Tag Archives: #marketing

December 2, 2011 · 6:22 pm

PR Lesson from a Twitter Flap

Emma Sullivan

@emmakate988

Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot

When Shawnee Mission High School student Emma Sullivan jokingly tweeted her friend on November 21^st, expressing her opinion of Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s education policy, she had no reason to suspect that her 87-character message would ignite a firestorm of national debate; generate media exposure from nearly every major news source; increase her Twitter followers to nearly 16,000 from 61; or make her the poster child de jour for the First Amendment.

It wasn’t Emma’s tweet that caused the high-profile controversy. The flap was created by a staffer in Governor Brownback’s office who was compelled to contact the leader of Emma’s “Youth in Government” program, who notified Emma’s high school principal, who demanded an apology from Emma, who responded by notifying the media that her God-given American right to tweet was threatened. Stop the presses: we’ve got ourselves a sexy story that’s ready for prime time.

At this point, Governor Brownback and the Shawnee Mission School District had a big decision to make: either hold your ground, or back off a controversy that the media was likely to milk for days, and would position the governor and educators as free speech bullies and social media terrorists.

Contrary to decision-making you might expect from politicians and bureaucrats, both parties immediately backed down. The governor issued an apology, and the school district publicly stated its support of free speech and said Emma was not required to apologize. Smart move.

The PR lesson from this tweet heard round the world is that an apology is often the most effective way to limit damage to one’s reputation or brand. It takes guts to admit an error, but if it’s done correctly, you can build goodwill that offsets the mistake. For some guidelines on how to apologize correctly, check out Ken Makovsky’s blog post on John Kador’s book, “Effective Apology.”

Emma Sullivan might want to put Kador’s book on her Christmas wish list. She has yet to learn basic diplomacy skills from her Youth in Government program. To date, Emma has refused to apologize for her salty tweet.

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Tagged as #brand damage, #brand management, #brand risk, #content marketing, #marketing, #media placement, #media relations, #PR, #public speaking, #publicity, #SEO, #thought leadership, #tweet, B2B marketing, Effective Apology, Emma Sullivan, First Amendment Rights, free speech, Governor Sam Brownback, John Kador, Ken Makovsky, marketing craftsmanship, marketing firms, marketing ROI, PR firms, PR strategy, public relations, public relations strategy, Shawnee Mission High School, social media, Twitter, Youth in Government

November 27, 2011 · 10:48 am

B2B Marketing Strategies and Insights

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Tagged as #marketing, #media placement, #PR, #publicity, #thought leadership, B2B marketing, business development, Gordon Andrew, Gordon G. Andrew, highlander, highlander consulting, integrated marketing, marcom, marketing communications, marketing consultants, marketing counsel, marketing craftsmanship, marketing firms, marketing strategy, New Jersey PR firms, PR counsel, PR firms, PR strategy, public relations, public relations firms, public relations strategy, social media

November 17, 2011 · 10:10 am

Making the Short List: How to Drive Top-of-Mind Awareness

: The Key to Making the Short List

For most companies, there is no way to predict when a prospect will purchase their product or engage their services. Sales cycle management is particularly challenging for B2B firms, and for professional services firms in particular, where top-of-mind awareness (getting people to remember you) is a critical part of business development.

Unless it’s a direct referral where a prospect seeks no other alternative, for most professional services firms — legal, accounting, investment advisory, technology, management consulting, recruiting or marketing — the road to new business means getting on the “short list” of firms to be called in as a candidate for selection…which is driven by top-of-mind awareness.

Firms that are most successful in consistently making the short list apply the following disciplines:

STRONG CRM — Effective database management is essential for firms that are serious about communicating with clients, prospects and referral sources. Overlooking or taking shortcuts in what admittedly is a tedious task will submarine any effort to build top-of-mind awareness. Senior management must make CRM a priority.
PROCESS CONSISTENCY— Firms often start out with the best intentions to communicate regularly with target audiences, but lose momentum for two reasons: they’ve not assigned adequate resources, or they are not truly committed to the program. To succeed, firms must communicate with target audiences at least on a quarterly basis, and that contact should not be postponed, skipped or stopped. Consistent application is critical.
RELEVANT CONTENT — Some firms do a great job on CRM and contact consistency, and then hurt their brand by pushing content that’s overly self-serving or of little interest to their targets. Canned newsletters, boring white papers or news items announcing the firm’s new senior partner or service offering do not drive interest or top-of-mind awareness. Content based on intellectual capital, showcasing insight, experience and opinion, and providing helpful ideas or guidance, will be read and remembered.
PATIENCE — In golf, the best putters are those who envision the path of the ball to the hole, and commit to that line. They believe their putt will drop. Firms that succeed in making the short list believe that consistent, intelligent contact with target audiences will yield results. Like the best putters, they are confident in their course of action, follow through on their plan, and have the patience to wait for what sometimes can be a very long putt to drop.

Top-of-mind awareness, driven by these four disciplines, is not an esoteric marketing achievement, or a tactic that yields tangible benefits only when a prospective client assigns your firm a place on the short list. The discipline does serve as a safety net — a defensive approach that decreases the chances of losing out on having a shot at a client or project which your firm is qualified to win.

However, the discipline also serves as an effective butterfly net, allowing you to nurture leads and ultimately seek out a relationship on a proactive basis. To accomplish that goal, you’ll need to build in a qualification step into your firm’s lead nurturing process; providing opportunities to engage target audiences on face-to-face basis, or to eliminate them from consideration as targets.

Length notwithstanding, you are also entitled to maintain a “short list” of candidates worthy to be clients of your firm.

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Tagged as #content marketing, #marketing, #sales cycle management, B2B marketing, business prospecting, CRM, database management, lead conversion, lead development, lead nurturing, new business development, prospecting, short list, top-of-mind awareness, TOPA

August 19, 2011 · 1:39 pm

Brochureware Is Not a Dirty Word

Brochureware is the term used, often with derogatory marketing implications, to describe websites consisting entirely of static pages that promote a company’s products and services, people and value proposition. Most brochureware websites contain no content that requires updating, and other than perhaps a “Contact Us” form, no interactive capabilities. Brochureware simply sits online, like a printed brochure sits on a coffee table.

A big problem for many companies, from a brand marketing perspective, is that:

Their well-intentioned graphic design firm has provided them with a website with functions requiring new and refreshed content. These functions might include: “News”; “In the News”; “Upcoming Events”; “Thought Leadership”; “Case Studies”; “White Papers”; “Webinars”, etc.
Although they understand the potential marketing and SEO value of those website functions, companies often lack the motivation, resources or raw material to supply them with new, relevant, engaging content on a consistent basis.
As a result, website visitors might see…a company blog with only 3 posts over the past year; no press releases issued since 2009; a “Coming Soon” graphic for the In the News section; an archive of quarterly newsletters with many issues skipped; a 2 year-old white paper that’s no longer relevant; and zero upcoming events scheduled.
Based on these impressions, website visitors will likely conclude one or all of the following:

This company is out of business.
This company doesn’t really care what clients and prospects think of them.
If this company doesn’t care what I think of them, how well will they serve my needs?

Having seriously out-of-date or missing content on your website is akin to showing up to a first meeting with a prospective client wearing no shoes and the same shirt you’ve worn for the past 6 months, sporting a jacket with lapels 4 inches wide. Based on first impressions, that prospect has already crossed you off his list.

If your company’s website is incurring brand damage as a result of outdated content…and if it has no intention of building disciplines to consistently feed this online beast…then your best course of action is clear:

TELL YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGN FIRM TO REMOVE ALL WEBSITE FUNCTIONS THAT REQUIRE REGULAR UPDATING.

Your company will be better served – from a brand perspective – by having a website featuring 100% static brochureware, than by having a website that aspires to be something it’s not.

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Tagged as #brand damage, #brand management, #brand risk, #brochureware, #graphic design, #marketing, #PR, #press releases, #thought leadership, #webinars, #white papers, marketing craftsmanship, marketing ROI, public relations, social media, website management

July 24, 2011 · 4:15 pm

Are You Wasting Money on Publicity?

The Value of Publicity is Based on 3 Key Factors

Every year, companies waste time, money and opportunity generating publicity that accomplishes little or nothing in terms of tangible business outcomes.

Here are a few hard truths regarding publicity:

Your audiences are unlikely to notice the exposure, or do anything about it. Even with content shelf-life driven by intelligent SEO management, there is simply too much information, too many online and offline media sources, and too little time in the day for your customers, prospects and referral sources to read, see or hear your message. And if they do get your message, there’s often little motivation for them to act on it.
Publicity volume does not translate into business results. A single high-value media placement that’s properly merchandised often has greater impact than a pile of press clippings. In fact, publicity for its own sake is often unfocused, with no connection to the company’s underlying value proposition or core messages; generating confusion and apathy among target audiences.
Some types of publicity have significantly greater marketing value than others. The old PR adage that “There’s no such thing as bad publicity” may work for Lindsay Lohan, but it has no application for companies that care about their brand. To calculate the media placement value of various types of publicity (see chart above), Highlander Consulting uses three key criteria:

BRAND RISK – If you have little control over how your company’s reputation or intellectual capital is presented – such as in a feature story where a reporter or editor will seek to produce “balanced coverage” by presenting negative items or including a competitor – then the publicity has inherent brand risk. (Value Scoring: +1 if you have total control over content; -1 if you have little or no control.)
CREDIBILITY – Often called “masthead value,” this factor is based on how well the media source is recognized and respected. The potential value of the publicity is based in large measure on the underlying credibility of the source, because the exposure supplies an inherent 3^rd party endorsement. (Value Scoring: +1 if the source has strong credibility; -1 if it has low credibility.)
MERCHANDISING POTENTIAL – This often overlooked factor is sometimes mistakenly called “reprint value,” but Merchandising Potential encompasses far more, relating to how easily and how broadly the media exposure can be leveraged to support and drive specific marketing goals. Simply posting publicity on a website does not deliver a high ROI. (Value Scoring: +1 if the publicity has a range of applications; -1 if it’s limited to one or two.)

Using this ranking methodology, and as reflected in the chart above , bylined articles and OpEd pieces published in credible sources typically deliver the highest marketing ROI; while inclusion (being mentioned or quoted) in a round-up news or feature story does not score well. Most home-grown efforts, such as self-published press releases, have very little value.

By using this formula, or a similar methodology, to evaluate the potential ROI of individual publicity tactics, and by building media and marketing strategies around only high-value activity,companies can consistently make the connection between publicity and tangible business results.

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Tagged as #brand management, #brand perception, #brand risk, #HighlanderConsulting, #Lindsay Lohan, #marketing, #masthead value, #media merchandising, #media placement, #PR, #press release, #publicity, #reprint value, #SEO, #thought leadership, B2B marketing, business development, Gordon Andrew, Gordon G. Andrew, highlander, highlander consulting, integrated marketing, journalism, marcom, marketing communications, marketing consultants, marketing counsel, marketing craftsmanship, marketing firms, marketing ROI, marketing strategy, New Jersey PR firms, PR counsel, PR firms, PR strategy, public relations, public relations firms, public relations strategy, social media

July 13, 2011 · 2:39 pm

One Way Smart B2B Marketers Work Backwards

B2B Marketing Needs Impressive Stuff Like This

Companies invest considerable time and effort in securing and preparing for public events, industry seminars, keynote addresses, webinars and roundtable discussions. But contrary to The B2B Marketer’s Bible, and regardless of the upfront investment, the intrinsic value and opportunities related to participation in in-person and virtual public forums do not lie within the event itself.

Consider this:

A public platform represents an implied endorsement from the sponsoring organization because of its vested interest in showcasing knowledgeable speakers. No organization will knowingly showcase a speaker who has no credibility or expertise in his or her respective field.
The audience attending the event represents a small fraction of those you are attempting to influence, and key decision makers often are not present at public events.
What’s done to promote the firm’s endorsement from the sponsoring organization—in advance of and following the event—can be more important than what occurs at the event itself. Simply issuing a press release, or posting the event’s slide presentation on a website, will not adequately address the opportunity.

Here’s how one professional services firm gained a tangible ROI from a single speaking opportunity:

The managing partner of a New York-based, eight-person CPA firm—following his presentation at a regional bar association’s seminar on law-practice-related tax, compliance and compensation issues—sent highlights of his remarks, with a brief cover note, to all the members of that regional bar association, whether they had attended the seminar or not.

This CPA firm’s follow-up marketing effort, which combined the bar association’s implied third-party endorsement with its managing partner’s thought leadership in practice management, resulted in new relationships with three law firms that had not attended the seminar.

Smart marketers work backwards. They have a specific plan to merchandise the credibility and thought leadership related to the marketplace exposure directly to target audiences in advance of seeking the speaking opportunity. That way, their ability to convert a public platform into bona fide business results is significantly enhanced.

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Tagged as #conference planning, #CPA firms, #event planning, #industry seminars, #keynote address, #marketing, #public events, #public forums, #public speaking, #reverse engineering, #webinars, event marketing, virtual events

July 4, 2011 · 3:13 pm

3 Ways Social Media Will Fail Marketers

All communication channels have limitations

1. Social media will not increase word of mouth influence.

Research by Keller Fay for Google shows that 94% of word of mouth conversations occur offline, and most often, those conversations are sparked by information found on the internet and television…and not on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites. Based on those offline conversations, consumers most often rely on internet search for additional product / brand information, which is considered to be more credible (+25%) and more likely to lead to purchase (+ 17%), when compared to information found through social media sources. Marketers are best served by focusing on improvement of their SEO capabilities.

2. Social media will not drive customer experience.

Social media does not improve or replace the customer service channels that have the most significant impact on brand impressions. Multi-channel customer experience research by RightNow / Loudhouse showed that consumers are open to using social media to post opinions, but when it comes to interaction, 50% of consumers want to use online self-service tools, phone (18%), or email (19%). Marketers are best served ensuring traditional channels deliver a customer experience that validates the company’s brand promise.

3. Social media will not reduce the marketing burden.

Similar to all other communication channels, social media involves ongoing discipline and a commitment to continually learn and improve performance and results. Establishing a Facebook page, Twitter account or company blog represents an obligation to dedicate the financial resources, appropriate skills and senior level attention necessary to make social media a strategic marketing asset. Marketers are best served walking away from half-hearted or short-term commitments to social media.

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Tagged as #CEM, #customerservice, #kellerfay, #marketing, Facebook, market research, marketing ROI, social media, Twitter

June 21, 2011 · 6:12 pm

Four Lessons From IBM’s Centennial Advertising

Page One of IBM's 4-Page Insert

“Every advertisement should be thought of as a contribution to the
complex symbol which is the brand image.”

– David Ogilvy

In recognition of its founding 100 years ago, last week IBM produced a 2,592-word, four-page advertising insert that ran for just one day in the U.S. issues of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Washington Post.

Although few companies have the resources or courage to produce “old media” advertising on this scale, IBM’s Centennial insert embodies several important lessons for marketers at companies of all sizes and industries. Here are four take-aways:

The message was well-targeted and on point. IBM was speaking primarily to investors, through the nation’s 3 most widely read daily publications. By pointing out that 100 shares of IBM stock purchased in 1915 would be worth $200 million today, the company was entitled to state that “90 day reporting cycles” are not IBM’s end game…a clear message to Wall Street analysts and institutional investors. Lesson for Marketers: Define your target audiences, reach them through appropriate channels and make your point clearly. Sounds like Marketing 101, but many ads are placed for prestige and ego rather than for impact, and it’s often a mystery what most advertisers are trying to accomplish.
The layout accommodated all types of readers. IBM understands that most people are surface readers, focusing only on heads, subheads, graphics and captions. Although the body copy was 1,888 words in length, the ad’s layout accommodated those quick-scan readers with eye-catching and interesting graphics, and also cleverly footnoted each graphic element as a means to draw readers into the main text. Lesson for Marketers: Regardless of the medium, you have a nano-second to catch someone’s interest, and if you’re lucky enough to accomplish that goal, you have even less time to make your point. Don’t make people work to understand your message…because they won’t.
The ad was part of an integrated campaign. This advertising insert served as one small part of a larger IBM strategy to leverage its 100th anniversary as a marketing asset. Other components of this well-structured campaign include a book; short films; colloquia, lectures and thought leadership forums; a dedicated website (www.ibm100.com), and 2.5 million hours of volunteer community service provided by IBM employees around the world. Lesson for Marketers: One-off tactics — even those conducted over periods longer than one day — seldom produce meaningful results. IBM’s marketing budget is larger than total revenue at most companies, but those companies can be just as smart as IBM, in terms of building marketing programs that are integrated and strategic, rather than a collection of tactics.
Their appeal was honest and human. In addition to its longevity, IBM has much to brag about. But this ad was written with humility and sincerity, and did not appear self-serving or overly promotional. In fact, a prominent graphic in the ad featured 3 of the company’s “share of misses,” including IBM PCjr, its OS/2 operating system and its Prodigy online service. Lesson for Marketers: Copywriting style aside, and regardless of the tactic, it’s more powerful to present the evidence that supports your value proposition and let your audience draw its own conclusions, than it is to tell your audience how wonderful you are.

This advertisement is a reflection of IBM’s marketing craftsmanship, and suggests a bright outlook for their second century. In fact, you might consider purchasing 100 shares — currently trading at around $165 per share — for your grandchildren.

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Tagged as #craftsmanship, #marketing, advertising, David Ogilvy, IBM, IBM Centennial, marketing ROI, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post

June 7, 2011 · 5:12 pm

Is it Ethical to Edit Online Customer Reviews?

Marketers Can Leverage Knowledge of Online Behavior

In a discussion on WNYC regarding the economic impact of restaurant reviews, Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon claimed there is research to support the counterintuitive notion that the most important aspects of online customer reviews on Yelp.com and other community opinion websites have less to do with whether the reviewer pans or praises the restaurant, and more to do with how well the review is written – in terms of its sentence structure, grammar and spelling. In other words, people are more likely to try a new restaurant that has well-written customer commentaries, regardless of the reviewers’ opinions.

Let’s assume this consumer behavior – driven by form rather than substance – is based on the likelihood that review readers conclude that if the restaurant’s online reviews are well written, that the restaurant’s clientele are educated, well-heeled, with discriminating taste and likely to eat at only the best restaurants. So regardless of any online reviewer’s advice, positive or negative, the restaurant is likely to be a “safe bet” in terms of food, service and ambiance.

More importantly, let’s assume this “Snob Effect” on online customer reviews has implications in other businesses, where socio-economics and personal status are factors in the selection of a product or service, and where online customer reviews for those businesses are readily available. For example, those product categories might include automobiles and computers & electronics; service categories might include hotels, resorts and health & beauty spas.

So here’s the ethical question posed to marketers:

Knowing that editorial quality of online reviews has a beneficial impact on sales, and if online consumer reviews are housed on your website, is it unethical to “clean up” those reviews by correcting spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax errors…if online reviewers are notified in advance that their comments are subject to this treatment?

Before you rush to condemn the proposal, consider this: traditional media sources (newspapers, magazines, TV and radio) have applied this editorial practice for decades. Whether it’s a Letter-to-the-Editor, an OpEd opinion piece or a bylined article, outsiders wishing to express an opinion are notified that “Submissions may be edited for length, style and editorial quality.” And most old media sources take full advantage of that disclaimer.

So why should online opinion – expressed in customer reviews – not be subject to the same type of editorial scrutiny? And why should marketers be prevented from taking full advantage of the Snob Effect on consumer behavior?

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Tagged as #marketing, customer reviews, editorial scrutiny, Felix Salmon, online consumer behavior, online WOM, restaurant reviews, Reuters blogger, yelp.com

June 1, 2011 · 8:20 am

Managing Customer Expectations and Being Picked Last

Soccer Can Be More Exciting Than Lawn Bowling

This past weekend, I joined a group of pre-teen relatives and their neighborhood buddies in a friendly game of soccer – a sport that had not yet made its way to America when I was in school, and has never been of any interest to me. Guys in shorts + lots of running = Snore-fest.

Maybe the kids sensed my underlying disregard for their sport. Maybe it was my gray hair. Or my middle-age one-pack abs. Whatever the reason, when they chose up sides, I was picked dead last, and the team that got me acted as though they had just been handed a red card. Humiliated, I took up a defensive position…assigned by a 12 year-old soccer hot shot…to keep the ball from getting near our goalie.

For the next hour, as balls whizzed past my head, through my legs and into our net, ignoring the impolite remarks from my cranky teammates, I nursed my wounded ego and considered the impact of expectations on performance and perception.

Perhaps I was playing poorly only because my teammates expected me to stink. I’ve certainly been a victim of low expectations on the golf course, where fellow hackers accuse you of “sandbagging” if you start playing better than your handicap suggests…so you quickly revert to double bogey performance.

There are a host of related studies on this subject: Students who outperform peers in tests because their teacher convinces them that they are smarter than other kids. Patients who experience better clinical outcomes because they believe in the effectiveness of the therapy or medication. Factory workers who are more productive because their co-workers are supportive and want them to succeed.

But here’s an interesting twist: attempting to manage customer expectations can backfire.

Exceeding customer expectations may be a key to customer satisfaction, but a Journal of Marketing Research study suggests that seeking to define their expectations in advance can cause consumers to focus on the negative aspects of the purchase or experience, and to view the experience more negatively than customers whose expectations were not solicited.

The lesson here for marketers looking to measure and improve performance: Don’t ask customers to define their expectations before you deliver
the experience. Following the customer experience, ask them if, how and why it met their expectations.

The lesson for middle-aged, aspiring weekend soccer stars: Avoid the humiliation of being picked last. Buy a whistle, make yourself permanent
referee, and call ridiculous fouls on all those pimply neighborhood kids.