Communications Insight

Marketing Into Headwinds

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:16:00 +0000

I've been wanting to post on branding--Business Week just came out with it's annual Top 100 Brands story--but it just doesn't seem relevant somehow!
But, it is. The stronger brands will weather the storm better, and come out the other end that much stronger. We all know that. It's never a good time to STOP investing in your brand but it is a good time to make sure every marketing dollar you spend, is spent wisely. That means focusing on the basics:
---What are the business objectives?
---What is a "must have" program, not a nice to have?
---What's the target audience and how do I reach them in the most efficient manner?
---What story do I have to tell and how do I make it relevant in today's world?
I call this "marketing into headwinds". Something we all need to be thinking about these days.

Oh My, What a Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:10:00 +0000

I'm trying to remember what it was like in the dot com bust. Somehow I don't remember the market falling this far, this fast. Or, am I just conveniently forgetting? I talked to my accountant and he is in the market actively buying. He thinks it's a great time to scoop up some deals. I said, you are brave!!

The Bonesetter's Daughter from SF Opera

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:39:00 +0000

I generally don't like to veer too much into personal likes/dislikes on this blog but I just saw an amazing opera from the San Francisco Opera company. I've been an SF opera subscriber for years; I love the combination of wonderful music, beautiful vocals and the storytelling of live theater. And, we are so lucky to have a first-class opera company here in SF. Each season there is typically a new, "modern" opera as part of the subscription package.
This year we are so lucky to have the World Premiere of Amy Tan's "The Bonesetter's Daughter". I have not read the book and had no expectations for the production. To my delight, it was superb on so many levels. The story is beautiful and the music and lyrics are simple but at the same time very engaging. The sets and costumes are wonderful. I love the way they have integrated traditional Chinese opera into the score--it makes adds richness and a sense of history. Here's what the SF Chronicle opera reviewer had to say.
I think this is an opera that any music and/or theater lover will become totally immersed in. Unfortunately there are only two more performances scheduled here but I am certain that this opera will be produced by other companies.
If you have an opportunity to see it, do it!

TechCrunch Post on PR and Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:56:00 +0000

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch has a post today about the practice of PR in today's blog-intensive world. Basically he posits that PR professionals are not keeping up with nor understanding how to work with bloggers and new media, and are consequently delivering less and less value to their clients. The whole post is worth reading.
I actually agree with Mike's overall premise here--the world of PR IS changing in many, many ways due to the underlying, fundamental changes in the media world. It's not just the emergence of the blogging community that keeps today's PR pros on their toes, but a whole raft of additional changes:
----the emergence of the 24 hour news cycle
----gross fragmentation in media outlets
----ongoing decline in traditional print outlets, print and magazines
----new, visual communications tools

All of these very fundamental changes have occurred over the past few years, mostly due to the anytime, anywhere communications made possible by the Internet. It's no wonder that even the most conscientious PR professional is going to have a hard time keeping up with all of it.

And, still have time to do a good job servicing clients, and blogging! :)

But, despite all this change, and something that Arrington misses totally in his post, is that some things have not changed and probably never will. And, it is this value-add that clients need most from their PR professionals.

PR still is, and always will be, a relationship-based business. It's who you know, what you can tell them, and how you foster those relationships on an ongoing basis that's important. Most CEO's do not have time to manage all the media relationships and still run their companies. That's why they hire good, well-connected PR professionals to help them out with this.

The Go Game--Team Building

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Last Friday I had the immense pleasure of participating in a team-building exercise with one of my clients. Typically, I'm a little leery of these adventures. Too many times the experience tries too hard to force people into interactions and the whole affairs ends up being more awkward than productive.

Well, I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. Delighted, as a matter of fact. The game was masterminded by an excellent groups of folks who market "The Go Game". We split into three teams and played for about two hours using the University Avenue area of Palo Alto as our "playground".

The game itself is like a multi-media scavenger hunt. The game is played as each team fans out completing "missions" as directed by the game leader. The game is customized somewhat to the specific team, or company participating.

I don't want to say a whole lot more about the game itself because if you are lucky enough to participate, the surprises are part of the fun. Suffice it to say that it's done in a way in which everyone truly is a "winner". It's challenging and fun, and interactive enough to appeal to extroverts without causing embarrassment or awkward moments for those who are more inhibited.

Rethinking the Presentation

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:08:00 +0000

My client, whom I've mentioned before in this blog, Wasim Ahmad, vice president of marketing at Voltage Security recently recommended reading Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. I'm only about halfway through the book but I'm already a convert and rethinking my own presentations and those I help my clients prepare. Here is Garr's blog with more insights.

The Best Corporate Reputations? You Decide

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:21:00 +0000

The Reputation Institute, a private consultancy dedicated to corporate reputation management, has just published its 2008 Global Pulse Report which attempts to measure corporate reputations. A synopsis of the U.S. study is available for download at the Institutes's website and it makes for interesting reading by anyone in the business of advising clients about reputation issues. (The complete report is available for a hefty fee.)
The global report looks at 600 companies; the U.S. portion ranks 150 companies. The rankings are a result of over 60,000 online consumer interviews across 27 countries.
Of the 150 U.S. companies measured, are you surprised that Google ranked #1? With the mantra of "do no evil", it appears consumers believe that Google continues to act positively on their behalf.
Keep in mind, this is a measure of broad consumer perception, not necessarily the perception of those reading the business pages day-in and day-out.
The report notes that a high score indicates that consumers have a "high level of trust, respect, and good feelings for the company".
Of the top 10 companies, most are well known consumer brand companies: Johnson & Johnson at #2, Kraft Foods at #3, etc.
But, oddly enough, of the tech companies, fading brands such as Xerox (#8), Texas Instruments (#10) and Kodak (#11) handily beat out such brands such as Apple (#17) and Microsoft which comes in at a disappointing #43.
The report also points out that there is a very high correlation between levels of recommendation and what the authors call "support" or recommendation. In other words, the better the reputation ranking, the more likely consumers are to recommend the company.
What this report also says to me is that consumers have a long memory and, perhaps especially with consumer technology, even "old" names still carry cachet.
It's hard to believe that Xerox, Kodak and TI are beating Apple.
We know there is a changing of the guard in tech brands but the word hasn't got out to the general consumer quite yet.

The New Demographics

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0000

This fascinating article "The Changing Face of the American Consumer", published in this week's Ad Age, by Peter Francese, outlines the leading demographic trends as summarized from the US Census data and details specific advise on how savvy marketeers may deal with these shifts. Francese, the founding publisher of American Demographics Magazine, is a reliable source for this kind of thoughtful analysis.
We all know that the U.S. population is trending older as the baby boomer generation continues to age, and that immigration is changing the face of our nation, particularly in the west. But, other insights by Francese are truly surprising--the analysis of female demographics and what this means for spending trends is very interesting. As, is the information about trend differences based on geography.
The most obvious insight is the section on teens and mobility. Any marketer can look around today's city streets and realize that teens, tweens and young adults are primarily interacting through their cell phones. Those of us immersed in the tech world are all ready well aware of the profound changes this will mean for all of us as time moves on.
One of the most interesting points made is that right now, the marketers trying to reach this burgeoning, mobile younger demographic is older, and in many cases, much older.
And, that's a clear disconnect.

Lessons From "D"

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:47:00 +0000

So, what are the lessons any executive can take from these “D” interviews (see my post) and generalize to their own interview preparation?

1. Preparation is paramount. Before going into any interview, you need to review your business top to bottom and become familiar with all the relevant issues and perspectives. Specifically review all public information and recent discussions in blogs and other public forums—these are the sources journalists will turn to when developing their interview questions.
2. Know your stats. Get an refresh on key stats that drive your business and be prepared to use the numbers in your answers. Showing command of this level of detail demonstrates your deep understanding of your business and your customers and is a way to build credibility. Stats are also a great way to refute an inaccurate assertion made by a journalist.

3. Be able to summarize your business and position in the market place in a single sentence. You need to be able to describe your business clearly in about 10-15 words or less. You also need to differentiate your business (position it vis a vis the competition) concisely--preferably in a single sentence. You can use an analogy to do this. And, you need to be able to succinctly answer the question “why” is this important? Why should the customer care? Why should the audience care? If you are running a large business with a lot of moving parts, you need an umbrella vision or mission that ties together the pieces into a single, meaningful entity with a singular purpose. If you don’t have all of this already sorted out, don’t wait until the night before your interview to complete the task. Start a few weeks ahead and get a positioning expert (like me) to help you.

4. Don’t over rehearse. Yes, you should role-play the interview with someone who is tough enough to ask the really hard questions. And, yes, you should practice enough that you can easily answer the basic questions and have full command of your stats. But, do not over-rehearse to the point where you are a talking head, parroting out the same line over and over without any emotion.

5. Tell a story. You need to tell a story with your interview. Don’t be afraid to personalize your answers with antidotes, funny insights, or little asides that illustrate your key points. Use the customer’s voice. One of the most effective techniques in any interview situation is to talk from the customer – or users- point of view. Before going into your next interview, make sure you call a few customers yourself and get their immediate feedback, or talk to 10 random users and hear what they have to say about your product or service. The feedback will be illuminating and the stories will help bring the customer perspective into your comments.

2. Treat the interview like a discussion. Without forgetting that you are sitting across from a journalist, relax and enjoy the intellectual give and take of the interview. Remember, you are all in this together. You, the interviewer and the audience; at the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing. A good interview with lots of insightful discussion and meaningful dialog.

To get there takes preparation and know-how but it's a trip worth taking.

Reflections on the "D" Conference

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:29:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to attend the annual “D: All Things Digital” conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and co-produced by preeminent technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. The format for “D” is somewhat unique in that, instead of executive keynotes or ‘fireside chats” that are typical at executive conferences, “D” features a series of executive interviews. Usually these are done mano a mano where Walt or Kara interview a specific exec but sometimes the format varies slightly and two execs from the same company are interviewed by Walt and/or Kara. The interviews last about 45 minutes and there is time for Q&A.
This interview format works particularly well at "D" because of the interviewing skills of both Kara and Walt. Because of their long-term experience in the tech and media industries, they are able to ask insightful, hard-hitting and thought-provoking questions.
As a communications professional, it’s interesting to observe each executives’ prowess in handling the interview itself. Do they answer the questions directly? Do they dodge the tough questions? Is he or she a master of spin? Or, are they honest and straightforward. Are they off message or on?
And, of course, content is key. Do they have anything to share in their answers? Do they know their business backwards and forwards? Can they articulate a clear mission/vision or raison d’etre for their company? Is there a strategy? Do they have a sense of the future and how to win the competitive battle at hand or ahead? Do they understand the technology trends and how to take advantage of them? Do they know the specific drivers impacting the day-to-day business, the key stats that keep the motor humming?
Throughout each interview the listening audience, comprised of nearly 400 technology industry veterans, several dozen leading tech journalists, bloggers and pundits, large corporate CIO’s and representatives from all the leading venture firms, is evaluating the executive based on an ongoing analysis of the above dimensions.
It’s a wonder any of them get through this wringer unscathed. Surely, aside from a raucous shareholder meeting, this may be the most challenging interview situation ever faced by many of these executives.
So, this year. Who won and who lost the battle. Well, the clear winner in my mind, and many others whom I spoke with, was Rupert Murdock the founder, majority owner and long-time CEO of News Corp. News Corp is perhaps the largest and most diversified media conglomerate in the world, owning newspapers like The Australian, The London Times, The New York Post and as of last year The Wall Street Journal, online leaders such as My Space, television networks such as Fox News and Star Broadcasting, and the Fox movie business, as well as, the All Things Digital conference. So, it was quite interesting when Murdock took the stage and sat down to answer a series of questions from Walt and Kara. And, even though he is their boss, Walt and Kara asked tough, serious questions about all of the News Corp businesses.
Throughout the interview, Murdock was the face of relaxation, clearly enjoying the banter and give and take. Because he approached it more like a discussion than an interview, he came off as relaxed, comfortable, and enjoying the back and forth. At the same time, he demonstrated a firm grip on all the fundamentals of his business, clearly communicated a sense of vision and long-term commitment, showed that he understood the technology, competitive scenarios and drivers behind each specific business. It was a showcase of how to handle the tough interview for any executive to watch and learn from. You can see some of the video highlights here at the AllThingsD website.
Showcase that against other attempts that left the audience confused in one case, and decidedly lukewarm in another. When Jerry Yang and Sue Decker, CEO and President of Yahoo! took the stage there should have been a single, over arching goal: regain credibility. Despite Walt and Kara’s best efforts to illicit a clear articulation of their business direction, strategy, value and, indeed, their own sense of leadership, neither Yang or Decker were able to step up to the challenge. Their answers left the audience with more questions and did nothing to clarify important issues of direction for the company. An opportunity was lost.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were interviewed the first night of the conference, and although their message was articulated more clearly, they still could not convince this audience that they had a viable strategy going forward to effectively combat the frontal assault of Google.
Lastly, a miss was also made by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and new COO Sheryl Sandberg. Clearly the darlings of this crowd, there was probably more residual support for this duo than any of the others. Unfortunately, Zuckerberg was over-rehearsed and could only manage to repeat a one-line mantra over and over, never answering a fundamental question of “why” and Sandberg valiantly tried to illustrate the company’s advertising potential with two relatively weak examples.
The most creative attempt to control the interview had to go to Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner who, when being interviewed by Swisher, reframed her questions by describing what she was really wanted to asked but didn’t. It worked; he was able to effectively recast the tough questions which enabled him to communicate the information he wanted to.

They Have All the Answers

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:25:00 +0000

What "they" am I talking about here? The customers. That's who.
I was talking with Anu Sanghvi, one of the very smart product managers at my client, PayCycle. We were discussing a new service enhancement that she's working on bringing to market; talking about features, benefits, pros and cons. I was asking her "why?", "why", "why"?
"Why did you decide to do that?" "Why did you make that decision?" "Why did you include that and not this"? You get the picture. Being a general pain in the side.
But trying to get enough insight to understand her thinking.
Finally, she looked at me long and hard and said, "I just asked the customers. They have all the answers. All we have to do is listen."
Aha, yes. So true.
All we have to do is listen.

Who, What, When, Where...

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:14:00 +0000

Today I sat in on an interesting conversation between a group of public relations professionals and a blogger from a leading business publication. As typical, the journalist began to complain about all the misguided pitches he receives from PR folks.
Someone asked, "what's your favorite" pitch to receive. The answer was a stark reminder of the basics of good reporting and consequently, good PR. He said, ..."I want a straightforward pitch. Just give me the who, what, when and where..."...and add-in the why and how if it's relevant.
Anyone who attended journalism school has heard of the "Five W's and a H" --the standard formula for collecting the relevant story facts for a lead paragraph. What this reporter was basically saying is, pitch me a lead with the salient facts.
If I'm interested, I'll let you know.
A good reminder that sometimes less really is more.

Giving A Great Demo

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:18:00 +0000

Today I had a client ask me for advice on giving great product demonstrations. She wanted to know if her demos were effective and was looking for ways to improve. She's a smart executive for asking the question.
Product demonstrations are one of the most necessary communications tool for any tech company; software, hardware or online service. You've got to be able to show someone the goods in a way that is memorable, engaging and different than the competition.
In fact, I have seen many interviews completely undone by the lack of a good demo. No matter how great the market analysis might be, or the business strategy, if the product doesn't deliver most journalists will turn a deaf ear. And, the only way to present a killer product is through an even more-killer demo.
So, what are my tips? There are only five but to get them right will take a lot of preparation time and effort. A good demo will make all of these look incredibly easy and straightforward.
1. Start from the beginning and treat the demo as if you are telling a story. As any good story, the demo should have a distinct flow (beginning, middle, end), it needs to have a plot, it needs to have drama, and it should have a protagonist. Most often the product itself is the protagonist and becomes the "white knight" solving the dramatic problems that are set-up in the first few minutes of the demo. Remember, you, the demoer, are NOT the protagonist. The demo isn't about you. The demo is about your product and about the consumers who will benefit from your product.
2. Start by assuming nothing and consequently your demo will be very complete. Start with a blank sheet. Assume your audience knows absolutely nothing about your space, your product, your service. Because you are so close to the product, this is actually very difficult to do. But, too often, demoers leave out critical, elementary information because they make too many assumptions about the listeners knowledge level.
3. Weave in interesting research, data and factoids to support your claims and give credibility to the features and funcitonality. Again, this sounds simple but takes a ton of work. You need to gather all the research you can about your market, your users, your business and distill them down into those facts that best support your claims. Some of this research will be from industry research firms (such as Forrester, or Jupiter), other material you will find internally from your marketing and product development organizations. Make sure you vet everything: focus group results, user testing videos, customer service reports.
I learned the essence of this approach from Scott Cook, co-founder of Intuit who is a master of building brand credibility through consumer data.
4. Use intestesting language to keep the listener engaged. Let's face it, the people you are showing your demo too have seen hundreds of them. You've got to go the extra distance to make your demo stand out and be memorable. You can't rely on tired technology buzz words or catch-phases. You've got to pepper the narrative with words and comments that the listener isn't expecting to hear. One way to do this is to speak through the voice of the customer. Talk to customers and listen to their stories and then use these stories as your own throughout the demo.
5. Know what makes your product different than the rest and focus on these attributes. The objective of any demo is to make your product stand out from the pack. Before putting together your demo, you've got to do a thorough competitive analysis that compares your product with all others in it's related "set". You need to be brutally honest on how your product stacks up and delineate your strong suits. These points of differentiation are what you want to focus on in your demo.
Well, that about does it. Five simple steps to a flawless demo. Now, get to work!

Tips from the Pros: Crisis Communications

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:43:00 +0000

Last Friday the Silicon Valley Public Relations Socitey of America hosted a crisis communications panel and discussion. The panelists represented communications pros from such blue-chip companies as Intel, Franklin Templeton, McKesson and Facebook. All of these folks have been through more than their fair share of tough PR situations and had plenty of tips to share with the audience. Here's a snapshot of what they recommend; common sense but still worth mentioning again.
1. Understand the news cycle. Chuck Mulloy from the Intel Global Communications Group commented several times about the need to understand and manage the news cycle. His point: know when NOT to elevate a crisis by commenting and potentially extending the news cycle into another round. Some stories will die a timely death if just left alone.
This sounds straightforward but can be a tricky call to make; if a story impacts consumers and if consumer activists are involved, do not expect the story to go away until those activists are satiated.
2. Educate your executives. It was recommended that this be an ongoing education process with all the leading executives at the company, helping them to understand the nature of a crisis and what would be expected of them in the face of a crisis. Several of the panelists described ongoing media awareness training offered internally to executives and managers.
3. Have a plan. All of the pros agreed that every firm should have a business continuity plan in-place so that in times of crisis there are pre-set guidelines to keep the business and communications flowing. These plans should be tested periodically and revised annually.
4. Know your people. As a PR pro, you need to know who does what internally and who knows what internally so you can quickly and effectively marshall resources as needed. This knowledge allows you to be responsive and prepared throughout the crisis.
5. Think globally. In today's world crisis are not contained to a specific geography; they quickly become global issues. Any plan, proactive or reactive, needs to take this into account.
6. Use technology to monitor the news. Brandee Barker of Facebook talked about how she and her staff routinely monitor, not just their own and other social media sites, but also Twitter, Digg, and the other leading edge "new media" services.
7. Remember always, be open and honest. The key to any crisis situation is maintaining the trust of your constituents. Communications need to be timely, open and honest.
Thanks PRSA Silicon Valley and all the panelists for such a valuable program.

Brad Bird on Innovation in Found/Read

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:45:00 +0000

If you are interested in motivating your team and fostering innovation, this post of an interview with the Pixar creative genius, Brad Bird, at Found/Read, the latest GigaOm network blog, is a "must-read". The interview was originally published in the McKinsey Quarterly and in her post, Carleen Hawn breaks down the interview into nine lessons well-worth learning.
Although I think all of these lessons are extremely prescient, Lesson 8, "Get Rid of Weak Links", strikes me as perhaps the most critical as well as the most challenging.
In my 12 years of owning and operating a large strategic communications firm, time and time again my business partner and I would recognize a "weak link" within the staff. The negativism and poor performance would continually bring down the morale and performance level of other team members. But invariably we found it immensely difficult to deal with the issue.
As one of our advisory board members once reminded us, it's more important to water the flowers than the weeds.
Also, as a side note, I'm proud to say that Brad Bird is from my home town, the idyllic Corvallis, Oregon.
Brad, thanks for the awesome work!

How To Do It Right: Tradeshows

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:08:00 +0000

I spent much of last week at the annual RSA security industry trade show and conference in San Francisco. And, as much as I don't want to write about clients, I am so impressed with the way Voltage Security presented themselves, it's worth mentioning here.
A few years ago the buzz in marketing was about "integrated" marketing. Implementing a complete campaign, using a variety of tactical elements, all designed to create a single, integrated impression. In many ways, integrated campaigns are the holy grail of marketing; what everyone strives to achieve but most fall short in doing so.
Achieving an integrated presence at a large trade show, such as RSA, is difficult and expensive. There are hundreds of vendors competing for attention, many have similar messages so differentiation is almost impossible and the attendees become "blinded" by all the promotions being thrown at them in a concentrated place over a short period of time.
How did Voltage manage to overcome this and stand out in the crowd, on a limited budget?
1. Get the right team together. Wasim Ahmad, vice president of marketing, gathered together a stellar team of professionals to help execute the elements of the show. Each pro had many years of trade show experience to draw from. This wasn't a job for newbies.
2. Begin planning well in advance. Wasim nailed down the key elements of his approach many, many months before the show. Key to the success for Voltage was having an off-show floor meeting suite for use by the sales team. The location had to be close to Moscone for easy access by busy executives and prospects. Wasim booked one of the premiere meeting rooms at a hotel adjacent to the show floor over nine months in-advance. As a result, the Voltage sales suite hummed with meetings, morning,noon and night.
3. Build a tradition. At their first RSA in 2004, Voltage hosted the Voltage Martini Mixer, an after show hours party, for friends of the company. Voltage has invested in this same party every year since then, and now it's a tradition that customers, partners, prospects and industry participants look forward to attending. This year's party was better than ever.
4. Create a theme and execute well. This year, for the first time, Voltage invested in a booth on the show floor. Wasim and his crew knew they needed some kind of promotion to get people into the booth and engaged with the Voltage brand. They created a fun promotion based on decrypting a mock credit-card number, with the chance to win a prize of $100.00. The promotion was a huge hit and tied together key messages that relate to Voltage's positioning: information encryption, ease-of-use, innovative solutions.
5. Tie-in online marketing. As the show unfolded, Voltage launched an updated web presence with a fresh look and feel. This complemented the new, expanded product line positioning that the company unveiled throughout the run of the conference. It ensured that those who could not attend the conference were able to participate in the excitement and learn about what's new at Voltage.
Taken singularly, each of these elements is important and difficult to "get right". Executed together, in a truly integrated fashion, is doubly difficult to achieve but exponentially more effective.
Congratulations Voltage, for showing us how to do a trade show the right way.

"Out of Print" by Eric Alterman

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:35:00 +0000

For those of you following the trials and tribulations of the evolving news media, another great read is a recent article in the New Yorker, "Out of Print" by Eric Alterman.

25 Most Valuable Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:23:00 +0000

On March 26th, 24/7 Wall Street published its analysis of the 25 Most Valuable Blogs. It's an amazing list of new media that have been largely built in the last three-to-five years. In most sectors, technology (TechCrunch), Politics (Huffington Post), Media (Gawker) these blogs are now driving the news cycle for both online bloggers and off line print journalists. It's clear that this trend is only the beginning and the value of these and other blogs should continue to move up and to the right.

State of the News Media

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:52:00 +0000

Much has been written about the "State of the News Media" report published in late March by the Project for Excellence in Journalism so I won't spend time restating any of the obvious. Suffice it to say that, as we all know, disruption is overtaking traditional media and it won't be long before we consume all of our news digitally. This shouldn't be any surprise to those of us who work closely with the media and technology; in terms of a growing transition away from print, that train has left the station.
What I find most interesting about this report is the section "The Future of Advertising". This should be on the "must read" section of all practicing marketing professionals. It gives a concise analysis of the recent media trends from an advertisers perspective. And, talks about the dramatic shift in ad dollars to the Internet which is being preceded by the growing amount of time consumers spend online each day.
Most interesting, from a marketing services perspective, is the following:

"This ability to get much more granular data and the pressure felt by chief marketing officers to justify their ad dollars have made ad spending accountability the No. 1 priority among marketers today.
“ 'Accountability has gone from a buzzword to something that is much more expected in marketing and advertising spend,” says Matt Freeman, CEO of Tribal DDB, a digital offshoot of the ad agency DDB Worldwide, part of Omnicom Group. “That has led to a client shift to more addressable media.” More addressable media usually means anything digitally trackable, from online display ads to offline ads that ask cell phone users to text-message the advertiser to win a prize. Adds Denise Warren, chief advertising officer of The New York Times Media Group, “The [chief marketing officer] has to really show that their marketing spend is delivering results.' "

The challenge for all of us is to figure out how to measure the results of the services we provide in this brave new world.

Repetition is Reputation

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:16:00 +0000

I saw this phrase a few weeks ago in a magazine article and it has been on my mind ever since. It reminds me of something I always tell my clients, consistency is everything in communications. And, that is so true; in building an effective strategic communications program, in branding, ultimately in building a viable reputation for your company.
What's the opposite of consistency? Change. Changing a message too often can be as detrimental as having the wrong message or having no message at all. Too many times I see clients rush to change a message or a campaign because they are tired of it. Of course they are tired of it way before the market because they've lived with it through the long-process of creation and execution. But, think about the campaigns, brands, marketing messages that you remember--they are most probably the ones that have been consistently delivered over a sustained period of time.
Not that all change is bad. It isn't. It is important to change if you know your message isn't working. Usually the market will give immediate feedback if your message/product/claims are totally off base. The bottom line: building a brand takes time and commitment, and it takes consistency. Consumers want to get to know their brands, they want an emotional attachment with a brand that they can trust to deliver a good experience, time after time. That's the reputation of a brand that is built through regular repetition. Consistency in the entire experience, from marketing through product delivery through support.
Repetition is reputation. And,that's a fact.

Get Rid of Unwanted Catalogs

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:04:00 +0000

If you are like me, you probably get a bushel full of catalogs in your mailbox. Now there is a great way to stop this flow of unwanted paper: CatalogChoice.org. Check it out!

Vista Works for Me

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:59:00 +0000

About a month ago I bought a new Sony Vaio computer—my third since 2002—and with it the Vista operating system and Microsoft Office 2007. I couldn’t be happier with my choice. Of course, I was leery after reading the negative reviews and for a few fleeting seconds I actually considered switching to a Mac. But, as a consultant, I need to be as compatible as possible with my clients and I’ve always enjoyed my Sony computers.
My transition to Vista was almost immediate. There was about five minutes of new learning before I felt comfortable. I like the changes Microsoft has made to the look and feel and to the file system. I’m sure there is much more that is changed but it all seems transparent to me. I haven’t had any problems with crashes and/or bugs, knock on wood. And, I really like the automatic updates and built- in computer diagnostics capability. When I bought the new computer, I knew I had to also buy a new printer—my old one would not be compatible—but that was no problem as the prices on very good printers are so low and with rebates, it became a non issue. The only compatibility issue I’ve had is with automatic sync with my BlackBerry and that can be straightened out when I either have time to buy a new Blackberry (which I need to do) or call customer support.
Even more than Vista, I am thrilled with Office 2007. I find it is easier to find features, more intuitive and improves my productivity. Many of the changes are small tweaks but when added up, they make a big difference in my efficiency and overall enjoyment of the user experience. Again, it has been totally easy to learn and when I did have a problem migrating my Office 2003 Outlook file into Office 2007, I called Microsoft customer support. With very little wait time, I had a great agent on the phone who downloaded a software app that allowed him to take control of my screen. He helped me fix the problem, was extremely courteous and, it was free.
Over the years of dealing with Windows XP I became a very disillusioned Microsoft customer. But, now, Vista and Office 2007 have reset my positive expectations. Nice going, Microsoft.

Acela from NYC to Washington DC

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:42:00 +0000

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of riding the Amtrak Acela train from NYC to Washington DC. I had made this run several years earlier but had forgotten the beauty of the experience, especially when compared to the pain involved in flying the same route.
On Wednesday evening we took the 6:00 pm train from Penn Station and arrived 2 hours and 45 minutes later at Union Station with intermediary stops (very quick stops) at Newark, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
We rode business class. The cars were clean and spacious, there was plenty of room for us to work and cell access was intermittent but better than nothing.
There is also a “quiet” car where phones are banned and conversations need to be kept to a whisper.
There was plenty of room for carry-on baggage both in the overhead compartments and in larger storage units at the ends of each car. There was a wide-variety of food available to purchase and take onboard in Penn Station, and a limited selection of snacks and beverages for purchase on-board.
And, the real pleasure came from what we didn’t experience. There was no stop-and-go traffic getting out to LaGuardia airport, there was no need to suffer airport delays due to weather, malfunctions and/or poor scheduling, there was no being cramped into a tiny airline seat and fighting for an overhead bin.
When we arrived at Union Station, already decorated for the holiday season with giant wreaths, we were just blocks from our hotel in downtown Washington DC. If we hadn’t already eaten, we would have sat down and enjoyed a meal at the rotunda restaurant, with its Parisian bistro décor and white tablecloths.

Leaving Las Vegas

noreply@blogger.com (Julie McHenry) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:59:00 +0000

Well, I'm just back from a short, but long enough, weekend in Las Vegas. The highlight--Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up act at Cesar's Palace. He is truly the comic genius of our time and did not disappoint in this one hour laugh-after-laugh show. Seinfeld's forte is finding the hilarious in the mundane acts of daily life. The news ticker, cereal, parenting, the iPhone, Jerry touched on it all. He is much funnier in person than on TV. His physical comedy, timing, etc., is as stellar as his verbal comedy--even a little bit Krameresq in its delivery.
I hadn't been to Vegas in over a year, since May of 2006. The city continues to morph into a surreal fusion of what's real and what's definitely not real. It is more crowded than ever, even in the early part of hot, hot August, there were people everywhere at all hours of the day. It's more expensive than ever.
I have never seen so many bachelorette parties in one place at one time. Or, as many brides.
It's so nice to be back in cool, foggy and quiet San Francisco.