Persuasion

Social media content is everywhere

If you’re having trouble making time for social media, you’re not alone.

R2integrated recently conducted a survey of 296 marketing professionals who use social media.  When asked to select the single biggest mistake they've made with social media, 37.8 percent of marketers cited insufficient time and resources. 

Social media tends to take a lot of time because it requires good, consistent content in order to be successful.  And creating that content can be time-consuming.

What many marketers don’t realize is that they probably already have weeks, if not months, worth of good, solid content that they can re-purpose for social media. 

Since social media is another avenue through which you can communicate with customers, any marketing materials you already have created are fair game.  That includes taking excerpts from a presentation, a speech given at an industry event, a Webinar script, byline articles, white papers, etc.  The key is simply to mine that material, seek out what’s relevant and communicate it in a way that showcases thought leadership and doesn’t scream sales. 

Also, allocating a small portion of your PR/marketing budget to social media allows you to enlist help from a public relations agency.  A PR agency can give you those extra arms and legs you need to sift through those materials and create a consistent social media schedule that maximizes your marketing investment.

The Power of PR....keeps going and going

By Guest Blogger Carissa Newton

If you had asked me what impact public relations made on my marketing eight to 10 years ago, I would not have had an answer.  In my former corporate marketing position, public relations was a "have to do," but I didn’t really think it made an impact.

My opinion has changed.  Over the last few years, I have worked with three very entrepreneurial companies and witnessed the power of public relations firsthand.   PR is now  a “must” to get our name out and to keep the buzz going.  

While PR is a necessity, it isn’t always an easy sell to upper management unfamiliar with how to measure the impact of PR.

You  must think of PR differently.  I’ve found that by combining PR with online marketing, the impact is significant and measurable. 

At my company, we do both inbound and outbound marketing.  Inbound leads can come from phone calls, the Web or referrals.  With every PR event/placement we generate, I can see a direct correlation with a spike in our inbound traffic.  In fact, we have seen our inbound leads increase by over 70 percent and our average account values have more than doubled by adding PR to the marketing mix!

Clearly, PR brings power to my brand, my company and our message.

Do people call and say they learned about us through our PR?  No, but it’s easy to see the contribution PR makes.  Our inbound traffic typically is twice our outbound reach, thanks to PR.

Inbound marketing is the optimum type of lead generation.  By focusing 80 percent of our marketing on generating inbound leads, we can more than double our results.   PR is the “energizer bunny” of marketing: it keeps our results going...and going...and going.

Carissa Newton is director of marketing at Delivra, one of the original email service providers.

AdAge: Public relations firms “get” social media

AdAge recently published “The PR Factor 2010,” a special section of the publication.  Here’s an excerpt:

The smartest marketing companies and brand teams have already figured it out: Public relations firms get social media.

Brands are becoming more strategic about their use of social media and integrating it into broader marketing campaigns.  “Instead of thinking of social media as a one-off–and merely dabbling in social media–brands are looking at the overarching message and how to deploy that across all platforms in an ongoing fashion,” said Laura Tomasetti, founder and managing director of 360 Public Relations, Boston.  “And social media is now the thread that keeps a brand conversation going long after the big, splashy launch event.”

If social media keeps the brand conversation going, it’s public relations firms that in turn keep the social media going.

It’s no secret that social media and public relations are a match made in communications heaven.  Whether it’s blogging, social media sites such as Facebook or tools like Twitter, the two-way, always-on qualities of social media play to the classic conversational, relationship-building strengths of public relations.

For the full article, go here.

Marketing by the numbers: Where does public relations fit?

By Guest Blogger Jill Snyder

I did something recently with my 2011 marketing budget that I thought was fun. I guess it’s fun if you are a revenue marketer so I better qualify that statement. I prepared my detailed marketing budget in Excel, and while working on my budget for next year I decided to add three new columns to the right side of my spreadsheet:
 

1. Cost of doing business--The first column I labeled "cost of doing business." For each line item in my budget I asked the question "will this expense generate revenue or is it a cost of doing business."  It's best if we face the fact that not everything we do in marketing generates revenue (ouch...that hurts).  Items like brochures, folders, holiday cards, etc, don't generate revenue on their own, so those costs go in the “cost of doing business” column.
2. Revenue generating--If the line item in your budget is a ‘revenue generating’ marketing tactic, the total amount for the year for this item should go in this column. Events, e-marketing, webinars, etc., go into this column. There may be some facets of marketing that may have dollars in both of your new columns. Take for example public relations.  Although most of my PR investment does go into the ‘revenue generating’ column (and yours should too…if not you need to talk to Clarus Communications), I do realize that some public relations activities are executed as ‘air cover’ about the company in general, and I put those expenses in the ‘cost of doing business’ column.
3. Expected revenue--The purpose of this column is to identify the amount of revenue that should be generated from this line item activity. For every dollar invested in revenue generating marketing tactics, you should get a return of x% of the investment. You may want $10 of revenue for every $1 of marketing expense, or higher or lower based on the business and market you are in. This number may not always be available to you, but talk to your finance department if you don’t know it and come up with a number you can at least begin to work with. For our example, let’s stick with a 10-times return on each dollar invested. So, this column is a simple formula of taking what’s in the ‘revenue generating’ column and dividing it by .10.  You will quickly see the amount of revenue this marketing tactic needs to generate.

With these three new columns, you now have the ability to:

• Quickly see how much revenue your marketing budget as a whole should produce.
• See the return needed from each of your marketing tactics.
• Throughout the year, you have a quick way to determine if you should invest in a marketing campaign…or maybe swap out one campaign for another based on how the investment might pan out.

Jill Snyder is an outsourced CMO and a respected expert on revenue marketing.

Are you a Branding “Virgin?”

I remember watching Richard Branson’s reality show a few years ago.  He put a bunch of entrepreneurs through crazy challenges and the winner won a position in his company.  I thought he was a bit nuts at the time, but his business savvy was undeniable. 

Entrepreneur Magazine recently published an article featuring Branson talking about how branding made him a billionaire.  

When it comes to branding, marketers often think of expensive advertising campaigns or outrageous stunts.  However, good branding comes down to just three things:

1. Identify one or two core brand values that your company stands for. They must be values that your customers want and that you can deliver.  For Branson’s Virgin music store, that includes providing good value and a great customer experience.  He created a fun and engaging place where customers can buy music at a competitive price.  Most executives are far too close to the inner workings of their company to be able to zero in on these values, so outside perspective is invaluable.
2. Every new product or service must support your core brand values. As Branson notes in the article, “Though we receive proposals for almost every imaginable product and service – drinks, plastic surgery, clothing, restaurants, care for the elderly, even funeral services – we have a central team that evaluates each idea to see if it fits with our values and what consumers expect of Virgin.”  Once you know what makes your business different and how you can deliver that to your customers, your decision-making process will be easier because you will have guideposts.
3. Employees are your greatest brand advocates. Successful brands are only successful when every level of the organization is engaged in the process.  At Virgin, the brand director has put together a structure to ensure that every company in the Virgin Group is aware of the company’s values and customers’ expectations. This includes providing brand training for all Virgin businesses and setting targets at call centers for customer satisfaction.

The entire article can be viewed here.

How does this fit with your branding effort?

Public relations tips to weather the recession

Do tough times call for tough measures when it comes to public relations?  Not really…many of the same rules that make for a solid public relations program during good times are applicable during recessionary times. 

Here are some tips to help you get the most for your public relations investment:

• Determine which tactics provide the greatest return on your investment.  By measuring every tactic you can see which messages are resonating best, which outlets drive the most prospect interest and which ideas should be repeated or expanded.
• Implement tactics that drive revenue.  Develop ways to get prospects to your website where you can capture lead data and move the prospect into the sales pipeline.
• Let your customers tell your story.  Third party endorsements via earned media are much stronger than advertising.

 

Is your public relations worth the investment?

During an economic downturn, many organizations look for ways to trim expenses until revenues pick up again.  Typically that means slicing “non-essential” activities…those that are profit-spenders, not revenue-generators.

One of the first areas to be cut is public relations.  But that’s not always a good idea.  Here are three reasons why:

A revenue-driven public relations program will drive sales, which are needed when revenues are lagging.

Positive and consistent exposure for your company and products will assure customers that they made a good choice, which results in higher customer loyalty and referrals (an extremely cost-effective way to market!).

Uncertainty breeds discontent among employees.  To protect this asset, organizations should make an effort to communicate regularly with employees about the status of business.  A positive side effect of this is increased employee loyalty.

It’s easy to determine if you should keep or cut your public relations program.  Simply ask yourself: Does my public relations program more than pay for itself in sales generated? 

Up next: How to use public relations during a recession.

Hire internally or outsource?

Supporters of hiring internal public relations professionals instead of outsourcing to an agency or consultant point to a number of reasons for this decision that don’t always hold up in the real world:

Myth: An internal person will be 100 percent focused on the business. 

Truth: Once you add a public relations professional to your payroll, there are many more things that will be expected of this person that can make public relations take a back seat.  Administrative items, meetings, office politics and other assignments all can pull an internal person off-task.  An agency will work consistently on your account because they are dedicated to your public relations.

Myth: An internal person will know my business better. 

Truth: That may be true initially, but often that intimate knowledge comes at the expense of perspective.  An agency will provide an outsider’s view of your organization that can be insightful and refreshing.  Also, with outsourcing you get the benefit of an expert that has exposure to many different situations that comes from working with many different clients.

Myth: An internal hire is cheaper than outsourcing. 

Truth: With an internal hire, you have many hidden costs including overhead and management time.  In addition, hiring a seasoned executive will be expensive.  If you hire an agency that commits a senior-level expert to lead your team, you will get a lot of value out of the relationship.

Finally, don’t discount the “not created here” mentality in many organizations.  A public relations consultant may be able to provide counseling to senior management that carries more gravitas than ideas generated internally.  The outside agency also may be able to work in different areas of the company to solve complex communication challenges.

Timely news can rack up big exposure

In a recent episode of “The Good Wife,” media counselor Eli complained that “we just gave them their next news cycle” when his client became part of a salacious news event.

While it sometimes is hard to control the flow of information, a few strategies will help you get the most out of each news announcement:

1. Tap into what’s current.  If a hacker just gained access to a large volume of personal information, and you represent an Internet security firm, this is a chance to showcase your client’s expertise.  Offer him as an expert source to explain how it could happen, what it means going forward, what actions could be taken to prevent this, etc.  Recently, a public affairs director at UCLA learned that the U.S. Census reported a record increase in the nation’s poverty rate, so he quickly videotaped a professor commenting on the news.  His client was featured in several high profile media stories.
2. Feed the beast.  During a long weekend or holiday period, reporters are hungry for fresh material.  Give it to them.  The news cycle continues even when the rest of the country is baking at the beach or carving a turkey.  The 24-hour news monster is especially hungry for material when traditional or daily sources shut down or are unavailable.  If you can step in and help, it’s likely you’ve made a contact who will remember you.
3. Know the history.  If the weekly business publication just completed a big article about real estate, they will not be interested in covering your idea about a new real estate development.  Typically, the weeklies work on a four to six week planning cycle for non-breaking stories, so you will need to submit pitches nearly two months before you are hoping to see it in print.

This may seem like common sense to most public relations executives, but as my dad used to say, “There is nothing common about common sense.” 

--Linda Muskin

Positioning, branding, messaging. Oh, my!

Clients often ask what the difference is between messaging, positioning and branding.  While they certainly are related, each has a different function.

Positioning is your stake in the ground.  It identifies the benefit of your product or service and why it is unique in the market.

A brand is a promise made to your customers that is consistently repeated when customers interact with your product or service.  As consultant and author Kristin Zhivago puts it: "Branding is the promise you make; your brand comes from the promises you keep."

Messaging is how you tell the story of your company and your brand.  It focuses on the benefits you identify in your positioning.  Messaging must be compelling and defensible in order to be credible. 

How are the three related?  Messaging exists somewhere between the positioning and the brand.  It draws from both the concreteness of the positioning and the experience of the brand.  While it reflects positioning, messaging is unique because it helps build your brand.