Tactical Transparency

Conference Day 3 —  It just keeps getting better

Tactical Transparency:  We opened the day with author Shel Holtz who shared his research and conclusions from his new book (currently on my Amazon Wish List), “Tactical Transparency.”  Transparency is the new reality in the web 2.0 world, yet business has delayed changing their strategies to take advantage of the benefits of transparency, because the concept is frequently misunderstood.  

Transparency is a requirement, because there are no secrets anymore.  Today, employees are the front line of PR.  Transparency is not full disclosure, there are many topics that should never be discussed in public, however, there are more issues that need to be addressed in open and honest conversations.

 Here are three among many great examples of tactical transparency:

• Paul Levy, “Running A Hospital”:   http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/
• Bill Marriott, “Marriott on the Move”:  http://www.blogs.marriott.com/
• “Nuts About Southwest”: http://www.blogsouthwest.com/

Get the book:  http://tinyurl.com/ShelHoltz

Writing for the Web:  I have been writing for the web since 1995, but I picked up a lot of tips for better copy and layout in Samantha Enslen’s Writing for the Web: Secrets, Shortcuts and Strategies.  Keyword:  Streamline

Preparing Messages for Information Overload Environments was presented by Julie Freeman, IABC President.  This presentation was a report on an IABC Foundation Research Study.  Information overload is defined as “A state where more information actually reduces your reasoning and decision-making.”  How well I know that!  The research provides 6 principles communicators can use to improve messaging effectiveness.

Link to study (free for IABC members, $99 value):  http://iabcstore.com/IABCRFRpts/overload.htm

Staying The Course While Running on Empty:  Mark M. Crowley, Director for Internal Communications at Sherwin Williams wrapped up the conference with his communications strategy for Sherwin-Williams, a company deeply affected by the slowdown in the automotive market.  He shared how he gets things done despite budget cuts and logistical nightmares communicating Sherwin-Williams global employees in multiple plants – we all left the lunch with new ideas on how to reach out more effectively to our employee audience.

After Mark, it was back to PA.  It is always such a great feeling to get to listen to and network with the best professionals in the industry.  My thanks to the Heritage Region and Cleveland Chapter  for the privilege of attending the Heritage Region Conference through their Member-At-Large Scholarship fund.  

I’m looking forward to our 2010 event in Philadelphia, PA!

IABC Heritage Region:  http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/

We All Work For Our Websites

Day 2 of the IABC Heritage Region Conference started out with a presentation by Bob DiBiasio, PR chief for the Cleveland Indians.  My initial thought was yea, right, he’s pitching sports entertainment, I’m in  B-to-B industrial…well, after 30+ years in the business, Bob shared a lot of information that was pertinent for any PR practitioner.  He generously shared the key components to their 2010 business plan:  http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/Presentations/Dibasio%20Presentation.pdf. 

An engaging speaker, he really warmed up the room when he said, “We all work for our websites.”  Isn’t that the truth?   He quipped that PR really means “Planning Right” or “Promoting Relationships.”

I attended an employee communication workshop with David Pitre that was just outstanding.  Here is a small piece of the research he shared with us:  “When we ask employees in surveys and focus groups, ‘What’s the one thing you would change about employee communication?’ they responded:

• Increase honesty, transparency and clarity
• Hold more meeting or face-to-face sessions
• Increase relevance
• Increase timeliness
• Streamline communication

 I have many notes to myself to take back to work!

 Gerard Braund entertained us at lunch with his talk, “When Social Media & Crisis Communication Collide:  When ‘it’ hits the fan.”  This was a light hearted journey through a very serious topic.  I had the pleasure of eating with Gerard at the Dine-Around and he shared his journey of developing this system over his past 20 years as a journalist and PR professional.  He has great tools in place that any organization can benefit from.

I was honored to introduce Dan Droz for “Strike Up The B.R.A.N.D.”  Dan is an animated speaker who took us on a journey understanding what great brands are and how they are built.  Here are his 5 attributes of iconic brands:

•  Backstory
• Relevance
• Archetypes
• Nomenclature
• Design

 We left with an additional CD, “7 Simple Principles of Marketing Leverage.”  All good stuff as I return to work and begin my 2010 communications plan.

I wrapped up the day with 13 Axioms for Surviving Interesting Times with Dr. Tamara Gillis, where she shared some of her latest research for a new IABC publication.  Stayed tuned for more information.

Like all IABC conferences, you really work from morning until evening and get an enormous amount of ideas for both your workplace and your career.  Where else can you get professional development in all areas of corporate communications in one day?

Looking forward to Day 3. 

Heritage Region Conference website, http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/index.asp

Taming Wild Ideas

I attended a Fleishman Hilliard workshop on Innovation as part of our IABC heritage Region leadership forum where presenter Kathie Thomas showed this quotation on brainstorming from ad man Alex Osborne:

“It is easier to tame down a wild idea…than to come up with a new one.”

More from my notes:

“Innovation without methodology is luck.”

“There is no innovation without leadership.”

 “Innovation begins with discovering an untapped need.”

 She went on to share an interesting concept on Creativity, by stating there are 2 Phases and 1 Rule:

 Phase 1—Diverge, the search for ideas

Phase 2 – Converge, where each idea is weighed

Here’s the Rule – Keep the two phases separate! They use separate sides of the brain.

 “Creativity is not linear.”

She used the example of the brainstorming sessions that start out great while everyone is diverging, then someone starts converging before phase one is over and it kills the whole brainstorming session and everyone leaves feeling like they wasted their time.

Been there, done that. 

Speaking of taming wild ideas, the keynote speaker at our evening reception, Terry Stewart, CEO of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, shared the history of the museum and the work that they do. 

The Silver Quill awards ceremony followed Terry, highlighting some of the many outstanding communication campaigns in our Regions – you really have to be here to see the work — it’s always an inspiration.

We ended up rocking with a group of young people made famous on You Tube – Recent ?- I probably didn’t spell that right – I’ll have to edit my post!  Day 2, its Recess!

Day 1 of the 2009 IABC Heritage Region Conference was a good day in Cleveland!

Why IABC?

 Sunday, 5 AM. My interest is a holistic approach to communications, called integrated marketing communications (IMC), and most organizations only address a single aspect of the art.

The Ad federation covers advertising, PRSA is focused on PR, E-Marketing addresses all things internet – IABC offers professional development in all of those disciplines. Living in a rural area, regional and international conferences give me the opportunity to network with the world’s best communicators and set the bar higher for my own work.

IABC covers all the bases.  My roommate told me on the way out that I’ll feel really important when I get back — The truth is, I will be totally humbled, exhausted and really glad I went:-)

The Smith Report » Sales Tip ? The Fallacy of Budgets

There is a great post on the Smith Report today – this is not intended to undermine or ignore budgeting, an essential business tool; it’s more about how to communicate total value that will ultimately return greater profitability for both the buyer and seller. 

I think Ian really nails it, read on:

The Smith Report » Sales Tip ? The Fallacy of Budgets

Shared via AddThis

Our real job is to be Connectors

I can’t remember where I read that the main goal of marketing is to remove objections to sales, but it is the simplest definition for marketing communications that I know of.

I think sometimes we in marketing get so focused on the number of leads our programs generate, that we gloss over the part where our real job is to be the connectors – to facilitate the conversation between 2 or more parties so everyone can achieve their mutual goals.

I was studying the “Sales Lead Success Checklist” by M. H. “Mac” McIntosh for my B-to-B Direct Response class tonight, and he addresses some very important questions. Three of them include:

• Do you have a system in place to respond and document the inquiries you generate, whether the interest is short or long term?
• Have you addressed the information needs for a person who is interested, but not a buyer, per say?
• Are you measuring results and paying attention to what works?

If programs do not work out according to expectations, it’s easy to blame the sales people, because, like the infantry, they are on the front line. But the truth of the matter is that sales cannot do their job unless marketing does theirs.  The best way to accomplish this is to agree on what a good lead is and develop a comprehensive plan, not only to manage leads, but to support sales by continuing to provide relevant communication touch points between the company and their audience. 

You can download the checklist at M. H. “Mac” McIntosh website, http://www.sales-lead-experts.com/tips/tools/b2b-sales-leads-checklist.cfm

IABC Heritage Conference – Cleveland Rocks!

I am pretty jazzed that I will be attending this year’s IABC Heritage Region Conference in Cleveland, October 18-20 – http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/.    Sessions will cover new media, marketing & employee communications in addition to business management and strategy. 

 These are the general session speakers:

 Linda Dulye, “You Can’t Drive Innovation from an Inbox: Proven People-Driven Techniques to Unlock Your Company’s Hot Ideas”

 Terry Stewart, President & CEO, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “Preserving and Celebrating the Music that Changed the World”

 Bob DiBiasio, VP Public Relations, Cleveland Indians, “Public Relations and America’s Favorite Pastime”

 Gerard Braud, “When Social Media & Crisis Communications Collide: Managing Your Reputation When ‘It’  Hits the Fan”

 Check it out: http://www.iabcheritageregion.com/conference2009/glance.asp

 I will be working with the Silver Quill Awards group,  in addition to squeezing in every session I can! 

Can’t attend?  Check out posts and discussions at the Conference Group on Linked In:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1876556&trk=anet_ug_grppro

 

Finishing Up

This week marks the end of the semester and Miss Marketing’s Blog.  My sincere thanks to friends, colleagues and fellow students that enabled me to have the privilege not only to author a blog, but to be worthy of your time and attention to read and comment. 

I also wish to express my appreciation to my professor, Hugo Perez of WVU’s IMC program and Global VP of Corporate Affairs & Communications for Mars Symbioscience, who guided our class through this experience, oftentimes from remote locations– last week,  Indonesia.

Emerging, or New Media allows us to communicate with one another in ways unimagined only 20 years ago.  In my long experience in industrial manufacturing, there has never been a more exciting time to work in communications. 

I continue to marvel how there is always more to learn and to benefit from the connectivity available through new media.  The trick is to pick the media that best suits both the company and the audience to allow them to interface in a manner that is meaningful yet respects everyone’s limited time.

My journey next semester takes me to Advanced B2B Direct Response, I’m looking forward to it.

Until next time,

 Beth Ryan

CRM facilitates the use of new media to build brand loayalty

This article appeared this week on Seth Godin’s Blog:

The law of the little shovel

If you want to dig a big hole, you need to stay in one place.

If you walk around town with a little shovel, you’ll just end up digging thousands of little holes, not one big one.

Call on one person ten times and you might make the sale. Call on ten people once each and you will likely get ten rejections.

The important thing to remember is that separate events are often separate. If you use the same ineffective approach on one thousand people, it’s not going to start working better just because you use it more often.”

Want a big shovel?  Use a good CRM system to keep in touch with everyone important to your company through e-mails, newsletters, blogs and direct response.  CRM systems allow organizations to effectively understand what defines value in the mind of the customer – past, current and prospective.

 What does this have to do with new media?  Marian Azzaro, a Roosevelt University IMC professor defines new media as: “the use of digital technology to communicate with a target audience.”  (Perez, H., IMC 619 Emerging Media, Lesson 1)  CRM facilitates the use of new media to build brand loayalty. 

CRM provides the infrastructure.  New Media provides the means. 

 Get out there a dig a big hole!

 Links to this post:

 The Law of the little shovel, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/07/the-law-of-the-little-shovel.html

 Seth Godin’s Blog, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Google or Bing?

New York Times Editor David Pogue wrote a review this week comparing the features of the leader Google, with Microsoft’s new browser, Bing.  In many ways, Microsoft is the company we love to dis, but David points out the Bing has some very interesting features that outperform Google.  

Besides the photo of the day landing page, Bing serves results very quickly and works relatively well in their target search areas of travel, shopping, health and local business information, although not perfectly … not yet.

While Google continues to be the king of search and the most efficient search engine, Bing is worth a second look.  David suggests that the real benefit of Bing is that the competition can only improve both products.  If you would like to compare Bing and Google search results side-by-side, go to this link:

 http://bing-vs-google.com/  Try it and tell me what you think!

 What does this mean for B2B?  It means Bing had better be on your radar screen for Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  In fact, when I performed a search on an important keyword phrase in my business, “vacuum furnace”, the organic rank was better on Bing than Google.  Amazing.

 Time to put Microsoft back on my keyword report this month.

 Link to David’s article and video report:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/technology/personaltech/09pogue.html

 Reference: 

Bing, the Imitator, Often Goes Google One Better
By DAVID POGUE, Published: July 9, 2009

Microsoft’s rechristened search engine, Bing, makes a concerted effort to organize search results in more helpful ways than Google, and often succeeds.

 Link to Bing:  http://www.bing.com/

 Discover Bing – take the tour:  http://www.discoverbing.com/tour/