Get To The Grapes

According to a new study from Performics and analytics from ROI Research, 46 percent of social media users have recommended or talked about a product or brand on Facebook, and 44 percent have done the same on Twitter.

With more than 3,000 responses to an online survey of social network users, 30 percent said they have learned about a new product, service or brand from a social networking site, and 25 percent have gone directly to an online retailer or ecommerce site after learning about a new product or brand.  Twenty-five percent have recommended a product or brand to friends through social networking sites while 20 percent have discussed them on social networking sites after seeing an ad elsewhere. 

Want to engage your target audience?

Twenty-seven percent reported being receptive to invitations to events, special offers or promotions received through social networking sites. 

Just like with any public relations or advertising campaign, a social media program needs to be based in strategy and provided the resources needed to succeed.  But the real question is for those companies out there who still wonder if social media is just a fad.   They continue to hesitate to truly get involved or invest the time and resources to get involved successfully.  Well, if those companies wait for much more evidence, that ‘bandwagon’ will be long gone…. Full article at BrandWeek.

Change is inevitable; success comes from harnessing its power

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond Contributing writer

Are you in the zone? People love the zone — the end zone, the “I’m totally focused” zone and their comfort zone.

Let’s take a closer look at that last zone. The comfort zone is extremely easy to fall into, but one of the most difficult to get out of.

The comfort zone keeps us doing what is comfortable and familiar. It also keeps us from changing and trying something new. It keeps us in the same place, avoiding the ever-frightening unknown.

Well, in today’s business and marketing landscape, a lot is changing, which means there are a lot of unknowns. We need to step outside of our comfort zone and start to embrace change.

Keeping up with change

So, what’s really changing and why should we care? Here’s a list of five significant changes and tips on how you can capitalize on them.

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Don't be a Jesse James

It seems as though, if given the opportunity, marketers will try to blur the line between fact and fiction and this holds true no where better than the ‘wild wild Web.’ Since the first blog was posted, marketers have been seeking ways to capitalize on those blogs with significant audiences, and at times (shocking!), they have forgone transparency for the sake of the sale. 

A perfect example is Wal-mart’s Walmarting Across America blog (no longer active).  Basically the premise was about a  couple who just “happened” to drive their RV around the United States, parking in Wal-Mart parking lots as they went and blogging about their great Wal-mart experiences. The problem was it was billed as authentic when, in fact, it was a carefully scripted (and paid) campaign by Edelman (a well-regarded worldwide PR agency) for Wal-mart. 

There are many examples of the misuse of blogs and bloggers by companies marketing their products and services as well as a blatant disregard for disclosure and as such, the FTC has stepped in with guidelines to help keep unethical marketers (and companies) at bay. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued final changes to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. While advisory in nature, the new guidelines will reset standards of behavior that public relations, marketing and advertising professionals should adopt to avoid violating underlying laws against unfair competition and false advertising.

As outlined in a notice provided by The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the FTC Guidelines  make three key departures from previous guidelines that could impact marketing professional’s practices:

• The FTC advises that “endorsers” as well as advertisers can be held liable for false or unsubstantiated claims or for failing to disclose material connections between the parties.
• The Guides no longer offer the “safe harbor” whereby testimonials can be qualified by a “results may vary” disclaimer.
• Regarding endorsements, the Guides specify that celebrities should disclose relationships with advertisers.

While the FTC will approach each potential violation on a case-by-case basis, the new guidelines will impact how professionals should approach some common practice scenarios. Here are some applications of the guidelines:

• Bloggers who receive cash or in-kind payment (including free products or services for review) are deemed endorsers and so must disclose material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.
• Any firm that engages bloggers by paying them outright to create or influence editorial content or by supplying goods or services to them at no cost may be liable if the blogger does not disclose the relationship.
• Advertisements or promotions that feature a consumer who conveys his or her experience with a product or service as “typical” should clearly disclose what results consumers can generally expect or specify how the results were unique to the individual circumstances.
• If research is cited in an advertisement or promotion, any sponsorship of the research by the client or the marketer should be clearly disclosed.
• Celebrities who make endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media, should disclose any relationship with the advertiser or marketer.

A note to marketers, we owe it to ourselves and our profession to do what’s right by, not only our clients, but by the general public as well.  Consumers are already wary of advertising, so let’s not ruin it in the online community too.  Just because it’s the ‘wild wild Web’ doesn’t mean we need to act like Jesse James.

According to Mediabistro, Time Inc. today announced that the September/October issue of Southern Accents will be its last.   The magazine has been in publication for more than 30 years.  Our clients have graced many Southern Accent pages over the years, so it’s sad to see it go. However, in this economy it’s survival of the fittest.  There were too many shelter titles and the best ones are rising to the top.  Other shelter magazines already buried include: Country Home, Cottage Living, O at Home, Home Companion, Home Magazine, Blueprint, House & Garden andHouse Beautiful SIPs… Who’s next?  If you need to get your Southern Accents fix, the website will supposedly stay in operation: http://www.southernaccents.com/

I have to hand it to Domino’s, it’s a pretty creative idea.  Now that’s one form of advertising almost anyone can “love.”

GreenGraffiti, a business dedicated to clean outdoor advertising, used a high-pressure water hose to spray the eco-friendly images into the grime on the street. The green ads were created early on Thursday, while there was a lull in foot traffic.

“This is the first time we’ve done something like this,” said Jenny Fouracre, manager of public relations for Domino’s. “It’s never been done by an American company in the U.S. before.”

GreenGraffiti is created by laying a stencil down on the street and using a power washer to clean away filth in a design. More than 200 of these clean Domino’s ads were left on the ground.

The first 250 people to hunt down the sidewalk ads and email a picture of themselves with the GreenGraffiti to Domino’s will receive a $15 gift card. Winners will also have their pictures posted on Flickr.

What’s your favorite advertising campaign of all time? Go ahead, take a moment and I’m sure you’ll come up with something.Now, name one of your favorite public relations campaigns.

Somehow, I bet the first question was easily answered, while the second one really made you think; hard. Did you come up with an answer? My guess is that most of you could not. And it’s not your fault. Advertising simply gets more attention than PR because it’s blatant. It’s funny. It’s clever, It’s in your face.

But ‘behind the scenes,’ there are powerful public relations campaigns that are garnering companies phenomenal brand recognition, awareness, traffic to their websites and most importantly, sales. Almost every business-owner and marketing professional I speak with shares his or her frustration about having to cut their incredibly creative and effective advertising campaign. However, far too often, they never mention anything about PR because they are simply not using it, or certainly not using it to its fullest potential.

So just how powerful is PR? Have you ever heard of The Body Shop, Palm or Google? These brands were built with public relations. It’s been only in the past few years that they have implemented aggressive advertising campaigns to maintain the strong brands they built with PR.

Advertising is finite. You get exactly what you pay for, no more, no less. So this means to really reach your audience, you’re going to need a fairly sizeable budget: something most companies simply do not have right now.

So for those of you with a shrinking marketing budget and a growing need for awareness and sales, my recommendation is to take a close look at the power of PR.

I often tell our clients that public relations is the most underutilized tool in marketing today. A research study by Erdos & Morgan for the American Advertising Federation found that among 1,800 corporate executives surveyed, PR was ranked third in order of importance behind product development and strategic planning — and advertising came in sixth. This is not to say that advertising isn’t important, because it is: it’s simply to illustrate the power of PR.

So, how can you tap into the power of PR? 

First, get to know your local media. Nothing annoys an editor or reporter more than someone who pitches her a story that has nothing to do with her beat. You need to not only have a good understanding of who and what you’re pitching, but clear objectives as to why that editor’s or reporter’s audience would (and should) be interested in you or your story. If you can’t answer that question with a confident and compelling response, it’s time to go back to the drawing board before making the pitch.

The easiest way to get to know the local media is to partake. Read the local paper (if it’s still around), community papers, magazines, newsletters and blogs. Watch the local news and listen to your local radio stations. Find out who is writing or covering stories in your industry and then read them. Get to know what that editor or reporter enjoys writing about and then send a story idea to her.

When you’re reading an article and you say to yourself, “That should be me,” stop wishing and get to pitching. Email the editor explaining why your story is perfect for her column and readers.

Second, just because you think your story is “news” doesn’t mean it is “newsworthy.”

To make your story newsworthy, tap into the news. Here a few tips to help you craft your story:

Holidays: If your company makes a great gadget, pitch it as this year’s hottest holiday gift. If your retail store happens to carry the latest holiday gift or gadget, offer yourself and your store to the media as a resource. If you run a restaurant, why not share a few holiday-themed drink recipes and a quick and easy entertaining guide online? There are literally dozens of ways to tap into the holidays, so get creative.

Articles: If you’re an expert in your field, offer to write an article pertaining to your profession. Whether your articles get published weekly, monthly or only once a year, the return on investment is invaluable. People want to buy from, and do business with, the best in the field, and this is one way to position yourself as just that.

Pop Culture: Celebrity news, cell phones, reality shows, Crocs, Twitter, anything “i”: iPods, iPhone, iTunes and even “IMs.” If you have a product or service that taps into anything related to pop culture, it can be newsworthy.

World’s First: Whether you have a product, service, book or technology that is the world’s first (or simply the first locally), tout what others can’t. Consumers and the media love “firsts,” new, exclusive, patented, etc., so tap into it.

Surveys: There are always surveys and “top 10″ lists available to the media, but they’re usually not conducted locally. Local is what matters, so do a survey that is of interest to your community. Make it general enough for broad appeal, but specific enough to “hint” at your subject matter. This is a great way to not only gain publicity, but also become a resource for the local media.

Associations: How do some people always seem to get invited to the best events, be featured in local news stories and be chosen to write articles? They join associations, which enable them to broaden their network of friends and professionals. In doing so, it allows them to tell their story to more people, which often has a compounding effect. If you want to get your story out there, you need to start by getting out.

Human Interest: Make it about people. If you make a heart monitor and want it covered in the news, don’t tell the media what it’s made of, how accurate it is and how long it took to get it patented (yawn). Instead, talk about the little girl whom without it might not be with us today, about the grandmother who has enjoyed that past three years with her grandchildren because of this incredible technology or the father who is enjoying playing baseball with his son for the first time in two years. It’s about people. Whether you’re selling a product or service, remember, it is emotion that compels consumers to buy, and it is emotion that the media like to cover.

Blogs, online forums, seasons, how-to’s, public speaking, newsletters … there are literally hundreds of ways to generate press coverage for your company. 

So, while your advertising budget is invariably shrinking, start thinking about how you can begin growing your public relations activities.  Often times it’s more efficient and effective than any other form of marketing communication.  And most importantly, unlike advertising, it’s really infinite.  There’s no telling where one good PR pitch might take you. 

If you want a little attention, run a clever ad campaign. If you want sales and long-term success, tap into the Power of PR. 

Sacramento Professional Performance®  Magazine: Vol 17 No. 2

Printed with permission by Sacramento Performance®  Magazine: http://www.theperformancemagazine.com/ 

Digg, a social news site is introducing its own form of advertising. Borrowing a similar model to Facebook, the site will design ad units that mimic the site experience itself. The ads will appear within the list of headlines and provide the same options as it currently does for users to “Digg” or “bury” the links.

Not unlike Google ads, the more recommenations or “Diggs” the ads get, the more often they will be shown. According to Quantcast, Digg has an audience of more than 27 million.  [still thirsty...]

But within every challenge lies opportunity. As a small-business owner, here’s yours: Given the current state of the economy, many businesses’ sales are down. In some cases, way down. When sales are down, the first thing most companies do is cut their marketing budgets. Yet many studies show this to be counterintuitive. In fact, here are just a few of studies that show “making noise” during a recession can really payoff:

• McGraw-Hill Research analyzed 600 companies from 1980-1985. The results showed that business-to-business firms that maintained or increased their advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth — both during the recession and for the following three years — than those that eliminated or decreased advertising.

By 1985, sales by companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had risen 256 percent over those that didn’t keep up their advertising. For the rest of the article visit Sacramento Business Journal.

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Southwest Airlines has received mixed reviews for its recent promotion of Sports Illustrated’s 2009 Swimsuit issue. 

The Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 features Sports Illustrated cover girl Bar Refaeli in a, hold on to your hat, ‘bikini!’ And yes, this has caused controversy.   The Sacramento Bee noted that some passengers complained that they are being forced to board an aircraft plastered with soft porn.  I think that is a bit dramatic, but did enjoy this comment from one woman who was quoted in the article: ”Many women do not enjoy having their husbands exposed to explicit pictures…”

Really? You don’t want your husband to see that? I wonder if she lets him read the Sunday JC Penny ads which include models wearing nothing more than bras and panties; literally!  I have to give kudos to Southwest for being the fun-loving, daring and ‘most on-time’ little airline that we all have grown to love. 

I also appreciate the fact that Southwest Airlines neither cowards or folds under this fake controversy.  Folio reported that a Southwest spokesperson said about a quarter of the response it has received about the promotion so far has been negative. “As with anything that’s different and unique, you do hear from some people who disagree,” the spokesperson said. “We wanted to make sure it was in good taste before we put it up on the aircraft.”

And isn’t that the truth.  Our job as marketers is to be different and unique.  And in being different and unique one is bound to garner the attention of those with far too much time on their hands and those who well, obviously don’t look so hot in a bikini (or Speedo).  So, great job to Sports Illustrated and Southwest Airlines for a marketing promotion that is, well, working. 

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And for those of you who are not faithful US Weekly readers, Bar Refaeli is an Israeli supermodel, currently dating actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Just so you know…