I highly doubt that’s how you catalog your friends. You most likely call him Ken.

Just like your new friend Ken, the things you own likely have a name. You drive a Mazda, own a Sony TV, own some music by Devo, etc. All these names are brands. And just like your friend Ken, you can identify the things you like by brand name.

A brand name is your first tool to market your product, and to build a relationship with consumers. They have to know what to call your product, and it’s the name that they’ll hopefully tell all their friends about. That name is what connects the traits your product has to an easy-to-remember moniker.

Now you need to meet people. For a brand, there are a number of ways someone can meet your brand. You can walk door-to-door and let everyone in your area know who your brand is. You can reach out to the media, and hope they talk about you to a lot of people. You can also use advertising to “meet” the public. Too many small businesses think that they can just use some fancy internet tricks and suddenly they don’t need advertising or publicity. If you’re trying to avoid all marketing costs, get some comfortable shoes on and hope people will be in a good mood when you start knocking on their doors.

Making friends is a lot like building a brand. But remember, you’re asking people to give you money, which is a much greater commitment then having an acquaintance you have to say hello to in public. You need to build your brand, tell people about it, and maintain a great relationship with your customers. The first step is meeting new people, so get on it. The public needs to hear your brand name.

Every time you look at a great campaign they all have one thing in common. They used the basics (the building blocks if you will) of social media to help start the momentum and then to keep it going during and after the campaign was done. They had the basics down pat, supporting strategies already in place, and built a system that could build on each success and learn from each failure.

The Basics

After taking the time to do some listening and monitoring to figure out where your fans, users, community, etc. reside setup a platform agnostic plan (ie customer service, positive mentions, negative mentions, crisis, etc.) and then put those plans into actionon the platforms the people you want to reach are using. DO NOT make them come to you at first.

Once your channels and plans have been established create an ongoing value. Something that will continue long past any campaign you run. Have that value prop stated plainly and as prominently as possible on the platform (Follow for deals and discounts, be our fan for unique community opportunities, etc.). Think about it from the customer’s view and ask yourself “WHY”. Why would you follow, friend, fan, like, bookmark, etc.?

Setup the metrics to measure your success in each platform you use, and overall using listening / monitoring systems. Figure out what your “daily” KPI’s are based on your goals and how you’re going to show progress from just doing the basics right. This is a very tactical level of activity and your success here will support the success of everything else you do.

Supporting Strategies

One thing you should always be doing is thinking. Thinking about how to do the basics better, how to scale the community without having to scale your headcount along with it, how to execute your strategies and tactics batter. Thinking of long haul strategies to empower your employees, vendors, and community to spread your message and build out your community, your reach, and your presence.

Here is where you need some “daily strategies”; strategies that will form your daily activities.  These will get you aligned with higher level goals and support your growth and these strategies have a very long scope. They are built for the long haul and will be huge assets to your campaigns and ensure your continued success once the afterglow from a successful campaign has faded.

Social Media Campaigns

Finally we get to the campaigns. Some will be flash in the pan little campaigns that will have goals like “Acquire net new customers”, and some will have a bit longer of a scope like “increase net sales by 20% this quarter” and so on. The type of campaign you will have will be based on what you hope to achieve and social media’s role will be determined by the same. Remember that social is just one tool in your marketing tool box and not the whole box itself so integrate as many other tools and resources with social and vice versa.

These three main points represent the basic structure of social media usage for marketing and promotions and each level depends on the success of the level below it. The Old Spice guy would have been nothing more than another interesting TV commercial (of which there are thousands of) without having the basics and supporting strategies already in place and they would not have had the retention that they did after the campaign was over if the other pieces weren’t in place.

Figuring out how the tactical, long term strategic, short term strategic, and campaigns layer within your company and it’s uses will help everything you do in social be more successful and bring a greater clarity to each level, interaction, strategy, tactic, and campaign. Utilize the building blocks of social media correctly and you will start every campaign off on the right foot.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Honestly, there are so many shades of grey in this whole situation. A Google search for “state heart necklaces” led me to Etsy, where the first 8 results produced 6 identical products, by four different companies. I’m sure if I were to keep looking, and venture through the search results, I’d find dozens of producers making the same product.

This isn’t to say that Stephanie Koerner was in the wrong to have felt that Urban Outfitters ripped her off, but it does show how important it really is to develop a known brand. What we see in the heart/state necklaces is a fairly generic product, which obviously many people have had the same idea. It is a fine idea, but lacks a unique identity. Trust me, I know how difficult it is for an independent to worry about branding, but it is important. The branding can be something small, subtle, or even just exist in the copy for the product. But it is important to take your idea and evaluate how you can make it unique from the competition.

With our ability to search online, it does make it easier for others to steal ideas, but it also makes it easier to evaluate your competition, and validate your original ideas. You may find that the idea isn’t quite as original as you thought. So what can you do differently that makes yours special? Then work on a name that stands out. Maintain those details, and work hard to promote the awareness for your exclusive offering, and ensure that people know that your brand stands for something.

Or fight the non-stop battle of being another “me-too.”

Skype is well known for its free video conferencing service. While it certainly doesn’t compare to the more high-tech services, it is free. That has contributed greatly to the user base of 170 million users. The company filed registration to go public last year, but had delayed the initial public offering until later in 2011. According to Reuters, the IPO could raise over $1 billion, and a buyout from Facebook or Google could be worth $3-4 billion. Then suddenly, Microsoft enters the picture.

So was Microsoft envious of the number of customers? Consider that their own Windows Live Messenger service also offers free text, video, and voice chat, and has 330 million users. So it’s not really buying a something they didn’t already have as far as services and customers. Well, Skype does have 8 million customers who are paying for telephone connectivity. But those customers have not yet been profitable, as Skype had a loss of $7 million last year.

So why is Skype worth $8.5 billion to Microsoft? Certainly they could make improvements to their own Windows Live Messenger service to make them more attractive to users. Even build features that customers may be willing to pay for. But Skype has the brand that customers love. Microsoft wants a brand name that people trust, the only challenge here is whether customers will continue to trust the brand now that it is owned by technology’s most feared brand.

Hedgehog - Basically this comes down to  figuring out what your company can be the best at and doing it. That is taking all other aspects of your business and winding them down to get the resources for your main vision and having the whole company head in that direction. For Walgreens its was becoming a fantastic pharmacy.

The Bus – In a nutshell the bus is your business and the people on it are the ones who are “going your way”. This means pulling over and letting the nay-sayers off at the next stop and filling your bus with the right people. Specific talents are less important than passion for your vision and the ability to get things done.

These are great theories / ideas, and i feel they don’t just apply to making a business able to soar to 15x the average stock market, but can apply to departments and programs as well. The ability to create a concise vision and get the right people to work with you is key to the success of any initiative big or small.

The Hedghogging Social Media Bus

In his book, Social Media ROI, Olivier Blanchard (aka The Brand Builder) talks about getting the right people behind you and choosing your initial “battles” (though he warns you to not see them as conflicts, just roadblocks that need to be solved). The ideas that he presents in his book mixed with those of Good Great have given birth to what I’m calling the Hedgehogging Social Media Bus.

When you’re getting ready to launch your social media plan you need to be able to identify two key things to maximize your initial success:

#1 The low hanging fruit – Where social media can have the easiest initial wins

#2 Filling your bus – The people who are most excited to help your vision come to life.

Low Hanging Fruit

This is where your initial listening comes into play. You can find out where you’re going to be able to get the biggest initial bang for your buck. Is it reputation management? Sales, customer service, BD, BI, tech support, etc. Identifying where you could initially have the biggest impact and create the success stories and internal case studies to get to the next level will help you figure out how to approach the management of that department.

Filling Your Bus

Once you have discovered the area where you could make the biggest initial impact (let’s say customer service for this example) you can start finding the right people to get on your bus. These are going to be people who are already passionate and knowledgeable about their current position and want to take it to the next level with social media, but first you need to get buy in from management.

Start with assessing the current online environment and build a report showing the opportunities for online customer service. Then show how using social media could potentially reduce calls volume while increasing CSAT scores, increase traffic to FAQ and forum pages to reduce repeat calls, etc.

Once you get the buy in, find the knowledgeable and passionate people to be on your team in this department and start training ASAP. Start getting results and proving the value behind your social media planning.

To recap, find the area where your company can be the best there is at utilizing social media for business objectives in it’s niche. Then find the right people to help you get results as fast as possible to convince other departments and start rolling out fully integrated initiatives in those departments.

What do you think of the Hedehogging Social Media Bus? I know it’s mouthful so recommendations on a new name would be welcome.

Josh

p.s. Just because you’re focusing heavily on one area doesn’t mean that you can’t start making initial inroads to different areas. If PR has a press release ready to go out then offer to share it and then report on what happened. If you see sales opportunities pop up, pass the lead along. If marketing has a discount or deal that they’re pushing then offer to share it through the channels and with communities you’re creating.

The Social Reflection Theory
The social reflection theory states that if a mirror was held up to the social media efforts of your business and what it’s doing that you would be able to see the future of your business through the reflection of your social media today. This reflection would show you what your customer service, HR, PR, marketing, tech support, business development, business intelligence, and every other facet of your business inside and out will look like sooner than later.

The thing that should concern some of you is that your reflection will be blank. You would look into this hypothetical mirror and see nothing at all, because you won’t exist. A bit bleak I know, but often times the truth is. The rally cry for business has always been “adapt or die”, and now the cycle is just moving faster and faster. Don’t believe me? Go talk to the owners of Pony Express franchises, telegraph manufacturers, and abacus makers. Talk to companies that used to make dial-up modems, telecom companies whose land line client base is shrinking hourly, and the newspapers and magazines that have disappeared.

What happened to them? Their competition answered the social phone and went where their customers were. They were proactive, while you sat on your ever shrinking laurels being reactive and forced your customers to come to you and do things your way, the same old way, the way they don’t want to do it. Truly, social media isn’t anything new, it’s just a new set of tools to accomplish what successful business have (or should have) been doing.

The new generations are being raised in a different world, a world of instant gratification, instant access to everything, streaming music and video on their phones, and internet access 24×7. They don’t want to play by your rules, they want to make up their own. WE want to make up our own rules. We want to complain on Twitter and be heard, we want to post a rant on YouTube and get satisfaction.

There is no rule book, there is no play book, not even a phone book, and it’s changing faster and faster. Just the last year has seen not only massive adoption to “social”, but massive changes to it as well. The “is it just a fad” argument has been laid to rest and in it’s place the social business has been born.

Take a few minutes to look at your social reflection today, before the opportunity slips away.

Josh

image by i_marinari

We also know of a chain of Italian restaurants whose chefs are trained in a culinary school in Tuscany.

Also, it seems that every fast-food restaurant is using high-quality Angus beef in their burgers.

So what do these things have in common? They all have varying amounts of truth in the advertising statements. What do they also have in common? Those fantastic claims, regardless of the amount of truth, may not be in synch with the real product.

Who has the lowest prices?

As reported recently in CNN, retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners compared 35 branded products at Walmart and Target in several markets. I’m sure you can guess which store had the lowest prices. Do you think it was a long-shot? We know Walmart survives only because their prices are so much lower than the competition, right? Why else would anyone endure their indifferent sales staff, their unclean stores, the chaos of the People of Walmart?

The less-expensive retailer in the study was Target.

The advertising messages around Walmart have always focused on price. Their reputation illustrates them as a “cheap” company. But their prices are not much cheaper, or often the same or more than their competition. Meanwhile, the general opinion of Target is much higher. So it’s not really price that matters as much as reputation. Even though Target is an affordable place to shop, the average perception is that it’s higher class, and therefore more expensive.

But, they train their chefs in Tuscany?

Over 730 locations worldwide, and at nearly every one I’ve passed there is a line out the door. Olive Garden is everywhere, & no matter what crowd the name is uttered in, someone is sure to rave about their breadsticks. It’s amazing how gaga people will get over a spread of butter, and shaker of “parmesan.” But they have a culinary school in Tuscany, right? Well, according to one employee’s account, they do get a trip to Tuscany, but there’s not much in the way of culinary training. It’s a big chain restaurant, everything in the kitchen is frozen, bagged, canned, and entirely unlike anything freshly made by a chef. That’s what you get at the chains.

But, the chain has spent so much in advertising, and gives you basket after basket of those breadsticks to make sure the public has their name on your mind. Opinions on Olive Garden are as mixed as those on Walmart, but as long as they have their loyal customers, they’re winning the game.

What’s an Angus?

Last decade, “fine” steak houses told us all about their Angus beef steaks. Today, McDonalds & Burger King tell us their burgers are made from that same high quality beef. So am I getting the same meat in a $2.99 burger, as I get from a $40 steak? Angus is a cattle breed that’s been predominately used for beef production. While the drive-thru places probably are using beef from that specific cow, just slapping that name on doesn’t make it better. The Angus name was part of a PR campaign to convince us those cows were better. There is a very specific designation, Certified Angus Beef, which has very high quality standards, and typically costs much more than other cuts of beef, but the name Angus alone convinces many consumers today that the drive-thru burger is something special. It’s not. It’s all in the name, and thus the psychology of that branding.

It’s all brand recognition. This doesn’t mean all advertisements are lies, but there are varying degrees of truth exercised by companies. It also illustrates the many different brands we are familiar with, and how they influence our decisions. From world locations, to cattle, everything has a brand. As long as those perceptions exist, the brands will continue to win customers, even if the truth isn’t entirely in the product. The danger is, once those brands start to erode, and we see beyond the breadsticks, it doesn’t take long for the public to move on to something better.

While reading Tribes I couldn’t help but take what has taken hold in pop culture and put them under the Tribeoscope. People are doing unique, interesting, and often funny things that are amassing a huge following, but are they amassing a Tribe? Take Shit My Dad Says.

Over 2,250,000 Twitter followers (including me), listed over 53,000 times and categorized as humor by the majority. Over 1,282,000 Facebook fans who comment and share everything new 10′s of thousands of times. Follow that with a successful book and a television series starring the one and only William Shatner. By most standards Justin Halpern is a success, but does he have a Tribe?

Personally, I don’t think that he does. To be a Tribal leader by Seth’s standards he would have to be a heretic. Fueled by the faith that what he’s doing is right and raging against the established religion of comedy. That he somehow has challenged the status quo and come out the hero. This has not happened.

Old people saying off beat things have been funny for a long time (hip-hop granny, or any elderly character in a Parker / Stone production for example), so that isn’t new or revolutionary. Yet it’s the greatest recent example I could think of where someone was using humor to build a community. Successful community? Yes. Successful Tribe? No.

There isn’t a rallying cry to build something better, there isn’t a give and take to make a better product, there isn’t anything going on but an audience just waiting to hear the shit Justin’s dad says next. There is no unifying purpose or goal that is driving the actions of everyone connected.

All through Seth Godin’s book he uses tons of revolutionary examples in industries big and small and yet not a single one was humor based. I’m sure they all had a good time and they had some laughs along the way (you have to enjoy your work to be passionate. about it.), but there were no entertainment examples. Funny or Die is about the closest thing I could think of to an entertainment based tribe.

However, I still see Funny or Die as more of a community and less of a tribe. Per Seth a Tribe has a goal, a focus, and is fueled by the faith in what they’re doing. Could Funny Or Die be a tribe that is dedicated t the vision of high quality, free comedy? Maybe, but with the way Seth lays out a tribe in his book the purpose has to be a bit more revolutionary than something that’s just YouTube with a theme. But then, maybe I’m wrong.

What I want to see is are examples where entertainment / humor is the product AND where humor / entertainment was used to gather and lead the tribe to achieve something it wouldn’t have without it. Why you ask? Well simply because Seth didn’t do it in his book that’s why.

What do you think? Do you feel like Justin is leading a tribe and not just amassing a community or do you have examples of your own that would fit?

Josh

p.s. I thought about renegade art movements and the communities that spring up around them, but would they really be considered tribes? I don’t know. That’s why I want to know what you think.

Current cigarette packaging in Australia

Australia is taking the most aggressive steps of all nations in the regulations of tobacco advertising. Beginning January 2012, logos will be banned. New laws will be implemented that will prohibit the tobacco brands to use their distinctive colors, typefaces, and designs on packaging, and the only identifier will be the brand name and variety in a common typeface. Australia’s goal: to reduce tobacco related deaths to under 10% by 2018.

Anti-smoking legislation and marketing is certainly nothing new. Nearly all countries have implemented restrictions on the tobacco industry, and we are all familiar with the anti-smoking ads. Terrifying images of diseased mouths and other side-effects already adorn the packaging in Australia. Now the packages will be mostly warnings and be printed in a uniform color scheme of olive, black, and yellow, which were determined to be the most unattractive of colors. The brand and variety will be printed in a no-frill common typeface.

Example of proposed packaging

Of course, the tobacco companies are arguing that the laws are diminishing the value of their intellectual property. Business magazines have been touting the value of major brands, and assigning dollar amounts to them. Will the industry be able to convince the courts that Australia is robbing them of the millions of dollars their brands are worth?

It’s no secret that tobacco use has been on a steady decline for many years. Moreover, with all the controls on tobacco, consumers don’t often see the pack until they have asked for it. Walk into any convenience store, and whether there is cigarette signage or not, customers are asking the clerk for their brand. Neither of those factors will help the tobacco industry argue against the new laws.

So aside from making it hard for the store clerks to identify the right variety, will unbranded cigarette packages actually diminish sales? The old established brands have their customer base, and those customers can order their variety faster than you can request a double-grande soy latte. It could be argued that younger smokers (and soon-to-be-smokers) will be less likely to pick up the habit with the grotesque packaging, but they learn the habit from someone. That’s word-of-mouth, tobacco’s most successful marketing device.

These brands are an example of how deeply entrenched a market can become with their preferred products. Smoking itself is a brand. To teenagers and many young adults, it is the brand of rebellion. That’s a trait highly desired by youth. Making it even more “bad” could actually make the brand even more cool. Over the next few years, we’ll be able to see whether Australia’s rebranding of smoking has the desired effects.

Look Past This

As PR professionals, we send out countless press releases, media advisories, pictures, etc. along with the vocabulary “Please see attached.”

Some of you may have experienced the feedback, “I can’t seem to open your attachment,” or the “your attachment didn’t come through.”

On my way to In-N-Out Burger yesterday, I gave Salt Lake Tribune Business Editor Michael Limon to ask him a couple of things that I might  include in this as he is a great resource, and a highly respected member of the media here in Salt Lake. One of the things he said is that with so many problems now with attachments, reporters/editors won’t or even can’t open them…

Simple solution? Embed your releases in your emails.

Your contacts in the media will appreciate it, and your client should appreciate it as their news story (hopefully) won’t have this happen to it…

Deleted!

P.S. Michael also gave me some other things I will share…later