Checkmate

H1N1 vaccine distribution = bad PR for Obama

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:22:00-0500

I’m struggling to make sense of this. Let me see if I get this right.

Goldman Sachs received over $1billion from taxpayer bailouts and was the biggest recipient of taxpayer moolah in AIG’s bailout. Yes, they repaid their $10 billion loan with interest, but people in the know are predicting they might pay out as much as $16 billion in bonuses this year.

Next in line is Citigroup. They got $45 billion in TARP money plus another $300 billion in FDIC guarantees. All this on top of three previous government bailouts according to Slate.

Now comes the H1N1 debacle.

Goldman Sachs received 200 doses and Citgroup got 1,200. The New York City Department of Health figured this distribution strategy somehow made sense despite the fact the vaccine continues to be in very short supply. Many high-risk groups – little kids, young people, health care workers, pregnant women, etc. – haven’t been vaccinated. Lots of clinics and hospitals still don’t have their hands on it. People around the country wait in long lines to get it.

But Goldman Sachs took it. They received as much vaccine as was allotted to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Citigroup took it too, receiving five times more than Goldman Sachs.

True public relations practice is supposed to be focused on doing the right thing for society, right, not just one company’s employees? This week’s H1N1 action (and inaction) not only raises reputational management issues, but ethical ones as well.

On the heels of a still-lasting nasty taste in the public’s mouth, it seems these two firms may have been better served – reputationally and ethically – by being bigger picture ponderers, transparent and giving it back.

These vaccine distribution blunders may also create a negative ripple effect for the Obama administration. Arguably, a large segment of the American public may instinctively leap to a “who’s ultimately in charge here?” connection.

Morgan Stanley presumably learned a lesson from its financial brethren and did the right thing when it turned over its entire supply of 1,000 doses to local hospitals. Good for them, but especially for all the people who need it most.

It’s a textbook Bad PR, Good PR lesson for our time.

Is e-mail the boss of you?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:07:00-0500

Four thousand years ago, somewhere in Mesopotamia, a prescient soul texted a lover. The sender memorized some verse, stirred up some clay, unsheathed his reed stylus, etched in the cuneiform script, baked the tablet in the sun, and lugged it to his heart-struck recipient. Today, in high tech and beyond, our messages are instantaneous and electronic, but that’s not necessarily progress.

“I think the speed with which we communicate changes things,” author John Freeman told customers last week at RiverRun, Portsmouth’s bookstore. “We’ve reached terminal velocity with communication and we can’t keep up with the machines we’re communicating with….[E-mail] deprives us of deep thinking, either in the culture or with yourself.”

Freeman explores this development in his new book “The Tyranny of E-Mail.” A few years ago, Freeman, now editor of the esteemed Granta literary journal, had been receiving 300 e-mails a day, more than he could process. Sound familiar? The deluge extended his work day, robbed him of sleep and snuffed out relationships. “It’s about time for an intervention,” he thought. So he wrote the book.

The title says “e-mail,” but it stands for the larger family of easy instant communication. Among the victims of e-mail, according to Freeman:

Community: The more “virtual” that e-mail makes institutions like banks, post offices and bookstores, the more they fade away from the neighborhood. And the fewer reasons to walk down the street and see your neighbor.

Culture: It’s too easy to have misunderstandings on e-mail, exacerbate the problems with further e-mail, and watch relationships devolve into icy stalemates. Even when e-mail sustains friendships, it leaves us with nothing to say when we do meet face to face.

Well-being: We check our e-mail before our first cup of coffee, at stop lights (ahem), all day at work (bathroom visits, included), after we’ve climbed into bed – and, of course, on vacation. Says Freeman, “There’s no downtime anymore.”

Mental health: When the server goes down, workers tend to click manically or assault their computing devices. “We used to work to live; now we work to e-mail.”

Brain chemistry: Scientists compare e-mail with slot machines. The reward – whether a good news message or a jackpot– comes intermittently and randomly. The technical term is variable interval reinforcement schedule. The only way to get a reward is to keep pulling the lever.

Eyes: What is the effect on our optic nerves of processing all the artificial light from our constant stream of electronic messages? In the olden days, reading involved natural light reflecting off an organic surface.

Literature. Though Freeman liked the publishing sensation “Eat, Pray, Love,” which has spent 141 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, it’s probably no coincidence that it’s written in 108 bite-size chapters. Is that what we want? In recent fiction, Freeman has detected a “casualness and antsy type of speed… an insinuating quality.” Going with the flow, he readily admits he included plenty of subheads in “The Tyranny of E-Mail” on purpose: “Because I want to change the way people think, I wrote it in a way that is most digestible.”

So what's the answer? You may have heard of Slow Food, the antidote to fast food that focuses on fresh, local, organic, traditional cooking and eating. Freeman is calling for something like that in human conversation.

If we are to step off this hurtling machine, we must reassert principles that have been lost in the blur. It is time to launch a manifesto for a slow communication movement, a push back against the machines and the forces that encourage us to remain connected to them.

Although Freeman is decrying e-mail’s tyranny, he’s not calling for its assassination:

Many of the values of the Internet are social improvements – it can be a great platform for solidarity, it rewards curiosity, it enables convenience. This is not the manifesto of a Luddite, this is a human manifesto.

The manifesto has 10 tenets. I love number one: Don’t send. Freeman doesn’t mean don’t ever send. Just don’t go out of your way to create e-mail bloat with “thanks” messages, unnecessary forwards, micro reports, or provocative statements that are sure to spark discussions better held offline. After all...

As most people now know, e-mail only creates more e-mail, so by stepping away from the messaging treadmill, even if for a moment every day, you instantly dial down the speed of the e-mail messagopolis.

Hmm, don’t send.

To see the next nine tenets of the manifesto, join me in turning off your Blackberry or iPhone and opening the book. Here, watch me turn it off… I’m turning it off ... right … now… oops, just one second.

Tired, fading & dead PR words

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:31:00-0500

Lots of companies – especially those in B2B – still talk about (or request) PR services that increasingly strike me as tired, fading or dead.

Press tours & press briefings – yes, there are still industries where the press tour is alive and well (entertainment!) but most reporters, editors and bloggers don’t have time to meet in person anymore. I always felt bad for them during the height of this practice when an endless stream of PR people with clients in tow stacked-up to get their turn updating glassy-eyed reporters.

Hits & clips – counting clips (printed editorial coverage) and putting undue weight on offline publicity to measure PR success should have died two decades ago. Ask Katie Paine, one of the leaders in communications measurement. She says “hit” stands for How Idiots Track Success.

Press kits, brochures & collateral – in this era of sustainability and green, it’s hard to believe companies are still printing, but some are. Remember the days when major trade show/conference press rooms would be filled with press kits? This practice has largely stopped; it’s a digital world, let’s stop killing trees.

Press releases – the function of the news release has shifted so dramatically that in most instances they’re written and issued to primarily serve other stakeholders (customers, investors, prospects, etc.), not the press. The term “press release” is still (marginally) more prevalent than “news release,” (139 million vs. 104 million per Google) but call ‘em by the latter. It’s a more accurate, current and legitimate term.

Pitch – this term bugs me more than any other tired/fading/dead PR word because it epitomizes the old-world model of one-way communications. We have two-way conversations, we listen, we seek-out opinions, we build relationships and we tell stories. We shouldn’t “pitch.”

Users – this term has been around in the world of tech for decades; “users” referring to people who “use” products. For bizarro reasons I could never fathom, they aren’t called customers or consumers. Time to bury this one.

Big bang announcements – there was a time when PR practitioners would communicate with reporters well in advance of actual news being issued. Two or three months before the news broke, corporate spokespersons would inform industry analysts and “long lead time” magazines. Then they’d pre-brief the bi-weeklies, then the weeklies, then the dailies. This is a breathless concept. Blogs break news before most offline news outlets are even aware of it. Other social media (Twitter especially) inform in true real time.

Publicity – I’ve never liked this word in the context of defining public relations practice. Are we trying to build trusted reputations and create belief? Or, are we simply trying to get attention (Balloon Boy!)? True public relations is not publicity.

Embargos & lead time – PR practitioners used to negotiate up-front agreements with reporters not to run pre-fed news stories until the official date/time of the announcement. Hardly anyone wants to be tied to this practice; it’s still around but is fading fast.

What PR words bug you?

How to create best practices programs

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:48:00-0500

Getting your customers to come to you with their success stories

A best practices award program is a contest your company/organization creates, manages and orchestrates to reward customers for outstanding product/service implementations. At the end of the contest, winners are acknowledged, creating positive visibility.

In addition to pleasing winning customers – deepening your partnership with them – a best practices program has a very useful residual effect: it gives you high quality references. Because customers want to participate and win, they put in the time and effort to share perspective filled with detail and ROI benefits. This kind of “pull” campaign is a welcome addition to the tedious “push” outreach to seek out and find customer references.

How are winners selected?

Success is measured using a variety of factors you determine. Some ideas include:

innovation;
measurable cost savings;
productivity gains;
process improvements;
quality improvements;
time savings;
unique and innovative applications;
anecdotal commentary about value and business impact.

Category creation

Best practices programs can recognize and reward multiple customers, not just one. Do this by creating categories of winning entries by:

product;
vertical market;
application type;
ROI;
geographical or sales region;
innovation categories;
etc.

What’s in it for the customer?

Customers participating in best practices programs not only get an ego boost (because of the acclaim and public recognition), they also win valuable prizes and/or goodwill for not-for-profit causes. Ideas for rewards span from simple and inexpensive to more elaborate, including:

philanthropic donation in the customer’s name to the social cause of their choice;
dinner with customer and your CEO;
social media buzz;
all expense-paid trip to your annual user conference;
“guest of honor” status at your awards dinner;
all expenses paid vacation;
tickets to sporting events, concerts, theatre;
consumer electronics;
product discounts;
leased vehicle for one year;
etc.

An important note: it’s important to do the right thing for each customer, factoring in ethical considerations, timing, relationship subtleties, politics, economic realities and organizational cultures when assessing prizes and compensation.

How do I do it?

Follow these 10 steps to a successful best practices program:

Create a small team to drive the effort.
Gather to discuss the concept. Create submission and measurement criteria. Brainstorm a catchy program name, categories and awards. Consider existing customer touch-points to launch the program (i.e. user conferences; seminars; webinars; etc.). Discuss the viability of using sponsors. Work in enough lead time to solicit entries and select winners.
Create digital overview creatively describing the program, process, prizes and payoff.
Get it out there 6-9 months – possibly 12 months - in advance of your deadline.
Engage your sales force and other customer-facing employees to send reminders, field questions and encourage customers to participate. Incent your people to deliver customer entries.
Create an area on your Web site to promote the program. Use social media to inform and promote.
Gather submissions; appoint objective judges to evaluate and determine winners. Judges can include past winners (once the program is off the ground); current customers, industry analysts, luminaries, partners and bloggers. Share submissions with the evaluation team.
Select the winners and get the awards in motion.
Announce the winners and prizes at your Best Practices event.
Promote the winners and case studies via social media, your Web site and in other ways.

Twitter dominated by narcissists

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:12:00-0500

In a new study that's sure to give Twitter critics more ammo, Rutgers University researchers reveal that the majority of Twitter users remain self-absorbed tweeters. The study divided 350 Twitter users into two camps: informers (who post informative tweets) and meformers (who post mainly personal updates). Eighty percent of us fall into the latter camp.

While some might interpret these findings as a setback for using Twitter as marketing and community-building mechanism, it's not really. Self-indulgence can be a powerful motivator. It's all in how you leverage that tendency to shape your campaign.

How to make technical spokespersons less techy

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:26:00-0500

Sometimes it’s hard for companies with complicated stories and technologies to simplify. This happens for several reasons, including culture, ego, myopia and fear. If it’s your job to make techy spokespersons more effective communicators, consider a few of these techniques:

Engineers typically dominate technology company cultures. They often assume everyone is on their intellectual wavelength and can follow along. Help them see the light when communicating with less technical people. Less is more, simple is better.
For some folks, it’s a trip knowing subject matter no one else can fathom. Keeping it complicated = self preservation or ego gratification. As the owner of communications within your company, patiently teach them the benefits of taking one for the team and forsaking complexity.
Most people want the straight scoop: fast & clean. They don’t have all day. Build bridges of comprehension; analogies and metaphors are helpful.
While your executives spend most of their time thinking about their business, others don’t. Enlighten them. Explain why they need to frame discussions, acknowledge the larger ecosystem surrounding their company and take the time to simply explain.
Some spokespersons believe speaking simply is a mistake because it will trigger misinterpretation, inaccuracy and sells short a complex, multi-faceted story. Educate them that the objective of communicating isn’t to cross every “t” and dot every “i” in a pattern of boring thoroughness. It's to make certain the person is enlightened, informed and engaged in a way that makes him/her want to share their viewpoints with others … ideally in-person and online.
Some people are arrogant and/or impatient. They want to say what they want to say, the way they want to say it. They haven’t read Dale Carnegie’s classic “How to Win Friends & Influence People.” Help them understand why a self-focused approach yields significant missed opportunity.
Making complicated topics readily understandable is an art ... an art that thankfully be learned. Here are a few techy examples:

Instead of saying, “This new LED is available in a multitude of sizes ranging from a diminutive 280 µm to 350 µm,” say “These new LEDs are smaller than a grain of sand.”
Instead of saying, “Implement IEEE 802.15.4 2.4 GHz radio frequency wireless ZigBee sensor networks to enable devices to interface with each other,” say “Easily cast wireless sensory networks around structures like an invisible tactile spider web.”
Instead of saying, “A hardware device with an RS 232 command line interface that enables HD video over coaxial cable,” say “A box that lets you broadcast any online content on your high def TV.”

How to be more persuasive

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:30:00-0500

Herbert Simmons said persuasion is “a process of communication designed to modify the judgments of others.”

Daniel O’Keefe says it implies some measure of freedom (i.e. free will, free choice, voluntary action). “Forcing others to act is not the same as truly persuading them.”

I like O’Keefe’s perspective because it suggests the two-way-ness needed to change minds.

Persuasive communication is rooted in the psychology of inspiring, or unearthing belief.

While we’re all absolutely unique, most people require a combination of logic, trust-building and emotion to adopt a new view.

Here’s what you need to know to effectively persuade:

Relate to your audience – We’re all attracted to ideas and messages that support our own core values and beliefs. Understand what will hit home with the people you’re trying to persuade; what will turn them on and off. Don’t try to persuade them about something they’ll instinctively reject. Find common ground first. Gain goodwill by highlighting values the audience and communicator hold in common.
One-to-one still rules – Whenever you have the chance to establish rapport face-to-face … do it. In-person communication is still the best. Be very conscious of non-verbal codes of communication, i.e., the body language you convey. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it.
Be logical – Effective persuasion is thoughtfully supported… so use facts and compelling evidence. But don’t over-do it. Facts alone do not persuade.
Offer up social proof – Third parties viewed as independent and objective are inherently perceived as more credible. This approach supports our natural tendency to determine if something is true by instinctively finding out what other people think (especially people we respect).
Repeat yourself – Saying it once doesn’t cut it. All the research shows persuasion works best when you sustain a concise message over time. The other key is to communicate in different ways, not just one way. Figure out what will resonate best with your target audience.
Package it up – We all have short attention spans. We glance, barely notice, skip and skim. Take complicated thoughts and ideas and wrap them with bright paper and a shiny bow. Use simple messages, colorful analogies, bold statements, catchy phrases. Package up your thoughts…make top 10 lists, write captions, create slogans.
Visualize it – Find ways to visually convey messages with symbols and images. American patriots used this technique way back during the Revolutionary War – drawing a cut-up rattlesnake, for example – to convey the need to mobilize and unify the founding states. This concept holds true today. People “get it” more quickly when they see a picture. There’s never been a better time for a visual approach, thanks to the Internet.
Use emotion – People are persuaded when they experience something. Envelop persuasive messages – and the people delivering them – in such a away that people feel, as well as hear, your message.
Keep it light – Life (and business) is serious stuff; many people are tired, concerned, skeptical, nervous and scared. Make your case by lightening up. People will relax and listen better.
Tell stories – Facts are important, but they’re not enough. Get your point across by telling stories. Develop characters, build narrative, create drama, make it real. If you’re talking about a new product, paint colorful pictures of how your product will make lives more interesting and overcome challenges. Help them envision the better place it will take them to.
Don’t be myopic – Studies repeatedly prove that people opposed to an idea are more likely to be persuaded to an opposing position when presented with both sides of an issue.
Convey competence – Make sure people understand your experience and insight. Don’t brag about it; just share it at appropriate moments in a low-key way.
Be confident – Persuasive communications aren’t hesitant, they’re confident. Convey enthusiasm and conviction.

How to develop customer references

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:04:00-0500

Business-to-business companies have a much harder time developing customer references vs. consumer companies. Here’s some of the feedback I hear all the time:

“Corporate Communications and/or Legal (on the customer side) shuts us down every time.”

“Our customers consider their use of our product a proprietary advantage and don’t want to talk about it publicly.”

“We have a handful of customers and zero leverage at this stage getting them to be references.”

“They like us, but can’t endorse us.”

“Only a finite group are referenceable and they’ve been leveraged heavily by many different groups within our company, especially sales. PR isn’t often at the top of the list.”

While there certainly are instances where a given customer can’t be a reference, case closed, there are many proven techniques to engage others:

Think micro, not macro – The highest impact customer references are strategically targeted and proactively nurtured. They’re not random “dialing for dollars” occurrences. Analyze your customer base to target particular customers who provide a ‘great fit’ advantage for you, and them. Sort your customers by reference objective. Then go after them individually in a thoughtful way.

Leverage C-Level execs – Don’t approach critical potential customer references with junior people. Instead, elevate this outreach to the highest levels of your company. Engage your CEO, Chairman, Board members, CMO and strategic members of your PR firm to explore referenceability. Leverage any personal relationships that exist. This shifts conversational impact to a much higher – and more successful - level.

In-person works best – E-mail and phone communication are okay, but if you want to build a relationship with a very strategic customer, do this in-person. Meet them face-to-face and build rapport. Your personal touch will pay dividends down the road.

Think like your customer – The most helpful thing you can do is to get out of your company’s skin and look at the world through your customer’s eyes. Forget about getting them to do anything for you. It’s not about you, it’s about them. Invest the time to understand your customer’s culture, challenges and needs. Drill down to discover what might turn them on.

Start small – One of the biggest faux pas? Going into a customer conversation with a laundry list of requests: quotes for news releases; speaking opportunities; case studies; videos; podcasts, etc. Don’t do this. Instead, engage in a thoughtful discussion and discover what appeals to them the most. Then work hard to make it a success in the customer’s eyes. Once you establish credibility via results, you can hopefully move onto a second activity.

Find the maverick – Some people are out to make a name for themselves and build their career. Being interviewed, quoted and featured in high profile opportunities appeals to these individuals. They are risk takers, have power within their organizations and agree to take responsibility for their own actions.

Work with corporate PR – Instead of avoiding a customer’s Corporate PR department (or hoping they won’t discover your plot to get their maverick quoted), get them involved from the get-go. Engage in a thoughtful conversation and remember the principles previously discussed. Try to uncover one particular activity that might be green-lighted by Corporate PR.

Move PR up the food chain – While it’s critical to have customer references to close sales deals, it’s also important to have them validate your company with bloggers, important media and analysts. Lobby persuasively to move PR up the critical list.

Bake referenceability into contracts – Work with your sales and legal departments to create custom testimonial language for new customer contracts. Be willing to give something back to your customer in exchange for their involvement. Remember to craft language that is as specific as possible, e.g. “agree to be a reference” is not as effective as “agree to participate with one new customer win news release and one media exclusive.”

Small and involved beats big and uninvolved – Any customer reference is better than zero customer references. While a brand name is nearly always preferable, your communications program may still be well served by a smaller company eager for visibility.

Create incentives for customers – Some customers need a trigger event to get them involved. While their immediate reaction may be to shut the door on any idea, you might be able to gain traction by dangling a meaningful carrot. Instead of saying “would you give us a quote for our news release?” (myopic and self-serving) you say “If I could orchestrate an exclusive interview for you with this blogger or reporter, would you be interested?

Build Best Practices programs – Create a “pull” program by organizing a contest for your customers that rewards outstanding product usage and innovative applications. Best Practices programs are very effective because they offer public recognition and prizes that appeal to a customer’s ego, pride and perceived leadership.

Create incentives for your sales force and channels – Let’s face it, sales professionals care about one thing (as they should): closing deals. Getting customers to play ball as a PR reference isn’t high on their list. Get them involved by developing an appealing ‘bounty program’ that gives sales/channels a reason to invest their limited time. Cash rewards are a good place to start.

Talk trends and issues when road-blocked - If a customer is interested in media interviews but can’t overtly plug your company’s product or service then explore trends, issues and thought leadership topics instead. For example if they can’t endorse your security software product outright, they may be interested in discussing current issues revolving around security. This approach builds trust and rapport over time and may eventually open the door.

Leverage prospects – If you don’t have any customers, or don’t have customers who can be references, cultivate prospects instead. Ponder the prospects your company met over the past year and identify those who were highly supportive of your product/service capability and “got it.” If you tee-up a media opportunity that gives them and their company positive visibility, this will nurture the relationship.

How blogging positively impacts sales

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:09:00-0500

The CEO sitting next to me the other day heads a very successful company. She understands marketing and gets social media. But when the subject of blogging came up, she went down an interesting path.

“I still don’t get why we need to blog. Who’s going to visit our Web site to read our blog? On top of that, we're real busy and don’t have a lot of extra time to write content consistently. I don’t want to start and stop; that’s worse than never starting. So why is blogging so critical?”

She may appear to have a good point. After all, some 175,000 blogs are created daily. Technorati estimates the number of blogs at 113 million (with 7.5 million of them active). 184 million bloggers are creating 570,000 posts every 24 hours, reaching 70 percent of Web surfers daily.

With all this blogging going on – and the mind-numbing reality of 175,000 new blogs coming to life daily – why is it so important?

We’ve all heard the litany of high-level reasons why companies should blog, including:

builds two-way communication with your customers
creates a persona that’s three dimensional vs. one dimensional
an otherwise stilted brand can become approachable
it’s arguably the most personal form of communication
gives your company a voice
creates transparency and builds trust
more real time than traditional communication
triggers a conversation that builds community over time
imparts authenticity
yada yada yada

I knew the CEO next to me had heard this stuff before. So I didn’t go there. Knowing she was a pragmatic, revenue-enhancing, lead generating type, I talked, instead, about the correlation between blogging and sales (something you don’t hear enough about).

Blogging matters because of search.

Before explaining how blogging plays a central role in generating sales leads, I emphasized the need to get search engine optimization (SEO) right. That’s where the journey should begin. SEO and blogging go together; they're buddies. Once the SEO foundation is laid, a company can move forward with blogging which is one of the best ways to create pages that are keyword dense and optimized.

If you write compelling content that people naturally search for, they will discover you, visit your site, probe and (hopefully) become engaged. Just don’t make the mistake of writing myopically about your company, products, services and promotions. Build a higher-level voice based on topics people (who don’t know you) will search for. Whereas the majority of Web site content is static, blogs are alive with fluid, current thinking.

Remember that blogging isn’t an occasional thing; you need to do it often enough to build an authentic voice and aura of authority. That typically means daily or at least weekly. Nothing looks worse than a withering blog without a post for weeks or months.

Blogs directly impact sales because they drive traffic back to your blogs and Web site, including traffic from referring Web sites. They're one of the best ways to increase linkage (links) which is critical to broadening readership.

Another way blogs can stimulate sales is by gathering periodic "best of" compilations. Select 4-5 of your company's best posts and send them to a targeted e-mail list and social networks (LinkedIn and Facebook are good places to start). This way the content they may have missed by not searching or visiting your web site is delivered to their desktop. Do this every month or every other month to create a consistent flow. And don’t forget to tweet your blog posts.

My CEO friend asked one more question: “Does it matter that our company isn’t selling our products and services online?” I told her it doesn’t; we’re talking apples and oranges. Even if you’re not selling online, people are finding you online.

Thanks to search, the function of marketing shifted (awhile ago) from one-way push to many-to-many pull. Now, thankfully, a direct connection occurs, and it’s coming bottom-up - from prospects, customers, friends, fans, etc. - vs. top-down.

How to build customer communities

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:37:00-0500

As consumers, we instinctively sense product and service experiences at a gut-feel level. Within minutes, we can gauge whether a company is telling the truth, trying to evade, or scam us. We've developed a low tolerance for poor service - calls that aren't returned; e-mails that aren't acknowledged; rudeness; unnecessarily complex transactions; people who don't seem to care; interactions that should be easy, but aren't.

When companies do what they say they’ll do on a consistent basis, then we’re generally pleased and become loyal to that brand. When we’re not satisfied, we often start complaining, and ultimately stop buying.

Social media changed the game forever by giving us a voice (a.k.a. power, influence, clout) we never had. While the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) maintains an active Bureau of Consumer Protection, a bunch of other grassroots online sites emerged including complaints.com, pissedconsumer.com, iripoff.com, consumeraffairs.com and the influential consumerist.com.

Now when we're ticked off, we can immediately voice our dissatisfaction and get it spotlighted. People around the world are tuned-in and pass the word, triggering a "many-to many" conversation.

Take, for example, the recent "United Breaks Guitars" online video phenomenon, where one mistreated customer virtually turned the entire world against United for its poor handling of his damaged property. Or Whole Foods CEO John Mackey, who deeply offended a huge percentage of the chain’s progressive demographics and triggered a nationwide boycott when he railed against healthcare reform in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

Companies and organizations need to remember that a great brand is built when it dedicates itself to creating a product and service experience that consistently meets the needs of people who consume that service or product. The companies that try hard to listen and learn - and improve all the time – build the loyal followings. The ones that don’t fall by the wayside, are marginalized or die.

Listen to your customers and seek out their opinions on a regular basis. There are lots of ways to do this. Private, online, paid community platforms like Communispace encourage ongoing conversations. You can build relationships online for free with CrowdVine, Ning, Elgg and Joomla (some will be easier to set up and use than others). Discussion boards pre-date the Web, but are still an important (and often overlooked) tool in community building. Yahoo Groups and Google Groups are two of the most popular discussion forum platforms, and the original USENET/LISTSERV is still going strong. There’s also some open source discussion forum software you can customize to meet precise look-and-feel branding needs.

Use these tools to probe ideas, ask for feedback, debate and continually improve. Incorporate customer feedback into your offerings and they’ll know you appreciate their input.

If you don’t want your company to end up on consumerist.com or pissedconsumer.com, remember to:

· Build two-way relationships with your customers. People have relationships with people.

· Create an authentic persona for your company; give it a personality; make it human; share some behind-the-curtains perspective. Blogs are one of the best ways to nurture & sustain this kind of voice.

· Don’t avoid online problems, deal with negative online comments and emerging issues immediately. You don’t have to agree all the time, but you’ve got to listen. Share your perspective and be willing to entertain a different viewpoint. You may reach a logger-head where neither party will budge; that’s okay; just don’t be autocratic. It’s the genuine attempt & transparency that matters in social media.

· Make it easy for your customers to talk to you. Visualize those aggravating instances where your specific question as a consumer is answered with a generic email response, over and over again. Don’t do this. Be personal, be prompt.

When companies behave this way, they’re fulfilling the textbook definition of “living the brand promise.” Doing it right means beginning a conversation that never ends.

Strategy & tactics - the difference explained

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:10:00-0500

I was in a meeting the other day and a CMO kept confusing “strategic” with “tactical.” It reminded me of all the times I’ve encountered this in my career.

Strategy is rooted in a plan of action that’s focused on accomplishing a specific goal that’s high level. Tactics are the way the strategy is carried out.

Borrowing from the journalistic “five Ws and one H,” strategy is the “who, what and why” and tactics are the “where, when and how.”

Strategy involves proactively determining the ultimate endgame. Tactics are the things you do to achieve the strategic goal.

A few examples within a communications context:

Strategic Tactical

Deposition a key competitor around the value ingredient	Create a head-to-head comparison online
Transform a company's persona from stodgy to approachable	Create short, fun YouTube videos
Shift a negative public perception to positive	Conduct thoughtful, transparent two-way communication with online communities
Create a new category position	Secure an influential industry analyst to embrace and evangelize the new category
Transform a company from an “also ran” to a first-tier position	Engage delighted consumers to advocate on your behalf via Twitter
Craft thought leadership platform that leapfrogs current vision and depositions	Architect an inside-out and outside-in blogging effort
Create more widespread awareness for an issue	Get Michael Arrington of TechCrunch to blog about it.
Build a larger community of followers	Write and publish compelling content that creates many-to-many online conversations

Doing something strategicallyinvolves the following:

Identify a specific outcome you want to achieve
Conduct research (market, competitive, attitudinal) to establish a realistic “baseline” starting point that takes into consideration internal and external realities
Put together a proactive plan that leverages the research findings, anticipates issues, looks at the big picture and incorporates specific strategic objectives and end results
Engage in consensus building with appropriate groups and individuals; get key people on board to support the strategy

Doing something tacticallymeans you:

Understand the strategic goals
Create plans focused on specific activities mapped into specific timeframes with specific outcomes
Make sure the tactical activities are carried out well
Measure their impact and help tie tactics back to the strategic plan

Strategy includes creating a different reality via creative, smart planning. Tactics are focused actions. The two are deeply intertwined. You need both to achieve branding success.

How to get the most from your PR firm - 10 tips

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:24:00-0500

The relationship between a company and its public relations firm is often compared to a marriage. There are good ones, bad ones, and lots of variations in between.

Great relationships succeed for a variety of reasons; one of the keys to success is the internal (client side) contact. Bruce MacDonald, SVP Communications for ACCION International – a 30-year veteran whose experience includes a 10-year stint as a journalist – believes there are several behaviors and philosophies that directly impact the success of client/agency relationships:

Tell your PR firm what’s going on – “Don’t treat them like a vendor, treat them like a partner; don’t leave them in the dark. Make sure the account team understands which direction the ship is being steered and what the destination is,” MacDonald said.
Embrace objective outside counsel – Companies should hire PR firms because they add value and perspective not found within. Don’t squelch independent thinking, embrace it, MacDonald advises. “If the agency offers no added value in terms of objective judgment based on its own experience, then it’s of no value to the client. Don’t be afraid to tell your emperor when he’s not wearing any clothes."
Trust – An agency/client relationship has to be based on mutual trust; without it the relationship fails. “In return for me sharing sensitive information, the agency needs to be a creative picture of discretion. I need them to internalize confidential information and help me brainstorm new ideas to work through issues and opportunities. While that takes time, it’s also the way to keep the relationship fresh a long time,” MacDonald noted.
Use their mind, not just arms and legs – Although PR firms provide "arms and legs" support, you’re selling the relationship short if that’s all you use them for. “While PR agencies understand their clients rely on them to execute the tactics, they also want to be admired for their minds. Invite fresh left-brain thinking and you’ll both win. This is more vital than ever with grassroots social media transforming everything.”
Respect your agency – “Respect is rocket science based on its relative dearth in today’s society. I’m always amazed at the number of client-side people who believe that fee-for-service equates to servitude and a suspension of courtesy,” MacDonald explained.
Face-to-face is very, very good – In this era of impersonal e-mail, MacDonald believes it’s crucial to bring the PR agency account team in for as much face to face as possible, budget allowing. “Aim for a minimum of one face-to-face per month. More if possible. Once in awhile, get out of the typical meeting mode and spend time together in a different setting.”
Seeing is better than telling – “If you want your PR agency to orchestrate a successful new product launch, bring them in for a briefing so they can see it up close and personal. This will ignite understanding and creative thinking.”
Understand your own customers – Because PR firms are on the front lines with traditional media and social media, they understand the persuasive impact of customer and consumer validation. “As clients, we need a thorough understanding of how our consumers are engaged with our brand. The best stories reside with them; it’s our job to help the agency cultivate relationships and engagement.”
Manage expectations internally – “Unreasonable, unmanaged or unmet expectations are the single point of failure in an otherwise sound relationship. If your agency legitimately tells you something isn’t possible, then don’t let your own executives continue to believe it is possible. Close the loop ASAP and bring expectations in line.”
Share your own MBOs – It’s important to make sure client-side folks communicate (to the agency) the specific goals they – personally – are being tasked with. “If your MBO is to increase social media visibility 50% over the next 90 days, then make sure your PR agency understands this so they can help you achieve this objective in the right timeframe … or fine-tune your MBO so it’s a realizable stretch.”

How to create customer personas

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:06:00-0500

A company can never know its customers too well; that’s why an increasing number are creating fictional – yet amazingly accurate - personas to guide their sales and marketing efforts.

Companies are developing personas because they understand customers can’t be reduced to broad demographics – e.g., average age, education, ethnicity, family status – nor statistics. They intuitively understand the value of visualizing their audience better to sell and serve them. But rather than trying to know each and every customer (an impossible task for most), companies get to know the handful of proxies who represent them.

Personas are archetypal customers/consumers who represent the major categories of people who buy and use a company’s products and/or services. Many large consumer companies have embraced personas as a memorable way to segment and envision the people they serve. Personas energize companies by focusing everyone in an organization around a common view of the customer. Not surprisingly, business-to-business (B2B) companies are beginning to road test them.

Image credit: Cisco www.cisco.com

Meet Molly. She’s 34, with a BA in business from a state university. Molly’s married, with two kids ages three and five. She cares about nutrition and runs as often as she can, sometimes competitively. She drives a mid-sized SUV, is into photography and social networking (Facebook especially). Molly works at an international consumer products company (athletic footwear, clothing) in the IT department where she manages security. She’s professional, appealing and straightforward, but sometimes harried and impatient. Molly wants to stay on top of the latest technology to reduce her company’s data risks while keeping internal constituents happy. She’s sometimes overwhelmed by the diversity of security options out there and appreciates helpful perspective and clarity.

Personas start with generalities like these and then get more specific to bring the representative character to life. They include demographic data and other characterizing elements such as career concerns, personalities, attitudes, motivations and objectives.

Here are 11 tips for getting started:

Convene a group of employees who interact with your customers and prospects, e.g., customer service, support, salespeople, channel partners and senior executives – those on the front lines. Gather their perspective but be wary of internal bias or myopia.
Conduct customer/prospect research including in-person meetings as well as phone-based interviews and online surveys. Tag along on in-person sales calls. Look for consistent patterns; common needs, expectations, frustrations, opinions and psychological motivators.
Reconvene and propose a few archetypal personas. How many personas do you need? There’s no single number of personas that works best. Go with whatever number accurately captures the major categories of customers; keep the total number as manageable as possible. Four to six are typical for most B2B companies.
Describe the category of company each works for; characteristics could potentially include: industry, size, vertical market, competitive environment, type of employer, and corporate culture.
Describe the person at the workplace to get a full, rounded picture of who this person represents. This should include demographic data; job title and focus; challenges they face; how the person fits within their organization; their role in the buying cycle; key questions they’d ask you; trigger words that would invoke a helpful reaction; skillset/competency levels; key job objectives and responsibilities; attitudes; key behaviors; what would make their job more effective; how their time is typically spent, etc.

Image credit: Image credit: L + E (Logic + Emotion) http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/
Describe the person outside the workplace – how they dress; what food they like; hobbies; habits; type of car; education; interests; and psychological attributes.
Find the areas of commonality and bring these all together under one persona. Create personas for each major customer grouping. Reach consensus agreement.
Describe them; find a photo; name the customer; give him/her an age, title.
Frame marketing messages, think about the marketing resources this persona might tap to learn more about your type of offerings/services/products, e.g. white papers, articles, Web sites, news releases, speakers, online communities, events, Twitter, etc.
Think about the way each persona will guide different functional areas within your company. Engage key players so they embed this unifying view of the customer in their own decision making and day-to-day activities in sales, marketing, HR, communications, finance, etc.
Update and modifypersonas as real-world insight unfolds.

One word of caution: Despite all your work to typify customers, experts warn against stereotyping. So go beyond quick and dirty brainstorming and take it seriously. Your personas need to be as real as the human beings they represent.

How to handle a crisis - 11 communications tips

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:46:00-0500

You don’t have to work for AIG, GM or Peanut Corp. of America to face a crisis. Every company – no matter what size, whether public or private – faces them. While the scale may be different compared to these corporate giants, crises happen all the time.

The CEO who leaves unexpectedly. The earnings disclosure that surprises. The sexual harassment claim that comes out of the blue. The VC funding that isn’t banked. The major customer that leaves your company’s fold and goes to your beaming competitor. The company founder who says something inappropriate and gets quoted. The product that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, triggering irate customers in the blogosphere.

Crises are all around us. Is your company prepared to handle one?

Tip # 1 – have a crisis plan ready to go. Rather than scurrying about when a crisis hits, it makes a lot more sense to have a game plan in place ahead of time. Start by determining what can happen (make lists of scenarios) and then assume it will. Crises fall into two categories: (1) uncontrolled crises (fire, employee injury, deaths) and (2) controlled crises (layoffs, takeovers, major product changes). Decide what you will need to do; frame the action items. Create a crisis portfolio and think through what events could set them off. Align the action you will take with the crisis level. When the crisis hits, work the plan.

Tip # 2 – build the crisis support infrastructure. Assign authority and responsibility ahead of time. Build the crisis response team; get an adequate number of professionals involved. Prepare content. Identify all your organization’s publics, not just the obvious ones. Figure out how and where you’ll establish information centers. Identify the chain of communication for crisis notification. Predetermine the way you’ll assemble the team. Constantly train the team by simulating various crises; practice the plan once or twice a year and modify as needed; change scenarios each time. Look for things that don’t work; refine the process.

Tip # 3 – speak with one voice. When a crisis hits, you can’t have 10 different people running around speaking on behalf of the company. This is a formula for a damaged reputation. Instead, identify one central spokesperson – at the highest possible level – and make certain this individual has the knowledge, sensitivity, interpersonal skills, authority and public demeanor to speak on your company’s behalf. Make sure this person is very accessible. Strive for consistency in what is said and how it is said. Make sure there’s a clear chain of command.

Tip # 4 – be prepared before you talk. Invest the time – proactively - to anticipate key questions before they get asked. Know the details. Understand what you can, and cannot, say. Deal honestly with all your publics, but only divulge what’s required. Don’t volunteer damaging information. Only use confirmed facts; don’t speculate.

Tip # 5 – remember social media. Twitter is a phenomenal real-time communication channel, and a great way to keep people informed, make alerts and be continually proactive. Facebook is an excellent two-way medium to monitor what people are thinking and post frequent updates from your company.

Tip # 6 – be there. When a crisis strikes, you can’t maneuver your way through it in your office. Get out there. Be at the scene. Be visible and available. Don’t allow information voids; keep communication flowing. Never surprise anyone. Deal with rumors quickly. Minimize speculation.

Tip # 7 – fall on your sword. This is the # 1 mistake companies, organizations and even venerable institutions consistently make… despite decades of “how not to do it” examples. Don’t fall into this trap because it’s the most debilitating of all. Nothing damages a reputation more quickly than stalling, deceit and bamboozling. Acknowledge the problem. Express concern. Take responsibility. Express a sincere desire to cooperate with others to solve the problem. Be human.

Tip # 8 – protect the record. Monitor everything that’s said and written including social media. Have a system in place to correct incorrect facts to avoid recirculation of erroneous information. Make sure your organization gets public credit for positive actions taken to address the crisis.

Tip # 9 – keep reading the situation. If a crisis becomes extended, continually measure changes in public opinion. This real-time monitoring will enable you to modify your crisis plan and communication as needed.

Tip # 10 – don’t go quiet. If nothing new has occurred, don’t fall into a black hole. Keep communicating even if the status quo is unchanged. Be proactive in your communication. Always be concerned about the reputation of your company, organization or institution.

Tip # 11 – learn & tweak. After the dust settles, get your crisis team together in person and dissect your organization’s crisis response. What worked? What didn’t? What lessons were learned? What can you improve next time?

How to differentiate

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:37:00-0500

One of the things I learned from Geoffrey Moore’s seminar is the notion of unique differentiation. He said a true “position” isn’t the one you’d like your company to have, but rather the position it actually occupies within a system you didn’t create.

In other words, positioning and differentiation isn’t an exercise in myopic navel gazing. It’s got to be externally driven and take into account the strengths and weaknesses of your real competition while also focusing on customer value. Understand what’s out there – and what’s needed - to set your organization apart.

To differentiate, go outside-in, and bottom-up:

Identify real people – Start by finding your organization’s real customers/consumers. Don’t focus on big picture targets (e.g. “this Fortune 500 company”), but rather specific individuals who may buy – and have bought –your products/services.
Talk to them – Differentiation isn’t about “making up” your company’s difference, it’s finding what objectively sets it apart. Understand what people want and why. If a customer, uncover what their experiences have been. Use social media to query larger samples. Online discussions and chat rooms are an effective way to gather opinions. Capture enough perspective so you can make accurate interpretations.
Understand customer value – Value is the difference between the benefits consumers realize minus the cost to buy, use and maintain your product or service. Differentiation is successful when the value perceived exceeds the cost of usage. For example, if someone buys a more expensive product with more features, but it takes longer to install and use it, then this competitive “uniqueness” may not be valued highly enough, thus eroding differentiation (and credibility).
Analyze your competition –Read blogs, troll social nets, and read articles and industry analyst reports to determine which particular companies “own” various strengths and leadership attributes within your market category. Also analyze competitive Web sites to capture their strategic messaging, leadership claims and customer testimonial insight. If other companies claim superiority in an area you believe your company has greater uniqueness, then you’ll need to work harder to create stickiness.
Evaluate core competencies – With external insight in hand, shift inward and identify core competencies. Most reliable? Easiest to use? Superior service? Higher quality? Remember, to successfully differentiate, a core competency has to be competitively unique but also be perceived by consumers as valued uniqueness. Matrix your core competencies into the external insight you acquired.
Isolate “the one thing” – As you zero-in on a core differentiating competency, force your company to articulate this in a “one thing” manner. Stand for one distinctive thing and people will remember.
Don’t forget longevity – Short-term differentiation isn’t ideal. Anticipate and discuss things like price erosion, imitation and competitive leaps. While you can’t plan against disruptive technologies, you can proactively assess what currently exists and try to factor-in competitive incrementalism in differentiation claims.

Fine-tune – If necessary, fine-tune your “one thing” differentiation to make it more appealing. For example, if your solution is more expensive, can you find ways to reduce costs in areas that are unimportant to the buyer? This will improve profitability while reducing the likelihood of competitors gaining ground from a price position.

Proof points – Claiming leadership and differentiation – by yourself for yourself - doesn’t cut it. You have to supplement this internal view with third-party perspective, viewed by the marketplace as credible and true. Consumers, customers and prospects are the best way to differentiate. So are objective (non-paid) direct comparisons. Get credible sources to step up to the plate and validate your differentiation. Also remember to identify any and all proof points that will credibly back-up your differentiation claims.
Be bold – To differentiate, you can’t be a wallflower – you have to stand out. Express differentiation in a colorful way so people notice and remember it.

Communicate – Once you’ve built your differentiation, work hard to integrate this messaging platform across all communication vehicles. Your Web site. SEO. Advertising. Web-news. Presentations. Great messaging is pervasive and consistent.

Experience is everything – What you say has to be consistent with what you do. If a company claims “best service” but a customer is frustrated dealing with one of their people, then brand position erodes in the mind (and heart) of that consumer. Walk the walk at every touch point.