Are you getting ready for 2010?

If you're not, what are you waiting for? It'll be here sooner than you think and you want to get out of the gate on January 2nd running at full steam! What should you be doing? Here's a good list:

1 - Customer surveys and reviews. Now is the perfect time to ask your customers what they think of you, your product/service, etc. Let them give you a review. Also, use this time to ask them questions about how you can market better. For example, what publications do they read; where do they get info on the product/service you're selling; are they online and if so, where... etc.

2 - Marketing results review. Yeah, remember those goals you set last year? Well, how'd you do? Did you meet them? Exceed them? Fall short? Here's a chance to analyze what worked and what didn't and WHY. It's also a chance to oust projects that aren't measured, or make them measurable. In other words, if you always send a newsletter twice a year but never ask for any response, you need to find out if the effort is worth the return. Could time/money/staff be better spent in other areas? If you don't know the results of a project, it could get killed.

3 - Investigate the market. With this economy, things are changing every day. What are your competitors doing? What are the trends in the industry? How have the players and offerings changed? What is the consumer demanding of the industry? What's the forecast for the industry? What can you do to become/stay a leader?

4 - Making a plan. After you've completed steps 1-3, it's time to start finding out where to invest your time and money to keep the pipeline filled. This inevitably involves more research but this time into publications, reporters' beats, trade shows, associations, speaking opportunities, editorial calendars, etc. etc! This will take the bulk of your time but hopefully, you will have gotten some good clues by talking to your customers and investigating your industry and competitors.

5 - Create a timeline and budget. Make sure you don't just come up with a lot of great ideas but that you also put it into a schedule that makes sense financially and resource-wise. You can't do all of it in January, nor would it make sense to do so. Plan it out and make sure that you put regular evaluations into your schedule. There's no sense executing three direct mail programs if the first one failed miserably.

If you aren't jumping on this now, you really won't be ready, come January. There are way too many distractions in your daily work life as it is and the next two months are ripe with holidays and vacations. Just remember, if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.... maybe.

More on Branding....

Continuing on my last post, branding is not so much about your company name or your logo, it's all about POSITIONING. In other words, you want to be known for something. What is it?

How do you determine your positioning? Ask yourself (your company leaders, board, etc) a few key questions:
• Who are we
• What do we provide
• What do we do that our competitors don't
• If we want our customers to remember one thing about us, it is.....
• What do we hope to become, and what do we need to get there

The answers to these questions can help you determine how you want to present yourself to your audiences. The ultimate goal is to find a unique niche for your company and build your entire platform around it, leaving yourself in a stand-alone position from your competitors.

Once you've come up with your positioning, write 5-7 brand promises that define this position. Use these statements, verbatim if possible, in all press releases, interviews, client interactions, printed materials, websites, sales materials, etc. You get the picture. Consistency is KING when it comes to branding.

Remember, a good brand isn't built over night. Spend some time working on your interior messages, brand your company with your employees first, then blow your own horn and tell the world.

What's in a name?

I just got an email from a salesman at a very respected vendor in our industry. The salesman, apparently, goes by the name Bobby. His message was brief, "Jan, do you have time to talk about our product and what it can do for you at Alliance Communications....Sincerely, Bobby." You know what, Bobby? I just can't take you seriously. If you think your mom will let you, could you use "Bob" just for the sake of business purposes?

Maybe I'm being harsh on ol' Bobby. Maybe he's one of 17 Bob Somethings that works at this particular company and doesn't want to be confused with one of the other Bobs. Or, maybe he's 12 and got this job because he was the lowest bidder. It doesn't matter. It screams "I'm Not Serious About This."

Which brings me to my thought for the day -- what's in a name anyway. Well, when it comes to your business, here's a few rules to keep in mind:

1. Keep it simple. You want your business name to be something that is memorable and easy to pronounce. While 'Je ne sais pas' is eloquent (ok, it's "I don't know" in French), it's not all that easy to remember (unless it's ALL you remember from French class like me), and it's not all that easy to pronounce if you're reading it for the first time. Think of some great brands -- General Motors, AT&T, Apple, Betty Crocker, Staples -- I could go on and on. They are simple, easy to remember, easy to pronounce.

2. Unique, memorable. Just because you are a pool cleaning service, your name doesn't have to be Joey's Pool Cleaning Service. Go a little wild while keeping the first rule in mind. How about Aquatic Pool Cleaning, Aqua Pools; Crystal Clear Pool Cleaning, etc. At the same time, let's forget the Red this and the Blue that. It's so dot com. Think about what you want to convey to your prospect. Example -- inexpensive might equate to Budget Car Rental; Exclusive might equate to Premier Limousine; Your service area might equate to Southwest Airlines. Get it?

3. Say what you do. If you sell widgets, be the widget company. If you walk dogs, be the dog walking company. It doesn't have to be your entire name but make it so people know what you do. Example: Geico Insurance -- um, it's insurance. Payless Shoes -- they sell shoes.

Is it too late if you already have a name? Nope -- you can always add a tag line. If you've been known as ABC2 for 20 years, now you could say ABC2, Insurance for Business since 1990. Or a slogan, The Asset Protector (haha - I wouldn't really do that but it was funny at the time of writing this!)

I've ranted enough all because of Bobby in my email box. I'll continue this thought in tomorrow's post and talk about the logo and branding.

Do you really think Dunkin' Donuts has the best coffee?

I'm not a coffee drinker so maybe I'm not an authority but let's go ahead and take up the debate -- is Dunkin' Donuts coffee really the best coffee? Or, did Dunkin' Donuts create an image, a brand, as THE best coffee? Did they see a market of coffee drinkers who would pay $5 for a 50¢ cup of coffee and then offered the same experience to this audience at a mere $2.50? Do you think that's what got coffee drinkers to flock to the donut shop and declare its brew the best?

Branding has a lot of power. It'll make you open your wallet -- wide -- and it'll make you go out of your way to insist on that brand. So, how do you do it?

First think you have to do is KNOW WHO YOU ARE. Dunkin' Donuts took a look at their SWOT and you know what they found? No one buys donuts much past noon on any given day. So maybe they added sandwiches and ice cream to their stores. Hmmm... still just moving the regulars around the clock, not really driving in new customers. Then, imagine in their strengths, they noticed that hey, our coffee's not all that bad. Perhaps under opportunities, they said, wow, coffee drinkers are spending millions at boutique and franchise coffee shops. We could do that!

But instead of jumping into the pot with perhaps a cheaper latte, they said, let's tell people that we have the best coffee. Not cheaper, not better. The best.

So who are you? What is it you do better than your competitors? Why should someone go out of their way to buy from you and you only?

While the economy RIGHT NOW dictates lower price is the winner, is this a winning strategy for you, long term?

Base your BRAND on tangible differences, not just price. What is it about your company, your brand, that makes you the better choice for whatever it is your sell?

Spend some time creating your BRANDING PROMISES. This should be 5-7 statements about your company, product or service that sums up everything you do. These branding promises then dictate every ad, tweet, post, email, presentation, RFP, etc. You must live these branding promises and so must every employee, from the intern to the president.

Do you want to be the best in your industry? Maybe you already are. Now it's time to tell someone.

Public Relations is more than just a press release

If you're delving into the world of public relations, it's not all about a press release every few weeks. PR is a whole lot more. It's about branding, image, a personality. Did you see the movie, "Hancock"? It's about a superhero (Will Smith) who's a cranky, unlovable drunk. He happens to save a PR professional (Jason Bateman) who then decides to help Hancock's image.

You watch the flick and sure enough, after a press conference, carefully executed events and a costume change, Hancock's approval with the public changes dramatically. The whole time, I never once saw a press release go out....

Sure, things in movies never happen that way in real life but you have to admit, it has some merit. Think about the way things APPEAR to the public. Think about what you can do to change/enhance/improve your IMAGE in the eyes of your publics. What do you want them to see?

My son started middle school this year and for the first time since Kindergarten, had to interact with kids he didn't know. One day, on the walk to the bus stop, I mentioned to him that he should be saying hello to all the kids at the bus stop. He said, why, they aren't in my class or even my grade. My response was: someday, someone's going to ask one of these kids if they know you simply because you live in the same neighborhood. You want them to say, "Oh yeah! He lives in my neighborhood; nice kid. Always says 'hi'."

THAT is public relations ... Think about it. It doesn't start and end with a press release ... it all starts with a smile and a hello.

Putting the Public back in Public Relations....

So I'm leaving the grocery store and the clerk hands me my receipt, to which I reply, "Thank you." She says, "You're welcome."

Now, from a preschool point of view, this is an accurate display of properly executed manners. Someone says thank you, and someone says you're welcome. It's polite.

But as I'm walking out, pushing $100 of groceries to my car, I can't help but think SHE SHOULD HAVE BEEN THANKING ME! I mean, I could have spent that $100 in restaurants over the next week... I could've shopped at a different store... I could've spent just $10... But I spent $100 on merchandise purchased in that store. I made the choice to do so and in turn, provided that store with a sale that further keeps that very clerk employed!

My point is this: In today's tough economy, everyone is competing for the same dollar. Wouldn't it simply make sense if someone chose to give you one of their dollars, that the least you could do is say THANK YOU?

I point this out because as marketers, we spend so much time focusing on reaching our customers and finding new customers that we so often FORGET our current customer. We're all still human beings and every transaction is still personal. Put Customer Service into your next PR plan and let PR start at home.

The more things change.....

You know this saying: the more things change, the more they stay the same. You'd think with all of the technology available at our fingertips that this wouldn't be true, but it is. I'm asked all the time, "How do I write a strategy for social media?" And the answer is simply the same way you'd write your PR strategy -- with Goals Objectives Strategies and Tactics (and don't forget Evaluation, too!)

The key to understanding new forms of communication is to remember the basics. If you want to know which social media sites are used by your customers, ASK them. I know, it sounds too simple to be true but try it.

We go day by day thinking that things are going to be different but they're really not. We need to remember to keep the social in social media (it's a conversation) and keep the public in public relations (we're talking to the public). The most important in both is relationships. Wouldn't you agree?

Keeping it Personal in a time of online everything

So last post, I talked about my adventures with online dating and how it was similar to search engine optimization of a press release. I told you that I worked on my profile to add in some good keywords, just like you do with optimizing your press release. So I know... you all want to know what happened. In a word -- nothing.

Now, you could say that this is where the similarities end, that the factors in online dating is so much more than just what you say. And, that the media picking up your release or getting lots of clicks is surely less commitment than even a wink or an email from a stranger.

But not so! I think the valuable lesson learned and can be applied to the PR world is this -- we can not exist fully online. We have to communicate to get what we want. Don't rely solely on putting your press releases online or emailing them out to get pick up. You have to communicate with journalists, bloggers, and even citizen journalists.

I mentioned to a friend the other day that she could easily find people in the right demographics through Meetup.com. If you're familiar with this site, you know that people join groups by their interests and hold occasional "meetups". They're very localized. She went online, found the perfect groups (based on interest)and began emailing each member. She was surprised when she got very little response. Lesson here: You can't dominate the conversation in social media -- you can only participate in social media. What she should have done was join the groups, participate in their board discussions, maybe post a few questions, get involved in their conversations. THEN, she would have been received as a member of the group, and not someone who joined simply to target the members with an offer.

Point from this blog: You have to keep it personal, participate and communicate. Continue to pitch to journalists, participate with online social media, and be personal. As for the online dating, eh, it's not social media...it's a billboard. But, we learned from that experience, huh?

How Online Dating is So Very Much Like Search Engine Optimizing your Press Release

So, I recently became single after a million years and found out, no one goes to bars anymore to meet each other! They sit at home on their computers and lay their entire life out on a profile page, complete with pictures of your favorite place, motorcycle and dog!

I'm cool with it. I'm a social media type of gal. Bring it on.

It hasn't been going so well. Sure, I may not be Heather Locklear, but I at least shower daily, comb my hair and make my own money (the last one alone is usually enough for most guys, I've found). Then, one day, I was told that I "didn't write much" in my profile. Now, come on! Any of you who knows me knows I talk up a storm and I'm a writer! How is it possible that I didn't write much??

I pull up my profile and it reads like an autobiography of Lincoln on Wikipedia. Yeah. It's dry and boring. I don't think he dated much either.

I add to it and then start attracting guys who like to camp, scuba, skydive, hike. That is so opposite me that I realize my vague copy isn't getting my point across. Plus, I hate bugs, sitting in a wet suit all day, I'm afraid of heights and I get leg cramps. (Before you judge me, I think Heather Locklear's the same way though!)

What to do? Ha! Let's use our PR Fundamentals and see what we can do about this profile! First, I did some RESEARCH -- you remember that word, right? It's the thing you NEVER do before you start a PR campaign cuz you just didn't have -- (fill in the blank) -- time, money, resources. Yeah, yeah. I've judged enough of your PR awards to know what you're going to say here. But I went online, and I looked at what others were saying. This is research!

I jotted down some key phrases and thoughts, which got me to thinking about SEO for press releases. When I write an optimized release, I start with a key focus and work out 3 keyword phrases that I work into my release. (Free tip -- write the release first with the focus in mind, then go back and edit in the keyword phrases). I started thinking: how is this profile of me any different from a press release? I'm trying to get the attention of an audience and I want to get some key points across. AHA! I work on determining my focus (golf partner wanted!); then my key phrases (golfing partner, golf fanatic) and I work them into my profile.

I want to tell you that the hits were so fantastic that I'm getting married on the 18th green next week but I just changed my profile 15 minutes before I started this article. You'll just have to stay tuned and see! If you're going to get into SEO for Press Releases, you might want to check out my webinar schedule, coming soon! See www.alliancecommunications.net/webinars.html. If it's not live yet, keep checking back or sign up for my emails on the home page.

Emergence of the Digital Consumer

IBM just released its Media Study and guess what? The emergence of the digital consumer is happening a lot faster than originally predicted. According to the survey, several trends have emerged:

1. Consumers are accelerating their adoption of new distribution formats. Participation on Twitter, YouTube, FaceBook, etc. is soaring.

2. There's an obvious shift in advertising spending. Most marketers expect to increase interactive/online marketing spend while 65% expect to decrease traditional advertising.

3. Shift to “Brands-Actional” Advertising. Advertisers can focus on ROI-driven and brand marketing simultaneously.

4. Agencies Can’t Meet Demand. 80% of advertising industry participants interviewed for the study expect the industry to be at least five years away from being able to deliver true cross-platform advertising.

If you're a PR or Marketing professional, you MUST learn how to take advantage of social media and online opportunities because this is where the money will be in the very, very near future.