soulati.com

Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

Tribute to Jeff Bierig

By

Were it not for social media and professional social networking, I would not have gotten the news that my long-time and dear Publicity Club of Chicago pal, Jeff Bierig, left this crazy world for new public relations endeavors, to be born anew in a different job other than the Illinois Institute of Technology or the Chicago Tribune.

When I first joined the PCC back in the late ‘80s, I was an upstart, and Jeff wasn’t that much more. He had a full head of black curls and a damn good radio voice especially when he dropped it to the normal baritone I loved so much. When he phoned me (before the days of caller I.D.) he never said his name; I always knew it was he.

Jeff and I shared laughs galore, flirts, stories about raising our children, his spouse out of work, and usually his own job search after departing a two-decade career as media relations director at the Chicago Tribune.

We bumped elbows and rubbed shoulders throughout my 15 years with PCC as president, as a two-term board member and committee chair of nearly every committee except for advertising (hah, I was not stupid). Jeff’s contribution to PCC was even longer than mine, probably because he never left!

When I moved from Chicago, Jeff and I remained in touch mostly via phone, but it was frequently periodic. He was a loving husband, adoring of his kids’ accomplishments, loved his EU holidays, concerts, music, and so much more.  I know he’s jammin’ on high right now.

Back in the day, PCC was a family; it was a professional community in which we grew and shared experiences that are now fond memories. Thanks, Jeff, for rollin’ the good times.  I miss you dearly.

Amplify Brand & Public Relations

By

Brand, brand, brand. Yesterday, Elena Kagan fought for her “brand,” as the newspaper headlines stated. Seems everyone is using this word, yet what does it mean? Better yet, what does it mean to you?

Brands resonate. We’re familiar with those we elect to consume in every-day life and those pushed into our space by smart marketers whether we want to engage, or not (i.e. Brittany Spears). (Note: I selected this hyperlink b/c this site popped in a natural search; good job!)

Social media provides the opportunity to amplify a brand. Shout it out there that your company is paying attention, pushing services, values, personality, essence, and promise to the online consuming world.

As a public relations practitioner, I don’t do formal branding. I leave that to those who reside in advertising agencies or marketing departments. The opportunity for public relations to integrate with marketing is now more frequent, and thus public relations blended with brand is a strategy all PR practitioners should consider, hammer down and offer up.

The lines are blurring where public relations stops and marketing begins. I work daily with a marketing team focused on sales and delivering lead-gen programs to sales teams. I contribute to the sales experience with content strategy and ideas that fuel business goals. I wrote a much maligned post awhile back, PR Drives Marketing. I still firmly believe this for a variety of circumstances; yet, we’re all contributing to the same end goal. (Right, Mark W. Schaefer?)

What I don’t do is ensure success of a brand. Public relations promotes it, elevates it, positions it, and puts a human face with personification to it.

What does brand mean to you? And, how do you engage to amplify it?

Build a Foundation, Then Social Media

By

Is your house in order? What I mean is do you have the bricks of the foundation laid tightly and affixed with mortar, or are there a few gaps here and there to let the critters in? Speaking from experience, I know my foundation has quite a few gaps to fill, and it’s a work in progress.

This below is more a reminder for us all to take a close look at how we project and amplify a brand. I cannot comment on anyone else’s stoop before cleaning mine, that I recognize; however, the work I do in my field provides me with enough examples to offer you a few tips.

Here are phase one foundational elements to implement and pave the way for brand positioning:

  • Company name. I announced about six weeks ago I had changed my company to Soulati Media, Inc. This name is more a reflection of the direction I’d like to go with endless opportunity to position me as the brand (something I’ve been doing for some time now).
  • Domain name reservations. Grab the domain names and all the extensions to protect your intellectual property. This is the cheapest form of security. While larger companies are targeted more than small companies, it’s solid business practice to reserve domain names and redirect them to a primary Web site.
  • Logo. I am getting a new logo developed that resonates with my company’s service offering and provides a sense of my personality and spirit.
  • Web site. With new domain names and the blog, having a solid architecture for all the sites, where each points and where they’re hosted is critical. It’s a confusing discussion and requires time with the experts who do nothing but work on back ends of Web sites. These Internet marketing gurus and IT people are invaluable.
  • PHP expert. I have a friend helping me a bit with my WordPress blog. After self-hosting the blog, which is what you ought to do, learning the intricacies of code, widgets, plug ins, and sidebars (not to mention design) is not a cake walk. I encourage those less inclined to equip your team with a PHP expert. I still need one!
  • Web site design.  Thousands of templates exist to design Web sites, and yet some sites look like they’ve been designed by a DIY’er. If you want to project a professional image, do invest in a middle-of-the-road design with spot-on content.
  • Blog. Blogging is not for everyone; however, you can hire a decent writer and express your thoughts via a ghost writer (see Mark  Schaefer’s discussion at Grow yesterday) or share the spotlight with someone else who can help.
  • Social Media Triad. To launch social media, build a Facebook page and get some “likes.” Consider Twitter if you’re a business-to-business firm (apparently they’re more engaged on Twitter than business-to-consumer firms), and then migrate to YouTube with some cool video.

Not an exhaustive list by any stretch; what would you like to add?

First Social Media, Then a Buy

By

There are companies not engaging in social media. There are consumers not engaging in social media. There are marketing public relations practitioners not engaging in social media. But that window is closing fast. For those who believe social media and networking are not our future, just look around you.

According to Website Magazine in its Feb. 2010 issue, it says your “social graph” is the most important asset in business. A social graph is a collection of online connections.

In the magazine’s article, 50 Top Social Media Resources, they provided some data (from February):

  • Facebook is the most popular social networking site for business owners.
  • Of B2C organizations, 83 percent have Facebook profiles.
  • Only 45 percent of B2C organizations have a Twitter account
  • B2B companies have profiles on both sites in more or less equal proportion — 77 percent on Facebook and 73 percent on Twitter.
  • Participants using social media day-to-day visit company or brand profiles on social sites 62 percent of the time and 55 percent of them search for business information on the social sites.

Before many a consumer makes a buy decision, they comb the search engines for buyer reviews, perhaps on Yelp or Complaints.com, and make an informed decision whether or not to make a purchase.  In addition, consumers seek a company’s Facebook profile to see how they engage, what news is available, how fans are responding, and how the company is replying. Perhaps there is a select group of people using these tools to inform a buy decision; and, this will be common practice as the months go by.

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are for sure the most well known and used by a plethora of people world-wide; however, they’re not the only players. Ever heard of Revver.com, diigo.com, blackplanet.com, hi5.com, or yuku.com? (Me, neither!) I don’t believe any company is solidly engaging with a majority of the top 50 social media resources listed by Website magazine. 

I’m going to make it my mission to share in my sleuthing. What’s your mission in the six months remaining in 2010? (Tick-tock…time’s up!

 ENGAGE!

Managing Social Media Fear to Win Against Grudge

By

Managing reputation online is stirring up a lot of thought and is the subject of many conversations. Some businesses, those that service disgruntled consumers who purchase with a “grudge,” are afraid of social media. The fear factor lies in the what if — “what if someone writes a negative comment about our business or their buying experience?”

Yesterday’s Trackur post Gathering Business Intelligence from Online Listening by @FrankReed references the lowest-common denominator for companies as buzz branding — monitoring, listening, and quantifying online brand mentions. While the experts may believe it’s the lowest common denominator, I suggest otherwise. There are many companies not engaging in any social media, let alone monitoring the buzz.

Fear about a consumer posting a negative comment overrides the interest in testing the social media waters. So what if someone posts a negative comment on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, Complaints.com or elsewhere?

Here are some thoughts around this question; perhaps you’ll add to the discussion, too:

  • Zero in on your fears about the potential for negative comments by consumers on the ‘Net. 
  • Is your house in order, and are your services top-notch? Do you regularly review the sales experience and pinpoint the pulse of front-line services?
  • Is your management team apprised and trained about social media? How about the people who touch the customers?
  • Regardless of whether you are engaging in social media,  your customers have access to it and can complain without your knowledge.
  • At the very least, do execute simple buzz branding and listen to the conversations about your company and competitors.
  • Monitor consumer complaint Web sites; set up a Google alert for online mentions about your brand. Engage with Trackur.
  • Be prepared to respond immediately to a negative complaint. With the right effort you will win over a customer long term.

Here’s a story I’d like to share…Yes to Carrots was a new brand of personal care products. I liked the clean packaging, the catchy name, and I love product. I purchased three different products at two places. Every product had packaging issues; the dispensers failed. My frustration with one was minimal, but having three malfunction caused me to take action. After I opened the third package and could not work the product, that’s when my emotions elevated.

I tweeted and Facebooked, and immediately got Facebook response from the company apologizing for the problem. The company went in to high gear and refunded my money, provided coupons and sent new samples of other products in the line. They took immediate action and did everything necessary to satisfy and assuage my negativity.

To those companies that elect not to respond at all to complaints or be in an ignorance-is-bliss mode…you’re digging a deeper hole.