Shreveport Farmers

Recently, in the town of Skegness in England, there was uproar when Italian ‘premium’ beer brand Peroni was accused of snobbery for not allowing its product to be sold in a hotel in the town. The hotel’s manager claimed consultants working on behalf of the brand stated the town didn’t ‘fit the brand’, and implied there was a snobbery issue at heart.

This isn’t the first time that a brand has been accused of trying to dictate who its audience should be. An executive for Cristal champagne hinted that he did not approve of this endorsement of its premium product after it was embraced by Jay-Z and a number of other rappers. This resulted in the champagne being boycotted by the rapper, and no doubt many of his fans.

Luxury brands in particular are in a difficult position when balancing the necessity to make profits with the need to ensure their products are held in high regard and deemed desirable and exclusive. In the past luxury meant expensive, and only individuals from particular echelons of society could afford these products. Yet with changing social mobility, many different demographics can afford to invest in costly products. One company that suffered from unwanted celebrity endorsement was British fashion retailer Burberry, which saw its audience demographic change significantly when soap star Daniella Westbrook dressed her baby and herself head-to-toe in its famous check clothing, devaluing the brand almost instantly. So what can a brand do if its products are being embraced by an ‘unwanted’ audience? Here is my advice for public relations consultants faced with this conundrum:

• Accept that whilst marketing activity may be targeted specifically at a certain audience, for example, advertising only in luxury magazines, in many instances the brand has little control over who purchases its products.
• Never publically comment negatively on your brand’s audience. While a certain demographic may not be your ideal brand champions, there is no surer way to alienate an audience by offending them.
• Rethink your marketing strategies so that you feel you are communicating a personality that represents the brand. Perhaps invest in a celebrity ambassador that resonates with your audience, but ensure you undertake market research to establish who will appeal to your target market. Pursuing a new marketing channel you have not yet utilised could reach new audiences and a social media agency will be able to advise on how to communicate via Facebook, Twitter and G+ in a compelling, yet high-end manner.
• Protect your intellectual property. Very often, when a luxury brand becomes popular with a mainstream audience, copycat products will begin to enter the market, usually at a more affordable price point. Obtain legal advice immediately to ensure this does not happen, and that your brand is protected.
• Finally, look to the long term and put in place a strategy that will ensure your brand is where it should be in five years’ time. Burberry has invested significantly on getting its brand back on course, signing up a number of high profile individuals to represent its brand, including Kate Moss and Emma Watson. It is now back on track and recently reported an increase in revenue.

Victoria Harris is an account director at social media, SEO and PR agency, Punch Communications, with over ten years’ experience, primarily in media relations. Punch is a UK based PR, social media and SEO agency with the skill set, reach and client base of a global agency. To find out more about online PR and Punch please visit www.punchcomms.com.

No Hype

No Signup

Just a damn good (e-)book for free – 4.8 out of 5 on Amazon.  Just click over to Geoff’s Dropbox here (it’s just to a dropbox address – seriously!).

Geoff’s just doing this out of the kindness of his heart, so if you’d like to buy him a drink and tell or listen to a story with him for a bit, if you happen to run into him at a conference, on the Amtrak, or anywhere else, I’m sure it’ll be appreciated and you’ll both be the better for it.

• 6 May 2013 : Knowing Your Audience: How PR Agencies Need to be Careful Choosing Customers
• 30 April 2013 : Get Geoff Livingston’s Welcome to the Fifth Estate Free
• 19 April 2013 : Auto-tweets, Kawasaki and Takedowns: The Ugly Side of Social
• 15 April 2013 : 2013: The Year that Social Media Will Run out of Kool-Aid
• 8 April 2013 : Top 5 Tips for Adapting a Relationship Marketing Model

When events such as this occur, it is essential that we make sure our clients aren’t pushing product or seemingly “cheery” type posts during a tragedy of this manner. The world isn’t going to stop, but we as community managers and public relations pros need to be sensitive. This wasn’t the case with well-known social media personality Guy Kawasaki.

He was taken to task for continuing to send out auto-tweets during the bombings. His top response to being criticized on Twitter?

The tweet above knocking how many followers you have and if you can criticize him was pretty sophomoric.  The public response to that tweet took him to task. However, Steve Crescenzo took it a step further. He hacked Kawasaki to pieces in a Ragan.com blog.

In the blog, Crescenzo includes a tweet, where he calls Kawasaki an “insensitive prick.” He then adds:

There are egos, and then there are egos. Hard to believe that he wrote a book called “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.”

I think Chapter Four of that book is titled: “Talk down to and insult anyone who has fewer Twitter followers than you, as they know absolutely nothing about anything.

I’m all for holding people to a higher standard, when warranted. I thought Kawasaki could have responded better, especially as someone who is respected. But, the ax grinding by Mr. Crescenzo is unnecessary.

Crescenzo is a corporate communicator. I don’t think he would approve name-calling as a “best practice” for his clients. I know I wouldn’t. As PR pros, social media managers and marketers, calling our peers by names is unprofessional.

Want to criticize CNN for their massive reporting failure on Wednesday? Go ahead. If you are going to criticize Kawasaki for auto-tweeting though, you better find all the other pros and companies that did the same thing. Calling Kawasaki a “prick” in a blog piece on Ragan.com certainly calls more attention to Crescenzo than it does Kawasaki. Frankly, I think it’s a disgrace.  We can -and should- be better.

Will this be the year that social media marketers stop "drinking the Kool-Aid?" (Photo courtesy of zombieite on Flickr)

Anyone who operates within the social media space knows all too well “the bandwagon effect” that new platforms and pundits’ prognostications can have on the entire ecosystem.  A new tool is released, a different approach to a standard procedure is introduced, predictions abound of what direction the industry is headed in, and advice on how to maximize your social media efforts are as common as spilled popcorn on a movie theatre floor. Those that blindly follow advice without critical examination or thinking of the nuances of their own communities are often referred to as “drinking the Kool-Aid.”

In the early days of social media adoption, many people rushed to implement or adopt what others were saying worked without truly vetting out a strategy and factoring in nuances of their own niche markets and how these could affect their results. For some, following the crowd worked because their target markets happen to fall within those best suited for the new tools and resources available. Others though, failed to apply the new tools and resources into their own context and customize their use or flat out rule them ineligible based on the unique behaviors of their community.

What we have learned over the past few years from experienced social media professionals and organizations who offer advice on how to use new tools and platforms along with “best practices” for existing ones is to take it all with a grain of salt. Just because the shiny new social media toy is cool and offers amazing creative opportunities and new ways to engage with an audience (Pinterest comes to mind) or advice on how to use an existing platform that promises to offer amazing results doesn’t necessarily mean this is the right fit for our goals and objectives.

Take the plethora of articles that explain the “best time to Tweet” as an example. They offer advice on the best days of the week to send tweets, what time of the day is most effective, and how long a tweet should be to entice engagement. Since I myself have established a foundation of identified business objectives, mapped out a strategy, and defined metrics for the data necessary to evaluate the success of my marketing activities I know that none of the advice on the best time to Tweet applies to my target market because most of my community is international and consumes information and engages with others on days and times outside of the U.S. time zones. I don’t include the number of retweets as part of my key performance indicators and have moved well beyond simple social endorsements as a measure of success because they don’t provide the data necessary to evaluate the success of my social media marketing activities.

Instead, I realized some time ago that my social activity needed to have a purpose beyond engagement. Connecting with the right people and facilitating them to act are what’s important to me and although the articles with flashing neon lights around them on the “best times to post on Facebook” or “5 steps to leverage xyz social media platform” are all helpful in some capacity, an intelligent and effective marketing and social strategy for me uses this information and puts in into context based on the unique shape and needs of my own community.

2013 is the year that we start to think about the unique qualities that define our own markets and how we can leverage industry advice based on custom metrics that drive meaningful analytics instead of a knee jerk reaction that incorporates advice without taking into consideration the wants and needs of our own communities.

What are some ways that you customize blanket advice to match the unique qualities of the communities you serve?

• 6 May 2013 : Knowing Your Audience: How PR Agencies Need to be Careful Choosing Customers
• 30 April 2013 : Get Geoff Livingston’s Welcome to the Fifth Estate Free
• 19 April 2013 : Auto-tweets, Kawasaki and Takedowns: The Ugly Side of Social
• 15 April 2013 : 2013: The Year that Social Media Will Run out of Kool-Aid
• 8 April 2013 : Top 5 Tips for Adapting a Relationship Marketing Model

Flash forward to 2013, not only do consumers have endless options but they can, and do, voice their feelings about a brand, experience, or product to the world. Word of mouth is king, making anybody and everybody its subject. Thus, the emphasis has shifted from a monologue to a dialogue. The aim is to communicate a genuine message that is reinforced by an ongoing relationship. Over time, relationship marketing is achieved when brand loyalty is earned through consistent positive engagements with a product, service, or company. A new mindset is required to drive success. Marketers must participate in reciprocal conversations based on consumer feedback to complete the relationship marketing process.

Here are 5 tips on how to take your marketing message and transform it into a relationship marketing model.

1. Quality not Quantity in ROI. Don’t stress about the number of followers but the quality of the followers; sheer numbers do not equal influence. Facebook’s VP of Global Partnerships Blake Chandlee articulates  “it’s not about the size of the community. It’s how engaged that community is and how that aligns with the brand’s strategy.” Due to the impact of word of mouth, retaining a few influential consumers who will broadcast your message is worth much more than dozens of random followers. Once you hone in on these influencers show them just how important they are. When Virgin America announced that they would be offering fleet-wide Wi-Fi, they gave free flights to some of their top influencers! Tweet that! With a mentality of relations per impression, rather than cost per impression, you can retain key consumers and perpetuate the highest level of satisfaction.

2. Core values = Lasting Relationships. We live in a competitive world so showing off values as an extension of your brand gives you an edge. Clear values operate as a call to action in consumers’ decision-making process giving them an additional reason to buy from you. Core values essentially lend themselves to brand affinity. If you share your values that dictate who you work with and how you work, instead of basic business goals, people will gravitate to you. Once your values match up, you and your consumer will be on the same team. Clif Bar is a great example of a company that flaunts its aspirations. Clif Bar showcases their 5 core aspirations: “To sustain our planet, community, people, business, and brands.” From bike to work initiatives to community gardens, Clif Bar finds new ways to actualize their objectives. Achieving core values provides continual opportunities to show the consumer how you are fighting the fight for your mutual cause. And by investing in your brand, they too are advocates in that battle. Thus, the choice to buy your product can transcend into a choice for a cause; an ideal.

3.  Get consumers involved. Our society is accustomed to personalizing experiences so brands that exercise this same practice are experienced at a profound, authentic level. By collecting data, monitoring feedback, and constantly engaging with consumers it’s easier than ever to hear their demands and act accordingly. This tactic works on any level – from global powerhouses to smaller entrepreneurial ventures. When Beijing’s Slow Boat Brewery wanted to craft a new beer they turned to their fans for inspiration. After allowing the community to cast votes, Beijing’s first crowd-sourced brew was bottled into a reality. What better way to secure future profits than by letting the consumers create the product? Other ways to involve people would be via Facebook or Instagram to start a contest or polling your followers on Twitter.

4. Customer service is KING. On a digital platform this means constant consumer engagement to show your unwavering commitment to anyone who looks via Twitter, Facebook, etc. It is the equivalent of a Yelp page for your business. With 24 hour feedback customer service can backfire in a matter of minutes. From United Airlines refusal to pay for one man’s damaged guitar to a Subway customer discovering the famous footlong sub was in fact only 11 inches, there are plenty for examples where customer service turned into a media heyday. In hindsight everyone recognizes that buying a new guitar easily out pays incredible press damage. To protect your company from this kind of backlash it’s crucial to have a strategy, dedicate a team, and realize that once you join the social media world there is no escape. A perfect example is Nordstrom, where the employee handbook famously explains that the “number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service” with the only rule being “use best judgment in all situations.” We can learn a lot from this simple advice.

5. Make your message sticky. This last goal is particularly difficult. We live in an age where the art of subtraction, not addition, is valued and content is created for the sole purpose of sharing. Twitter only allows 140 characters! You need to know what you want to say in order to say it in a short, concise, and informative manner. Any outgoing message needs to be sticky and succinct. Chunky requires too much effort to read and/or share. People already feel like they are starved for time so brevity is respected and thus retweeted. Red Bull, a brand with an extreme edge, knows that talk is cheap. Their Facebook updates appear in video form and routinely feature athletes doing unthinkable things. It doesn’t require a Red Bull addict to share a video, just someone who thinks heli-skiing is rad.

Adopting these principles will result in modern relationship marketing. The producer has made a better life for the consumer and the consumer now has a vested interest in cultivating this positive relationship. A conversation has been initiated and maintained leaving both parties feeling mutually satisfied.

Emily is an intern at Attack!, an experiential marketing agency. We help brands reach target consumers in live settings by driving trial and conversion. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, we partner with clients to design and deliver memorable brand experiences.

At V3, we work with agencies and brands and do a lot of blogger and influencer outreach. My recent workshop: Writing for the Web: What, Why and How to Kick Butt At It is intended to help bloggers master the art of not only writing for the web, but also understanding how to deliver great results for the brands and agencies they work with.

Content marketing is the number one strategic marketing focus for brands and agencies, so when bloggers understand the basics of content marketing, they can better position themselves for relationships that are mutually beneficial. And agencies and brands, we’re all over that.

But writing for the web and effective content marketing takes skill. It’s not as easy as writing a blog post. And the work doesn’t stop when you’ve written the post. The distribution channels you develop and relationships you’ve cultivated over the years can have a huge impact on the success (read that: reach and impact) of your content. Equally as important is tracking your results and reporting back to your brand or agency partners–which is delivering the ultimate value as a content partner.

But distribution and reporting are things I’ll cover in a subsequent post. Back to writing. Here are the bare bones, must-do things you should do before you hit that “publish” button:

Before You Hit “Publish”

The Basics

• Your headline is key. Make sure it’s compelling, captures attention and is clear on the value your post delivers. Cute but unclear won’t cute it.
• Make sure your post is 300 words minimum and no more than 700.
• Images are important. Sometimes an image is what makes me read your post, so be sure and include one.
• Your first paragraph is very important. Make sure it delivers the key message of the post and that it’s short and compelling.
• Cite your sources and make sure that any claims made are linked to clear sources.

SEO 101

• Your headline must be 60 characters or less.
• Your first paragraph must be strong and include the keyword or keyword phrase from your title.
• Make sure you’ve included a link in your first sentence or first paragraph that connects to a related piece from the blog on which you’re publishing.
• Include 2-5 additional links within the body of the post that connect to relevant material on relevant external sites, as well as the site on which you’re publishing. All links within the body of the post should not be to your site or to the site that your post is appearing on.
• Make sure your links use text phrases 2-5 words long and describe where the link leads (i.e. use “writing for bloggers” vs. “click here”).
• Use bolded subheads in your post to help readability.
• Use keywords wisely in your subheadings.
• All images have captions, alt text and titles relevant to the post topic.

Content

• Read the post aloud to proofread before publishing.
• Use contractions. This will help your writing sound conversational.
• Ask yourself if you’re using needless jargon and if so, ditch it.
• Make 100% certain that your post delivers what the headline claims, otherwise, you’ll annoy your readers.
• Don’t ramble. This is where reading aloud will help you. If your content isn’t on topic, get rid of it.
• Provide valuable action steps instead of vague, empty statements.
• Finish with a strong call-to-action at the end.
• Edit, edit and edit again.

And there you have it–your pre-publish writing checklist. Bookmark it, print it out, tattoo it on your arm–whatever you do, make sure you keep these tips in mind as you’re creating content for the web. My wish is for you to develop fantastic, long-lasting relationships with great brands and agencies. And hopefully these tips will help you write content that knocks their socks off.

Image: Courtney Dirks via Compfight cc

Quite often the first someone may be working within your own organisation, perhaps in a different section to you.

As long as it’s not a stretch on the relationship, ask the first someone to talk to the second someone about your something. At least ask them to make the initial contact, since they have an existing line of communication.

This is The Path of Least Resistance, and it can be the quickest way to get the results you want.

The media are under siege and on guard. They’re in the middle of an ongoing PR assault, from you and countless others. But your job is to get results.

If your chances are enhanced by someone else making the initial contact on the story, go for it.

You can sometimes also create The Path of Least Resistance by a quick Google.

Identify the key “search words” that your media release relates to and see what articles have been written on that topic, or similar topics, recently. Identify who wrote the piece and go to them direct with your follow-up angle, or development, on the story.

And if there’s an industry newsletter or web page that will definitely cover your story, no matter how small, make sure you secure that coverage.

Get what you can and aim to build on it, and always look to take advantage of The Path of Least Resistance.

This blog is drawn from The Little Red Book of PR Wisdom, www.prwisdom.info – a new resource for 2013 – by Brian Johnson, an award-winning journalist and leading PR practitioner.

The Coffee-Serving Security Guard © by Qole Pejorian

Every PR pro has been in the scenario: the team is gathered in a conference room. The topic of media comes up, and various names are bandied about. Then the boss growls, “who has a relationship with that reporter?” The implication is clear: in a business of connections, the person doing the pitching should have some sort of tie to the writer/editor/blogger in question.

Invariably, someone pipes up, claiming they have a relationship with the reporter in question. But the word “relationship” is fuzzy, and it’s only getting fuzzier in a world of social media. Sure, Joe Reporter from the Daily Bugle follows me on Twitter. Or maybe he accepted my LinkedIn request, 7 years ago. Or he gave me a terse “no thanks” over email once. Does that constitute a “relationship”? We need to be more precise.

So I’ve developed a six-level scale to measure the hardiness of a flack-reporter relationship. Each level is inclusive of the one above it; it’s a rare journalist that will answer a phone call but ignore an email:

• The Email Relationship: You can feel certain that your emails get read, and — sometimes — even warrant a response from the reporter.

• The “Social” Relationship: Some sort of connection exists on some sort of social platform.

• The Phone Relationship: Your calls don’t get screened, or, when you leave a message, it gets returned.

• The Coffee Relationship: You’ve had a meaningful real-world interaction. Maybe coffee or a quick lunch. The reporter can reliably match your name with your face.

• The Beer Relationship: You’ve spent time together quasi-socially, outside of business hours and discussed something other than business.

• The Bourbon Relationship: You’ve both gone beyond the “quick beer” and invested in time together that could lead to a loose tongue, regret-it-later-carousing, a pounding headache or some combination of the above.

(This isn’t absolute. Some reporters just love a good whiskey and will endure even an irritating flack if it means sipping a well-made old fashioned at an industry conference.)

The goal of media relations experts is to climb the relationship ladder. It takes very little investment to get to “Email Relationship.” But taking a reporter out to coffee requires some time, effort and planning. Reporters recognize and appreciate that. As for reaching the “Bourbon Relationship,” that goes beyond just time and involves a little bit more trust (on everyone’s part).

So the next time a boss or a client asks about whether a relationship exists, it shouldn’t be enough to just answer “yes” or “no.” The goal of the real pro is to be able to say, “Yup: I know Joe Reporter … and he takes his Knob Creek neat.”

Brian Reid has nearly two decades of experience as a modern storyteller. He a director at W2O Group, where he specializes in media relations and strategy. His past lives have included positions as a Bloomberg reporter, a Washington Post blogger, an NIH writer and a freelance journalist.

• 6 May 2013 : Knowing Your Audience: How PR Agencies Need to be Careful Choosing Customers
• 30 April 2013 : Get Geoff Livingston’s Welcome to the Fifth Estate Free
• 19 April 2013 : Auto-tweets, Kawasaki and Takedowns: The Ugly Side of Social
• 15 April 2013 : 2013: The Year that Social Media Will Run out of Kool-Aid
• 8 April 2013 : Top 5 Tips for Adapting a Relationship Marketing Model

The thing about being a solo PR pro is that you get to work in your own environment. Maybe that is a home office or a local Starbucks. Either way, that could be considered a huge win. You also get to work with clients you enjoy and they respect your insight and guidance. But, it’s not all unicorns and rainbows.

I want to be honest with you… being a solo PR pro is a ton of sweat and incredibly hard work. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you’ll be on the yellow brick road to Oz when you are solo. Just like working for an agency, you need to focus and put in long hours at times. At the end of the day, you’ll be wiped.

Here are five things I’ve learned the last four months of being a solo pro.

• You aren’t alone. I’ve taken advice from many solo PR pros. I’ve asked questions about what to expect and how to handle my own business. This helped me in more ways than I can count.
• Clients aren’t going to fall into your lap. Maybe you have two or three “smaller” clients to start. That is great. But, if you think your name will just get business, you are wrong. I learned that some old-fashioned door-to-door visits work wonders.
• Don’t be afraid to hear “NO!” How many times have I been hung up on or told a business isn’t interested. More than a few. It’s not because you aren’t good at what you do. It is all about timing and money. Sometimes it’s just not a fit.
• Be prepared for an adjustment period. I can’t stress this enough because I’m still adjusting to being my own “boss.” If you think you can just jump into being on your own, you can’t. Understanding the financial side of your business is as much work as pitching yourself to a potential client. It takes time and patience.
• You have to want it… badly. If you don’t like your job and think that being on your own will solve everything, you are going about it wrong. I’m invigorated by running my own business, BUT there’s been plenty of frustration and bumps in just a few months. If you just go halfway, you are halfway to failing.

This post isn’t about discouraging you from going out on your own. I wanted to be straightforward, since there were so many that were honest with me about my solo PR journey. Ultimately, your chances at success are greater if you know the truth. I’m still learning… and don’t want to stop doing so. My current and future clients will be better for it… and so will yours.

[recent_posts]

oxygen supply © by clurr

Should you be successful in generating coverage, you may also be providing oxygen for your opposition.

The media likes to feel as though they’re presenting both sides (or more) of a story. So if there’s an obvious counterpoint to what you’re promoting, expect them to go there. Sometimes you might be surprised at what will be generated.

Your Correspondent has done PR work for a national association which promotes the many health benefits of breastfeeding. However, our success at raising awareness saw the nation’s leading anti-depression organisation put out its own media release.

It suggested “feeding guilt” – among mothers who could not breastfeed – was becoming a significant issue.

Both respected organizations. Both with genuine story angles. Both correct in what they were saying – and totally at odds with each other. Perfect media fodder.

So, if you find you have given oxygen to a fire you didn’t intend to light, should you fan it further by responding?

If you believe in the strength of your message (which you should in the first place), and/or feel some criticism needs to be corrected, then definitely respond.

In fact, if you don’t panic in the face of criticism you can now extend your time in the spotlight – and capitalize on the profile you are generating.

It’s about being ready, willing and able to join the debate.

This blog is drawn from The Little Red Book of PR Wisdom, www.prwisdom.info – a new resource for 2013 – by Brian Johnson, an award-winning journalist and leading PR practitioner.