1.  Understand the specific business objectives of the organization- Let’s use a not-for-profit example.  To begin, understand how the appeals (getting money) impacts the distribution of money (how the organization helps). While this sounds simple, it is usually a complex relationship and their is a lot to be learned from the details. In order to effectively evaluate the optimal communications program you need to know the operational focus and resources put against each area.

2.  Conduct a thorough audit of all marketing communications – Each department should complete a form that helps them identify any and all communications their department produces, including the target audience, the purpose, the format, the distribution channel, the vendor (if any), the time and resources required, the costs, the actual results (if quantitative) and the perceived value. These individual audit forms are aggregated into a master plan, which will bring complete visibility to the communications currently being produced for the organization. Remember, in communications it’s not just what you say but how you say it is very important. The audit needs to be supported by senior management with a positive message inviting participation so the whole organization can be more effective.

3.  Agency audit of time-of-staff against specific programs – Vivid Ascent will review the time we spend against each project to help determine where our costs are associated. This data will be evaluated with the hours put against each project so we have a holistic perspective of the true cost/resources required to produce current programs.

4.  Measuring effectiveness for each program – In this phase we will determine the metrics used to evaluate each communications component and apply these measures in the evaluation process.

5.  Evaluation of the existing master communications plan - In this phase all the communications programs will be categorized to align with various areas of the organization (e.g. sales, manufacturing, PR, advertising, etc.). This will help us understand if the programs and costs are aligned with the business objectives of the organization. Optimal programs with effective cost-to-results ratios will be selected and the ones that do not meet the criteria will be eliminated.

6.  Optimal Communications Plan Development and Approval – The recommended plan with programs, resources and budgets will be developed in this phase and presented to senior management for approval.

7.  Implementation – In this phase we will put the new program in place and help train teams to become program champions.

8.  Measurement and Repeat – This process requires real time evaluation and flexibility to make changes where required. As successes are celebrated we can determine whether increased investment in those programs is appropriate. Programs that do not deliver will also be eliminated as appropriate. This ongoing process will result in the most effective investment of resources and money.

If you follow these steps you will learn more about your organization and how it spends it’s money than you ever thought possible.  You will also create a very efficient PR and marketing program that is results-driven and optimized for performance.

Let me know if you have any other ideas or additions to help improve ROI.

Dave Sloan, President of CATA finds the powerful impact of social media energizing.  Dave laughs at the recollection of some “experts” who said social media would kill major events and conferences because of the online availability of the content.  But the opposite turned out to be true.  Social Media has helped dramatically increase interest and attendance at the Auto Show.

This year will be the best Chicago Auto Show ever and we’re excited to see all the new interest and participation that will come from the most comprehensive social media PR plan.   I hope to see you at the Show!

Almost every non-spontaneous purchase includes the use of the internet as part of the purchase cycle.  Marketing and PR success requires knowledge of the top keywords buyers use to research their upcoming purchase and then integrating them in all promotional materials aimed at your audience.  Linking PR materials and syndicating them with marketing materials leads to better audience penetration, awareness and sales.

Sprint’s media mix, with the dominant focus on digital, is indicative of what will happen with all promotion, whether it’s B2B or B2C.  Don’t wait.  Evaluate your digital and traditional PR and marketing with an eye on your audience media habits.  If you do this objectively, you’ll find opportunities to improve your campaigns and reach more customers with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

I was sitting next to a woman and her phone rang and before the chime could make it to the second ring, the woman behind us scolded her and told her to turn off her phone.  When another woman spoke quietly to her friend in another seat, the Hominid behind me leaped again and asked her forcefully to be quiet.  I’ve seen this behavior a few times.

I’m all for quiet in quiet cars but we need some forgiveness for people who aren’t purposely violating the rules.  Minor infractions are almost always accidents but some hominids cherish their opportunity to exhibit control.  What does this have to do with marketing?   I believe this same species has been criticizing others in social networks for years.   There’s also the TMI gang (too much information) we have to suffer with.  Bawdy displays of too-much-information on Facebook has spoiled more than one candidate’s chance for an interview.

Let’s be civil and civilized.  Life’s more fun that way.

Google has watched with envy as Facebook institutionalized the ‘like’.  Danny Sullivan, who is Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Land, a top Search Technology consultancy, said in this article that +1 is just like Facebook’s “like” button so it will influence website SERPs.  In fact, Danny goes on to joke that Google should have named the feature “PageRank” in order to strip the pretense that it is anything other than a clue to help Google’s algorithm determine rank authority.

Google’s position is straightforward:  “We’ll look at it as a potential signal to improve search quality”, said Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s WebSpam Team and a member of their Social Search launch team.

The bottom line?  If you’re offered an opportunity to buy a package of +1 influence, turn it down.  Instead, build your Google Plus social network and invite your customers to +1 your site.  You should also build your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (or other) social networks in order to cast as broad a net as possible.  In that way you’ll catch more fish in the social sea.

ICANN is using dramatic language to introduce this change, perhaps to go along with the dramatic $185,000 price tag for each new domain.  Rod Beckstrom, President and Chief Executive Officer of ICANN said “ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination.  We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind.”  Thank goodness for mankind they are releasing these new domains!  While new domains will provide a higher level of branding, the elephant in the room was not mentioned in the ICANN press release.  The elephant question is “what will the search engines do with these new domains compared to the existing .com, .org and other suffixes that are already well established online”?

So far Google is silent on the matter.  Well, sort of.

Here are a couple of scenarios that might happen, and how your business may be affected:

A)  The most likely scenario is that search engines will not reward these new domains with higher visibility in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) for relevant keyword “organic search” and the well established sites will remain on top.  Of course if someone searches for the new domains directly they will find them, but otherwise it could be buried beyond visibility.  Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Webspam team recently indicated that Google will “dial down” the influence of keyword enriched domains (watch this video).  This suggests that a keyword-trained domain may not be rewarded with authority in Google’s future.

In scenario B)  the search engines might deliver these new domains at the top of organic search results for the keyword or category they mirror.  As an example, if a company buys homes.chicagorealestate, and someone searches for “chicago real estate”, the search engines may reward the exact-match domain as long as it’s a credible site with good content and traffic.  Another example might be rustoleum.paint, where the search engines reward the “paint” suffix above the brand’s domain, which is rustoleum.com.

Only time will tell what the exact impact will be, but I wouldn’t rush to buy your category or brand domain unless there is a solid, strategic, financial or competitive business reason to buy it.  This will not change the way sites appear organically in the near future and you don’t have to rush to make a decision.  But you should strategically evaluate the opportunity – assuming you’re large enough to pay the $185,000 fee – to make sure you don’t miss an opportunity that may only fully reveal itself in the years to come.

Ask your marketing or PR partner for their input and opinion.  We don’t believe this is a “mankind-changing” issue, but it is worthy of review and thoughtful consideration.  Good luck!