Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

Necessity
Work?
I don't have to work.
I don't have to do nothing
but eat, drink, stay black, and die.
This little old furnished room's
so small I can't whip a cat
without getting fur in my mouth
and my landlady's so old
her features is all run together
and God knows she sure can overcharge-
Which is why I reckon I *does*
have to work after all.
--Langston Hughes
Montage of a Dream Deferred, 1951

As Langston wrote 60 years ago, there are very few "have to's" in life; however, in business there are a great number of "need to's."

You need to market your business.
You don't have to have a Facebook page (Gasp!).

You need to find your customers.
You don't have to have a Twitter account (Get out!).

You need to generate revenue.
You don't even have to have a website (Blasphemy!).

There are a number of "old school" marketing tactics you can employ for your business. None of them are better or worse than any other, all of them require different levels of commitment and resources and all have been successful in one form or another. It is a question of which one(s) will work for you, not which one(s) you have to do. 

Some "Old School" Marketing Tactics

• transportation advertising (signs on buses and at bus stops)
• posters, flyers and postcards
• radio, television and print advertising
• movie advertising
• newsletter and program advertising
• referral and word-of-mouth
• incentive programs
• sponsorships
• networking
• billboards
• promotional items
• tradeshow exhibitions

These are a few methods for getting your message out; however, the best marketing campaign is the one that works for you in meeting your business objective. Before you begin expending valuable marketing resources, consider the following:

What is the goal of my marketing campaign?
Do I want to generate revenue, increase brand awareness or intimidate my competitors?
What marketing tactics are my competitors using?
What are the direct (capital) and indirect (time) costs?
Who is going to manage the campaign?
How long will the campaign last or run?
How will I know if the campaign is working?
What do success and failure look like?
Is the campaign going to reach my target audience?

However you decide to market yourself, remember, the only silver bullets are time and consistency.

Social media marketing is the shiny new toy. Everyone is doing it, trying it and seeing how to make it work for them. Your president wants you to bring in a social media expert to help the organization understand and utilize it to increase the bottom line. A good consultant will tell you it is important to listen to customers. A better consultant will show you tools to monitor what your customers are saying. A great consultant will work with you to take what you hear and use it to improve your organization, product and brand.

Consider some of these marketing insights for your brand and how to use them:

• Who are your best customers, biggest fans and most fervent defenders (brand advocates)?

Action: Reward their loyalty, invite them to be a Brand Ambassador or part of your Product Advisory Council*

• Are you marketing campaigns reinforcing your brand?

Action: Adjust your marketing strategy to support the brand promise

• Are your product development decisions based on what you hear your customers say they want?

Action: Give your customers what they are willing to pay for, not what you think they need

• Who are the movers and shakers (aka influencers) in your industry?

Action: Find your E.F. Hutton and put her/him to "work" for you

• What are your competitors doing and what do people have to say about them?

Action: Fill the gap of satisfaction for their customers

• What insights can you glean around product satisfaction, product management and product development?

Action: Start discussions to garner information

*If your organization doesn't have a loyalty program, consider implementing one.

Nugget of knowledge: Having conversations with your audience, getting to know your clients and ultimately building relationships with your customers is invaluable for long term success.

United should've listened:

Social media marketing is more than setting up a blog, updating your Facebook status and tweeting your organization's latest news. Doing those few activities are only the beginning to truly delving into social marketing. The organizations that "get it," understand the key concept of listening. They listen to their customers...all of them.

• What are your customers saying about your brand and products?
• Where are your customers saying things, which sites, platforms and technologies are they using?
• What are your customers saying to each other about your services?
• How does what they are saying about your brand compare to what they are saying about your competitors' brands?

Posting, updating, tweeting and connecting is no different than robocalling, direct mailing or advertising if you aren't listening to what your customers are saying via Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, etc. Otherwise your organization is just pushing out information you think your customers want via different channels.

Social media marketing requires listening to your customers, responding, listening, responding, listening, responding and so on and so on. Does this process sound familiar? It is called a conversation. Yes, organizations must engage their customers in conversations; it is the essence of social media marketing. However, conversations are only the beginning of the process. The goal is to develop relationships with your customers as a way to solidify brand loyalty.

A few things to remember as you begin to have conversations with your customers:

A sub-par product is a sub-par product, regardless of how wonderful your blog is --> be prepared to receive the good, bad and ugly about your brand
Once you open the listening floodgates, you can't close them --> be prepared to manage the conversations
Social media probably won't be *the* marketing silver bullet for your product --> be prepared to integrate your traditional and social marketing tactics

Nugget of knowledge: Remember the three P's, plan for success, prepare for the unexpected and produce your best work.

Is your organization a good listener?
Does it have processes in place to hear and respond to your customers?

Professional marketers have to get in touch with their inner love, peace and light...and it's all social marketing's fault.

Social technology consultants are telling traditional marketing professionals to be transparent, authentic, trustworthy and community focused. What??? Stop the presses!!!

Yes, social marketing revolves around a level of forthrightness, openness and collaboration that has been unheard of (at least not widely embraced) in the marketing profession. For years, traditional marketers controlled the brand and have cut their teeth on knowing how to deliver it to  the right audience at the right time for the right price. Marketing has been about brand management, conversion rates & conversion velocities, lead generation & close rates, paid media and surveys & focus groups. Then comes along social technology, and consultants are encouraging traditional marketers to listen AND engage with customers in public dialogue, as well as share OR relinquish control of the brand.

You mean...
You're kidding...
You want me to do what...

For some brands this is a sea change in the corporate culture, and for others, it is where they have wanted to go and didn't know how or have the capacity to do so. The key factor to keep in mind, social technology marketing and traditional marketing work together, they complement each other. As 2011 begins, it is imperative that social tools and tactics become a key component of your marketing plans, not a one-off or an add-on. It can provide marketers:

• unbiased market research: marketers should embrace customer ideas, comments and complaints; a user generated comment can be the impetus for the next great campaign;

• unique public relations opportunities: online contests are not a new idea; however, utilizing bloggers, Facebook, Twitter and niche online communities can increase awareness and participation exponentially;

• creative customer service: the ubiquitous 1-800 is still useful; listening to and monitoring online chatter about your brand is more effective as research shows most people won't congratulate or complain, consumers speak with their wallets;

• additional messaging channels: first there was the newspaper, then mail-order catalogs, radio, billboards, TV, direct mail, email and banner ads; now there are sponsored tweets, Facebook ads, Foursquare check-in specials, blog ads...and this is just paid media, imagine the possibilities for earned media;

• and out-of-the-box lead generation: all of the above efforts can lead to increased lead generation and increased sales.

Nugget of knowledge: Traditional Marketing + Social Marketing = A Successful Campaign

Shonali, let’s begin at the beginning, what is your story?
I started my professional career as an actress.

Huh, what, you’re an actress? Who knew?
Yes, I earned my bachelor’s degree in economics and then completed a three-year program from the National School of Drama in New Delhi. I was an actress and director in India. I did mostly theater, but also some television and radio; my acting name was Shonali Ghosh. I began helping people with their public relations needs, which led me to start a business in event management and PR before I moved to the US.

[the author’s mouth hangs open as Shonali continues]

I moved to the US in 2000 after marrying an American, and he was very keen that I continue my acting career. But frankly, I’d been in the throes of the whole “drama thing” for so long, and I didn’t want to have to start at the bottom all over again in the States. Since I had some experience of PR, I started networking and found a job with a boutique PR agency in San Francisco, where we were living at the time. That was actually a terrific fit, because at the time, the agency did a lot of PR & marketing for Bay Area engagements of Broadway shows…so, in a way, I was still getting my theater “fix.” The rest is history as they say.

Now, having worked at small and large agencies, as well as in-house, I consider myself a PR agency of one. I’m not your typical agency, though, focusing solely or primarily on media relations. I like to work with individuals and organizations on their overall communication strategies.

Nugget of knowledge: My goal is to get them to understand how good communications can help them solve problems.

How have you been able to capitalize on your acting training and experience to help organizations with their communications?
Excellent question. First, part of acting is reacting, listening to your fellow cast members and reacting to them, this is where magic happens. To become a good actress, you have to listen with your eyes and your body. You have to pay attention and react to your audience as well because their reactions are not predictable. My training taught me how to be a good listener, and in turn, I’d like to think I help organizations become better listeners. Second, I learned to understand body language, which is an invaluable skill. Our tweets have body language. Word choice, capitalization, grammar and so on, comprise the body language of our tweets. Finally, I learned to project, not just my voice, but my energy. I leaned how to interact with an audience and bring them into the story we were telling.

Nugget of knowledge: This is key for organizations, as they have to capture and hold an audience’s attention with stories about products and services. It’s about my clients first, not me.

How did you begin your virtual life?
I began slowly with Twitter. I followed people I knew and respected in real life. My “tipping point” came after the terrorist attack in Mumbai, where I was anxiously trying to find out how my friends and family were. When the attacks started, there was nothing on TV here in the US. So I found news feeds from Indian television online and started sharing what I was seeing, or “secondary reporting” via tweets. I became immersed in it over those days; I remember it was Thanksgiving, and I pretty much spent it in front of my laptop and then the TV, when they started reporting on it here. And as you know, once you start, you can’t stop. Twitter is tough to understand until you actually do it. It was my comfort level with Twitter that led to my blogging.

Speaking of which, your blog is Waxing UnLyrical, how do you maintain it with everything else you’re involved in?*
It is difficult to get one’s head around blogging if one hasn’t done it before, and I’m trying to get better at it. I was hesitant at first, thinking like a lot of beginner bloggers, “why would anyone want to read my blog?” But as I got comfortable on Twitter, I realized that I often wanted to share opinions that needed more than 140 characters, and felt more and more compelled to turn to the medium. I jumped in at the start of 2009 and am trying to find ways to make it engaging, entertaining and enjoyable.

One advantage is that it’s a personal blog, so I write about whatever I want. Initially, I took this all over the place, even sharing recipes that I developed (I love to cook), but as I’ve been reading and learning more—I subscribe to quite a variety of different blogs to see what I can learn from them—I’m trying to focus it more and more on PR, social media and related topics. But there’s still a personal voice, I think, which I would not want to let go of, if I can help it. The other thing I’ve started doing recently is bringing on regular guest bloggers. This helps with the regularity of content and it also helps keep the blog fresh.

Is this a personal pay-it-forward plan?
You can say that, my first blog post was for Communication Overtones, by Kami Watson Huyse, APR, aka @kamichat. She really gave me the confidence to start writing; I mean, I’ve always been a decent writer, but not having written consistently for a while, I was intimidated by some of the blogging I saw. I still am, but a little less scared now, and I want to give that same opportunity to other bloggers.

Since so many people helped me get started, I figured that if I can help someone find their voice, then I want to do it.

*For those who don’t know Shonali, she is an adjunct faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University, the current president of the International Association of Business Communicator’s DC Metro chapter, managing editor for Women Grow Business, contributor to BNET.com, an entrepreneur, public speaker and last, and certainly not least, a wife.

Questions marketing professionals are asking and the answers they need to remember:

When did social marketing become a young people's profession?
Marketing professionals have adapted to new technologies for centuries from print to radio to television to web, and they will adopt social technology.

When did experience become the antithesis of creativity, ingenuity and inspiration?
Thinking outside of the box begins with experienced people who know what it means to be in the box.

When did working harder become better than working smarter?
Experience teaches people to prioritize, manage and delegate to efficiently and effectively reach objectives.

The perception of social techology as the marketing pervue of the young is understandable. Facebook was started in a college dorm room and former Twitter CEO Evan Williams, isn't yet 40 years old. However, the reality is experience is the best teacher. Experience teaches self discipline, decorum and humility, all of which are the foundations to successful marketing and PR campaigns, regardless of the medium or platform.

Marketing generalists need to know the basics of social marketing in order to stay current, keep up their skills and remain marketable in a tough economy. New people in the industry should consider expanding their knowledge beyond social to expand their skillset and be competitive. Marketing campaigns, especially based in the social space, require cross-functional cooperation across the organization to be effective.

Nugget of knowledge: Communication + Collaboration = Campaign Success

Calling a thing by its proper name is typically easy: car, house, dog, elephant, desk, tree and so on. Often it only takes a simple and discreet correction if the thing is incorrectly identified. However, with the proliferation of social technology, and the subsequent plethora of developers, early adopters, power-users and "experts," this category of thing has gotten mislabeled and become confusing, especially to the newbie.

Social (adj.), “pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations” Thus all of your online social activities should center on “friendly companionship or relations.”

Social technology – web-based tools and platforms used for social purposes, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.

Social network – followers, fans, friends and connections developed and maintaned on social platforms

Social media – user-generated content -- composition, video, photograph or spoken word -- created for and disseminated via social platforms

Social marketing – process of creating customer interest in a product via social technology

Information is power!

The word cloud is brought to you by Wordle.

This week’s Awesomely Fantabulous Woman is Liz Scherer. She is a wordsmith of the first order, beginning her writing career at the old age of 7. If you don’t know her, you should follow, friend and connect with her ASAP. We had a great conversation and I learned a lot about Liz and her secret to success, which makes me want to be even more like her.

I began by asking Liz how she would describe herself:
I’m a writer and a journalist specializing in health, particularly women’s health. I’ve been writing since I was a child, and I was first published when I was 7, it was a poem. I transitioned to non-fiction after I graduated from college. I wanted to combine my business skills  and my passion for writing, which lead me to healthcare public relations. This is about the time I also  started getting published as a medical writer.

I didn’t know you’re a writer, I thought you were in marketing?
People don’t know how to classify me because of my different hats. Marketing is an underlying foundation, but I’ve always been a writer. The 80s were when I started getting paid as a writer; I was first published in 86. Then I began health reporting as the digital space grew.

I know you’re passionate about women’s health, what was the impetus for your blog, Flashfree?
I started my blog in 2008 because I finally had something to say.

Come on Liz, those of us who know you, know you always have something to say.
Seriously, I had gotten away from creative writing for some time and I needed to write about what was happening to me, my body, in my own voice.

Why write about such a personal issue?
Well, I’ve been a long time advocate of women’s health, it’s a key interest of mine. As I started my journey through this stage of life, I began doing research, and I found there wasn’t a lot being written for me. I’m a “tail gater” not quite old enough to be an official baby boomer and I’m a little too old to be part of Gen X. I was unhappy with the information I found about perimenopause. In particular, there was also limited information on natural alternatives to HRT.

How much longer do you think you’ll keep writing about menopause?
Right now, I do it because there’s a need and I enjoy it. When there isn’t a need or it stops being fun, then I’ll stop.

You’re also a contributor to Women Grow Business, how long have you been in business and how have you managed to stay relevant?
I attended a TEDxEast event and heard a presentation by Baba Brinkman about evolution, and from there I was able to put a name to something I had been doing my entire career. I call it “Evolutionary Marketing,” which is based on a three -ronged algorithm: performance, feedback and revision.

Please explain.
Sure. Performance equals quality control, for instance, making sure I deliver well-researched, well-written content on schedule. Feedback means client retention, am I listening to my clients, am I still meeting their needs, is my business growing? Finally, revision is the evaluation and adaptation stage, these are my business drivers.

So, these are the keys to your longevity?
Yes, I keep adding new skill sets, offering a mix of services to my clients. “My adaptability has allowed me to run my own business and be successful  since 1992."