that opened the presentation.

4.Make it easy to remember. Keep in mind how hard it is for people to listen, hear, and remember. One way is to repeat key points. I often hear from clients, “But I’ve already said this. I don’t need to say it again.” Or, “I don’t want to say it again.” Or, “If I have to say this again, I’ll throw up. I’m tired of repeating myself.” But leaders need to constantly repeat the key themes, within any given presentation, and in general as a matter of organizational strategy. It doesn’t matter if they’re bored with saying it. The audience needs to hear it, again and again. And again. As a general principle, people need to hear things three times if they are to even pay attention to it. And because any given audience member at any time may be distracted or inattentive, he or she is unlikely to hear or attend to everything that is said. So leaders need to repeat key points far more than three times to be sure that everyone has heard it at least three times. One of the burdens of leadership is to have a very high tolerance for repetition.

5.Follow the rule of threes. Have three main points. But no more than three main points; no more than three topics; no more than three examples per topic. Group thoughts in threes; words in threes; actions in threes. (See how I just used the Rule of Threes in that sentence?) Think of Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address: “We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.”

Excerpted from Don Peppers, Fast Company, 03-13-2012

1. Use analytic techniques that don’t require high accuracy.

Simple statistical models are often more reliable for dealing with highly complex situations than more detailed models. This is especially good advice for marketers, who may be used to seeing awareness and preference data with two or more decimal places. The problem in dealing with social networks and other complex systems is that a sophisticated model is more likely to fit past data well but fail to predict the future, while a more basic model is less likely to fit past data, but more likely to be able to anticipate different future scenarios. Multi-variant trade-off analysis may predict demand for your product quite accurately, but then over one weekend the mommy bloggers suddenly take offense…

2. Prepare for multiple outcomes.

Rather than trying to make the one right guess as to what will most likely happen, make multiple guesses. Place many small bets on a variety of options. This is the way any truly innovative process works, and innovation is a good analogy for prediction. Don’t bet the farm on the Edsel, in other words, without also having a Mustang or Thunderbird in your portfolio.

3. Find and rely on the predictable elements of the situation.

You may not be able to predict who the next Adam Fuhrer will be for any particular social network, but you know there will be a few participants with extremely high influence, and there will be cascades of sentiment, sometimes sudden. Just because you don’t know which particular day it’s going to rain doesn’t mean you should sell the umbrella.

4. Focus your evaluation of initiatives on the inputs, not just the outputs.

Randomness will confound even the best efforts to produce results, so when assessing an initiative’s success, consider the quality of the decision to undertake it. Don’t rely solely on the actual outcome of the project (bad or good), but take into account the quality of the process that went into its planning and execution. A bad leader can sometimes get elected despite the evidence, but as long as the election was fair, you shouldn’t throw out the democratic process.

5. Remain agile, and strive to respond quickly.

There’s no substitute for awareness, listening, and detecting events as soon as they happen. Focus on “sense and respond” as an organization, and empower your people to act quickly and decisively. Have a social media policy strong on principle but general enough to be flexible, remembering that actual results can vary. And stage a social-media fire drill every so often.

6. Cultivate your reputation for extreme trust.

In the end, you have to prepare for failure, success, and everything in between. But as long as others find you trustable, you’ll never be on your own. Focus on doing the right thing, and your customers, employees, and other stakeholders will all have an interest in seeing your company weather whatever unpredictable storm might come your way.

By the way, my son now has a promising sales career with Interactive Brokers–a well-deserved success he earned entirely on his own. (He’s afflicted with the entrepreneurial bug, though, and sooner or later I’m thinking he’ll probably have to run with it, as I had to.)

Even at the best of times, naming is a contentious and emotional business. Whether you’re naming your baby, your boat, or your brand, the process can breed nearly endless deliberation. Keep these principles in mind as you scout the perfect name.

MAKE IT MEMORABLE

The search engine has changed everything. Instead of worrying about your spot in the phone book, you need a name that’s relevant and truly compelling. The key to any name–simple or complex, abstract or descriptive–is grabbing attention and staying memorable.

Example: Yummy Tummy Koalas

Intriguing, irreverent, distinctly Australian: Yummy Tummy Koalas instantly conveys the fun factor of this brand.

FILL IT WITH MEANING

Choose a name that tells your brand’s story. Over time, you can expand the meaning of your name and add layers of depth to make it even more powerful–a visual identity, a color, a sound. The more significance your name carries, the more work it will do for you.

Example: Visa

From a word that initially meant only a stamp on a passport, Visa has surrounded its name with a host of associations–travel, access, opportunities, identity, official status–that allow it to tell the right story at the right time.

SAY IT OUT LOUD

The best names are the ones that people can’t wait to tell their friends about. Names that roll off the tongue invite customers to become your viral marketing agency. Say, shout, and even sing names you’re considering to see which one will echo for years to come.

Example: Schweppes

Happy coincidence? In 1783, Johann Jacob Schweppe opted to name his bubbly, effervescent soft drinks after himself. More than 200 years later, consumers still love calling out his name.

DON’T WAIT TO FALL IN LOVE

Even the best name may not seem terrific the first time you hear it. As your name evolves into a brand, it will acquire more and richer associations. Give the names you’re considering a chance to grow on you–and try to imagine what they might stand for five or 10 years down the road.

Example: Google

Originally a variant of googol, the numeral one followed by 100 zeros, Google has come to represent a playful and innovative culture that delivers everything from email to operating systems.

LISTEN TO YOUR FEAR

Great names grab your attention by breaking the rules–but a name that defies your expectations may also appear scary. Look past the fear and you’ll find energy and possibility. That buzz of surprise could be telling you that you’ve found a name that stands out.

Example: BlackBerry

ProMail, an early name candidate for what we know today as the BlackBerry, probably would have been an easier sell in RIM’s executive suite. But once users got their hands on the perfectly sized device, it became obvious which name was the perfect fit.

STAND OUT IN A CROWD

If you are different, you want to sound different. Use your name to focus on what makes your brand special. Look at your category and where it’s headed. What do customers expect? How can your name signal something new?

Example: W Hotels

In a market dominated by the prosaic names of people and places–Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Radisson–W had the nerve to sound young, energetic, and stylish. Today, it’s the premier destination for business travelers who want to balance style with substance.

TOO MUCH IS NEVER ENOUGH

The first hundred names you think of are likely to be the same ones your competitors tossed around. Use naming specialists to develop thousands of alternatives. To arrive at a name that meets all your objectives, you need a list that’s both broad and deep.

Example: Accenture

Thousands of names were created, hundreds were screened, and scores were considered. One name rose to the top, and now countless conversations center around this brand’s “Accent on the future.”

EXPECT ITS STORY TO EVOLVE

There are always reasons to dislike a name, but you can’t make the right decision if you never make any decision at all. Remember that names are just one part of your brand, and they’re elastic–you can stretch them to mean what you want.

Example: Virgin

As a word, “virgin” brings to mind anything from wool and olive oil to Mary and The Material Girl. But as a brand name, Virgin has come to stand for a provocative attitude that can sell everything from prepaid mobile phones to vacations in orbit.

Excerpted from Martin Lindstrom’s column on Fast Company – Jan 31, 2012

Lady Gaga has a thoroughly sophisticated understanding of direct consumer communication. She came from seemingly nowhere in 2008. (Well, okay, from the nowhere of New York City.) In four short years, she’s become a global phenomenon. Not many others can claim 47 million Facebook fans and more than 18 million Twitter followers. Her vast reach should inspire even the most skeptical of marketers out there.

There is much the corporate world can learn from this 25-year-old diva whose talent for building a brand might even surpass her formidable performing chops. Here are three things businesses should borrow from the woman christened Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta:

1. Connect–and stay connected–to creativity.

Have you ever wondered where the idea for Lady Gaga’s meat dress came from? The dress, made out of fresh beef, surprised people across the world. It later went on to be preserved by taxidermists, and is now on display at the Women Who Rock exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Another question to ponder is how Gaga’s scant 1,234 tweets generated millions and millions of fans. The tweets did not in fact come from Lady Gaga herself, but from Haus of Gaga, her behind-the-scenes creative team. This is not a clever exercise in renaming. The Haus of Gaga is made up of individuals who inspire her, pick up on trends, travel with her, and help create her outfits and shows. What they all have in common is that they each have direct access to the performer. The distance from idea to action is merely one conversation away.

Lady Gaga has been quoted as saying that taking away her creative team would be her downfall. It is interesting to note that the downfall of many brands has been exactly that. Steve Jobs made good design synonymous with every Apple product. It was one of his priorities. As such, it is a well-known fact that Jonathan Ive, the head of design at Apple, reported directly to Steve Jobs. Every creative idea went straight to the top. Sadly, few companies realize how important creativity is for the survival of their brand.

2. Create a direct pipeline to your customer’s soul.

Lady Gaga’s ability to get so very close to her audience and understand their needs, as well as cater to their hopes and musical tastes, is far from a coincidence. One of the secrets of her success can be found in a nondescript van that follows the concert tour, going wherever her team goes.

Most top performers produce their music at recording sessions in discretely luxurious studios. Lady Gaga does things differently. She takes along a mobile recording studio wherever she goes. A recording team, on call 24 hours a day, staffs this mobile studio. As a result, most of the songs she produces are recorded within hours of leaving the stage. She does this to capture the zeitgeist of the moment, tapping into the very DNA of her audience. She steps off the stage fresh with the knowledge of what her audience most passionately responded to. Then, with the applause still ringing in her ears, she steps into the mobile studio and responds to their feedback.

Which should resonate with today’s corporate world. I cannot count the number of times I’ve advised companies to move their research and development centers closer to their customers. Take, for example, a major coffee manufacturer I’ve worked with for years. They were puzzled as to why their newest coffee brand was performing poorly. When I visited their testing facility to sample the product, I was met by a team dressed in white, in a room painted white, and was served the coffee in a white mug. They were anxiously waiting for my opinion.

Sipping on that coffee in such an austere environment was a long way away from far the convivial atmosphere of drinking coffee at home. “So, what do you think?” they asked. My answer was considered as I explained that, despite the product testing well in the lab, it was necessary to take it into the home of the consumer. In that way, I’m sure they would see that the experience would be completely different. This was the broken link. So, we moved the innovation and testing process out of the laboratory and into private homes. They’re now testing coffee in consumers’ kitchens, living rooms, and front porches. Their accuracy of predicting a new coffee product’s success has increased by 60%.

3. Be vulnerable.

In contrast to almost every other accomplished performer out there, a major ingredient in Lady Gaga’s success has been her ability to show an authentic vulnerability. She often shares stories about her own life with her fans, or “Little Monsters,” as she calls them, and never shies away from revealing her insecurities and listing her many mistakes. The Little Monsters love it. Not only does she manage to mirror her fans; personal problems, but she also manages to unite them in a tight-knit tribe.

Many years ago, PepsiCo established an innovation lab online. It asked Pepsi fans to sign up, develop new flavors and concepts, and share these with PepsiCo. In order to understand the idea, I was quick to sign up, and share my ideas. I got an instant response: “Thank you for your ideas. We will get back to you.” Six years later, I’m still waiting.

Some companies do, in fact, understand this. They engage their fans in innovation, treat them as stars of the show and, most importantly, get back to them frequently. Take Lego, the Danish construction toy loved by kids for decades. Now, those kids can build the creature or vehicle or weapon of their dreams, photograph it, and upload it on the Lego website, where it will be voted and commented on by other young aficionados.

The consumers love it. They feel so much a part of a brand that they are called upon to advise as well as share in the weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It makes everything more human. And that is perhaps the essence behind Lady Gaga;s popularity. She is human. This is a strength that I’d venture to say every great brand once had, but has lost sight of over time. If yours is a company that’s become disconnected from your humanity, perhaps it’s time to channel your inner Gaga.

From Alex Goldfayn, CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute, author of the new book “Evangelist Marketing: What Apple Amazon and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t).”

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You remember, don’t you? The emails magically appeared while you weren’t looking. That blinking light turned us into addicts. And that keyboard — copied often, but never matched.

It was the BlackBerry, the glorious, beloved, and life-changing BlackBerry. It made us feel good, and it never let us down.

Long before the iPhone the took the world by storm, and before Google even dreamed about getting into the phone business, Research in Motion was on top of the consumer electronics mountain.

Today, sadly, it is buried under it, and industry insiders everywhere wonder whether RIM will survive.

What happened? Harmful strategy. Unforced errors. And, mostly, really bad marketing. On this, RIM is in good company in the consumer electronics industry, where so many manufacturers market poorly. But few have made so many marketing mistakes so quickly.

Here are seven marketing lessons from RIM’s dark and difficult journey.

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1. Make Great Products

Consumer electronics success begins with excellent products. The BlackBerry was once perceived as the very best smartphone — or, at least, “emailing phone” — available. It was exciting, emotional and it made people feel good. RIM sold BlackBerries on the strength of word-of-mouth recommendations. BlackBerries were aspirational, and people wanted to own one because friends and colleagues were so passionate about them.

Now, fast-forward to today.

Consider the excitement and energy around the iPhone and all those Android handsets. RIM enjoys none of that today. Not one percent of it. In part, it’s because it stopped making good smartphones in favor of a poorly received tablet called the PlayBook.

Successful marketing begins with having a tremendous product or service to market. Nothing happens without this.

2. Build on Strengths Instead of Improving on Weaknesses

I’m constantly telling clients that they should build on strengths instead of trying to improve their weak areas. For RIM, the BlackBerry was a great strength, and they all but abandoned its development and marketing for a year or longer to create the tablet. RIM did this to try to prevent the world from passing it by in the tablet space — which it did anyway. Tragically, as a result of diverting talent, attention, resources, investment and innovation from the BlackBerry to the Playbook, the consumer smartphone world has also passed RIM by.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in. If you focus on developing weaknesses, your strengths will atrophy due to neglect. If you want to market well, identify your strengths — products, services, techniques, approaches, relationships — and exploit them relentlessly. This technique overcomes nearly all weaknesses.

3. Gravity Pushes Backwards

If you’ve attained a measure of success, you must continue innovating your products, services and your marketing just to maintain your position. Because you can bet the competition is innovating aggressively, and they’ll pass you by in three seconds if you stop doing the things that brought you success. RIM not only stopped releasing new BlackBerries while focusing on its PlayBook, it basically stopped talking to its customers about them for an extended period. We’ve seen this story before with Palm and many others. Gravity pushes backwards in business. Consistent and aggressive innovation is required not only to attain success, but to maintain it.

4. Know Precisely Who Your Customer Is

RIM’s management famously disagreed on who their customer was. Then co-CEO Mike Lazaridis felt the customer was the corporation. Others, probably including his counterpart Jim Balsillie, wanted to aim BlackBerry products at consumers. If you don’t know exactly who your customer is, it is impossible to market. Language, messaging, platforms, branding and public relations change completely depending on the customers you target. So identify your customers as precisely as possible, and aim all of your marketing efforts at them.

5. Executives Set the Marketing Tone

Consider the most successful companies in consumer electronics (and two of the most successful companies in all of business): Apple and Amazon. Their chief executives set their marketing tone, and everyone follows. If you haven’t seen it yet, watch this YouTube video of Steve Jobs introducing the iPad, and listen to how everybody who followed him on stage used exactly the same words.

This is no accident. The next day, thousands of articles used the same words to describe the amazing, remarkable and awesome iPad. Amazon’s Bezos is the same way. The best marketers have high-level executives setting the tone. They not only teach the rest of the company how to talk about their products and services, but the customers, the media, and the market itself. Obviously, RIM’s co-CEOs did not set this tone. They couldn’t even agree on who the customer was.

6. Avoid Unforced Errors

Most marketing problems are self-made and entirely avoidable. Consider the major developments from RIM’s recent past:
It voluntarily stopped focusing on the BlackBerry to make a product it had no experience with.
It could not identify its customer.
It stopped marketing to consumers, allowing competition to roar past.

Not convinced? Consider Netflix’s recently concluded horrible-terrible-no-good-very-bad year:
A dramatic price increase.
An extended period with no action to placate angry consumers.
Spinning off something called Qwikster and then spinning it back in.
A remarkably poor response to it all by the CEO, Reed Hastings.

None of these things happened to these companies. They did it to themselves. Don’t try to outsmart yourself. Avoid unforced errors.

7. Keep Talking to Your Customers

My work with clients often involves conducting qualitative conversations with their customers to deeply understand how they feel about what the company is doing and what the company is thinking about doing. If RIM had talked to its customers like this, it would have quickly learned that they probably weren’t particularly interested in a BlackBerry tablet without built-in email, messaging or contacts!

If you’re not talking to your customers, you’re just guessing from a conference room.

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I believe RIM has enough of a corporate and government customer base to sustain it through this most difficult period. To recover, the company must precisely identify its customer, make terrific products for it, and orient all of its marketing and messaging toward it. In the meantime, we can all learn from the mistakes that brought the BlackBerry maker to this point.

You remember the Blackberry, don’t you?