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Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

Expertise Comes in Shades of Gray

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Yesterday there was a blog post suggesting WordPress sucks along with its top-notch themes Thesis (which I run here) and Headway (which I started my blog with and switched).

After commenting on the post, I saw a tweet about the same post suggesting the author was absent his morning java to have written something so ridiculously futile (that’s with a long “I” as the Borg say).

This got me thinking about expertise and how it’s defined. I am an expert in public relations; are you? Perhaps to some degree you are, and mayhap not to the same extent as I.

I am not an expert blogger, however, nor do I relish the steep learning curve the IT and back end present. This is the gist of what the aforementioned blog post said – the back end of any blog is a daunting adventure. To blog expertly, one needs mastery of the back end.

As my friend Gregg so aptly puts it, “Jayme, this should be like falling off a log to you.” So I cringe, nod my head, bow it in shame, and continue to attempt to do it all myself and make silly non-expert mistakes which eat my time and efficiency.  And, I insist I’m doing this for the sake of learning and becoming an expert…one day, sigh.

Next to those guys leap years ahead of me designing their blogs in cool themes and developing new WordPress apps, widgets, and plug-ins, I’d like to think my content rocks.

I know for a fact that expertise is a gift; the more you earn it, the more you need to give it away. That’s exactly what I’m doing here; helping the next peep merely stumble on the path rather than take a hard fall.

Expertise comes in all shades of gray; I’ve just begun to color. What tint are you?

Map Your Mind and Message

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I’m seeing many blog posts on mind mapping of late. From what I gather, it’s a framework to track program strategy and subsquent tactics and execution.  The images here are boggling in their multiplicity; I had no idea there are nearly 1 million mind map options to click via search engine.

Who among you use these every day? I’m interested in knowing whether it promotes efficiency or becomes just another tool that adds dust to the hard drive.

Mind Map Images from search engine

After a series of posts featuring the “” theme, I’d like to put the horse in front of the cart with a bit on message mapping. Whatever the moniker you prefer, message mapping is NOT mind mapping nor is it a SWOT analysis.

For my clients I represent in a cross-section of industries, message mapping is one of the very first steps we endeavor when launching public relations services.When I speak about message mapping, it doesn’t compare to mind mapping in the least. 

The process for public relations is to dive into the executive mind, extrapolate leading thoughts and opinions, document them as approved messages, and then deliver them to external audiences using various channels.

Sometimes the process can take six weeks; it can be fast tracked to four, and what comes is a working document that provides the external-messaging framework for the C suite, teams, sales, customer service, public relations and marketing.

When I speak messaging with a client, here’s what I like to offer as a process:

  • Facilitation of a gathering of executives who lead a company, its business unit, or subsidiary.
  • Series of open-ended questions that address the 5Ws, the competition, the space, the audience, stakeholders, services, products, and the like.
  • A ~three-hour session with large sticky poster paper to adorn the walls and capture the essence of the discussion.
  • A multiple-page first draft of all the captured statements in themed buckets of messages with a descriptor.
  • Team edit of supporting content and descriptor statement along with subsequent drafts until all messages are approved
  • Placement of messages into a message map framework or schematic (as shown here) that allows for all the messages to be packaged in one document. This sample is an actual message map for a defunct dog treat maker.

Messaging in public relations takes a deeper dive than marketing. And, this public relations deliverable helps everyone develop content and copy; including marketers, storytellers, and copywriters.

I’ve had some interesting discussions with marketers who don’t understand the need for public relations messaging, and I’ve had marketers jump on board with the vision to understand just how valuable this exercise is. While there may be some overlap between PR messaging mapping and marketing’s branding platform, the jargon is omitted and the outcome is external.

When everyone agrees on the song sheet, we all sing in harmony. What’s your process? How do you capture messaging? Please share!

Cow Tipping & Blogs

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Ever hear of cow tipping? My mom did it when she was a kid. Apparently the cows sleep standing up, and when you shove them they tip like a domino (or some such).

Anyway, the headline was meant as a grabber (did it succeed?) to focus attention on the operative root word “tip.” We are tip lovers, and even that YouTube video above is in tip form!

When was the last time you read a “top 10 list?” (Oh, about 10 seconds ago.) I’m guilty as charged, and the two (only) blog posts I’ve written with tips have received the most retweets on Twitter, too.

It’s always interesting to notice patterns when blogging. I’m going to share a few for your consideration and ponder, too.  May I resort to being tippish?

  • Checklists and tips are some of the most reader-friendly content you can develop. That goes for blogs, too, and I think it’s because the tone is appealing, it’s educational, and quick.
  • One never knows if anyone is reading a blog, or not. What keeps me going are the people who send emails or tweets mentioning a cool post they read.
  • People who comment on a blog are few and far in between. I’m not sure the invitation at the end really makes a difference in encouraging comments either.
  • Focusing a post on a Fortune company with intriguing commentary helps elevate content to be more authoritative. It also helps bring in the spam, too.
  • There are more tools available for bloggers than one can ever hope to research; it’s daunting out here.
  • Focus first on content – keep it fresh, keep it active, keep it current, keep it energetic.
  • Set some goals to explore applications and tools regularly. Not only will you learn, but others will learn alongside you.
  • Teaching is part of giving back. Because my profession usually gets a bad wrap, it’s imperative I teach youngsters wending their way through a growth curve and offer sage counsel about success in public relations.

That goes for blogging, too. Hope a walk down memory lane or a “you’re kidding!” were the reactions you got from this post. I see no change on the horizon. My trending forecast remains bullish on tips. Tip it up galore, just don’t get all tipsy about it.

Pre-Launch Tips for Social Media

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In the May 2010 issue of SES (the search engine strategies magazine), Robin Neifield, CEO of NetPlus Marketing, Inc. writes a decent article on Tips for Talking to Your Boss About Social Media.

I’d like to extract nearly exactly her tips because everyone eventually finds themselves at the boardroom table trying to lure the C suite into social media engagement. Perhaps it’s your client, perhaps it’s your own extended staff, virtual team, or peers…it matters not, these strong suggestions are worth a review.

Homework

  • Create an organizational chart of various divisions/departments where social media may touch. Might be HR, PR, legal, marketing, customer services, or elsewhere.
  • Create a best-practice approach to a successful social media program that meets needs.
  • Create an audience profile; then spend time understanding how your audience uses the Web and social media. This becomes the foundation of the social media effort.
  • Check out the competition among those who share your audience. Estimate the budget associated with this effort, and DOUBLE it! Social media is not free – strategy, creative, outreach, internal training, and many other items come into play.
  • Bring in the creative team.
  • Develop a content strategy and a content plan with resources outlined.
  • Identify a monitoring and listening tool. (Jayme suggests Radian6 or Trackur.)
  • Create a set of guiding principles that strongly state “Our social media program is about our customers – not about us.”

Conversation

  • Build relationships over time; ask for engagement internally for two or more years.
  • Determine what your company is going to offer i.e. programs, content, tools, discounts, entertainment, access to members, etc.
  • Talk goals.
  • Remove “viral” from the vocabulary.
  • Set regular check-in meetings to review program performance against goals.

Regardless of when you engage in social media, ensure you have a plan in place. Use these tips above to develop your own that are suitable to your situation, business environment, or service offering. Remember, the tips above came from NetPlus Marketing, a top 50 interactive agency established in 1996.

What tips might you offer to further the conversation?

Social Media Fear Factor Quiz

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Here’s a little quiz I created to pinpoint your social media fear factor. Seems everything I read Monday was associated with taking risks like skydiving, bungee jumping or zany scary free fall theme park rides. That would make my fear factor off the chart; in fact, I’d not survive either experience.

Perhaps some of you feel the same way about social media? I’m also thinking you’re not sharing it if you are; hence, this line of questioning to get it all out in the open. Then you can move out of your own way and engage already.

While you’re mulling over why you’re not engaged, I’m here to help push the envelope. Want to chat for 15 minutes about why you may not be tweeting? I’ll offer baby steps you need to launch. Want to chat with me for 30 minutes and get a tutorial on Twitter and learn more than just basic elements? I’ll help you do that, too. Don’t be afraid to ask and receive!

Check all the boxes that apply in each question.  When done, count them up and look below for the unscientific analysis.

1. You have a Twitter account that:

[] Is dormant     [] Is used ~4x/week or less         

[] Has <100 followers     [] Has <100 tweets

2. You don’t tweet because:

[] You aren’t clever enough to write 140       

[] No one needs to know your life story

[] You have nothing to sell          

[] You’re happily married and don’t need a new partner

[] You don’t have a blog so there’s nothing to promote 

[] You lack confidence

[] Twitter is a bunch of malarkey

3. You refuse to launch Facebook because:

[] Farmville sucks           

[] No way are you re-connecting with high schoolers

[] You want privacy        

[] No one is using it for business anyway

4. LinkedIn is definitely OK, but:

[] You can’t get as many links as your boss           

[] It’s dormant except for the occasional invite

[] Too many strange questions on groups annoy you      

[] It’s a popularity fest and you hate to compete

5. You’re not blogging because:

[] You have nothing to say 

[] You have no time       

[] You need your extra sleep

[] You haven’t the faintest idea where to begin

[] You don’t know what SEO means

[] You’re too old to start something new              

[]You’d rather talk to your dog

6. You’re not engaging in social media because:

[] Social media is a fad and it’s going away

[] Social media is a waste of time

[] You have nothing to sell, so why bother

[] You have no time to learn anything new for now

Unscientific Analysis

If you checked 25 to 29 boxes, you have serious antipathy against social media and you’re likely never to get over it.

If you checked 18 to 24 boxes, you’re on the brink of not seeing the forest through the trees. Call me to save you.

If you checked 10 to 17 boxes, you are engaging in social media although you’re just not a freak like some of us.

If you checked 1 to 9 boxes, you have hope! You can easily be rescued from social media fear factor!

(But call me anyway…if you’d rather talk to your dog than start a blog, I’ve got to change that ‘TUDE!)