Strategic communication planning for 2010.

There was a great article in the most recent Time about how the past decade was one of the worst and how we will be happy to be rid of it. Well, the new year always bodes well for new and exciting things as we shake off the dust of the old so it is time to start thinking about what to do in 2010.

There are several things you need to do to prepare for the upcoming year. The first thing is to review not just the most recent year, but the past few years before hand if your business has been around that long. You need to take an honest and hard look at what has worked and what hasn't worked. It is time for hindsight to do its thing and tell you what would you do different if you had to. It is also important to remember what went well and what you did right. Certainly there are lessons to be learned from success as well as failure.

There is also the need to find out how marketing and communications will help drive the overall strategic goal to its successful completion. Every organization plans ahead usually quarter by quarter, but there is also the need to project out annual goals for the organization as communication goals tend to span several quarters. Strategic planning of communication is every bit as critical to the success of the organization as the strategic planning of capital spending. Planning on communication and marketing is often seen as what I would call an "oh yeah," category when in fact it requires some of the most strategic planning of all the organization's groups in order to succeed properly.

Another aspect of planning communications strategically is to have both hard and soft goals. Communications tends to fluff off the concept of hard goals and that to a large degree is why marketing and communications are seen as expendable in turbulent times like this. By developing hard targets for accomplishments and then being able to benchmark these accomplishments over a period of time and versus company success marketing and communications individuals will be able to clearly demonstrate the role they play in the success of the organization.

The time for strategic communication plan is not only here but it is long overdue. Like all other professionals marketing and communications professionals need to realize that while we are relied on as creative individuals, we also need to join the rest of the management group as people who work in a numbers based environment. Doing this will solidify the role of marketing and communications as an essential role player in the organization!

How to really measure your PR results?

I was looking at a site for a company that was interested in hiring some PR help lately. Based on an initial conversation, they seemed to take a great deal of pride in what they had done up until that point and were seeking someone to come in, take up the baton and carry forward. I had to be a bit of a spoil sport when it came time to ask questions and ask them why they were so proud of what they had already done. I was not trying to lessen their accomplishments, rather I wanted to understand why they believed their PR program was in excellent form.

I told them in my opinion they had an impressive amount of coverage. I saw a number of very well known publications, including some very solid business coverage. What I did not see however was publications which may be read by individuals who are interested in purchasing their services. In other words I saw the very evil shadow of trophy hunting and nothing that would help the brand to grow and excel.

Let me give you an example. Say your company invents a robot that can fit into your garage and diagnose problems with your car in layman's terms and even perform minor repairs like oil changes. Now this is cool stuff and of course you may wish to get it covered by Time and the Wall Street Journal and your local big business publication. But I would argue that Car and Driver and maybe even Simple Life may be more appropriate as this is where people would go to make buying decisions regarding these products.

The issue boils down to the fact that one hit in a solid industry publication is one that will go to deliver your message to your customer base. They are not always glamorous, but they are highly influential among the consumers of your product. A hit in a big business publication like The Wall Street Journal may feel good and may give the impression of success, but it will prove to be an empty victory.

Remember that people do not turn to mainstream media for information on specific industries. They usually go to specialized media outlets, web sites and so on. The best way to measure the success of your PR efforts is by monitoring how much of an increase you see in a tangible factor such as web site hits, contacts or leads. Of course, you need to factor in the role of the other elements within the marketing mix such as direct mail,advertising and the web in your calculations.

The strongest advice I can offer to any organization who wishes to measure your PR results is determine what you hope to accomplish from public relations and then base all measurements against that. Avoid the pitfall of thinking that a big name will result in a flood of new business and realize that, ultimately, the goal of your PR efforts is to work with the marketing team to drive sales and create revenue!

Start off right when it comes to marketing

Funny thing about marketing, we are often called upon to deliver results without being given a chance to do the actual ground work to support the demands placed on us. I like to put myself into another profession and wonder, would we say to an architect that it's OK to design half the building because we want the plans done by 4 or to a farmer, hey, we want crops by June even though we only planted in May.

Of course, the big issue is that marketing has become far to compliant when it comes to dealing with the expectations raised by senior executives. All to often we wish to be the ideal of the team player and meet or exceed any demand regardless of how realistic it is. What the situation calls for, but where marketing and communications people fail to come through, is in providing and honest and fair assessment of what we can do and when we can do it. It is far better to be honest and say this will take until next Friday to do right rather than say when do you want it.

By releasing the ability to start off right in the marketing program, we are automatically in the hole. The marketing team has sacrificed the ability to become an effective team and has established that its role within the organization is to supplicate to any demand that is placed upon it. The legitimacy of marketing as a contributor to the success of the organization is virtually negated.

By establishing itself as an independent entity within the organization, capable of standing on its own and providing legitimate input to the success of the organization. By standing up immediately and expecting to be counted along with sales, finance, HR and the other departments within the organization, marketing garners a seat at the table and becomes a value added team to the group and not an expense to be corralled. The latter course, as we all know, leads to disastrous results for the long-term success of the organization.

The Public Relations Diet: Sure to help your company grow

The news media is constantly reminding us of how poorly the health is of the American public. While numbers vary, I have heard that between 1/4 and 1/3 of Americans are obese. If one were to develop a way to gauge PR programs regarding their level of fat, I would argue that at least 90 % of them are obese. Bloated by needless releases and wasting time and resources chasing vanity clips and not focused on what any good marketing person should be, growing the company.

Thankfully, I have come up with what I think is a good PR diet. Sadly, I compile this without having a book publisher yet so I guess I will have to win the lottery to make my first million. But seriously, there are ways to run a lean, mean and highly effective public relations program. Let me try and spell out a few of the basics here and we can build off them.

• Establish the independence of PR and the unique benefits it brings to the organization-PR does not stand for press release, nor is it a vanity project for the senior executives. It is up for the PR team, especially the managers to put a stake in the ground and defend their PR expertise and knowledge. As we all know, being a PR person is often like being the coach of a sports team. Everyone can do your job better than you. Don't be afraid to take a strong stand and tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. This is by no means being rude or cruel it is being honest.
• Limit the use of news releases and banish the word press release all together-A news release is just that, the release of information of value regarding the organization to the public. It should be used rarely and when information of great value needs to be disseminated. Releasing version 2.0M does not qualify. I have found that like with any training regime, setting limits is the best way to ensure that you receive a quality product. Do not be afraid to set a quota with a bit of leeway. If you commit to 4-6 releases per quarter, or better yet, per half year, hard decisions will have to be made and the result will be better news releases.
• Be creative-Most PR people, especially agency people, seem to be like the old milk horses who go the same path because they were trained to do so and don't know any better. It is amazing to me, how many PR professionals talk about Web 2.0 and how skilled they will be in those areas, yet 90% of their time will be spent writing releases and pitching media that will help them, not you! Look for ways to be creative, heck contact editors and ask them if they have any holes coming up that maybe filled nicely by some of the bylined articles you already have in the bullpen ready to go. That works out exceptionally well!
• Find time to meet with editors-Times are tough now and budgets are the tightest they have been in years. But there is a great opportunity to build exceptionally strong relationships with key editors by face-to-face meetings held at conferences or other events. By doing this you become more than an anonymous voice on the phone but a smiling face and a good shared laugh.

The Public Relations Diet will serve the true purpose of PR. It will not give you vanity hits, nor make your CEO a rock star, rather it will help you to do what all marketing and communications people should do. Build up brand recognition, which will ultimately result in greater revenue!

Break senior management of PR candy!

In working with a number of smaller companies, and some small minded senior execs, I have noticed the unmistakable desire to achieve front page coverage in big name publications. They all want to be featured in Business Week or Fortune or on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. Telling them that is not a good idea is often like telling a child they can not have candy for dinner.

Still it is important that if you are to run a public relations operation you keep your eye focused on what the goal of the program really is. At the end of the day, public relations is a function of marketing and its goal is to drive sales. If you are not bringing more money into the organization then you are not succeeding as a marketing communications person.

One thing normally boars senior management to tears but it is for the good of the organization. It is vastly more important that you work to build relationships with analysts and reporters from influential media reporters. I remember one CEO who thought it was great that his start up was quoted in the Boston Globe. It was what PR people call a mere mention and really said nothing about the organization, its goals or why anyone should buy their product/service. Needless to say the CEO was angry that I was not impressed.

The relationships with analysts and other influences is essential to the future growth of the organization and is much more important than The Wall Street Journal, New York Times or any number of media organizations. Why do you ask? Well it is for the simple reason that when one is in the process of making a key buying decision you do your homework with those you think are thought leaders in the field. Buyers want to make sure their investment is going to pay dividends. If you're buying new networking technology, you want to be sure you are taking advice from someone who knows networking inside and out, just as you want to see a cardiologist if you have issues with your heart.

So as a PR person it is your job to tell your senior management what is best for the organization regarding communications. Much as a child needs vegetables to grow, an organization needs solid and strong relationships with key editors and analysts in less glamorous organizations in order to grow the organization and establish both a steady revenue pipeline and a clear, distinct message. If you do this, then you will succeed. If you try and chase after the big names you may end up chasing a dust trail and even if you catch it, what you end up with is a lot of useless coverage.

Why activity is often the worst thing in a PR campaign

I have had the chance to speak to a lot of marketing and PR people of late and one thing I have noticed is that there is a lot of pride taken by smaller and less well informed individuals that they have achieved regular interviews with the news media. In most cases they are like a kid with their first credit card and only see what they can buy. The don't realize that sooner or later, the bill is going to come due!

I have seen so many companies run a laundry list of all the big names publications who have supposedly covered their organizations. I still laugh when I think of the start up CEO who actually took offense when I disagreed with him and said that publications want interesting stories and aren't really interested in the cult of the CEO. He felt that business was personality driven.

No the sad but true fact is that as far as business publications are concerned, hard news is what sells. As a result, going out for a lot of "puff" pieces that do not clearly communicate to your market, who you are, what you do and why that matters are of no good. Many organizations invest vast sums of money and time in trying to get covered by big and prestigious publications like the Wall Street Journal for example and all they end up with is a waste of both time and money.

The smartest course of action is what I call the sniper's route. In the military, they train every soldier in how to care for and fire their weapon. However they take time to see who is the best sharp shooter in the bunch and then train that person even further and turn them into a sniper. Of the many elements of their training, one of the most important is how to identify the best target from a sea of possibilities. One of the great sayings among snipers is that any sniper can hit the target, but only the great ones can select it!

So picking targets for your PR campaign is one of the most essential elements to its successful execution. Trying to bring in a large number of busy bee results or picking some publication without a clear line drawn from story to customer to sale is the needless type of PR activity that is all too common among PR agencies today. Clients need to realize that it is up to them to go to the agency with marching orders and to expect in return results based on your expectations. Otherwise, you will see a bunch of busy work that in the long term, six months or more, will result in no net gain of sales.

How to wean your CEO from a PR addiction

One thing is very true in public relations today, far too many press releases are being issued. Furthermore, no one is reading them! The sad part is that many corporate executives see the way to dig out of a hole is to dig deeper into the earth.

The appeal of the press release is not hard to see. It allows senior executives, in most cases CEO's to pontificate on what they believe is important news that the entire world must hear. Sadly, in many cases, they are speaking to an empty church. So many releases are going out and most are of such dubious value that important things like messaging and reaching customers is often overlooked in the interest of simply issuing another release. Keep in mind that it is in the best interests of your agency and the wire services to have you issue a release any time you sneeze.

So that your public relations can accomplish its real goal of delivering your message to your target audience and ultimately helping you sell more of your product or service you need to manage your PR program the way you would protect family valuables. There are some steps you can take to ensure that your PR program is run properly. Some require basic steps but like a lot of things in life, the simple things lead to the greatest result. Here are some of my key tips to reduce PR addiction.

• Bar the use of the term press release. Instruct your management team that the company only issues news releases. It may seem like splitting hairs but it forces you to ask such questions as, what is the news value of what we are saying? Will this help us sell our product or services? Will this help reinforce our message to our key target markets?
• Put the management team on a diet when it comes to issue news releases. Pick a number and limit them to roughly half a dozen releases per quarter. That is an arbitrary number but what it does is it forces prioritization on what is really valuable. Hard choices often need to be made and rather than take an easy out by issuing a press release, make a tough choice and issue a news release.
• Look for non-traditional means of connecting with target audiences. While we are evolving in our use of technology, not to many companies are using Web 2.0 technology, such as blogging, Facebook and Twitter among others, to successfully disseminate their message to their market at large.
• Use more established methods in new ways. For example, opt-in email distribution services are vastly under-utilized and as such do not people who are interested in hearing about new developments within your organizations to hear from you. Therefore in a sad irony, information is being distributed to people who don't care or who are not an appropriate target.

Many senior executives believe that they know what is the best way to disseminate information and as a result hijack the PR process. Sadly many communications professionals allow this to happen because they place temporary job security over the long term success of their careers. The ones who truly succeed at public relations are the professionals who establish a rigorous program. The organization's success is the ultimate goal and only through this type of rigorous program can the success be assured.

Getting it right the first time!

One thing is sure, we live in a deadline oriented universe. This is sometimes a good thing but not always. There is an old football adage I remember that a player fumbles because he focused down the field, not on securing the football. Many companies do this because they are focused not on marketing the best product possible, but on meeting some arbitrary deadline or some financial goal and draw the proverbial line in the sand.

So then what is marketing supposed to do. Well marketing still has the role of being the defender of the brand. It is the role of the marketing professional to ensure that any actions taken by the organization have the long term effect of enhancing the brand and ensuring that in the long run, sales will be increased. Marketing should also be the voice for ensuring that the product is truly ready for market. Yes there are engineers and product managers who are responsible for ensuring that the product is ready, but they are more susceptible to deadline pressures which exist only to push a product out.

Marketing and communications need to have a pulse on the market and know what is happening and most important what may happen if the product is pushed out too early. The tunnel vision that can often overtake an organization during the push to get a product out and meet some deadline can often be persuasive and frequently intense. It's tough to fight this headwind but by doing so you actually help the company in the long run survive the urge to make poor decisions.

Think of it this way, by doing this marketing is acting like the good parent who makes their child eat vegetables and keeps them from only eating snacks and treats. While the result isn't always a happy child it is a healthier one and the ultimate parental responsibility is a healthy and productive child!

When the boss is the cause of the crisis!

Boy oh boy, there seem to be a lot of cases lately of people, almost all men, in positions of authority using their positions to undertake improper relationships with subordinates. What is amazing about this is the sheer stupidity of these people who partake in these hi-jinks and the fact that a number of them knowingly do so, fully understanding, and in some cases having crafted their organizations policy regarding sexual harassment.

I say this as a marketing and communications person but it is never in the best interests of the organization for the CEO or president or what ever the title to step out and have an affair on their significant other. Doing so, not only opens up a tremendous can of worms from a legal stand point, it generally acts like setting off a bomb as far as employee morale. Think for a moment, how does someone given a reprimand for making a stupid comment feel when they see that the CEO is getting away with far worse. How does a member of the opposite gender feel when they see someone promoted whom they feel is much less talented then they are?

Most importantly from a marketing perspective, think of what this says to the customer? If you are an advertiser on the Late Show with David Letterman, are you in the long term going to keep your product with him, if your demographic is married women? I would say probably not. If we're talking about a B2B organization it could cause serious concerns about the judgment of not just the CEO but of the entire senior staff. The simple fact of the matter here is that the personal behavior of senior executives does directly impact how the organization is seen within the marketplace.

The past 25 to 30 years have been focused on building the cult of the god like CEO. As a result, the luster of the CEO can, and often times does, outshine that of the organization. In most cases, this is what the CEO likes to see even if they do not say so. Sadly, there are a great number of negative effects to this change not the least of which is that the behavior of the individual, now impacts the entire organization. It is now the requirement of the marketing and communications person to have in place a plan which will focus on how to deal with the misbehavior of senior executives.

Tabloid PR has entered the building!

Preparing for when the rain will end!

I have spent time speaking to marketing professionals and senior executives and have found out something I consider very interesting. About 10 percent are very excited and believe that we've made it through the storm and in the midst of a recovery which will be quick and robust. The other 90 percent think we are in the middle of a terrible storm and that any recovery, if it comes, will be weak and tepid. As you may guess, only one group is actually planning for the future and investing in marketing.

I was thinking of an analogy which would describe these two opposite opinions and am struck by how successful one may be and how the other may miss the boat entirely. Imagine two companies which sell personal care products. The first company is always pessimistic about the weather and when he/she looks outside and sees gray skies all they see is rain. So they have the stock team move all of the sun glasses to the back of the store and instead fill the front with all types of umbrellas.

The store across the street sees the gray skies and knows that while there are gray skies today, the skies will not always be gray. As such, they put out some sunglasses and sunscreen along with the umbrella. While it might be raining that first day, some people will see the wisdom of being ahead of the curve and will respect the second company for being strategic enough to not only weather the storm, but also to plan ahead for the days when the sun comes out. No one wants to buy an umbrella on a gorgeous sunny day. But if you're selling sunglasses, you can almost name your price.

The point here is that the companies best prepared to prosper from a recovery are those who don't mind being on the starting line before the other fellow is finishing their warmups. In fact, the truly wise ones are willing to sacrifice a few sales in the very short term but see the opportunity to drive sales in the long term. They realize that it is better to give up a few inches now to gain a yard on down the line. Sadly, very few of their contemporaries see this goal and as a result will pay the consequences.

Keeping the message inside the box!

We are all familiar with the tired old cliche of "thinking outside the box." Well there is one area where we need to stay within the box and just as we were told when young, to color inside of the lines. This comes with the development and execution of the corporate message.

More often than not the corporate message is an afterthought when the brand is developed. I have seen, and been depressed by, other marketing professionals who will focus on minor details such as what shade of a color to use. Cardinal Red versus Vermilion is one argument I can remember going on for hours. These people think that all of these components will subtly influence the target audience and the result will be greater sales. Sadly, this is not the case and a marketing plan that does not revolve around a strong message is almost guaranteed to fail.

A strong message leaves the targeted consumer with a clear idea of what the end result of the purchase of their product will be. Who can forget Coca-Cola with the "Pause the Refreshes" or McDonald's saying "You Deserve a Break Today." I can remember buying services from a vendor who were more or less equal in all aspects such as price and ease of use. What ended up being the decision maker for me was a very direct marketing message. The winner said, "We help you do your job better." That was a very direct message to me that told me my life could be a lot easier if I used them.

Of course the hardest part of keeping the message in the box is that higher ups will always want to tinker with it. As many of my dear readers know, one of the most lamentable occurrences in business has been the emergence of the shortsighted mindset which only sees from one quarter to another. Great American companies tend to become that way not because they manage earnings better, but due to the fact they have a vision which extends beyond one quarter and a deep seated faith in what the organization is doing.

In addition, a good CEO listens to their smart marketing person who will tell them that changing a marketing message is similar to painting a house. You check on the damage, you make repairs along the way and maybe every ten to 15 years you do a complete overhaul in the message. In this day and age you have to fight to keep the CEO or some other senior executive from changing the message every quarter out of fear they are not meeting next quarter's numbers or even worse, out of boredom with the current message.

The corporate message is what helps influence your customers. It is something you need to keep an eye on for threats and the need to change but you also need to keep a spare eye on the number of elements who would like to change it for the simple sake of change. The message should always reinforce the mission and by doing that you're ultimately helping to sell more product.

Why fear failure?

No one likes to admit failure. That is something I find ironic because not only is failure a fact of life, in some aspects it is a cathartic action which allows for self examination and for the best to be made of a bad situation. Sadly, due to the mismanagement and in incompetence of many leaders and CEO's failure is seen as something terrible but irrational risk is not. Now that is a truly head spinning contradiction one could only suspect coming out of Lewis Carroll.

That being said, there is a point where despite all one's best efforts and every possible positive step taken, a certain product or initiative is just not working and needs to be killed. Now current corporate dogma says avoid blame and find someone to pin it on. Sadly, very little time is spent saying what did we do wrong and even more important, what did we do right? Failure unto itself is often a tremendous learning experience and something that, in the long term, can benefit the organization.

Now this is not an ode to the glories of failure. It goes without saying that an organization needs to succeed much more than fail in order to achieve its goals. However the path to success often comes from what at first glance seems a failure. Think of it this way, were it not for a failure, we would not have antibiotics or the microwave oven or teflon. In many regards, failure can be the first step on a different path to success. The irrational fear of failing is indicative of a short term viewpoint which says that only immediate and unquestioned, chest thumping success is appropriate. Sadly, that means that even a success which is 90 percent of the goals expected is often seen as a failure.

In order to succeed one can not fear failure. There is no need to aim for failure of course, nor should one just shrug your shoulders and say "oh well I have tried my best." But inversely, failure should be seen as an opportunity for self examination and quite possibly for the chance to create future opportunities down the road which will far and away dwarf the failure you have just completed.

How to market your organization if you have a service and not a product?

This country has made a dramatic shift since the end of the Second World War. We have been moving more and more from a country that builds things to a country that relies on intellectual ability and the marketing of services. Politicians and editors spend a great deal of ink deciding whether or not this is a good thing but for marketing and public relations people, it is something we need to deal with.

First of all, speaking from a purely public relations standpoint, being a service organization is a very unique and promising platform which will allow you to establish yourself in the market place based on your own terms. As an organization founded and reliant on your intellectual abilities, you have a great opportunity to meet a huge need of many media organizations and event organizers. Due to the well known seismic shifts we have seen in the marketplace during the past ten years, there are huge editorial holes to fill and, as a result, media organizations are eager to meet intelligent and thoughtful industry leaders who can not only provide insightful commentary, but can also provide them with a much needed article for their publication.

Also worthy of mention is the proliferation of speaking opportunities. This is a two-fold advantage for service organizations as they can reach out both to potential customers and intellectual contemporaries. As many of us know, media organizations, desperate for new revenue streams have opened up a wide variety of events designed to bring together industry professionals. These events can offer the potential for tremendous brand exposure when used properly.

The first rule is to select an event where you can connect with the most customers. While this may seem obvious, keep in mind that this may be a new event or one without the pedigree of some events, the goal is to maximize brand exposure amongst key decision makers. As a result you need to pick an event that will allow you to reach your target audience. Be willing to participate as a panel member or panel head but in any case be willing to start as someone further down the food chain. Once you have demonstrated both leadership and insight you will find that further opportunities will come your way.

Finally, one way service organizations can stand out is by winning awards. When you start winning awards, your organization will begin to see a much stronger upswing of recognition and openness to your ideas. You will be seen as an expert on your subject area and the end result of that is that you should be able to sell more of your services since you are now the expert.

Remember that when you are a service based organization, you are selling your expertise. Anything that demonstrates how smart you are, your leadership and most importantly, how you are offering new and distinct ideas will result in an upswing in your business. Smart sells!

Please don't mistake action for strategy!

In the world today where every company seems to fear losing market share and is looking over their shoulder their are two things going on. The first is that some companies are just frozen by fear. Let's call them dear in the headlights and say that they will not be with us long. You can be frozen by fear and expect to last too long. The second type of company is far more interesting and I think worthy of examination.

There are companies who believe that in order to succeed in a business environment they must do something, anything to take that next step. As a result they are taking ill advised short term steps which in the long term will cause far more harm than good and will ultimately result in a weaker brand. The usual scenario with these organizations is that someone in a senior capacity is getting restless and wants something done so he or she can feel better about themselves. This is usually ends up with a useless news release or some silly cutback that does nothing but eliminate an avenue for potential growth.

Senior executives, including the CEO, are by nature a nervous lot and generally speaking only see out one quarter in advance. They also do not see issues of branding or that a long term strategy result in anything because the current obsession is for short term results. Sadly, this leads to long term failure.

One company that proves the point that strategy trumps action is Amazon.com. Several years ago, they gave up on briefing analysts and decided that they wanted to run the organization with goals 5 years out as well as progress marks on the way to those goals. What is most amazing is that this program has been a spectacular success. As you might have guessed, there was a lot of snickering by the so called experts, but the last laugh was by Amazon. Now they can focus on how to fix any problems with their company and don't need to take the myopic view of needing to meet quarterly numbers.

From a marketing stand point this is bliss. Marketing can only succeed in an environment where there is a long term plan and a set of achievable goals. Marketing is about selling goods to the customers, not trying to please the blood suckers on Wall Street who are the greatest road block to a company's success.

So many companies need to reshape how they do business and realize that managing quarter to quarter is in fact counterproductive. It promotes myopic thinking and rewards short term gains while destroying any chance for long term success. Hopefully the success of Amazon will help promote the ideal of managing for long term success but the real agent of change will be when MBA programs learn to value both ethics and a global vision of corporate success. When that happens we may actually see a renaissance in global business.

The overlooked and often most effective PR tool!

Most PR organizations will ever be mistaken for nimble industries who are ahead of market developments. Quite the opposite of their own spin, the PR industry is often very reactive and tends to grab a certain topic they believe is hot and bite onto it like it is the second coming. As a result, legitimate ways of helping to build a client brand can be overlooked.

One clear cut example of this is my opinion is the use of speaking opportunities. I never cease to be amazed at how PR people will nearly froth at the mouth when one mentions social media, yet if the topic is speaking opportunities you get the confused puppy dog look. Yet in this age where the big books are dying and where personal, face to face, time is considered an essential for an organization to succeed in this marketplace a well placed speaking opportunity can have amazing implications for your brand.

First of all you need to understand the hierarchy of the speaking opportunity. Regardless of how great your brand concept is or how super a speaker you are, unless you are a well known organization already you need to set your sights low to begin with. You will NOT be the closing key not speaker your first time out. Sorry but that is just how things are! But there is a way that can work if you have true vision and long term goals for your organization.

First of all, when you are getting started, offer to take spots on the panel discussions. These positions are the hardest for event organizers to fill as there are much more panel discussions. Sometimes, if you make a good case that your speaker is talented and thoughtful you can get in as a panel moderator. Once you do this, and assuming you do well, you are then well positioned to move up the food chain the next time there is an opportunity with this organization. You are also well placed to offer to help out at other events and now you have the beginning of a CV that will demonstrate your thought leadership on your area of expertise.

One other area I would recommend is the use of bylined articles to demonstrate thought leadership. This should be done in coordination with the formula I listed above. Byline's are great because you can expound on a topic that rests within your area of expertise and demonstrate the innovative and creative ideas you can offer. Ideally the byline should be published first but even if you wish to present it as a "pending printing" or something like that you should be good. What you want to do is to show you have creative ideas and can present new ideas to the discussion pool.

So remember that one of the most effective PR tools, more so than releases and pounding after the media, is being a member of a speaker's panel at an event. Your organization should make a speaker's panel a key part of its organization and as a result you will see a very quick rise in the name recognition of your organization within your industry.

Marketing goes on outside of the marketing department

Marketing is a role that the marketing department in many organizations guards ferociously. There is good reason for it, not the least of which is the fact that many others try and do marketing's job or act as a type of grandstand manager to tell marketing and communications how to get the job done. But there is some education that companies need to make regarding the fact that all external facing groups are in fact marketing ambassadors if not part of the marketing department.

No one needs to be told that times are tough now and that there are greater pressures on employees now than anytime in quite a long while. However many employees who face the public usually act in a fashion that is counterproductive to a companies long term success. This runs the gamut from sales representatives who only return phone calls when it is time to renew a license on a product, to technical support who insist on only electronic communication to an HR representative who makes a candidate feel like a leper.

In difficult times like this it is doubly important for a company to take advantage of market circumstances and avoid the bunker mentality. Rather, they should be using the downturn to reach out to clients and customers and reinforce not only how important they are to the organization, but how well the two of you work together. By teaching employees the value of marketing as a positive growth tool for the entire organization, you can ensure that you are uniquely positioned for growth once the recession finally ends. Also, you can ensure the long term and steady viability for organization with consistent talent development.

In the long term, marketing strategy and execution is the role of the marketing and communications department. However any public facing facet of the organization is part of the marketing organization de facto. Each group that deals with the public should be reminded of their role as brand ambassadors and what that means to the long term health, success and viability of the company.

Why not to hire a vendor!

Most start up organizations are often in a race to hire someone to do this job or that job because they believe it is a necessary part of the start up process. This often takes the form of hiring either a public relations agency or some type of marketing consultant. What is ironic is that the process behind tends to be mostly knee jerk. If you ask you will most likely hear some MBA textbook, product marketing answer but if you dig you will find they did it out of the belief that they HAD too!

No for most start up organizations that first marketing discussion needs to come within the organization. Every start up will have, or should have, someone whose role is to develop brand or even in a broader sense to be the person responsible for building the sales and marketing role. During this initial phase it is critical that the first focus be on does the organization have a product or service that can be sold. Initially this can be handled by someone whose focus is on selling a product but at some point there needs to be a transition to a professional marketing person.

Still to a small start up organization where money is scarce there will be a need to spread roles just outside of the marketing organization. While marketing people are rightfully opposed to abdicated the marketing decision making process there may be a need in small start ups to cede some territory normally assigned to marketing and to other professionals with specific tasks during the initial launch phase. As the old cliche goes you need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

A first hire within any start up organization should be someone who is focused fully on the product. While that doesn't mean a full fledged employee at first, it should be done with the idea of hiring a freelancer that will be brought on board as a full time employee at some time. The need is for someone who will wrap their brains around the product and become fully invested in its development.

Also, the single greatest reason to avoid hiring a vendor during the start up process is that you run the risk of working with someone who enjoys the cash flow you provide and will in turn provide you with the most junior staff to do the grunt work and will provide you with results in tune with their philosophy and their desire to improve their own standing among future clients they are trying to recruit.

So to anyone building a start up or thinking of starting on. You should not consider hiring an agency until you are well into your start up process, if you hire one at all.

Do you need a PR freelancer or an agency to get going?

As most marketing people know, the first step in selling the product begins with the PR program. It helps you refine your brand and introduce yourself to key influences out there who you are and why your product/service is relevant. Of course, public relations help does not come cheap and, if not properly managed, can be a huge loss leader for your young organization. So then the question becomes who do I hire to help me manage a PR launch for my product? A full fledged agency or a sole practitioner?

One thing to keep in mind is your relative size and how that matters to anyone you are going to hire. If you are dealing with a large PR agency or even a mid to small size one, the smaller you are, the less care you will receive regarding your account. As normally happens with agencies, you are sold a wonderful bill of goods when you are applying for the agency and you see a really strong team of A plus managers who many will insist will be your account team. Once you sign that contract however you will notice that in world record time your account is being by managed by people that you never met and before you know it you are being spoon fed the normal palladium of press releases followed by the by the rote school of one size fits all, non-creative PR.

Generally when you hire smaller freelancers, you are getting motivated and, if you have done your homework intelligent and experienced, professionals who rely on your support to fund their continued success. In addition, you are most likely dealing with one or two people who represent the organization. Your work is not going to be passed onto the new hire since, most likely, there will not be a new hire to pass the work onto. You will also find someone more open to making your vision work and seeing your ideas get a shot at some sunlight.

A freelancer succeeds by taking risks where an agency fails if they do so. The agencies main goal is to have you renew the contract so they will ensure you do that. A freelancer's goal is to ensure that you succeed since that demonstrates that they can help an organization succeed. A freelancer usually does not have to pay for an office and the non-essential staff that is common among PR agencies so with that lower overhead, they can bring you a greater focus on your core PR needs.

It is pretty obvious in my opinion that a PR freelancer is the way to go when you are starting up your organization. From both a fiscal sense as well as a more product driven one a freelancer is a more common sense approach for an organization that is just building its PR program. The level of customer care and ROI is almost certainly going to be higher. The influence you have with a smaller organization can not be over estimated and can/should be leveraged for your organization's benefit.

Why social media isn't always a great idea

Well companies are jumping on board the social media bandwagon with the same ferocity that they decided that the web was the way to go about ten years ago. It is funny but many companies believe they have to use social media. The reason I am hearing most is that if they do not, well then their competition might and gain on them.

Sadly, this is a fear based logic to planning and as a result you are reacting to market potential and less likely to gain by the situation. Smart companies figure out that they can gain from a certain action and act accordingly. Not so smart companies see where the heard is going and follow according because that is what seems the right thing to do.

Having said that, there are boundaries to social media and they should be explored by any company that wishes to profit from what is certainly an area with tremendous potential. One issue about social media I have addressed in the past but it bears repeating because it is so critical. In fact it is so critical I think it should be put up on the wall like school rooms show the U.S. Constitution or the map of the world. Workings within the organization should under no circumstances be allowed to speak about the organization on a social media outlet without the full and complete authorization of the Corporate Communications office. Furthermore, all of what they intend to post should be approved in advance and should then only be posted verbatim, without so much as a comma changed.

Social media should not be seen as a lazy way to do corporate communications. There is still going to be a need for news releases and media tours; analyst briefings and webinars. Marketing will not grind to a halt nor even be pulled back due to social media. If anything marketing efforts should have social media built into them so that social media is an element in the market effort. As with most corporate communications roles, a properly managed social media program can be of tremendous help to an organization in delivering its message to a mass audience.

One way that social media should never be used is for crisis management. Nothing seems more pathetic than when you see some misbehaving celebrity decide to apologize for their latest misdeed by apologizing on their Facebook page or via Twitter. The same holds true for an organization. One that apologizes via a press release alone is an organization that not only didn't care for the customer but doesn't really care for any misdeed which may have gotten them in trouble. The hackneyed news releases we have all become accustomed to seeing become even worse in the clipped off world of Facebook and Twitter and their cohorts.

Social media is a great invention for the reason that it lets the organization talk directly to its audience and stakeholders. However it should not be seen as a way of bypassing traditional outlets or even worse, bypassing outlets that may not be as receptive to the message as we might like. It is more important to allow for an open and honest exchange of ideas and feedback than it is to have a simple and fun discussion. Discussion and honest feedback are far more valuable than light, breezy conversation.

So in conclusion, social media is a great tool and makes a wonderful addition to a well armed media and customer relations platform. It is not however designed to be the sole means of communications or for that matter, even the main focus of your communication program. It is a tightly controlled aspect of your program and one that focuses on bringing in different and direct communications from stakeholders that you may not be able to engage otherwise.

Is your brand dying because you are trying to save it?

There is an old back yard gardeners adage that the one that kills a garden above all else is over attentiveness. Some people obsess over the slightest details regarding their gardens and as a result the garden suffers. The same can be said about brands, in some environments the corporate senior executive be it a division head or a CEO can be so focused on saving the brand that they may end up being blind to the fact they are in turn killing that which they are trying to save.

I have seen with my own eyes many otherwise strong, or relatively strong brands, which are hacked to pieces because someone higher up believes the brand is in some type of danger. Either from competition or complacency but in danger non-the-less. What is both sad and ironic is that when these people take drastic and, often unnecessary steps, to fix the problem the result is greater loss and more disruption. This reinforces the first impression that they were right about the need for drastic change and results in more change.

This second wave of change is often unneeded and even more destructive than the first wave was. More importantly it results in both customers and employees questioning the future of the brand and if management really has solved a problem or is fighting some type of hydra where two problems will emerge for each one fixed.

Obviously a brand needs to be nurtured like any plant in a garden. It needs the right materials to grow on and most importantly needs patience to reach full maturity. A farmer does not go into his or her field and pull tiny corn stalks out of the ground. Rather, they wait until the product is primed for market and that is the philosophy that today's senior executives would be smart to take as their example.

A brand will succeed if given the right amount of care and devotion. You need to take the appropriate steps and consult with the right experts to ensure both brand survival and long-term health. But you also need to let the brand grow on its own accord and be careful not to smother the brand with over attentiveness. Make sure that your cure is not worse than the illness in question.

How to test your start up brand?

Building a brand is something that takes time, patience and, of course, money. To use the old adage, "Rome was not built in a day." That is certainly relevant when it comes to building ones brand. Start up companies today are faced with the dilemma that they need to build to build a recognizable brand as soon as possible and get it to market even quicker so they can establish themselves and begin to generate revenue.

So with any product the question becomes how do you test a brand especially if it is one that hasn't seen the light of day yet? Certainly if you are Microsoft or Coca-Cola you can conduct focus groups and have test audiences to try out your product and see how it works. A new start up has maybe a half dozen individuals to share the information with and, assuming they have a new concept, need to be discrete in who they inform regarding the product.

To that end it is very difficult for a start up company to test its product and get a sense of its brand. Still, it can be done if appropriate measures are taken to protect the brand. First of all, you do have the option of selecting a small group to serve as your control and use them to test the product or concept. By doing this, you are bringing in people you believe you can trust. They need not be people you know personally but they should be screened for reliability and you should be comfortable with who you are working with.

You can also work with organizations and do a blind test. These organizations bring in people and serve as your focus group and tell you what they like about your concept and what they do not like. They are blind in every sense of the word and have no idea what your product is and in many cases may have no idea about your market. While you benefit from feedback, you are getting this feedback from an ill-informed group who may not fully understand the nuances of your brand concept.

Lastly, you can try and run your own research so that you need not work with a pay-to-play organization. This is very dangerous as you do run the risk of exposing your brand to a public audience before it is ready. There have been many incidents where companies tested products before they were ready and the bad press leaked out as most bad press does and ended up causing the type of attention that most companies would prefer to avoid!

Testing your brand before launching it is a sensible and intelligent means of not only determining the brand concepts and strengths but also in easing the product into a position before its target audiences. Sensible precautions and reasonable planning will allow you to test your brand and either adjust the concept before releasing it to the public or, in a worst case scenario, go back to the drawing board. Either way using a control group as a sounding board allows you to build a stronger brand and one more in tune with what your target audience is looking for.

The importance of thought leadership

A theme in this blog is the idea of standing out from the crowd. Yes we all know the market is crowded with this person and that person who all think they have something of value to add to the discussion so it goes without saying that getting yourself heard requires extraordinary efforts. While there are many short term solutions such as news releases, media events and bylined articles there is one way you can ensure consistent coverage and that is by building yourself as a thought leader.

Roughly defined a thought leader is more than simply an expert on a topic. He or she is someone who is not only an expert on a topic but rises above that and becomes an expert's expert. Someone who clearly and sufficiently defines the issue and then offers a range of possible solution to any problems being addressed. In addition to offering a solution, a thought leader is someone who can argue for a swath of solutions but then offer a single best possible outcome for people to follow.

There is more than simple knowledge to being a thought leader. One needs to be bold and decisive and offer ideas and solutions that people may find controversial and will certainly find worthy of debate and discussion. Furthermore, they need to be people who for lack of a better term, make good copy. A thought leader needs to impress an audience with not only their intellect, but their ability to in a non-abrasive fashion engage their audiences in lively debate.

Thought leadership is also not about lining up a large trophy case of publications and awards. In the case of a thought leader, speaking at an industry group or appearing in an industry publication is often far more important than being on the cover of the Wall Street Journal. The other key difference for a thought leader is that they need to always be out and proving they are relevant in today's market and with today's media. Thought leaders grow old and atrophy unless they continue to offer insight into the changes in the world. Tiring yes, but essential if they are to succeed.

But if they do succeed, the thought leaders offer an organization a tremendous resource. A successful thought leader is someone who the news media will turn to time and time again once they are comfortable with the bona-fides of your thought leader they will come to the well again and again as long as it is reasonable to do so. This is like having a virtual press conference and you will see your organization appearing in a wide range of media outlets and the perception among your customers will be that you are an organization who is a leader within your field.

The one down side to thought leadership is that it can not be done with only one person in the role of thought leader. A first class organization with hopes of achieving long term success needs to have a team of thought leaders ready to address the diverse challenges a world class organization needs. A deep and well trained bench of media ready thought leaders will solidify your organization as a thought leader.

How do I make my copy stand out in a flooded copy world?

One thing is for sure, there are a lot of companies issuing a lot of press releases which seem entirely to say nothing at all. Sadly the issue at hand has a lot to do with a term I used in the previous sentence; press release. A press release is a misnomer, it is something of a fake to use a boxing term.

One thing I recommend to all of my clients is to get in the habit of saying news release. While this may seem a matter of terminology I see it as much more. By using the term news release we are forcing the client to ask themselves, what is the news here? Why does this matter? Who does it matter too?

I also recommend setting a hard cap on how many news releases the organization will issue during a set period of time. This solves a number of strategic issues. For one thing, this serves as an exercise it what I would call message discipline. What do we need to say? How do we need to say it? Who do we need to say it too? This practice in self discipline is a great tool in how to manage your brand and how to speak to your audiences in a professional and refined fashion.

Another way to make your copy stand out in the market place is to know your audience. I have seen too many pieces of copy that are watered down because they are supposed to serve the needs of an overly diverse group of market segments. A news release is targeted towards the news media and as such can not be watered down to be some type of sales tool. It may have uses when dealing with customers or potential customers but that is not whom it is designed primarily for. Good copy is designed for a target audience. It's not some catch all and lazy way of approaching the market at large.

Lastly, good copy stands out because it tells a story that someone wants to read. I remember reading an interview with Russ Meyer, the director who did a lot of B-Movies who said "the critics hate me, the public loves me. Who are you going to believe?" The point here is that if you are going to write great copy, use it to tell a story that your target audiences are going to want to hear. Yes you will be informing them during the process, but you will also need to tell them a story they will want to hear so that you don't lose their attention and have them quickly forget about you in all that white noise that is out there.

Too Busy to Succeed!

There are a lot of feel good stories about the number of startups that began life during a recession or downturn. Home Depot and Microsoft are two examples that come to mind. So it is not surprising that a lot of the organizations that I deal with now are in fact start ups. It goes without saying that a lot of these organizations need a lot of help with developing and executing a strong branding and marketing program.

But there is one thing that amazes me about a lot of the start up executives. They all complain about not having enough time. I had one executive lament to me that he had too many things on his plate and would not be able to succeed. I have to be honest and say that I find this entire thought process laughable. If you are too busy to succeed I can assure you that you need not worry about success.

The first issue I believe is that we are dealing with people who have an overdeveloped sense of mission. They believe that the product they are selling is so important that its success is a linchpin of the future success of society. What is really required of these people is to step back and achieve proper prospective. They may have a great product, but they are also in a crowded market so it is important that they work smart more so than work hard to succeed.

I have also found that based on my own anecdotal observations it seems people who want to become successful with startups also seem to have a form of attention deficit disorder. Their minds fire off at 100 miles per hour in 100 different directions and as such they lack the focus and discipline to concentrate on any one area for too long. All to often the result of this is mixed messages, missed appointments and a failure to clearly define what they want to accomplish. I have also noticed they have achieved boredom with a project in a relatively short amount of time and are always looking for the next great thing.

Now normally, I would like to tie this up with a nice neat ribbon and say to do this in order to succeed. What I think needs to happen is that the start up staff needs to have people who think and act in the long term. Not only does the marketing person need to be able to provide the necessary brand and messaging guidance required of all reorganizations to succeed, but you need finance to have its eye on the ball regarding long term fiscal planning and designers or engineers committed to the concept of the product and service being offered. A concentrated and long-term plan is the most likely way that an organization will succeed. An organization where the founders and executives are too busy to look beyond their computer screens is unlikely to ever succeed.

Is change good for your product?

There was a book a few years back titled, "If it ain't broke, break it,". I never read the book because I thought the title was very silly. I have never been a fan of change for the sake of change. Yet a lot of companies charge down that road, without a good vision about why they are making change and what they hope to accomplish in the end. In today's world we seem to have moved away from the mind set of our ancient ancestors where old age was revered and with age came the perception of wisdom and knowledge.

We now live in a culture where youth is almost a pathological obsession. From the hair coloring products to diets and onward, we see nothing but a desire to change our culture so we drop out objects simply because they are old and for no other reason. The corporate world is no different than any other person when it comes to this mindset. The older a product is, no matter how well it is performing, is seen as dull and in need of rehabilitation.

What makes me chuckle to myself as I write this is that if one looks back on some of the greatest marketing failures in history, the Edsel, Crystal Pepsi, New Coke, McLean Deluxe, they were all designed with the idea of reviving a supposedly stale brand. In each case, as we all know, they bombed, but they also demonstrated quite clearly that not only were the brands they were to replace quite strong, but that the leaders of the companies in question were very out of touch with their customers.

Now I am not advocating here for standing pat. Far from it! I do believe that a brand needs to be watched over vigorously and guarded like the crown jewels. Make changes when necessary. But change should not be implemented for the sake of change itself. Change should be done to improve the product and, to a larger degree the brand. .But making change out of fear that the product is some how faltering is counterproductive and a recipe for disaster.

Remember that as the Marketing and communications person we are responsible for protecting the product and brand from any threats and that may include putting a hand up and saying no when some internal party comes hard charging, determined to change the product out of fear of being passed by. That alone is no reason to react and remember that fear is the worst instigator of change!

Protecting the brand from internal interlopers

The organization's brand is one thing that people cant help but offer input on how to improve. In some regards, managing a brand is similar to managing a sports team. You have every person around you offering you what they consider to be essential input regarding how to run the brand. When something goes wrong, as it is bound to do, these people will see you as the person responsible since you did not follow their advice. Even if there advice was completely ridiculous and silly the arm chair brand managers out there believe that their advice was difference between success and failure.

Another key aspect for brand managers in protecting their brand is to resist the urge to react to events which have already occurred. There is an old expression that goes "you can't drive a car by looking in the rear view mirror." That is ever so true in marketing and communications. But still many non-marketing people will come up and argue that such and such an event has occurred and we need to make adjustments based on it. Now I can not argue in all cases not to make the changes, but there are times when you need to review if the change is being made based on fear or some other type of knee-jerk reaction.

If there is the need to make a change, first off, make sure that the need is solid and dead on. Don't be afraid to say no and to push back on those pushing for change. Remember, you are the guardian of the brand so it is ultimately your responsibility. Review suggestions for change with an open and careful mind. Also, remember that protecting the brand does not mean keeping it away from any changes. If someone were to argue for a particular course of action look at what they are saying and feel free to cherry pick the parts you think might work from those parts you think are not useful.

Lastly, set the ground rules for any changes to the brand. Don't forget that as a marketing and communications person it falls to you to protect the brand. Put the onus onto the person suggestion the change to educate you as to why the change is necessary. Also, keep the participants in any brand change to a bare minimum . There is no need to have a grand meeting involving everyone from the CEO on down to the person who empties the waste baskets. You and the person suggesting change are the parties to the exchange. I would recommend limiting the meeting to just that. From there you can form a solid relationship which allows for two way conversation that will build a strong brand rather than a massive hodgepodge which tries to make everyone happy and leaves no one happy.

Using communcations to plan for growth.

Many organizations are driven by the idea that they are bringing a revolutionary new product to market and that once the world sees how great their product is, they will stop what ever they are doing and rush to buy it. Sadly, this model hardly ever is the case and in many cases, the world is growing more cynical and sees a new product with wary and cynical eyes.

I also hear a lot of people admiring what Apple does with the IPhone and saying what great buzz they have created. I have to be honest and say that I cringe when ever I hear the word buzz. For one thing, "buzz" has never sold a single product. The pet rock had buzz, so did New Coke and Crystal Pepsi and neither is remember today. What sets the IPhone apart from its market is the fact that it offers a unique and interesting product that differs from the rest of the market. It is quite evident that Apple did their homework here and included key target customers in the development of the product from the beginning and then designed a marketing and communications program around it.

The lesson we can draw from Apple is that when we are designing a product, we should build the marketing and communications plan along with the product. We should also design the communications plan to anticipate the changes in the market so that we can quickly react and adjust our programs in anticipation of the minor alterations that will be required during the life cycle of the product to ensure that we do not fall behind our target audience. Remember, the market will continue to shape itself and unless you move along with it you will be left high and dry.

A good communications plan is one that not only designs what we say to our target audiences, but it helps us to grow within the marketplace and helps shape future growth. Communications can serve the organization much in the same way the coal tender does on a steam locomotive. We provide the fuel that drives the engine. In addition, communications has the role of keeping abreast of market conditions and is superbly positioned to anticipate and react to any potential problems that may arise.

Communications professionals should be positioning themselves within the organization as the primary agents to drive an agenda of growth. By doing so, they can not only increase their influence with the organization, they can ensure that the process is done correctly and that the brand , marketing's ultimate tool, is both protected and enhanced. Communications is uniquely positioned by virtue of their expertise and unique understanding of the branding process to contribute to substantial and sustained growth within the organization.

How to stay focused in a rapidly changing world!

Today's world is certainly changing at a faster and faster pace. Of course, a study of American history shows you that one of our common themes is the idea that we are, for the most part, living in times of break neck change and need to slow down. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Still, we are living in times of rapid change. Thanks to market conditions and technologies, it seems products are out of date almost as soon as they hit the market. Shelf lives of more than a year for a technology product seems absurd. So how does marketing help build a brand, while facing a market that is constantly moving?

This type of dilemma reminds me of one of my favorite comic book when I was a kid, Spiderman. Of course Spiderman had a lot of enemies but the one that always fascinated me was the Sand Man. He could change his shape almost at will and at times could be either strong as a block of cement or as fine as sand on a beach. The properties one finds in real sand. Naturally Spiderman has his share of battles with the Sandman and defeats him by realizing that any strength can become a weakness and any threat an opportunity.

More importantly, from a tactical perspective he learned to anticipate what his opponent might do next and react appropriately. I think that is a key lesson for all marketing people to do. We are the people whose job is to be on top of things and try and see what might happen in the next week, month, year and so on. A great deal of ink was spilled regarding the supposed technical leadership and management skills of the Japanese in the late 1980's and early 90's. What happened was that the media saw only the positives and did not see the negatives of the Japanese model.

I remember an article from Business Week written just after Bill Clinton became president. It basically said that Japan was not as good as what everyone thought because its culture smothered innovation and new ideas. There were howls of protest about the article but time as shown it to be correct.

So back to the question at hand, how does one stay focused in this rapidly changing world. I believe the first way to do so is to know your market and most important, know your customer. Second, be a step ahead of the competition. That may sound like a cliche but not only is it true, it is also pretty easy to do. It goes back to the first rule of know your customer. The third rule that I will use for now is to have one person responsible for marketing and put all aspects of marketing growth into their hands. This will allow for controlled responsible growth and allow you to keep others, who don't have the same level of knowledge from fouling things up terribly.

Keep in mind that staying focused in a rapidly changing world is both your greatest threat and greatest opportunity. It should be taken with great concern and handled by the person you most trust with the success of your organization.

The Limits of Public Relations

I remember a funny story I heard a few years back. A man tried to sue a certain auto manufacturer claiming their product was unsafe. When there was a bit of discovery done it had turned out that the man had crashed the auto and was upset that while the airbags had deployed, they had not prevented damage to his car. He claimed that everything he read about airbags spoke about how safe they are and that this resulted in him driving less-than-safely due to the fact he believed the airbag would somehow envelop his entire auto.

I always like this story because I think it does a good job of illustrating the limits of public relations. PR as we know has never had a really firm definition like accounting, nor has it had a strong oversight board like the American Medical Association or the various state bar associations. I think the best way to initiate a discussion like this is to say that PR does have limits and is not a magic cure all that will solve any problems. I will list a very few limits of public relations here but be assured that I will not list them all because that would simply be impossible.

One great limit of public relations and the one I see most often used in publicly traded companies is the idea that PR exists to "goose" a stock price or somehow make a company more palatable for sales. Very simply put, PR does not sell your product. Public relations exists to disseminate truthful and wholly accurate news about the organization. One term I despise is the term "spin," because it is not the role of PR to take information and try and paint it in an inaccurate light. I fully acknowledge that is what often times happens but in doing so you weaken your brand and the organization.

Another great limit of public relations is the concept of damage control. Without a doubt one of our greatest contributions as public relations professionals is in the area of crisis management, we can not be called on to turn lemons to lemonade as a matter of course. Still many organizations make decisions that they know put the brand and the organization at risk with the belief that the PR team can come in and simply clean up what ever may go wrong. That amazingly shortsighted viewpoint is what often results in organizations being forced to deal with crisis that, had they consulted with PR earlier in the cycle, could have been greatly avoided. It is much easier to put out a fire when it is a small flame than if the entire structure is consumed.

The last limit of PR is one that I hope will fade away as a result of the recent market crash. That is the concept of using PR to boost the ego of senior executives. All to often, PR people have been called on to write materials that are essentially irrelevant to the organization but do have the executive in question look like the king of the world. If you take a look at the organizations that have failed, going all the way back to Enron and beyond, you will see organizations who saw PR as a means of protecting them from any pesky questions they don't to deal with. Again, senior executives seem to think that PR exists to dance around like a puppet on a string. It is the role of the PR person to drive the process and as such we can not be expected to jump in and do the biding of a senior executive who feels they are being neglected . Our first opportunity is always to the brand and the organization.

In conclusion, I would say that PR can accomplish amazing things and that there are very few things we can not do. That is not to say however that our boundaries are limitless. Some of the limits on public relations, must be places by PR practitioners themselves because we are in charge of protecting the brand and it is our job to make sure the organization pays heed to correct means of messaging and message delivery. One may argue that if a PR person tries to express limits on public relations that they will be replaced. I can not discount that theory except by saying the following. If you want the best PR people you have to listen to what they say, and the best PR people are telling you that there are limits on PR that you must pay heed to if you wish to succeed.

How do I market my product? Part V

The final topic I think we need to discuss is the issue of metrics. When it comes to metrics, marketing is always treading across a minefield. For one thing, there is really no linear connection between marketing and sales. Sorry marketing folks, while we may like to pat ourselves on the back and think that we sold the product, we can only make the sale possible. We do not have the ability to actually go out and execute on the sales that is the role of the sales team.

Sales and marketing and joined at the hip and neither can succeed without the other but both can fail if one entity does not fulfill its side of the bargain. So the question becomes, how do we measure success? How do we determine if a marketing plan was good and only failed because of sloppy execution or on the opposite, how do we determine if the marketing team passed onto sales poor materials to do the job.

I have to be honest that the first person who develops a rock solid, unassailable marketing metric will be like the person who invents the better mousetrap. The world will most likely beat a path to your door. That being said, there are some interesting ideas out there about how best to track marketing metrics. One I like is by looking at sales leads that have come in after the roll out of a marketing program and look at these leads at fixed periods of time. This should tell the marketing people how effective a job they have done in peaking the interest of target audiences. It does not make marketing beholding to sales and allows for an appropriate examination of who was responsible for the success or failure of a marketing campaign.

One thing I like as far as public relations is the idea of measure full coverage of an organization during a 3 to 6 month period. A lot of PR agencies are lazy and try to rest on mere mentions and include that as part of coverage. This is a colossal cop out and is simply a way to get recognition for picking off the low hanging fruit that they should be getting anyway. What I would recommend is that we identify one-half to a dozen top tier publications and ensure that we are in constant communication with them. During this period, there is ample time to draft either bylined articles, major pitches or work out from the editorial calendar existing pitches and secure major coverage.

I would recommend setting a floor that would expect at least X amount of pieces of coverage, depending on what you have that is of value. This will require an open and frank dialogue between both parties to ensure that the appropriate targets are set. Obviously, putting out a minor press release does not warrant the same amount of coverage as a major product announcement or business deal. This would require the frank discussions of goals that are all to often lacking in relationships with PR agencies. Clients defer to the agencies, the agencies are too happy to collect checks so they take the path of least resistance.

So in conclusion, metrics needs to be better refined and it will take trial and error. Until then, we will only have a nebulous idea of how successful our plan actually was.

How do I market my product? Part IV

There is a story that I like to quote a lot to clients and to friends and that is about how in the late 19th century the head of the United States Patent Office recommended that the office be closed as everything that could possibly be invented, had already had. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed. But as we all know, there are hundreds if not thousands of new products coming onto the market on a regular basis. The simple law of numbers tells us that most of these products will fade into obscurity and never become anything.

So how do you avoid having your product become one of the vast majority. Well for one thing, use your messaging to accomplish this. If there is one thing I find amazing, it is how many entrepreneurs believe that the benefits of their product or service is so self evident that no explanation is required. That is not only arrogant but it is stupid. Let me tell you that if think the benefits of your product are so obvious you will not see the bus that hits you and destroys your product.

First and foremost it is essential that you state clearly what they benefits are for your product and what they mean for your target audience. Look at Netflix for example. When they emerged they had a very simple statement of benefit. They mail you movies that you have selected, you can keep them as long as you want and when you send them back, after watching them of course, you get the next movie on your list. No trips to the video store, no late fees, very easy to grasp. What is more important is that Netflix did a fantastic job of telling you why they were better than the competition on the market and why you subscribe to their service. Now they have changed their market and knocked Blockbuster back on their heels.

Secondly, you need to understand what you want your product to say to the target audience. To be honest if you decide to say that you are offering a revolutionary product that will change the world then you had also better get out the no-doze because that is the lame reasoning of every product that can not decide how to brand themselves. You need to offer your target market a declarative statement that clearly evokes what you will do. For example, "we will make better butter because we will refine the manufacturing process and make it sweeter, softer and longer lasting in hot weather." Not, "we are revolutionizing butter."

Third, say something you can believe in. There is nothing more annoying than a startup who this week claims to be this one week and then the next week decides they are something else. When you tell the market you don't know what you are you destroy any faith in your product. Also, you send a clear signal of confusion and a lack of an articulate focus to your customer.

Last, make sure marketing is in the drivers seat when it comes to articulating the product. Other groups, especially senior management will be inclined to offer reams of suggestions which they will naturally want to see followed. However it is essential that you keep control of the marketing process within marketing. Input is always welcome of course, but marketing tends to go astray when dozens of executives stick their noses in. Please pardon the cliche but too many chefs spoil the pot.

There are many ways to differentiate your product and some of it may result in trial and error. Don't be afraid to tinker but make sure that you know what you want to say before you want to say it. Form your ideas and hit the market with a developed and well thought out plan and you will succeed.

How do I market my product? Part III

OK, so we have set up a web site and we have further developed the brand identity by working on some of the marketing materials. Now we have to move into a more critical step, because it is responsible for influencing market leaders and key decision makers. This step requires the establishment of a solid media and analyst relations programs. This is in some ways a very difficult situation because you will find many people who believe they are qualified to tell you what to do but who in fact have no clue.

Let me begin by telling saying what should be at the very bottom of your list. Do not even think of writing press releases. All too often, senior executives who enjoy seeing themselves talk, will push out a press release that says nothing and is simply nothing but white noise in the field. I always recommend that the term "press release" be banned from organizational lexicon. Instead substitute news release in its place. While this may seem like splitting hairs there is a key difference, press releases don't necessarily have any news value in them. In a news release you are searching for the news value of the story and thus you have something that may be of interest to the news media.

Positive and mutually beneficial relationships with the news media are essential to the well being of your organization. The primary way to stand up and differentiate yourself from the crowd is by being featured in a strong news article in a well respected media outlet. Some PR agencies tend to go for the low hanging fruit of mere mentions or background information. This is a sure road to failure. Don't be afraid to go after the big dogs in your field. Yes you may not get coverage to start, but by having the combination of persistence and a good story, you will eventually receive coverage proportional to how effective you pitch and how interesting your story is.

The other key aspect to consider is analyst relations. To be honest, you can not succeed without having some independent third party review of your products These independent analyst can provide you with two valuable sources of information. First of all, they can provide you with an outsiders view of your product as well as your strategy and give you an opportunity to make course corrections before heading to marketing. Secondly, if you are able to secure an agreement, they can provide you with a valuable independent resource that will affirm the benefits of your product and/or service. This is something that will be of tremendous benefit when you are speaking to both news media as well as potential customers.

Lastly, there is a key component to the success of a good PR program that can not be understated. You will not succeed by playing it safe and by going along the path of least resistance. The news media is interested in exciting new players and someone who demands to be viewed seriously and wants their story told is someone who will stand out. Many people will not wish to leave their comfort zones and many will say don't go there because the result will be nothing. The only way the result will be nothing is by lack of trying. Demand of yourself and of any vendors you hire that they achieve results from unlikely sources. By doing that, your product will be exposed to a wide and diverse group and you will be able to differentiate yourself.

Tomorrow: How to differentiate your self in a crowded field.

How do I market my product? Part II

OK, so as we discussed in Part I you have built a web site and that is serving as the kernel for your brand identity. So now you have to decide what to do next? You basically have two choices, the first being to continue working under the radar and develop your product further or begin the public aspect of your organization by ramping up the public relations aspect of your program. At this point, you are not truly ready to go public since you will need to have stronger sense of who you are and be ready for what may come your way so the best course to follow is to continue defining your brand and image by developing marketing materials.

The development of marketing materials is often given short thrift and more often then not suffers from dual and conflicted roles. On the one hand, they are eagerly desired by sales people who seek them because it is something they can leave or send to a customer that clearly spells out the market advantages of their organization's products and services. The other side of that coin is that marketing materials are often prepared by very creative types who see themselves as the sellers of the brand and focus nearly exclusively on the creative aspects of how best to sell the product.

If you are familiar with the AMC television show Mad Men you know what I am talking about. Sales people offer a value proposition and believe that they can sell it to the target audience as a rational, fact based formula. Creative people are nearly the exact opposite. They believe that the sales decision is made based on emotional stimuli and as such we need to appeal to a person's emotional side and need to have a creative approach to sell the product.

It then becomes the difficult task of a marketing manager to not only balance these two, often conflicting viewpoints out, but to find a middle point. As we all know the definition of a compromise is when everyone walks away from the table feeling cheated. But that is exactly what a marketing manager needs to do, balance the competing desires of both groups.

Successful organizations know how to balance the ideals of sales and creative types and work together to develop a strong brand message which clearly sells their product. A perfect example of a company that marries both very well is Coca-Cola. Coke has an exceptionally strong brand and this is done by advertising which most companies can only hope to achieve. But the strong creative is enhanced by a global distribution system that is second to none. Without this strong sales and support system, Coca-Cola would have none of the global command that it does today.

So you are starting your own company, can you learn anything from what Coke or any other brands do. I believe the answer to be yes! First of all, as I said earlier you need to use the step after your web site to continue building your brand identity within the organization. This is also the time when you should bring your nascent sales organization to the table. Ideally this person will have some knowledge of your markets and sure as heckfire should know how to sell. You will also want them to give you some feedback on the tools you plan to give them to sell the product and service.

It is not uncommon for sales people to try and pull back and say they are not comfortable or that is marketing's job etc. But the fact remains at the end of the day it is up to sales to connect with the customer and convince them to buy. They need to be present for at least the first stages of development. The worst thing that can happen is for you to be six months to a year in, wondering why your product isn't moving and have sales shrug their shoulders and blame marketing.

So part II of the marketing development program is the development of marketing tools to further help build your brand. This is also the time to begin to engage sales and bring them into the loop and see what they can contribute. Marketing will help you increase awareness of your product but it is sales who sells it. Therefore their contributions must not be excluded.

I have my product all set but how do I market it?

Sadly, great brands do not come with directions on how best to market them. It is impossible to say that this way will work and this way will not in every case. So the issue then becomes, how best to reach my target audience and, in the end, how to sell the product. First of all, rivers of ink have been spilled on how best to market a product, to that end I will refer you to the local library or bookstore to decided how you want to brand and market your product.

But to start off, you need to have some basic idea of how you want to go about the process. Pardon the cliche but you need to crawl before you can walk. First of all, I would sit down with your team or if it just yourself sit down and figure out what you wish to accomplish. Do you want to ramp up brand awareness first or do you want to jump in feet first and create a quick buzz. I tend to lean towards to the slow ramp up because it has longevity and buzz much like the fizz of a soda can fades rather quickly.

I think the best place to start is with your web site. The web site is basically your front door and it gives you a wonderful opportunity to test messages and test the layout of your image. Does your design formats reinforce the brand image of the organization and does it clearly convey what you do, who you or, and/or what you are about? The web site is also a great laboratory where you can test which messages have the greatest resonance with a target audience. This is your best chance to test your concepts and ideas on a limited, but ideally targeted audience.

The development of the web site should only take a few days but can provide your first feedback on the marketing of your idea and can also provide invaluable feedback regarding your marketing message and the value statement you hope to bring to the marketplace. This is your best chance to make the quick fixes needed before you take your product to market or even take it to the next step of the marketing process.

Tomorrow we will talk about the next step to take!

Trying to place a marketing value to social media

When I was thinking about this topic I am reminded about the story from the late 19th century about the man who ran the U.S. patent office. It would seem he wanted to close the office because everything that could be invented, has been invented. A century and then some on we are still inventing stuff at a breathtaking pace. The question now is not so much one about invention but more about how to make money off of someones recent invention.

Take for example the social media explosion of the past few years. There is a great deal of controversy regarding how to best make money off it. There are as many ideas on how to do so as there are grains of sand on a beach. I would suggest that the only way to determine how to make money from any Web 2.0 technology is to determine if the technology fits your business model and if so, how does it?

As we saw in the late 1990's with the Internet, there was a stampede to get on board with a web site and to start selling on the web that very few people really were successful in doing it. The focus was on the end of the route that no one bothered to figure out how best to get there. The few organizations that were very successful on the web were the ones who spent the time, and money to figure out how best to build infrastructure and in the end marketed not the fact that they were online, but that they were an easier and possibly less expensive alternative to your local book store or flea market or whatever.

The emergence of social media and the potential to generate revenue from it is bedeviling a great many organizations. What brings a chuckle to me is that we are seeing a repeat of the late 1990's without the rush of cash from venture capitalists. Companies all want to be on Facebook and Twitter and Youtube but offer no great value to a consumer there. For example I am a fan of Coca-Cola on Facebook. I am told all sorts of trivia regarding Coke and its products but there is nothing for me as a consumer.

No I think as a marketing person, any new technology needs to understand what it can bring to a consumer before there is a mad rush to add a Facebook following or start putting videos up on Youtube. Ironically, very few organizations reward consumers for following them on social media sites or utilize them to build a stronger relationship. It is in many cases a practice in numbers for the sake of numbers.

It is very simple, social media offers marketing people a tremendous value. They have the chance to reach out to customers who want to be reached out to! The rate of success on a direct mail campaign is at best 5 percent, with social media it should be much higher since it is an opt-in strategy. Design programs that allow you to reach out to your followers online and most importantly, give them a reason to purchase your product and bring more potential customers!