High-Tech PR Blog >> Beyond the Hype

More data on the shift in marketing

 
Josh Bernoff of Forrester blogged about some new data released by Forrester this week that provides more hard data about the shift in marketing taking place right now.  The data comes from its new forecast of spending in interactive marketing.  Here is a strong point Josh makes before summarizing  the data:

In this recession, marketers have learned that interactive marketing is more effective, and advertising less effective, per dollar spent. While budgets for online have decreased, they decreased less than other budgets. Six out of ten marketers we surveyed agreed with the statement "we will increase budget for interactive by shifting money away from traditional marketing." Only 7% said "we have no plans to increase our marketing budget."

Forrester measured five sub-categories of interactive marketing in its survey -- mobile marketing, social media, e-mail marketing, display advertising and search marketing.  The conclusion is interactive marketing spend will grow from 12% to 21% of all ad spend in five years. 

Not surprisingly, search marketing has the highest percentage of spending of all interactive marketing components, followed by display ads.  Social media, however, has the highest compound annual growth rate in spending of 34% -- from $716 million this year to over $3 billion in five years.

This is consistent with what we've seen and heard in our work with clients.  To be sure, most of them have taken a walk-before-run approach because they've wanted to see a return on the investment.  This has led to measured advances in what they have done (and what we've helped them do).  But, I've noticed a shift where the need to move faster down the path has become more urgent, in many cases fueled by signals from senior executives and from customers.  In terms of the latter, I have heard clients say that customers now want to engage with companies via social networks. 

I feel like a tipping point is here.  How about you?

How we must approach PR measurement

On his Journalistics blog, Jeremy Porter has a nice summary and analysis of a recent survey conducted by the American Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC) and Institute for Public Relations (IPR), through which 520 PR professionals were surveyed on PR measurement. I agree with Jeremy's surprise that the number of people who responded that they are currently measuring their PR programs was only 77%. In our case, 100% of our clients demand that we measure our programs.

Jeremy summarizes the part of the survey on how clients want programs to be measured this way:

The survey indicated that clients are becoming more price sensitive about PR, but at the same time, they are demanding PR agencies measure in more effective and targeted ways. Some of the trends highlighted in the survey include:

• Client demand for measurement of online communications increased from 29% in 2008 to 41% in 2009
• Client demand for broadcast media evaluation is up from 15% of assignments in 2008 to 25% in 2009
• 77% of clients commission single country measurement programs or projects
• 69% of survey respondents say procurement specialists are becoming more involved in the purchase of measurement and evaluation services

Beyond this, our own experience of late is that clients want more measurements of the outcomes of a PR program -- clicks to a web site from coverage, product downloads and leads -- as much as the outputs -- clips, briefings, blog posts and tweets. I don't believe it is realistic to expect new measurement standards, as there are too many competing interests at work, as well as the fact that every client has their own expectations and priorities with regards to how they measure marketing and PR, so it's up to us to work with them and deliver the metrics they need.

It does mean, however, that there are some new fundamental approaches we must take to measurement, which as I mentioned above, we are already doing.

These new approaches blend the traditional, output-based metrics with important new, business-oriented metrics that quantify the outcomes:

• Traditional marketing and sales metrics like lead generation and customer satisfaction/retention;
• Traditional interactive marketing metrics like web traffic and share of search;
• New metrics like sentiment, viral value (e.g. how coverage creates word-of-mouth on Twitter, blogs, etc.), and engagement

This is necessary because social media is blurring the lines between PR and interactive marketing, customer service and sales. More importantly, it’s necessary because ROI is paramount and these blended measurements help demonstrate that to marketers and CEO’s.

What is important to you as far as PR measurement is concerned?

Going from "are you kidding?" to "could this be great PR?"

Everybody has their favorite mobile app - you might like to 'pop' bubble wrap on your iPhone, or Tweet from your Blackberry. Me? I appreciate the simplicity of the WSJ Mobile Reader. I have easy-to-read, quickly-downloadable headlines and stories at my fingertips from not only the Journal but the other feeds I've set it up to pull in for me. 

I tell you this only because I thought it was playing tricks on me last night. I took a few moments to scroll through my stories and I see this headline, "The Duck Call Stylings of Cisco's John Chambers." Being the head of LP&P's telecom practice, John Chambers and Cisco are always of interest. But I clicked on this headline much faster that I typically would because I thought there was some joke being played on the company or some hacker having fun with the BoomTown blog.

Nope. If you haven't already heard about this, or seen the video, check it out. Frankly, as I read the first couple of paragraphs of the post, I still thought someone was kidding around. But then I got to the punchline - how Cisco turned a happenstance event into a PR opportunity, and a pretty creative one at that.

You can read the brief BoomTown post which explains the idea. What I'm more focused on, beyond the creative use of social media to promote a product, is the involvement from the top - from Chambers. One of the basic ingredients in a successful communications program is a commitment from the highest levels of the organization to support the effort and to participate as appropriate. As much as PR has morphed in the 23 years LP&P has been around, this tenet has not changed.

This video features a CEO who is well-known for his commitment to PR, but I have to admit, this takes it to a whole new level. PR people everywhere have pointed to people like Chambers, Steve Jobs, and more recently, Carol Bartz as good examples of executives who are engaged in strategic communication. Well today, fellow communications professionals, we now have a precedent for suggesting our client CEOs go well beyond "participating" in the PR program to make a spectacle of their hidden talents and hobbies for the good of the organization.

What's your take on this? Great idea? Over the top? I'm not sure I've decided yet.

Unlearning and Relearning Marketing

The Business Marketing Association held its annual conference last month in Chicago and it had an interesting title, UNlearn.  The professional group for B2B marketers offered an agenda that helped the attendees understand how marketing is changing because of the impact of the social web.  There are some good recaps on the BMA site, but the video embedded here from the conference sums up what it tackled.  This was a live re-enactment of the famous McGraw-Hill "Man in the Chair" ad from 1958 that made one the most compelling cases of the value of print advertising for B2B companies, then adapted it for today's world.

It is a good, entertaining depiction of what it is B2B marketers need to unlearn and re-learn in this new era.

Avoiding PR "Gotchas" -- a list of don'ts to learn from

I don't know about you, but I'm always a sucker for lists of do's and don'ts.  A recent email to me from a magazine I subscribe to included the "top 25 beauty mistakes" and, of course, I clicked on it.  I learned a few things, so it was worth the investment of time.  It inspired me to ask our PR experts to help me assemble a list of the biggest PR mistakes they have seen recently that we all can learn from:

• Telling a business press reporter after an interview that if he writes about your company it will raise interest in it, which would be a good thing.  Get ready for a major eye roll from the reporter on that one -- unless he is a stockholder.

• Capitalizing on a tragedy, especially with the words "if they had used XX product/service, this wouldn't have happened."  This is one time you have to pass up a newsworthy angle.

• Speaking for quotation to the media on behalf of a partner or a customer.  It's always better to direct them to the customer or partner for their own quotes rather than risk souring your relationship by saying something they would not want to see in print.

• Being unwilling to comment on industry trends or issues during an interview.  Reporters are happy to hear about your company, if you are relevant in your market, but they'd also like to hear broader perspectives.  It makes you more valuable as a source too.

• Answering the reporter's end-of-interview question, "Do you have anything to add?" with a smile and a quick "No."  You just missed a great opportunity to briefly summarize the key points you hope the reporter got from your interview.

• Telling a reporter "don't write what I just told you."  Only a red flag in front of a bull is a more visible symbol to "charge" and get that scoop.

• Keeping your PR team in the dark on corporate events.  This sometimes happens to internal and agency people when a senior team's style is close-to-the-vest.  It really blunts the effectiveness of the entire PR team to not have all the nuances of what is happening and why to shape their programs.

• Starting a call with a journalist with the statement, "I think you are very wrong."  An interview is a conversation and this, ladies and gentlemen, is a conversation killer.

• Suggesting a headline for the article you want them to write and asking when it will run.  This type of behavior makes for good stories at internal editorial meetings at publications, but it doesn't work.

• Promising a customer by name to a journalist before clearing it with them.  If you aren't sure the customer will clear it, tell them you'll check into it and get back to them with a name.

• Agreeing to author a blog if you don't have the time to post.  No one will take you seriously as a blogger if your content isn't fresh.  Assign someone else or wait until you're really ready to provide regular postings.

• Sending a reply on Twitter (which goes to everyone who follows you) instead of a direct message (which goes just to the person you want to engage with).  Always think before you "tweet."

• Insisting that PR take the toughest question out of the FAQ preparation document for a major announcement.  Removing the question will not guarantee no one asks it and you will be much less prepared when it is asked.

• Being so anxious to "tweet" that you reveal some news or comments from a partner, customer or company leader before a planned announcement.  This is what social media policy guidelines are written to prevent.

• Not respecting a journalist's deadline.  If you offer the best customer contact, but it is right on top of or after the reporter's deadline, you not only won't be included in the article, but you also will hurt your chances of her calling you for the next story she is writing.

• Assuming too much knowledge on behalf of reporters.  These days, with publications being smaller, reporters are asked to cover a wide range of "beats" and they aren't always experts in all of them.  It always helps to provide context and spell out acronyms or at least do temperature reads to give them a chance to ask for a backdrop on a technology or market segment, if they need it.

Your 'friends' don't need to know your business

 

That sounds exactly like something my mother would have told me while I was growing up. She might have used the term "neighbors" instead of "friends." She was very big on privacy and believed the less information you shared, the better off you were.  Apparently Mom should be a social media consultant these days.  Mike Musgrove of the Washington Post pointed to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle about an Arizona man whose house was robbed after he had left Facebook and Twitter updates about his extensive family vacation.

"We had mentioned that we were going out of town for an extended period and even Twittered about the trip as we drove for three days," he told an Arizona television station. While he was gone, video-editing equipment was stolen from his home. Although he is not sure his tweeting tipped off the burglars, he says he will be more careful in the future about what he shares online."

No one can specifically link the burglary to his specific updates about vacating his home to his more than 2,000 Twitter followers and large number of Facebook friends.  It is a good reminder to be careful about broadcasting personal information that could be misused in forums as truly public as Facebook and Twitter.  It also sounds like a heck of an idea for a future television crime show episode.

Content marketing: For B2B companies and taco trucks

This is the second part of my conversation with Lois and our client Ed Brice of Lumension Security.  In part one, we discussed the impact that social media is having on B2B marketing.  Our conversation started with a look at short-term vs. long-term thinking, then explored how marketers should start thinking about social media as a way to enhance the identity of a company. 

In this podcast, we discussed the importance of creating content that is personal and conversational in order to connect with the buying community.  In particular, Ed spoke about how he has gotten resources committed to creating memorable and high-value content on a sustained basis to drive a content marketing effort.  He said that the Internet has fundamentally changed the traditional approach B2B companies have taken to marketing where they have controlled its message with an iron hand.  Instead of being focused on a sales process, B2B companies need to be focused on and understand a customers' buying process.  Once they understand that, then they can create content that is value-added to the customer at each stage of the process.  He feels that combining this content marketing combined with social media tools as a delivery mechanism will allow marketers to take advantage of word-of-mouth and search engine optimization in a much better way.

Lois added to this that the opportunity for companies to be self-publishers is particularly important because of the shift and consolidation in traditional media.  Part of this opportunity is for a company to create more of a persona, which allows the buying community to connect with them easier.

Ed illustrated how effective content marketing can be by talking about Kogi, a small food business serving a fusion of Korean and Mexican food via roving vans around LA.  Kogi uses Twitter to communicate with its followers and let them know where the trucks will be.  It has been extremely effective for them as a basis for word-of-mouth and is growing a passionate following.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this podcast. We'd love to continue the conversation on this subject with you here, as well as on Ed's blog.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes.

How B2B marketers should think about social media

We are pleased to bring you the latest episode in our Beyond the Hype podcast series. For this podcast, I sat down with Lois Paul and Ed Brice, SVP of Worldwide Marketing for Lumension Security, an LP&P client, to discuss the impact that social media is having on B2B marketing. Ed is a big believer in social media and blogs regularly about how it is changing the game for marketers.

Our conversation started with a look at short-term vs. long-term thinking in terms of marketing strategy, with Lois and Ed discussing the results of a recent survey of 300 CMO's conducted by Spencer Stewart. The research revealed that a majority of marketing chiefs are focused on short-term planning versus long-term strategy. Lois summarized the survey, which she also blogged about recently, by stating that while most CMO's are in good shape to drive growth when the downturn subsides, it is concerning that they also are measuring success by how much they are cutting expenses. Ed added his perspective that every marketing leader is under pressure to deliver more with greater efficiencies.  This is leading to a shift in tactics where he is investing more in online marketing, and optimizing the mix of offline and online as a way to achieve efficiencies now and to be set up for growth in the future.

From there the conversation shifted to how marketers should start thinking about social media as a way to enhance the identity of a company. Ed discussed how B2B marketers are getting frozen by figuring out what tools they should be using. His recommended approach is to first answer the question, "Do I want to have a conversation with my ecosystem -- my partners, my customers, my prospects and even to a certain extent my competitors?"  He feels that for most B2B tech companies, customers or prospects will talk about them online, and even if there is a negative or derogatory comment, Ed sees that as an opportunity and not something to avoid. In terms of ROI, he feels like marketers shouldn't get consumed with it, that you don't need to have an ROI for having a conversation. Ed also discussed how the various social media channels his company has established work together to "give their message more lift" and that's what delivers the return.

This is the first part of the discussion. In part 2, which we'll bring to you tomorrow, Ed and Lois talk in more depth about the role of content marketing in this new paradigm.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this podcast. We'd love to continue the conversation on this subject with you here, as well as on Ed's blog.

As always, you can subscribe to the podcast series through the Podcast Ready button in the right sidebar, or via iTunes.

Sustainable social media starts and ends with listening

 

It's been great that more and more of my conversations with clients have moved from, "should we do social media", to, "how can we make it sustainable, create momentum and achieve measurable results?"  For us, this means it's time to roll up our sleeves and have some fun.

We've helped many of those clients start blogs, Twitter channels and Facebook pages, which is followed by the challenge of building a following.  There are tools available to take short cuts to for this, but inevitably this leads to building the wrong following, or people that don't really care what the company does.  The effort needs to focus on finding those folks out there with an identifiable interest that matches what a company can offer them.

But that will only get companies so far.  This is where companies need to think differently when it comes to leveraging their social media channel and developing their content for those channels.  By default, that content should be developed in response to what members of the buying community find valuable.  This is not traditional marketing content.  This is content that is authentic, conversational, personal and real.  It is not a brand talking.  It is a person talking and engaging members of the buying community based upon what they want to talk about.  And the key to this?  Listening.

That's why I believe the heart of any social media effort is listening to the online conversation (on blogs, Twitter/FriendFeed/Facebook/LinkedIn, etc) both to find those individuals that represent customers, prospective customers and partners, as well as to use what they are saying to drive the content for the company's social media channels.  This takes time, but this is the value that communications teams offer now, so the time spent by the customer-facing folks is focused on the content. 

Starting with this foundation will lead to a sustainable, efficient and measurable social media effort.  What do you think?  How effective is your listening?  Are you doing enough?

Collaboration and social media are good, to a point

I've been noticing a phenomenon with my college age children -- both are very different, but very bright and independent people -- to text their friends and roommates and even my husband and I before making decisions.  Instead of doing the research up front, they practice an iterative approach to many aspects of their daily lives.  Shopping for college memorabilia during graduation weekend, my daughter texted one of her friends for counsel on what to choose.  Determining which local sandwich shop would be less crowded for the group of students and their families, the texts were flying fast and furious.  Finding out which Starbucks is closest to a new job location leads to texts, not phone calls and not an old-school fingers doing the walking through a telephone directory.

It's been fascinating to watch.  It struck home when I read this morning's article in the Boston Globe about texting and its potential impact on young people.

Sherry Turkle, director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, has spent the last three years researching texting habits of teens in the Boston area to determine how the practice affects their development.

Her findings suggest that teenagers' texting habit is slowing their emotional growth. "Years ago, if I saw a kid who talked to his mother 20 times a day, I would say he has an attachment problem," notes Turkle. "Now I interview hordes of college juniors and seniors who routinely text their moms while they're waiting at the bus. The lack of independence from parents means teens are not learning to make decisions on their own."

Although my own children eschew Twitter as a waste of time that they don't understand and only one of them uses Facebook, I do wonder what happens when this generation embraces other social media channels like these.  Does the collaborative approach of "tweetups" and the sharing of ideas, thoughts and interesting links slow down the development of original content?  Collaboration and the value of team are paramount in a client service business like ours.  However, it's important that social media enhances these values and does not become a crutch for constant sanity checking of ideas and approaches.  It is a fine line we will all need to walk to use these channels effectively without having them erode individual creativity and confidence.

A colleague recently joked that "it shouldn't take a village for someone to say the right thing," lightly poking fun at the need to help spokespeople craft their messages and be well prepared for interviews.  The power of these new channels lies in their ability to amplify new ideas and thinking and not to relegate it to constant crowd-sourcing before a position is determined.

What do you think?  Do you ever worry about the downside of too much social media interaction?