Get To The Grapes

In college I had a professor that said “if you turn in a press release with a misspelled name, the wrong name, the wrong phone number, etc., just once, you will FAIL this course.  Three people failed.  He said this because we were provided a text book that included the correct spelling and information and he expected us to use it – to cross check and ensure the information was correct. It was a great lesson to learn because when it happens professionally, it can be a serious mistake and if not too serious, an embarrassing one to say the least.

In our business it’s absolutely vital that we  get an editor/reporter/producer’s name right when a news release or other information is sent to them.  Case in point, here is a 2.5 minute video of Ron Lopez, news director at Fox40 outing the CA State Fair’s PR group  with a reminder about how important it is to double check your labels before sending.

This tirade was tweeted by Fox last year:

“CHECK THIS OUT: FOX40′s Ron Lopez has an issue with a letter he received from the CA State Fair – http://bit.ly/9KiVSN”

Featured Friday, October 7, 2011, 3:00am PDT in the Sacramento Business Journal

Customer input, message strength determine campaign effectiveness

Does advertising work? All business owners have asked themselves this question at one point or another. The answer? Yes. And no.

Yes when advertising is done right. No when companies either dabble in it or are not committed to their advertising. For advertising to work, there are a number of important elements that must come into play.

The first is knowing your customer. Have you ever done research to validate the assumptions you have about who your customers are or what they really want? Professional research isn’t cheap, but it’s invaluable to creating a successful marketing program. If budgets are a constraint, you can conduct your own research with easy and cheap online tools such as SurveyMonkey. Your results might not be statistically valid, but at least you can get an idea of where you stand with your clients.

Second, what is it you’re selling? For example, what does Mercedes sell? You might answer “cars.” But, with so many different cars on the market, how could it possibly compete? Beyond its product, it sells a lifestyle choice, service and prestige. Similarly, you must determine the intangibles that set you apart from your competitors. If you don’t know what makes you different from them, then it’s time to carve out a niche of your own.

Third, craft a compelling message. Is it memorable? Does it mean anything? Two great consistent and compelling messages include, “Just Do It” and “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” What makes these so great? I don’t even need to tell you which companies those taglines belong to ­— you already know. Now granted, those companies have spent millions to tell their story, but those messages speak to the brand and resonate with its target audience. Find out what message resonates with your target audience, and then own it!

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Last week we traveled to visit one of our clients, a national brand in the luxury home products category, for a Social Media Training with the executives.  The half-day training session was designed to share with our client an updated report on the landscape of Social Media.  Although the VP of Sales & Marketing understands clearly the significant power of Social Media, we also needed to share examples of how high-end brands are capitalizing on the new “word of mouth on steroids” and how that is relating to sales.  Part of my responsibility within the training was to share case studies and to talk about measurement.  We shared that the return in Social Media is not just direct sales, which the program should drive, the return may be an increase in brand equity, fidelity and loyalty or increased brand perception, as shown in the chart below provided by w3haus.

However, we did share some impressive stats on how companies have directly tied sales to their Social Media efforts and the data was music to the client’s ears.  As reported by blogger Radha Giri, here are some examples of how major brands are harnessing the power of Social Media to drive sales:

• Southwest Airlines @SouthwestAir: Southwest Airlines attributes more than $1 million in additional ticket sales to its presence on Twitter.
• Marriott: Marriott has made more than $5 million in bookings from people who clicked through to the reservation page from Marriott’s blog.
• Dell @DellOutlet: Dell Outlet made more than $6.5M sale through its Twitter presence..
• Naked Pizza @NakedPizza: 68.60% of total dollar sales for Naked Pizza came from customers who said they are “calling from twitter”.
• Blendtec: Increased sales 5x by running the humorous “Will it Blend” Videos on YouTube.

So, how can you apply what these major brands have done successfully? If your products can’t be purchased online, how can you make your sales cycle more social? If you’re not measuring the success of your Social Media efforts, what reason is there for executives to invest socially? Remember that although making true engagement and connections online is the key to social media, your efforts should move the needle!

Is this your worst nightmare? You sit down at your computer to write a press release, letter, etc. only to find that all you can muster is the uninspired “Dear Henry,” or “Today, OUR COMPANY is pleased to announce…” And after wasting a little time perusing a few of your favorite websites, reading a handful of emails and a finally scheduling that dentist appointment you’ve been avoiding, you return to your document to continue writing, only to discover that you’ve come up empty again! You fall to your knees and, pulling at your hair, yell to no one in particular, “WHAT DO I WRITE?!”

Photo source: Rennett Stowe

Was that too melodramatic? Perhaps. It’s writer’s block, and if it’s not your worst nightmare, it’s most certainly a time-consuming annoyance. Writer’s block happens to everyone. The key to overcoming it is to identify the small things that help reset your mind to open the floodgates. How does one break writer’s block? Here are five tips that can help:

Change position. We sit for a majority of our workdays and in that time it’s easy to forget to get up and move around. A couple of laps outside around the block, or a brisk walk through a different part of the office can help to clear your mind. When you return, don’t sit down. Stand up and work for a while. Not only does this burn more calories, but the change in position can help put you in a new frame of mind.

Nix the distractions. Close your office door (if you have one), turn off your email (<gasp!>) and ignore your phone (who would do that?!) to narrow your focus to the task at hand. By no means do I mean that you should lock yourself away and force the writing. Rather by cutting of the distractions, it can help you hone in on those words for which you’ve been searching.

Let those neurons fire. Writing, whether technical or creative, is an art. The crafting together of language to effect an action or communicate a piece of news and tell a story requires us to exercise the creative portion of our brains. Reset your “right brain” by doing something else creative. Grab your note pad and doodle, build a paper clip sculpture or make up a song. Take ten minutes to be creative in another manner and then return to your writing.

Brain dump. Just write. It doesn’t matter what it’s about. Put a stream of consciousness down on paper – or in most cases, on your preferred word-processor. Write out everything you know about the topic you’re trying to write about. I find that by doing this, I’m eventually left with a working outline of the thoughts and points I’m trying to communicate. As I string these together, I find that I’m crafting the piece I intended to write.

Trade Beyonce for Bach. Many of us listen to music while we work. It energizes us and helps with productivity. However, lyrics can be distracting. Tune into something more serene like classical, solo piano or even spa-type music. These tunes can provide the momentum that you need without distracting lyrics. Build a channel on Pandora, tap into AOL Radio or utilize Spotify to stream the right background music on your computer.

Do you have any tried and true cures for writer’s block? Share them in the comments section.

I am frequently asked what the “#” symbol means when proceeding words like Public Relations, Social Media or NY Yankees. The # symbol you see throughout social media sites like Twitter is called a Hashtag.  A Hashtag is a tag (or keyword) embedded in a message posted on Twitter, consisting of a word or phrase prefixed with a hash sign. (i.e #publicrelations, #socialmedia, #NYyankees). Hashtags are used to categorize tweets so that they are seen easily when an end-user enters a Twitter Search.  When clicking on the hashtag you are able to view all of the tweets that include that same tag. This makes searching a specific topic easy! See below for some examples of how public relations and marketing professionals are using hashtags on Twitter.

Hashtags can be placed anywhere in a tweet and can even be used for fun and trending sayings, topics or events. A word to the wise, be careful not to go overboard with hashtags.  I would recommend using no more then 3 hashtags in a single tweet.  You want to avoid your tweet resembling Spam. For additional information and best practices visit the Twitter Fan Wiki on Hastags.

Our team continues to do a fantastic job connecting with producers of the top national TV shows–garnering a great amount of press coverage on the DIY Network, HGTV, Style Network, “TODAY” show and CBS Early Show.  For many of us PR professionals, landing a client on a platform such as HGTV is a homerun.  We are able to truly show clients the power of PR when we leverage our media relationships to garner exposure that would otherwise cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars via an advertising spend.

For many PR pros however, we know that placing a call to the “TODAY” show producer can be overwhelming at times.  How do you find out who to contact? Should you email them or give them a ring? They receive thousands of pitches a day, how do you cut through the clutter? To get you started, here are our four crucial tips for your pitch success.

1. Don’t contact the network directly: Many PR professionals make the mistake of contacting the networks directly (i.e. HGTV, DIY network and Style).  Unlike daily programs like the “TODAY” show and CBS “Early Show,” most of the shows you watch are produced by individual production companies.  The real gold here is to research those organizations and build relationships with those producers directly.
2. Be creative: This sounds like a no-brainer but, with national TV production this simple truth is especially important.  In order to build a relationship that lasts with your producer friends, make yourself an invaluable resource by watching the shows they produce regularly and pitching ideas that are organic to the nature of their show.  This will make it easier for them to include your product and will reduce the chance of your client’s mention(s) getting cut from the network after production.
3. Respond very quickly: Although production houses prepare shows many months before live airing, many times they are looking for products to include a few weeks or days before taping the show.  If you’re looking to garner TV coverage for your clients, set the expectations with them up front that you will need to act fast.  If the show is a smart target for your client, do whatever you can to accommodate that producer’s needs.  For example, once we even shipped a 15 ft. fireplace from San Diego to New York in two days to secure a spot on the “TODAY” show.  You will also want to make yourself available for questions on everything from installation to design trends.  This type of collaboration will do wonders for your TV relationships.
4. Ask for more: Most companies can secure a logo shot at the end of the show but, that isn’t enough.  Work with the producer to have your client’s spokesperson on camera installing the product or explaining to viewers its general benefits (remember to not get too technical, keep it simple).  Get creative with other ways to showcase your client’s product on the show such as asking if the camera man can tape the logo boxes being unloaded from the truck.  Ask if the installers can wear t-shirts with your client’s logo on the back so it’s visible when their installing the product.

By putting these tips into practice we’ve been able to garner priceless exposure for our clients.  Check out the video the below of our client, Eldorado Stone featured on HGTV’s the Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie.  We hope these tips help you in your TV outreach.  Happy pitching!

I recently read a 10 part series on Corporate Social Media Don’ts on Forbes.com. I chose the 7 most important “Don’ts” and expanded upon each tip with a “Do”. As more and more companies implement social media as part of their marketing strategy many don’t understand the positive and negative implications of their social media program.  All too often businesses overlook the key steps and unspoken “rules” that can make or break their program.

• Don’t Over-Market or Over-Sell; Do Be Social – People want to connect with people behind the brand. Treat your audience as if you are connecting with them face to face. Building quality fans/followers will serve your brand better than simply focusing on the quantity of fans/followers.

• Don’t Act Like a Robot; Do Show a Human Face -  Think of social media as you would a networking or social event your attending 24/7.  The last thing you would do is introduce yourself and then take up the entire conversation with a sales pitch about how great your product/service is.  Humanize your brand by providing ideas and honest interaction.  Don’t forget to have a little fun too!

• Don’t Forget to Engage: Do Hold Conversations - Loyal and engaged fans and followers are worth a lot more then “lurkers”. Be sure to reach out and hold conversations with your audience. Don’t be afraid to ask them what they like and think. Talk about topics that are of interest to your audience even if the topic has nothing to do with your brand.

• Don’t Establish and Abandon; Do Know When to Leave – Do not join a social network and leave it stagnant. Be sure to engage and build conversation every day if you want to build loyalty. If you are not going to fully participate, exit completely. Not using social media platforms the way they are designed to use can have a negative effect on your business. Your brand will look uncommitted and unprofessional. Also, don’t be too quick to join the next “up and coming” social media platform unless it fits your overall social media strategy and brand focus.

• Don’t Let the “Interns” Handle Your Social Media Presence; Do Hand it to the Experts – This is key – You wouldn’t give the responsibility of running your advertising and marketing campaign to your intern, so do not put your online presence in the hands of your support staff. Entrust your online identity to professional marketers and PR professionals and you will see the difference.

• Be a Thought Leader! - Be innovative. Take some risks. Be a leader; both in the content you issue and the strategies you use in social media.

Social media can add great value to your marketing and public relations program.  If you are unsure how to incorporate social media as part of your overall strategy, reach out to industry experts for help on developing a social media plan for your business. You will be glad you did

A back-to-school t-shirt garnered JCPenney a lot of bad press that started via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  The retailer known for its aggressive back-to-school advertising and promotions should have known better than to promote a shirt that reads: “I’m too pretty to do my homework so my brother has to do it for me.”

In fact, according to Deborah Belgum, senior editor for California Apparel News, and Ellie Krupnik at The Huffington Post, JC Penney just made a big marketing mistake with a little t-shirt.

The t-shirt was taken off the retailer’s website 8/31/2011 and the following statement was provided to the Village Voice:

“J.C. Penney is committed to being America’s destination for great style and great value for the whole family. We agree that the ‘Too pretty’ t-shirt does not deliver an appropriate message, and we have immediately discontinued its sale. Our merchandise is intended to appeal to a broad customer base, not to offend them. We would like to apologize to our customers and are taking action to ensure that we continue to uphold the integrity of our merchandise that they have come to expect.”

The beauty of social media is that it gives consumer a voice. But it also gives retailers and businesses a voice. And when used properly, a business can enjoy a real dialogue with its audience.  JCPenney had the opportunity to go beyond the “corporate statement” and reach out to their audience on a more personal level.  They failed.

For the entire article click here.

If you have not already guessed, as a Social Media Strategist I am a huge fan of social media and technology. I teach it, I write about it and I develop business strategies around it. In fact, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I can log in to my computer, iPad or iPhone to check email, Facebook and Twitter for the latest news, industry trends and to stay up to date on what my friends, family and business network is up to. I generally prefer email, text messages and online communication as it fits my hectic schedule and allows me to prioritize and multi-task. However I, like so many others, forget real people need real connection.

I strongly believe that even in today’s fast-paced wired world, in-person meetings are a key ingredient to establishing and maintaining relationships and an essential part of being productive. Looking back, my strongest professional and personal relationships developed through in-person and hands-on connection.  Without taking the time to cultivate these relationships, I believe I would not be where I am today.

This week’s social media tip: Turn off your computer, put your phone down and go out. Shake some hands, schedule lunch dates and attend some good old-fashioned networking events. You will be glad you did.

Did you know that “Back-to-School” is the second largest selling season of the year ($69 billion in sales)? And of course, with the potential for sales comes TV advertising. Check out the Top 10 Back-to-School ads according to Adage.com.  I’ve seen most of these commercials, and while many of them are entertaining, I have to say that the Best Buy Geek backpack creeps me out a little bit. Besides, it doesn’t make sense! Is Dell saying that their products are so unreliable that you need to carry this Geek with you were ever you go? No thank you.

What’s your favorite? Is it missing from this list?