Bringing Creativity Back to PR

Posted on May 11, 2012

Being a public relations practitioner is so much more than sending out press releases and pitching stories. Yes, for some, getting client coverage in the Wall Street Journal is the Holy Grail of PR, but for industry professionals, should the goal be a bit … different?

I’m talking about creativity (or, at times, lack thereof) in the field.

Practitioners have the responsibility to push the envelope when it comes to creativity in PR and clients have the responsibility to let public relations professionals do great work.

Sometimes, all it takes is some inspiration to remind us all that public relations, as a part of the marketing mix, is multi-dimensional. (Thanks to IKEA, a Port-O-Potty and an Italian agency’s creative thinking for inspiring this post.)

4 Tips to Help Your Business Achieve Marketing Euphoria

Posted on May 4, 2012

Photo by happy_serendipity

It seems that every day I read about a new business start up. Personally, I’ve started and run many new businesses myself, so I understand the entrepreneurial mind-set very well. Since switching from launching my own companies to helping other entrepreneurial companies brand and market their products, I know one thing is certain: Standing out in a crowded marketplace is no small task. Over the past 13 years, my firm has been the communications partner for many businesses in many different industries, and I’ve developed the following four tips to help companies achieve “Marketing Euphoria” … a state of complete marketing bliss.

1-Know yourself - This seems like a simple enough concept, but often times marketers get sidetracked with sales speak and with drinking their own Kool-Aid. Knowing yourself means recognizing what your value proposition is; understanding what it is that separates you from your competition.

2-Know your customer - What makes them tick? What are they really looking for? I can assure you it’s not your product. It’s what your product will do for them. Use this information to create an emotional bond between your product and your customer.

3-Know who owns the brand - Don’t kid yourself. In today’s world, your brand is owned by your customers and manifested in the attitudes they hold and the stories they tell. They are in control, not you. Engage with them, embrace brand enthusiasts, listen to what they are saying and you’ll have a chance to shape the conversation surrounding your brand.

4-Know how to communicate - All too many brands think their marketing goals can be achieved by gaining followers or “likers;” as though a combination of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ is the panacea for marketing bliss. Social Media is not a strategy. Social media is by definition, media. It’s a communication vehicle (albeit two-way) just like web banner ads, print and broadcast media. It’s one of many channels you will need to use and understand if you are to be successful in making your brand stand out.

I have fine-tuned these tips for achieving “Marketing Euphoria” for all businesses – not just start-ups and entrepreneurs— over many years. While it’s true that standing out in your field can seem daunting, it is possible to carve out your own niche. If you find my post helpful, I hope you’ll share my blog or add your comments below.

And Here’s The Pitch …

Posted on April 30, 2012

Monday marks the start of AMC’s advertising agency reality series called “The Pitch.”
If you haven’t heard, The Pitch is where two agencies square off each week to win a potential piece of a brand’s business. A sneak preview was released last week to mixed reviews from folks in the advertising biz.

I think copywriter Cary Moore summed it up best in my good friend Michael Palma’s recent blog post, “Hernias and the Sausage Factory.”

“If you rolled the cameras and re-created a typical week in a creative department, it would be the most boring television ever made. What we actually do isn’t very glamorous to a cold set of eyes. They had to make it contrived to make it even remotely watchable.”

Like a lot of people in advertising, part of me is still curious to see how the rest of the agencies compare. How they present, how they execute, etc., etc.
Michael Gass’ Fuel Lines posted a list of the agencies that are participating and the 27 who declined the invitation.

After reading the list, I started to wonder who else besides people in the agency business would even watch a show like this? In fact most clients could care less how efficient their agency’s process is. What clients or potential clients really care about is how effective their agency is (meaning: how can they improve my return on investment).

Michael Palma points out in his post, “Does a butcher take you in the back of the store and say — ‘Here’s where we take the gizzards and chop them up. And these are the casings that we stuff the fat and chopped organs into. Our casings are made of the finest pig intestines.’ If this happened, you may never eat sausage again.”

Well, regardless, this Milwaukee native is gonna pick up some brats, a couple beers and tune into AMC April 30 at 9:00 p.m. Let me know what you think of The Pitch.

How Can Your Business Utilize User Generated Content?

Posted on April 20, 2012

Photo by Daniel Waisberg

For those who aren’t sure what user-generated content is, here’s a good definition from Wikipedia:

“User-generated content (UGC) covers a range of media content available in a range of modern communications technologies. It’s used for a wide range of applications, including problem processing, news, gossip and research, reflects the expansion of media production through new technologies that are accessible and affordable to the general public.”

Wikipedia goes on to further define UGC:

“User generated content has also been characterized as ‘Conversational Media’, as opposed to the ‘Packaged Goods Media’ of the past century. The former is a two-way process in contrast to the one-way distribution of the latter. Conversational or two-way media is a key characteristic of so-called Web 2.0, which encourages the publishing of one’s own content and commenting on other people’s.”

You might recognize user-generated content as the reviews you read on TripAdvisor when you’re researching which hotel or bed and breakfast to book for your next vacation. Or, another example of USG could be the reviews you read on Amazon.com or Zappos.com regarding a potential purchase. Facebook posts from your friends and followers are most likely user generated (unless you have a bunch of corporate-types following you).

So what’s in it for your business? A savvy business can encourage and utilize UGC to boost its image, attract more potential customers and solidify its place in its industry, for starters. Here a just a few tips I’ve condensed from Clickz:

Interviews
Interviewing industry thought leaders provides the brand’s audience with unique content and creates a positive association between the “brandividual” and the company. Asking the community for suggestions of whom to interview and what questions to ask is a great way to get people involved.

Social Q&A
Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn, and sites like Quora can provide very useful platforms to present questions and attract answers from a variety of people. Of course, your intent needs to be clear and permission for reuse should be obtained before republishing. Those familiar with the Q&A communities can word questions to attract replies from specific influentials who might not otherwise respond to a content participation pitch via email.

Contests resulting in content
Examples of contests in which consumers produce their own videos and share images abound on the social web. Search engines love any kind of content, especially text.

Comment feedback loop
One of the most meaningful ways for a community to engage with a brand is through comments on a company blog. Asking readers to participate in a dialogue by commenting can result in content that is better than the original blog post.

Book authoring by community
Reaching out to industry experts to share their insights as part of a larger project can be very effective. Another example involves soliciting subject matter experts to write articles of 1,000 words or so on pre-determined topics.

On a final note, keep in mind that while UGC seems like an easy way to add content to your branding efforts, it’s quality not quantity that the search engines seem to prefer. As an added benefit, encouraging and nurturing USG helps your business become more engaged in its community and shows your customers you appreciate their involvement.

Encourage Your Team’s Creativity by Thinking “Inside the Box”

Posted on April 12, 2012

Creativity is CAP Brand Marketing’s backbone. As such, my team is charged with coming up with new ideas and innovative ways to communicate our clients’ messages every day. But as a business owner and entrepreneur, I also encourage the team to take ownership in the firm’s future by including everyone in building the business.

Because my team feels empowered to have an active role in our future, it creates new business opportunities we may not have pursued without team input. These tips were gathered by Jessica Stillman from the book, “Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition,” authored by Stephen Shapiro. I think they make some good points. What do you think?

1. Make sure your challenge does not imply a specific solution. For example, when NASA tasked a crowd with creating a “zero-gravity laundry system,” the wording alone precluded other possible cleaning methods — or even self-cleaning clothes.

2. Make sure your challenge does not imply a specific “solver.” For example, it was assumed that only oil experts could solve a specific problem associated with the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. In the end, a chemist who had solved a similar problem found the solution.

3. Make sure your challenge is not overly abstract or fluffy. For example, the United Kingdom wanted to improve its educational system. With a challenge framed this broadly, the type of solutions could be endless, ranging from teachers and their pay, to schools and the curricula.

4. Make sure you are solving the right challenge. A mouthwash manufacturer, after receiving feedback from customers, set off to create an alcohol-free version. This proved costly and less effective. As it turns out, customers weren’t concerned about the alcohol content; they were opposed to the burning sensation. Creating a non-burning, alcohol-containing mouthwash was a lot easier.

I’ve blogged before about working together with my team and I am always open to their input. If you benefitted from this post, you might find this blog, “7 Steps for Women Business Leaders to Create a Stress-Free Workplace,” helpful as well.

Using Social Media to Effectively Manage a Crisis

Posted on April 6, 2012

Photo by cvconnell

“In a socially-networked world where investors, customers and employees are judge, jury and news editors, companies may be able to survive foul-ups better than in the old days of “traditional” news and corporate spin.”

- Francesco Guerrera, Wall Street Journal

We are living in an age where organizations can reach out and speak directly with their audience through social media. This means that social media is a powerful communications tool for crisis management. So how can you effectively manage a crisis using social media?

Incorporate social media into your crisis plan and follow it: Having a plan in place before a crisis occurs is always the best step an organization can take and social media should be incorporated into this plan. In general, when a crisis occurs, the crisis team should draft key messages (and responses) for the designated spokespersons to distribute on their social media channels. The crisis team should also ensure that everyone participating in the organization’s social media has the correct (and aligned) message.
Be Authentic: In a recent article, PRSA’s chairman and CEO Gerry Corbett stressed the importance of remaining authentic during a crisis situation. This is particularly true on social media platforms where a lack of authenticity can exacerbate the situation.
Be Responsive: Social media is a two-way communications tool. The crisis team should be proactive and create responses that can answer any questions the organization might receive via social media. Designated spokespersons should respond quickly with the proper message points. Quick responses help to increase the organization’s authenticity, while not responding can make it look like something is being hidden.

It is important to remember, though, that missteps on social media can be highlighted as well. I recommend reading Matthew Yoemans’ recent article in The Guardian to see examples of social media PR crises.

Every crisis is different and requires a unique approach, but incorporating social media, being authentic and being responsive can help you effectively manage the situation.

Channel surfing TV title sequences for design inspiration

Posted on March 30, 2012

As a designer, I’m always looking to stay inspired. I was recently asked to build a newsletter template for the Viking Culinary Center in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. While this project is not very complex, for me, the creative process is similar whether the job is an in-depth website design or a smaller-scale direct mail piece.

Before I start designing, I dig into my bucket of ideas to get the creative juices flowing. For this project, I decided to go beyond my typical sources of inspiration turning instead to TV title sequences. With today’s technology, many people fast forward through TV selections not realizing they are missing out on some brilliant design concepts. For me, TV title sequences can be great sources of typography and motion graphics inspiration.

If I were writing this in the ‘90s I would have never looked at a title sequence for inspiration. In fact, I would probably be asking, “Where is the fast-forward button?” Take the TV show “Growing Pains” as an example. You’ll no longer see that cheesy montage of photos zooming in and out and the poorly placed typography. In today’s programming, with high-definition TV, new technologies and innovative digital educational opportunities, title sequence designs have become much more visually pleasing. In fact, some sequences are so well executed they’ve been awarded Emmys.

Here are brilliant executed TV title sequences:

Social Media: If Not Now, When?

Posted on March 16, 2012

Infographic from CraigConnects

I recently had the pleasure of presenting as part of a panel on social media at the Council on Foundations’ Family Foundation Conference in Miami. The session, “Tools of Engagement: Family Dynamics and Social Networking,” covered social networking as a critical piece of a foundation’s communications strategy.

Joining me on the panel were speaker and consultant Rosetta Thurman and Mark Carpenter, public relations manager of COF. Of the various facts and figures that were presented during the session, what struck me most was this: Only 39 percent of foundations use Facebook and only 31 percent use Twitter. Conversely, 89 percent of nonprofits use Facebook and 57 percent use Twitter.

Put another way, very few grant makers are participating in the conversations their nonprofit counterparts are talking about. Worse yet, they’re not even listening.

The participation level of the session underscored the fact that this topic is on the minds of many. The atmosphere was palpable as the attending family foundations wrestled with the reality that they aren’t yet in the game. When asked about the barriers to their social media participation, those in attendance answered with concerns familiar to many of us:

There’s no time.

What’s my ROI?

How do we control the message?

As the strategic communications partner of The Patterson Foundation, I’ve dealt with these questions before. We’ve done our best to tackle and solve many of these issues.

The Patterson Foundation believes that foundations must invest resources beyond the check, including investing in communications. The Patterson Foundation backs this up with action. TPF’s investment in communications dramatically increases the capacity of many of its nonprofit partners.

We’re in an exciting yet disruptive time in the communications space. The emergence of technology has drastically altered the way people communicate. Social media allows us to listen and engage. Emerging philanthropic leaders understand what those who are fearful of the unknown have yet to discover: The power of communications has been transferred to the individual.

If we want to engage a younger generation of philanthropists, the question to embrace social media becomes when, not if. I believe the answer is NOW.

March Social Media Madness

Posted on March 8, 2012

March Madness is upon us.

Millions will flock to social media for advice on how to fill out their “March Madness” bracket or learn what time their favorite team is playing so they can watch via streaming media.

It also means that numerous brands will be increasing the social media component of their tournament budgets.

In 2010, Coke spent 2% of its ad budget on social media; in 2011, they added a zero and increased it to 20%. Last year, Coke Zero sponsored the “Social Arena” on NCAA.com. ESPN and Verizon offered a similar version called “Tournament of Tweets.” Reese’s enticed fans to visit their Facebook page for a chance to shoot a half-court shot worth $1 million at the 2012 tournament. This year they are offering a trip to next year’s tournament and Reese’s for life.

There goes my girlish figure.

I’m sure there will be new brands that join the March Madness this year. Here is a list of “16 Sweet Must-Follows” on Twitter, compiled by Sam Laird of Mashable, as well as the #marchMadness Social Media Cheat Sheet posted by Likeable Media.

One group that doesn’t embrace the NCAA love are IT professionals who suffer network slow-downs due to the streaming of live games by employees – and employers – during office hours. Then again, it builds camaraderie, right? Gives you things to talk about around the water cooler. How’s your bracket doing? Did your team win? Did you see that last second shot?

No doubt about it: The big dance is a slam dunk online.