Swanson Russell - Orange Dot

Consumer safety campaign targets the DIY market

editor — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 17:01:27 +0000

Homeowner Do-it-Yourselfers (DIY) attempting to repair or replace propane gas appliances are putting themselves and their families in danger. And when things go wrong, too often, the media points the finger incorrectly at the propane system. The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) came to us with the challenge: help us reduce the number of DIY-related accidents without raising unnecessary concern about propane systems.

Background

Properly maintained propane systems are very safe, but previous PERC research revealed that talking to homeowners about safety made them feel uncomfortable. Additional research revealed that a very high percentage of DIYers do research online before or during a project. So we recommended digital advertising and search marketing to catch DIYers in the act of researching their project so we could then persuade them to hire a pro instead.

Approach

Even after successfully excluding the general public from our message, we knew we would still have to find just the right tone for our video targeting DIYers online. DIYers do not like to be told what to do. And going too far with a fear-oriented message could reduce believability and put PERC in an inappropriate light. We developed multiple story lines that had elements of fear, from mild to severe. Then we tested these concepts by presenting storyboards to focus groups of DIYers. The concept that had the most influence without leaving a negative reaction featured a husband and wife speaking with an insurance agent outside of their severely burned home. Watch the video to see what happened.

Results

The campaign featured digital display ads on DIY websites like HGTVremodels.com and DIYnetwork.com. We also placed carefully crafted text ads on Google and YouTube, tied to very specific keyword searches. All ads linked DIYers to our simple and direct website, www.diysafety.org.

The campaign launched in January 2014. Detailed analysis of all digital activity allowed us to optimize our ad messages and keywords to maximize the impact of PERC’s budget for the campaign. To date, the campaign has driven 141,325 unique visitors to the website, 25,112 video views, and 1,624 requests for more information about hiring a professional. In addition, response from the propane industry was immediate and positive. LP Gas, a top trade magazine serving the propane industry, featured the campaign as its cover story in its June 2014 issue.

As an agency, we are especially proud of this campaign as it gave us an opportunity to use our marketing expertise to influence consumer safety, not just purchase behavior. And we have other consumer safety campaigns in the works. Stay tuned for a new campaign about portable generator emissions safety.

Unifying the Online Brand Experience of Dealer Networks

editor — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 18:46:37 +0000

Dealer System Key Features

Modern and user-friendly Content Management System

Full access to SEO settings and metadata

Content revisions and approval workflow

Multiple user roles and accounts

Multi-language support

New Equipment data feed from Vermeer.com

Used equipment search engine

Integration with dealers’ existing business systems

Sales rep finder

Events calendar

Web-based contact forms

The Challenge

In the fall of 2011, Vermeer approached Swanson Russell with a unique challenge related to their extensive dealer network: since each dealer was an independently owned franchise and not operated by Vermeer directly, each dealer’s website was managed and funded individually. The end result was an inconsistent brand experience between regions for Vermeer customers and prospects. The challenge was to bring all of these web properties under a single umbrella that could efficiently and pragmatically address the dealers’ business, customer and marketing needs while also improving brand and marketing consistency between Vermeer and its dealers.

Our Solution

Swanson Russell met with Vermeer and a small group of dealers serving as a pilot committee to come up with a plan to address the needs of all dealers within the limitations of the dealers' limited budget. The solution was a centralized website platform that would allow each dealer to have a customized yet uniform web presence which would allow them to manage their content and marketing needs themselves, but still provide Vermeer with some level of control over sensitive content (e.g. new equipment product details) and the overall brand experience.

Dealer System at a Glance

The Vermeer Dealer System was a centralized web platform that supported multiple standalone websites with unique domain names. There was a single, shared design across all sites that enforced a consistent brand experience regardless of the internal capabilities of individual dealerships. While dealers had complete control over the content on their site, the centralized structure allowed Vermeer to provide a feed of New Equipment data without worrying about outdated or inaccurate information spread out across many different dealer sites.

New dealers were guided through an onboarding process where they could choose which features are enabled and how they want to work with the website. Dealers were also trained on using the CMS and had access to additional documentation and support through the other dealers using the system.

Thinking About the Future

The initial set of functionality and designs were established by working closely with the pilot dealers and Vermeer, but we knew from the beginning that this would be a system that would need to grow and adapt over time. Each year, the dealers worked together with Swanson Russell to prioritize which improvements, additions or other changes that had accumulated over the past year should be implemented on the dealer system.

By sharing the initial and ongoing development costs, each dealer was able to launch a professional, comprehensive web presence that many of them would not be able to manage or afford without the dealer website system.

To learn more about Swanson Russell’s expertise in the construction industry, contact us.

We Started a Revolution

site manager — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 16:06:09 +0000

We started a revolution. In 2013, when we unveiled the Zuprevolution campaign for Zuprevo™ antibiotic (Merck Animal Health), we presented livestock producers with a new-chemistry alternative to traditional bovine respiratory disease (BRD) therapy. Cattle producers raised the Zuprevo flag—and their voices—in this “take action” campaign.

Bovine respiratory disease is as much a part of cattle production as barbed wire, spurs, and a good cutting horse. BRD costs the industry millions of dollars annually in lost production, mortality, and treatment costs. Because of the magnitude of this economically significant disease, animal pharmaceutical companies have inundated the market with treatment and control therapies, giving cattle producers a wide variety of antimicrobials from which to choose. Many factors drive the final purchase decision—ease of use, dose regimen, duration, rapid response, spectrum of activity—depending on whether a cattleman needs a treatment for a sick animal or a control therapy for a group of high-risk cattle on arrival at a new facility.

 We introduced Zuprevo in 2012 as a revolutionary new drug with 28 days of therapeutic activity. Twenty-eight days is Zuprevo’s stake in the ground, its point of differentiation and evidence of what novel new chemistry can do.

The creative approach was clean, simple and memorable: one central image that emphasized the primary selling point.

 The extended duration message caused a ground swell of interest and led prospects to explore the product’s other features. Fast action, one-dose protocol and short withdrawal—in addition to 28 days of therapy— combined to arm producers with a formidable anti-BRD weapon, one that had not been available previously.

Once we had gained market interest in Zuprevo and stimulated purchase the first year out of the gate, we evolved the launch message (extended duration) to one befitting revolutionary new chemistry. The Zuprevolution campaign was born.

“Zuprevolution” debuted in 2013 in a TV spot that urged producers to join “a revolutionary movement.” Due to FDA regulations governing drug advertising, we couldn’t mention the name of the disease (BRD) unless we also mentioned the side effects of the therapy (Zuprevo). We didn’t want to devote a majority of the spot to disclaimers, so we opted not to call out BRD. We knew that cattle producers would recognize the disease we were talking about by the images and the language we used in the ad. The spot closes on the Zuprevo flag, an image that is central to the Zuprevolution concept.

We also created a radio spot to mirror the television ad.

After the TV ad laid the groundwork for the Zuprevolution concept, we ran ads in trade publications featuring producers and veterinarians who abandoned traditional BRD therapies for Zuprevo because of its unique combination of features. The Zuprevo flag is dominant in all ads and collateral material, and serves as a rallying point for the producers who expect more from their BRD therapy.

At the end of the day, cattle producers want effective disease treatment and control. And our clients want unique approaches to marketing communications that deliver. The Zuprevolution campaign is just one example of how we can rally an audience, even if the issue is as old as barbed wire and as familiar as the first spring calf.

Bringing Safety to the Airwaves

site manager — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:58:44 +0000

The winter of 2013-2014 presented some major obstacles for the propane industry. Severe winter weather (remember the “Polar Vortex?”) struck residential propane customers around the U.S. creating a huge surge in demand. In combination with heavy use in the ag market and some transportation issues, it was the perfect storm for propane retailers and customers. Those who felt the most pain were the “will call” customers who did not have a full tank or a relationship with a propane retailer heading into winter, posing a safety risk if they ran out of gas.

In April of 2014, our client, the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) began thinking about what it could do to encourage residential and agriculture customers to plan ahead. As the Council’s communication agency, Swanson Russell worked closely with industry leaders to magnify their preparedness message in advance of the upcoming winter season.

Perhaps the most visible component of the campaign, which launched on Monday, September 8, is a 30-second television commercial.

Swanson Russell also developed the campaign’s landing page, propanecomfort.com, where customers can learn if they’re prepared for winter. To further promote the message about smart energy use, the landing page has tips for making appliances as energy efficient as possible.

The second prong of the campaign is directed at the propane industry itself. Because propane providers will be on the front lines preparing customers for winter, it’s important to keep them informed about the campaign. To that end, we blitzed industry publications (digital and print) with directions for how to get involved by downloading a collection of free materials to share with customers. Roy Willis, president and CEO of PERC, also filmed this campaign announcement, which lives on an industry-facing landing page.

It’s one thing to create a campaign for a single brand, but acting on behalf of an entire industry was a uniquely huge responsibility. I speak for everyone on the campaign team when I say it was an honor to help bring this message to the airwaves.

Are You Annoying Your Web Users?

editor — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:58:40 +0000

I’ve been using the Internet -- and in particular the World Wide Web, which has since become synonymous with the former -- since I was just barely out of diapers. Okay, that’s a lie, but it was definitely a long time ago. Over the last two decades, the information superhighway has evolved and matured into arguably the most critical element of global communications, but like the rest of us, it didn’t get that far without picking up a few bad habits along the way.

Unlike many other mediums, the Internet is permanent but also continually evolving and changing. Because things are always shifting and improving, but at the same time surrounded by content and interfaces designed a decade ago, it can be difficult to create strict, unbreakable rules. Instead, I like to follow two simple rules: first, do users already have an expectation or assumption about a thing and second, will this thing annoy users unnecessarily?

Let’s take these rules and look at a few bad habits the Internet has picked up over the last twenty years, then use our rules to decide if they should continue or be abandoned.

1. Using “click here” as the call-to-action link text. Most likely left over from earlier years, when the concept of a hyperlink was so novel that most users needed a bit of guidance, this is a habit that modern netizens no longer rely on. From a marketing standpoint, linked text is one of the most valuable and important pieces of copy on any web site, and relying on a generic “click here” each time is an unfortunate waste of real estate and opportunity.

2. Any form of auto-playing audio or video content. The last thing you want to do is annoy the end user, and by far the easiest way to do this is immediately begin playing audio when people don’t expect it. Besides, aren’t most of us listening to music, podcasts or something on television while surfing the web, anyway?

3. Hijacking the user’s default controls. One of the more reliable ways to annoy and confuse your users is to get clever and change the way people use their device. That means you shouldn’t hijack the browser's back button, scrolling behavior, or anything else related to how users expect to control their device.

4. Splash and pop-up dialogs on page load. Just like error messages, most users are going to instinctively close the dialog as soon as possible, so any legitimate marketing goal would likely be unmet even if this habit wasn’t already dreadfully annoying.

5. Inconsistent and/or confusing navigation. This might be the only bad habit on the list that is usually *not* intentional, but that doesn’t mean it’s excusable. Any form of site navigation should be clearly labeled and behave consistently throughout the site, which means each tier of navigation needs to point to a unique interior content page -- no external links and no empty tiers that don’t actually link to a relevant content page.

Like the Internet, these rules have evolved over time as we’ve learned our lessons the hard way. Some of them are slowly fading away, and some (especially #4 and #5 due to the rise of new technology like touch screens) have come roaring back with a vengeance. After all, that’s why they are called bad habits: if they were easy to avoid, we wouldn’t need rules and lists and blog posts like this one!

Of course, now that I’ve gone and created an official list of What Not To Do, somebody will point out that we’ve done at least one of these ourselves. That’s actually just fine, as long as it’s done intentionally and with caution! Remember the two rules -- don’t annoy and don’t reinvent the wheel without a good reason -- and the bad habits described above will solve themselves.

Creating an Unforgettable Trade Show Experience

editor — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 20:53:31 +0000

Trade show booth promotions are tricky — too complicated and your audience will walk away before you finish explaining how the promotion works, too interactive and people will be too intimidated to participate, too focused on giveaways and you’ll send hundreds of people home with a bag full of junk and no recollection of your message. So, how do you plan and execute a booth promotion that draws traffic to your booth, keeps attention on your booth, and simply and effectively sells your message? The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) is a check off program dedicated to promoting safety, training, and R&D of propane and propane-powered innovations. For the residential construction sector, we wanted to promote the Propane Energy Pod — a whole-home propane energy package. The PERC booth at the 2014 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas accomplished our engagement goals through its “Everyone Wins with the Energy Pod” promotion.

The promotion drove traffic to the booth through a variety of pre-show and at-the-show communications: direct mail, booth signage, and a 12’ x 12’ dance-floor-like graphic. The direct mail and signage promoted the main focus of the booth — the interactive Everyone Wins with the Propane Energy Pod trivia game where all participants won prizes and the overall winner could walk away with a $100 casino chip.
The promotion kept attention on the booth with the interactive trivia game. The game allowed three players at a time to race against each other to answer trivia questions on iPads. Players won points for answering questions correctly and quickly. The winner of each game won a propane-branded flashlight, each non-winner won a deck of propane-branded playing cards, and the overall day winner won a $100 casino chip. The top 20 scores were showcased on a leaderboard that was shown on a TV screen — the scoreboard leaders continued to stop by the booth throughout the day to check on the standings. While attendees were waiting to play the game, they could talk with representatives about propane and view in-booth propane appliances in addition to watching the trivia game.
The promotion effectively sold PERC’s message through the trivia questions. Each game consisted of 10 multiple choice questions that ranged from general propane trivia to more specific residential construction-focused questions. Questions were displayed on the players’ iPad screens and on the large TV screen to ensure that even non-players were involved in the game, and everyone walked away with a better understanding of propane and its benefits to the residential construction market.

At the three-day show, the PERC booth had 275 unique game players and a total of 356 games played, 250 decks of cards were distributed, 140 flashlights were won, and three casino chips were handed out.

Not every show, every booth or every budget can allow for interactive trivia games, prizes, and floor graphics, but every trade show booth can be successful by ensuring that your promotion draws attention to your booth, keeps the attention on your booth, and simply and effectively sells your message.

Make Remarketing Work for Your Clients

editor — Tue, 13 May 2014 14:50:39 +0000

While planning a trip, have you ever visited a hotel website and then noticed for the next several weeks (or even longer) you keep seeing ads for that same hotel every time you go online? Is it just a coincidence? Probably not. You are likely being “remarketed” to.

What is ‘Remarketing’ exactly?

The simplest definition of remarketing is, “the process of reengaging a visitor or customer based on a recent interaction with your brand.” This reengagement might take the form of a postcard mailed to a potential customer after they have visited your store. It might also be a phone call from you to a customer whose purchases have lapsed. Today, however, the most common way of reengaging with customers is doing so online by serving digital ads to people who have previously visited a company’s website.

Why should I remarket? Won’t my potential customers feel stalked?

Not every visitor to your website is ready to take action. In fact, the majority of site visitors are simply doing research. But because they have already been to your site, they have some kind of awareness of your company or product, and likely have an interest. Giving those visitors a reminder that they have already been to your site will increase the likelihood that they will remember you when they ARE ready to take action. These visitors are much more likely to come back to your site and ultimately covert or make a purchase.

Many times, a visitor that has been remarketed to will not click on your ad at the time it is served to them. However, the likelihood that they will later visit your site and then covert is high — it’s called a “view-through conversion.” Our experience has shown that remarketing can often drive more view-through conversions than those attributed to the initial ad click.

How do I decide to whom to remarket?

Remarketing ads are served to your site visitors while they are visiting other sites on the web. It might be when they are visiting the WallStreetJournal.com, or their local television news site. Specifically who you should target depends on your objectives, but can fall into the following categories:

All site visitors — Do you have a site whose content changes frequently? Is there benefit to you and your site visitors to return again and again? If so, you might want to remarket to ALL visitors to your site, regardless of the action they have taken previously.

Site visitors who have not converted — Do you have an e-commerce site? If so, remarketing to people who have placed items in their shopping cart but did not complete the purchase would be appropriate. These people are much more likely to ultimately make a purchase from you — they just need a little nudge.
Even if you don’t have an e-commerce site, there is still good reason to remarket. Bringing back a site visitor to watch a video or download a sales sheet can move that visitor further down the purchase funnel, even if they have to visit a dealer at their brick and mortar storefront to make the ultimate purchase.

Site visitors who have already converted — Remarketing to visitors who have already converted can be effective if there is opportunity to cross-sell another product or service. These visitors have already engaged with your site, and they are more likely to do so again.

But my customers are professional tradespeople, not general homeowners.
Remarketing can be extremely effective at reaching a business-to-business audience, not just general consumers. One of our clients who sells lawn care equipment to professional landscape contractors drove nearly 1,200 site visits during the past month through their remarketing efforts, with 31 percent of all of those visitors ultimately converting. Another saw 22 percent of remarketing visitors convert, as compared to just six percent of general site visitors.

So, give remarketing a try. It could lead to better engagement with your brand and higher sales down the road.

Infographic courtesy of Internet Ideas LTD

Building Strategic Partnerships for Your Brand

admin — Tue, 10 Dec 2013 20:31:23 +0000

Regardless of the industry you work in, you have probably worked with a strategic partner at some point. Strategic partnerships are particularly beneficial in marketing. In addition to sharing costs, these partnerships will also allow you to reach a larger, varied audience and build trust by associating with other valued brands. However, not all companies make great partners for each other. Here are a few things to keep in mind when deciding on strategic partners:

Choose a partner that enhances your capabilities by doing something you can’t. You shouldn’t be competing against your partner. Make sure the relationship benefits both organizations.
Establish joint goals and objectives. In order to make sure both parties are satisfied with the results of the partnership, outline expectations early on.
Define the roles and responsibilities of each organization. Much like the goals and objectives, these roles should be defined early on to ensure the partnership is positive and successful for both organizations.
Determine whether it makes more sense for this to be a short-term or long-term partnership. The purpose of the partnership will help drive the necessary length. Tradeshows may only require a short-term commitment, while other projects may work better longer term.

We strive to be good strategic partners for our clients. That means that we often see opportunities for our clients to partner with each other. Here are a few of the more recent examples:

Weatherby and Leupold

Weatherby makes rifles and Leupold makes riflescopes, so partnership opportunities abound.

When Weatherby held a brandsummit in 2012 to explore how manufacturers could pool resources to create more powerful marketing ventures, Swanson Russell represented Leupold to share information and brainstorm. One of the outcomes was Team Weatherby. Co-sponsored by Leupold, Team Weatherby is a select group of celebrities who serve as spokespersons.

Swanson Russell has also worked with Weatherby and Leupold to plan and implement joint press events and hunts, coordinate their participation in a media-sponsored roundtable, and provide products for each other’s photo shoots and PR endeavors. We often “cross-pitch” them for editorial opportunities, and schedule in-booth tours with key editors and writers at the hunting and shooting industry’s biggest annual trade shows. In the social media realm, we serve as a connection point for the Weatherby and Leupold Facebook pages, sharing content and ideas.

Turfco and Agrium Advanced Technologies

Turfco Spreader/Sprayers and Agrium advanced Technologies were a perfect match.

The Turfco Spreader/Sprayer saves lawn care operators time and money by making fertilizer applications more efficient. Agrium Advanced Technologies produces fertilizer that saves time and money by reducing the number of applications that need to be made.

Because Agrium needed to change market paradigms to be successful, we helped them develop a “Square Foot Advantage” calculator that allows prospects to compare their 4 or 5 or 6-time fertilizer application program to a 1 or 2 time application program with an Agrium fertilizer. When lawn care operators would calculate their square foot advantage, they were entered for a chance to win a Turfco package worth nearly $10,000 retail, but provided to Agrium at a very substantial discount. In exchange, Agrium gave the Turfco 3000i a great deal of exposure in print/digital ads and cross promotion in their respective booths at GIE+EXPO.

Cushman and Vanguard Engines

Vanguard needed a deconstructed vehicle frame to demonstrate the engine’s position within the vehicle, and Cushman delivered. Since both brands were exhibiting at this particular show, we worked with them to make sure that relevant collateral was shared between the two, increasing the impact that both brands were able to make.

Vanguard Engines power a variety of turf and construction equipment including select vehicles in the Cushman line of utility vehicles. Their existing OEM relationship made the choice to work together on a tradeshow exhibit an easy one.

2013 Construction Marketing STAR Awards

admin — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 19:55:57 +0000

The Construction Marketing Association STAR awards annually recognize marketing excellence among construction professionals. Each entry is judged on both quality of execution and measurable marketing results. This year Swanson Russell was named Construction Marketer of the year for the Western Region. In addition to this prestigious award, Swanson Russell received seven SUPERSTAR awards and six STAR awards for projects for the Propane Education & Research Council, The Safway Group, Vermeer, Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting and Cushman. We’re proud to be able to partner with these well-known companies in the construction industry.

Western Region — Swanson Russell

Advertising — Safway Print Ad Campaign

Advertising — Propane Education & Research Council Training Program Advertorial

Channel Marketing — Propane Education & Research Council Training Program Collateral

Photography — Propane Education & Research Council Digital Photography Retouching

Publicity — Cushman News Release

Trade Show Event — Cushman Exhibit Promotion

Video — Propane Education & Research Council Training Video

Brand Identity — Propane Education & Research Council Fleet/Vehicle Graphics

Collateral/Literature — Propane Education & Research Council Brochure

Collateral/Literature — Propane Education & Research Council Sales and Dealer Kit

Channel Marketing — Vermeer Websites

Photography — Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting Factory Photography

Publicity — Cushman Article

Technology on the Jobsite

admin — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 15:45:37 +0000

It’s not surprising to learn that technology, in one form or another, is becoming a new normal for most people. People check their email, make calls and access their Facebook accounts from a virtually unlimited number of places. The construction site, with all the dirt, grit and heavy machinery, probably isn’t somewhere that you would expect to find such expensive devices. But we know that’s not true. As you’ll see below, contractors and construction professionals are definitely comfortable using their devices on the jobsite.

As a marketing and communications agency, these are numbers that we pay attention to. They help us better understand how construction professionals use technology on the jobsite. These insights assist us when we’re developing the mobile and social media strategies that help our clients connect with their customers.

Visit Swanson Russell’s construction page on our website to check out some of our work for our construction clients.

Click here to download this infographic.

Spotlight on Commercial Construction

admin — Fri, 31 May 2013 15:27:16 +0000

It’s not every day that you can say your office is a 25,000-square-foot commercial construction site. In early April, some coworkers and I visited the future home of the Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) Don Sherrill Secondary Education Center, to learn the ins and outs of sustainable commercial construction firsthand.

Arriving at the site, it was clear that the building’s framework looked more like a house than a school — definitely an inviting setting for children enrolled in the Behavioral Skills Program from grades six through nine. The new school building will welcome students for the 2013-2014 academic year.

Prior to starting construction on the energy-efficient LPS Sherrill building, the project contractor, New Generation Construction, leveled the site’s existing 18,000-square-foot facility.

In addition to this being our first educational facility, it was also our first visit to a construction site using geothermal technology.

What is Geothermal Technology?

Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP), also known as ground source heat pumps, are among the most energy and cost efficient heating and cooling systems available on the market today. GHP systems are gaining traction in the construction industry with approximately 50,000 systems installed in the U.S. per year. Research shows that when a building is constructed with a geothermal system, it has the equivalent effect of planting 750 trees or taking two cars off the road.

Although many parts of the country experience seasonal temperature extremes, the ground remains at a relatively constant temperature a few feet below the earth's surface. Depending on latitude, ground temperatures range from 45°F to 75°F. Like a cave, this ground temperature is warmer than the air above it during the winter and cooler than the air above it in the summer.

A GHP takes advantage of this by transferring heat stored in the earth into a building during the winter, and transfers it back into the ground during the summer. Studies note that 70 percent of the energy used in a GHP system is renewable energy from the ground.

Commercial Site Observations

In addition to the GHP being worked on, we noticed a lot of different equipment being used on the jobsite during our visit. In preparation for concrete being poured at the school’s entrance, an earthmover was busy grading and leveling the ground. There were indoor lifts helping the workers move heavy equipment from the ground level to the building’s loft-style second floor. Finally, industrial-style heaters were placed at various locations around the site to keep the workers warm in the drafty school structure.

Lincoln has been booming with construction lately. If there’s a new piece of equipment or an upcoming technology, like geothermal, that you would like to learn more about, let us know about it in the comments below.

Building Your Brand with Public Relations

admin — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:33:36 +0000

Here’s a little exercise for you. Name some of the world’s most popular brands.

OK, which ones immediately came to mind? Maybe Coke or Apple? McDonald’s? Walmart? Google?

While these companies may make building a branding look easy, it’s not. Brands are the basis of an organization’s emotional and psychological relationship with its customers. It’s likely that hundreds of people participated in many meetings and discussions about the look, feel and overall personality each of these companies should communicate. And coming to an agreement on a brand is only the beginning. Then you have to build it and nurture it, which takes time, consistency and dedication.

If you asked most people how companies build brands, they’d probably mention the ads they see in print and online, or the commercials they hear on the radio or see on TV. A few might also mention product packaging, merchandising displays or websites. While it’s true that all those elements of the marketing mix help build a brand, public relations also has a tremendous impact upon brand perceptions.

In the past, PR—like advertising—primarily consisted of one-way messages from an organization to its customers. In other words, PR professionals told people what they wanted them to hear without offering them a way to respond or provide input. Today, customers have the power to let us—and just about everyone else in the world—know how they feel about our brand, our products and our services each and every day.

As a result, PR has had to evolve. It’s no longer just about developing relationships with the media, but also with actual customers. It’s about listening, responding appropriately and delivering on brand promises that customers find emotionally relevant. It’s about developing a reputation and a personality with which your customers can identify. That’s why PR has become so integral to the brand-building process—not just for multi-billion-dollar corporations, but for even the smallest businesses. Consider the following PR strategies and tactics that can help any organization develop and nurture its brand:

Become involved with relevant events and sponsorships. Find a cause that strikes a chord with your audience and find ways to publicly support it. For example, if your brand is designed to appeal to environmentally-conscious customers, you could find events or initiatives that support water conservation or recycling. Then, work with the media and use your social networks to spread the word about your involvement. One note—it’s not enough to only do this once and then drop it. The ways you support a particular cause can change over time, but the cause itself should be consistent.
Craft social media messages that speak to your audience’s preferences, needs and desires. In social media, there are few things duller—or more offensive—than a company using Facebook or Twitter to talk only about itself. Instead, try to get inside the minds of your followers and figure out what’s important to them. Consider other newsworthy topics, pictures or events they’ll find interesting. Share relevant industry articles. Offer tools and resources that help them accomplish a task faster or easier. Ask questions that help you get a better handle on what your audience is thinking and feeling. Keep the tone of your posts consistent and relevant to your brand message. It’s OK to talk about yourself some of the time—just not ALL of the time.
Train your company executives how to properly “work in” your company’s brand message during interviews and speaking engagements. While that may sound a bit self-serving, once you’ve established a brand, it’s important that all communication supports it—and that includes any speeches or interviews your company executives may make. Be sure to train these individuals on the best ways to craft subtle mentions or references to your brand when working with the media.
Develop story pitches and bylined editorial pieces that support your brand message. Pitching and placing articles in online and print publications has been a basic PR tactic for a very, very long time—and it’s still relevant today. Consider your industry and the hottest topics going on right now. Then find story ideas and angles that speak to those topics while also providing an opportunity to build your brand. When you do mention your products or services, don’t just discuss how great they are—point out how they support your overall brand.
Remember to back up your brand in both external and internal communications. It’s easy to think about building a brand with only your external audiences and forget that your fellow employees are customers too. If you’re attempting to convey a particular brand message to your customers, but you’re not backing that up behind your office walls, your employees won’t buy it—and they may tell others not to buy it either.

PR isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to building a brand. It’s just one tool of many in the marketing toolbox. However, when it’s done well, PR is quite possibly the most subtle, yet effective way to nurture and communicate a brand image. The key is to work a consistent brand message into all aspects of your communications mix—and back it up with your actions.

The Power of Mobile in B2B Industries

admin — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 16:02:11 +0000

Like many of our clients in the B2B space, the sales team at Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting embraces mobile technology and uses it to help sell their products; whether that means they are using their latest app or getting the most current product information from their website. That’s why when we helped re-design their website last year, they opted to go the extra mile and optimize the site for mobile. As a whole, B2B businesses are adopting mobile at a rapid pace.

This is one example in a trend we are seeing of B2B marketers embracing mobile technology. We talk more about this and other examples in our whitepaper: Use Mobile Marketing to Make a Real Connection™ with Your Audience. Here are a few highlights:

Interactive Sales Materials

As the team at Vista would agree, tablets have become a staple component in most sales strategies. Beyond being convenient, they allow the sales team to increase the rate and frequency of their sales interactions. Tablets give you the ability to create charts, run comparisons or show product videos in the field. It’s also simple to convert your existing sales collateral into something that is mobile-friendly. Using these basic pieces, and interactive sales materials, the sales team is able to turn a simple presentation into an engaging experience for their customers.

Event-Driven Applications

Trade shows and other events provide a specific opportunity for B2B marketers. Show attendees may be able to download an app that helps them find your booth. Maybe you can provide special interaction for mobile users who are already in your booth. You can use short codes that trade show attendees can text to get updates on your booth promotion. Participants might even share content and conversation across social media related to your event activities. The opportunities for mobile interaction at events are virtually limitless.

Order Facilitation

Similar to the mobile e-commerce technology available in the consumer space, marketers in the B2B environment should consider mobile methods of enabling transactions. In addition to mobile sales materials, this process can help the sales team place orders while they are meeting with a client, or while they are checking inventory at a jobsite.

Maintenance and Industry Regulation Management

B2B brands, especially those in the construction industry, often face the challenge of operating in heavily regulated environments. Mobile technology has made it easier to stay up-to-date on current regulations and ensure compliance. There are also a number of apps that help you maintain the proper maintenance schedules and updates for equipment and fleet vehicles.

Mobile Customer Service and Support

In 2012, one of our clients, Vanguard Engines, took in-field customer service to a new level. By placing Quick Response (QR) codes directly on the engines, Vanguard was able to provide immediate troubleshooting information suited specifically for in-field support. Other B2B companies provide service and support through special applications or their websites.

Tablet Thought Leadership

Thought leadership blogs and articles are perfect content for tablets. Because of the relaxed nature of tablets, users are able to take a deeper dive into this type of mobile content. B2B brands are beginning to recognize this opportunity and are creating leadership platforms specifically for the tablet environment.

You can download the Use Mobile Marketing to Make a Real Connection™ with Your Audience whitepaper by visiting our website: www.swansonrussell.com/Mobile-Report.

From the Ground Up: Building a Brand for Safway

admin — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:17:22 +0000

No home remodeling project has ever begun and ended where the builder intended. Once you get in there and root around, you find other things that need fixing. What starts as a new backsplash in the kitchen inevitably ends with new tile, appliances and light fixtures.

Branding projects sometimes come about the same way – simple requests lead to bigger insights that cause brand managers and agencies to reexamine their brand’s entire landscape. Such was the case with our recent building project for a renowned provider of scaffolding, access and industrial service solutions: Safway Services.

A new client, Safway asked us to theme their upcoming dealer meeting as our first project. So we dug for information on what made Safway unique. We talked to stakeholders, did our research and put on our thinking hard hats. It’d be easy to slap a generic theme on any brand’s event (IT’S “JAMAICA’N ME CRAZY WITH SAFWAY” AND WE’LL PLAY BOB MARLEY MUSIC!), but we opted for something more tangible and relevant, with which employees could connect. A select set of concepts was whittled down to the winner: “The Smart Way,” a nod to Safway’s intelligently holistic approach to providing scaffold and access solutions for construction and industrial projects.

Most agency assignments end here. The concept is approved, final tweaks are made, then it’s “Cut! Print it.” But Safway saw potential in the Smart Way, and asked their Swanson Russell team to pursue it as a brand platform. So we worked with our client to identify a few key components of Safway’s approach that they execute more intelligently than any of their competitors. We landed on Safety, People, Planning, Processes and Technology. They’re the five elements Safway is built on – or to put it in the corniest possible terms, the scaffolding that allows Safway to access and attack the challenges their customers present.

Next, we wanted to explore what these five potent brand weapons would look like when expressed as brand print ads. Conceptually, we gave the ads a historical tinge, given that Safway has been around longer than most of its competitors. We also poured over the publications these ads would run in and designed something that would stand out in them. Big, bold headlines. Dominant, focused imagery. And quick copy that wasn’t overly technical.

The print ad concepts were extended to website marquees, social media content, trade show signage and more. So while Safway initially only asked for a backsplash, a little bit of digging resulted in us throwing out the kitchen sink. And in the end, the brand received a facelift and a smarter, more holistic, unified approach – something a company like Safway can truly appreciate.

Connecting with Clients

editor — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:18:47 +0000

Real Connection™ is our foundation. It’s our way of describing how we bring our clients’ brands together with the people who use them. We get that it’s more than a purchasing decision; we want people to develop an emotional connection with our clients’ brands. In order to do that, we make an effort to fully understand our clients’ products and services – whether that means talking to the sales team at a trade show, visiting a dealership, touring the production facility or meeting for the sole purpose of product training.

It’s important that we understand the product to be able to promote it effectively. And we do. Many of us, myself included, use our clients’ products and would do so even if they weren’t our clients. We’re personally invested in the industries we serve. Having those common interests is what makes it easy to connect with our clients on a personal level.

It’s fairly typical that I talk to a client at least once a week – and sometimes several times a day if there is a big project in the works. So aside from knowing about the company, the products and the industry, I think it’s important that I know who our clients are as people. Connecting with them on a personal level helps strengthen the professional relationship. We see our clients as partners. Having that relationship with them helps when tough decisions have to be made or difficult conversations need to happen.

How each of us connects with our clients is different. I’ve visited a Bass Pro Shop to see the Bad Boy Buggies floor models and toured an Ariens and Gravely production facility. I’ve been on discovery trips to golf courses and had product training sessions at our office – all in an attempt to learn more about the product. When a client visits our office, we like to show them some of our culture and help them experience Lincoln. I’ve done the typical dinners and meetings in the office, but I’ve also taken clients on tours of Memorial Stadium, tailgated with them on Nebraska Football game days and even invited them to our Oktobeerfest celebration at the agency. It’s important for them to see who we are and understand our passion for what we do. That’s our Real Connection™ with our clients.