Blender

Building your PR Skills

Once upon a time, PR and Marketing were distinct functions.

Today, the lines are blurred.

For marketers, marketing departments, and business owners, PR is becoming an indispensable weapon in the battle for awareness, and ultimately sales. As a result, marketers with PR skills are more valuable to employers and are more effective in promoting their businesses.

Some reasons for the rise of PR as a marketing tool:

• Everybody’s a journalist – there are 112 million blogs online, and the number of reputable news sources that are “online only” has also increased dramatically in recent years.

• TV Ratings are down – your audience is more fragmented than ever, as people turn to their favourite Internet sites for entertainment more than they are tuning in to prime time network TV.

• Nobody trusts advertising – the credibility of advertising has fallen in recent years, as people are increasingly suspicious of the claims they see in paid marketing.

• Nobody sees advertising – well, “nobody” is an overstatement but with the vast number of messages consumers are exposed to every day, it’s getting much much harder to break through the clutter.

PR represents a good solution for some of the challenges noted above:

• If "everyone’s" a journalist, your ability to reach them with good story ideas and positive messages about your brand and your products will determine how much positive coverage you generate in blogs and through traditional news sources

• If TV Ratings are down, go where your target market is by getting stories about your brand in the right online publications

• If nobody trusts advertising, the third party credibility that comes with positive publicity presents a great opportunity to bolster the trust factor that consumers will assign to messages from your company

• While it's true that breaking through the clutter is much harder these days, it's much easier when readers/viewers are finding your message as part of their daily routine of seeking out information on their favourite sites or through trusted news sources         

As PR and Marketing continue to converge, maintaining skills on both sides of the fence is becoming increasingly important for marketers. I would strongly advise marketers who are short on PR experience to get some - it will make you more effective in delivering your message to the market, and can provide a boost to your career/business.

Missing the Low Hanging Fruit in Customer Loyalty

I recently leased a new Saturn Aura, and yesterday it was due for its first oil change. I had never before leased a car and have never owned a Saturn before this one. So this was the first time I'd ever been in for service at my local Saturn dealer.

The experience was decidely mediocre.

In a classic case of missing the low hanging fruit when it comes to generating customer loyalty, I was processed much like someone at the deli counter in the grocery store. The folks working behind the service counter didn't seem too interested in me being there, and I actually can't recall them saying much more than a word or two to me the entire time I was there.

What a missed opportunity. Here I was, a freshly minted customer still enjoying driving around in my new car. And when I show up for my first service experience at the dealership that sold me the car (and could sell me others in the future), the experience is brutally ordinary.

Here's what I propose. When a new customer brings their car in for service for the first time at a dealership, a message pops up on the screen for the service rep that reads as follows:

“The person standing in front of you is a new customer. The next 5 minutes are critical to giving them a reason to come back here for service again and again, and maybe buy their next car here. Right now, their relationship with us is entirely in your hands. Make a difference to this customer in the next 5 minutes.”

Evidently, they didn't have that little pop-up at Saturn.

Leveraging Brand Equity in Tough Times

  When the tough times arrive (some would say they’re already here), your brand equity is your greatest asset. But how do you leverage it when your entire industry might be feeling the pinch of slower economic times?

Here are 3 keys to making the most of the credibility that you’ve built for your business:

Communicate! – Talk to your clients when times get tough.

I know that marketing budgets get squeezed when times are tight, and it can be tougher to get your message out to the market. But at the very least, you should be communicating with your existing clients – frequently.

Don’t disappear when the going gets tough. Reinforce your brand message and offer ideas and strategies for clients to prosper in slower times.

Your competitors are more prone than ever to doing irrational things as they face pressures of their own. For example, they may sell their product or service at a deep discount that you dare not match. At times like this, your brand message needs to come through loud and clear so that you have a leg to stand on when others get desperate.

Inform – This is critical in “high trust” businesses (think real estate agents, financial or insurance advisors, lawyers, marketing consultants, and so on).

Change creates an insatiable appetite for information among clients, and the brand that provides it will be afforded expert status in the market, potentially gaining a huge advantage in the short term, and establishing a solid foundation for long term success.

For example, homeowners are carefully watching the value of their property right now, and are looking for guidance and information more than ever. As a real estate agent, be the one to give it to them, good or bad. Ditch the “friendly service” message in your ads and be the local expert who’s on top of the situation, the one who really knows what’s going on. Get in the local media, and talk to community leaders. You’ll only add to your brand equity, and if you’re a mid-pack player right now this shakeup could be the opening you need to become a top-tier agent. This applies in a variety of industries.

Deliver – It’s tempting to cut corners or trim costs when business slows, but you absolutely must preserve your brand experience.

When looking for a 10% cost reduction, businesses often cut the one thing out of their business model that makes them standout, and that their existing clients consider a key element of the brand experience. The logic for the cut is that none of the competition are doing it, so why not cut it. Of course, the fact that none of your competitors are doing it is the reason you shouldn't cut it when "it" is a unique part of your brand experience!

When the market around you slows down, your strength is in your brand. Leverage it, and whatever you do, don't damage your brand by seeking short term cost reductions in the worst possible place - your brand experience.

The Cost of Imperfection

How much did it cost you today because you were imperfect?

You know that your website/blog/product/packaging/etc. isn’t perfect. There are a few things you would like to do to make it better. But, there are also competing priorities, and you can’t do everything, so you learn to live with those little imperfections while dealing with bigger, more pressing issues.

Have you ever put anything back on the shelf in the grocery store because it wasn’t perfect?

You know, you pick up a can of soup, but you realize the back half of the label is ripped off, or the can is dented…so you put it back on the shelf and grab another. If it’s the last one, you might forget about buying soup altogether, or perhaps choose a similar product from another brand that isn’t dented.

So...when you’re the consumer, a small imperfection can lead you to abandon a planned purchase.

But...when you’re the marketer, you live with imperfection because you have other pressing issues to deal with.

But what's more pressing than sales?

Managing Complaints in Cyberspace

When a customer complains to a big company with a big brand, there is typically a team of people responsible for resolving the client’s complaint. When the same customer posts a negative comment about a brand somewhere on the Internet, visible to you and every potential customer on the planet, most companies do nothing.

Why?

Companies invest in customer service departments for two reasons:

• Defending their market share - they don’t want to lose business because of a bad client experience




• Defending their brand image - they want to diffuse a bad situation before the customer goes out and tells 10 friends who tell 10 more, and so on

This reactive "complaint department" model is no longer effective in defending your brand image, as so much of the conversation between customers is now online.

This reveals an interesting paradox about the way companies allocate resources. Call them with a complaint and they’ll have a team of people working to help you (well, the good brands will.) But post something online for everyone to see for all eternity, and most companies won’t do a thing about it.

Why not? Those negative comments are popping up in Google searches every time someone looks for the brand online – isn’t that far worse than someone who tells ten friends who tell ten more?

Personally, I use Google to check for “dirt” on a company that I am planning to deal with for the first time especially if I haven’t heard of them before. I’ll use searches like “Name of Company Scam” or “Name of Company complaints” to dig up negative information on the brand, just to see if there might be a reason not to deal with them.

As Andy Sernovitz asks over at the "Damn I wish I'd Thought of That" blog, why don’t companies invest in hiring what I could call a “clean up crew”? Get a group of students together to scout the Internet for negative mentions of your brand, then see what you can do about managing those potentially damaging comments.

And for those who would say there’s nothing you can do, I disagree:

• If you’ve been bashed on a message board over a bad customer experience, post something yourself that apologizes for the bad experience and give the client a way to contact you. Don’t go overboard here because you’ve only heard one side of the story so far, but the fact that you care enough about your image to post a reply will help to mitigate the negative post. When potential clients stumble across the client’s rant through a Google search, they’ll also see your reply, helping to balance the story.




• If you’ve been wrongly accused of something, share information that helps to balance the negative point of view, or outright prove it wrong, but don’t be confrontational about it.




• Compile some stats on why you’re getting bashed – if a common theme emerges, post some robust information about the issue on your website and link to it in response to negative mentions of your brand online.

Complaints have moved online - isn't it time companies started putting some resources behind proactive image management instead of reactive complaint management?

Real Estate Marketing Madness

It's March on the outskirts of Toronto, which means my mailbox is crammed with marketing materials from local real estate agents trying to get my business in the busy Spring real estate market. I've received 10 flyers in the last week alone.

And like every year, I see examples of agents who have wasted their money on ineffective marketing tactics that simply aren't going to work.

A quick sidebar for our American readers -- the real estate agents here in Canada are still enjoying record years when it comes to the housing market. And while there are some spots in the US where real estate values are falling, the challenge facing agents are the same on many levels -- to convince those who are thinking of moving to list their home with you.

It's the "convincing" part where most agents fall short.

After sifting through the flyers, I've developed some thoughts that are specific to improving real estate marketing but would be applicable to any business where the client is being asked to make a significant, high dollar purchase:

Build Trust - If you're going to get 5% of the value of my home as a commission, I'll need to trust you first. And you don't build trust by telling me your trustworthy, or that you're good.

Own the Information Advantage - To build trust, one option is to own the expert position. Share information freely with the local market (and the local media) about where the market is headed, and whether it differs from the national picture. Anyone thinking of moving craves information - how much are other homes selling for, how long they've been on the market, and so on.

Any dollar spent on marketing that doesn't work towards building trust among potential buyers is a dollar wasted because it doesn't get you closer to a sale.

While we're at it, here are some phrases I'm tired of seeing in real estate ads, and that generally don't work:

A trusted professional. Trusted? By whom? Prove it.

I get results! Good for you! Show me.

Free Home Evaluation with this coupon - I'm sure some appointments are made thanks to the free evaluation premise, but can we lose the coupon idea? Don't cheapen the experience by pretending that the unaddressed piece of paper that EVERYONE got in the mail is actually required to get a home evaluation.

Marketing messages I'd like to see more of from real estate agents:

The choice for families - Parents often worry the most about moving their kids, and what the local schools are like, etc. If you could position yourself as an expert in this area through your marketing and the client experience, you'd build a huge advantage for yourself. (Build trust as a credible source of information for families, and you're on your way...)

Your Condo Market Expert -  Know everything there is to know about maintenance fees, the makeup of certain condo buildings (demographics, etc). Position yourself as the leader in this category. (Again, building trust through shared knowledge)

25 years of serving the community - Experience is perceived as an advantage in real estate, and if you can make a claim to a long service history in a particular community, you should.

In a wide open market like real estate, where there tend to be dozens or literally hundreds of competitors in each community, positioning is critical. And proving your position goes a long way towards building your profile in the market, and building trust among potential clients.

Is it Time to Stop Growing?

Laura Ries has an interesting post over at her blog, The Origin of Brands.

In a nutshell, her post suggests that “backwards is the new forwards” when it comes to branding. In other words, it’s a back to basics approach that often rescues companies who lose their brand focus in their quest for growth.

In my view, it usually plays out something like this:

- Well defined brand enters market with awesome marketing strategy

- Customers flock to the brand and rapid growth ensues

- Brand gets really big and is celebrated as a success

- Company goes public, or if already public, they start to attract serious attention from analysts

- To meet the constant, quarter-by-quarter demand for growth in revenues, company branches out into products or services that it wouldn’t have originally considered part of its brand experience

- Company delivers revenue growth over the short term

- Customers who made the brand big in the first place become somewhat alienated by the lack of focus in the brand

- Some of these customers stop buying

- Growth slows

- Analysts write that growth is slowing

- Company gets worried that growth is slowing

- The quick fixes put in place to drive short term revenues are now weighing the brand down

- Company makes “gutsy” call to get back to what made it successful in the first place – recapturing the original brand experience that has been lost

- Customers return to the “revitalized” brand

- Everyone’s happy, for now.

Laura’s post tells the story of Starbucks, a company that found itself going through a version of the above.

Here’s a question I’ve asked myself about this cycle that seems to perpetuate itself with brands (especially those that go public):

When is it time to stop growing?

Some would say growth is the ultimate goal of all businesses, but as you can see, growth at all costs tends to be pretty costly.

Your company should always be focused on growth, but overextending or overexpanding your brand may end up being counterproductive. 

Your brand may reach a point where growth slows, and you shouldn’t ruin the brand for the sake of trying to achieve the growth rates you enjoyed during the growth phase of the brand.

Maybe your company needs to launch a new brand, or maybe it’s time to sell high and move on.

Brand Equity is often your biggest asset. Wrecking it to please the street for a few quarters isn’t a good long term business proposition.

When the Competition Runs a Marketing Promo for you...

Tim Horton's has once again rolled out their popular “Roll Up the Rim to Win” promotion. But this year, there's a twist - and it's not something the people at Tim's had planned on.

First a quick history lesson for those south of the border. Tim Hortons is the 800 pound gorilla of the coffee business in Canada. It's a cultural icon. Part of its rise to the dominant market position in the market was a clever promo the chain first rolled out in 1986. After drinking your coffee, you could "roll up the rim" for a chance to win a prize, ranging from a free coffee to cars and cash. It was an instant hit and remains the company's number one promotional campaign each year.

Meanwhile, second fiddle Country Style (actually third behind Starbucks)has struggled to chip away at the mighty Tim's empire. They even came up with a promo of their own – called “Turn up a Winner”. It's the very same promo as Tim's – you roll up the rim of the cup to win a prize. The copycat promo hasn't helped Country Style – in fact Tim's handily expanded their lead over rival coffee and donut chains in recent years.

So what do you do when you're the number 3 player in the market, and can't find a winning promo even when you copy a successful promo run by the market leader?

How about hijacking the market leader's promo...literally.

Country Style's latest promotion offers Canadians with a losing Roll up the Rim cup from Tim Horton's the chance to exchange that loser for a free coffee at Country Style. (Imagine a promotion where an empty Coke bottle got you a free bottle of Pepsi.)

I think Country Style made a brilliant move here, for a few reasons:

• - As the number 3 player, Country Style promotes the high quality of their coffee when compared against other coffee chains. This cleverly devised promotion will give many first time customers a chance to sample their product and experience Country Style's higher quality for themselves.

  
  

• Even better, because of the nature of the promotion, they are guaranteed to attract Tim's drinkers and their losing cups. That avoids the common problem of many promotions – offering discounts to your existing customers (coupons, etc) while trying to attract new business.

• The timing is great – in recent years, many Canadians have noticed an appreciable drop off in winning cups at Tim's. By making a losing Tim's cup the centre of the offer, Country Style is taking a subtle jab at their larger competitor.

• The price for the promo is right – direct promotional costs are next to nothing (no promo cups!) outside of some free coffees.

• It's buzzworthy – the promotion has already made news and is getting postive word of mouth.

Will it change the face of the coffee chain wars in Canada? Hardly.

But when you're a number 3 player without the money or resources of the market leader, you've got to pick your spots and concentrate your marketing efforts in areas where you can have an impact.

This is a clever example of taking a competitor's promo and using it to draw attention to your own brand message. We'll see how it goes for Country Style...

Rethinking the 80/20 Rule

A few years ago I wrote an article for MarketingProfs.com aimed at providing readers with a new way of looking at the 80/20 rule when it comes to segmenting clients based on volume.

My main argument was that companies should start looking below the line a little further. While it may be true that 80% of your volume is coming from 20% of your clients, it does not automatically follow that getting more business from the very valuable 20% would drive increased profitability. In fact, the most profitable customers in your database might not be in your top 20% today.

The article was subsequently featured in the Globe and Mail (Canada’s National Business Newspaper, for those reading south of the border).

I think the article is still very relevant today – I’ve pasted it below:

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Here's why tapping your top-volume clients for further growth doesn't always work.

In most marketing circles, the principle behind the 80/20 rule applies to the relationship between your revenue and your customers. That is, 80% of your business results are being driven by 20% of your clients, or pretty close to it.

It's considered easier and more cost effective to grow your business by increasing the business volume your existing clients do with you, as opposed to bearing the higher acquisition costs associated with hitting the open market and trying to grab the attention of clients who don't currently deal with your company.

It is no surprise, then, that many marketers are investing heavily in identifying and segmenting their "top 20%" with the intention of developing marketing campaigns and sales promotions just for this elite group of customers, with an eye to acquiring more of their business. After all, they are clearly heavy users of your company's product or service and are apparently willing to spend money with your company versus your competition.

However, such an approach overlooks the fact that many companies identify their top 20% of clients on a volume basis. This creates a phenomenon that I call the 80/20 Volume Paradox: While your top 20% of clients may be driving a big chunk of your business and displaying all of the signs that they represent a great target audience for your marketing efforts, they may not deliver a strong ROI on further business development efforts. Why? Two possibilities:

1. They're tapped out. There are only so many hotel stays or onsite computer consultants that a client can want or need. As a result, marketing efforts aimed at this group may produce only a minimal incremental lift in volume.
2. They're buying cheap. Of the incremental volume you succeed in generating from this group, it will likely be at a lower margin, as high-volume clients generally buy at a lower price. This is especially true in business-to-business relationships, where contracts are often structured to include significant volume discounts.

To address these shortcomings of some of the traditional approaches to driving business through your top volume clients, here are two fresh approaches to looking at your top clients that put a slightly different spin on the 80/20 rule.

Think margin, not volume

Instead of identifying the top 20% of your client base in terms of volume, use margin instead. Identify the top 20% of your clients as measured by total margin, and cross-reference that list against your previously identified top 20% by volume list. You may be surprised to find that the two lists are not quite the same.

Your top 20% by volume are probably already being rewarded with volume pricing and various discounts. As a result, you might find a gem or two on your top 20% by margin list—clients who are doing moderate volume with your company, but at higher prices and therefore higher margins. Get the same sales lift out of this higher-margin group and you'll add more to the bottom line than by pursuing your volume clients only.

As an added bonus, higher-margin clients doing less volume with you may not be "tapped out" and may have room to increase their demand for a product or service. And, they are still your clients, which means you can approach them with marketing programs and promotional offers while enjoying the low acquisition costs that come with knowing your target audience.

Think 90/30

Instead of identifying your top 20% by volume and targeting them, perhaps you should cast your net wider and target the next 10% of your clients based on volume. Instead of 80/20, shift your thinking to 90/30—driving 90% of your business from 30% of your clients.

Looking below the 20% line will uncover some clients where a great "share of wallet" opportunity may exist. In this group, you are more likely to find clients who are giving at least some of their business to your competition, representing a great opportunity for you to consolidate their purchases with just one company: yours.

You may also uncover clients not as likely to be receiving heavily discounted pricing with competitors, since their purchasing is more fragmented. This gives you the option of using some pricing leverage to build volume. (Of course, building volume at the client's current rate would clearly be preferable.)

This group of clients is also less likely to be tapped out—perhaps they can be encouraged to purchase more of the service you offer, or perhaps you can wrestle a higher share of wallet out of these clients buy getting some portion of their business that is currently going to a competitor.

It is important to understand who the clients are that are driving the majority of your business, and even more important to retain their business. However, growth within your client base is often not as simple as identifying your top-volume clients and milking them for more revenue.

Don't be afraid to put a different spin on the 80/20 rule the next time you analyze your client base. You may find that turning down the volume focus will allow you to identify other good marketing opportunities among your clients.

Selling More to your Existing Customers

One of the golden rules of marketing is that increasing sales among existing customers is more profitable and more likely to be successful than pitching to the mass market.

But you have to know your customer first, and know how much they might be willing to buy. Otherwise you risk making them a lousy offer.

Case in point - last April I went online and bought two tickets to a Jays game. This was probably the first time I'd ever ordered baseball tickets online for a game.

   

About a week after the game, I received a call from a friendly Blue Jays telephone sales rep, who left me a voice mail about a special offer. Evidently they had my name from the original credit card purchase and were prospecting their list, like any good marketer would.

I was intrigued. I wondered if I would be able to get a discount on a future game, or possibly better seats for the same price. It was early in the season after all, and there will still plenty of unsold tickets for those April and May games.

Here's the offer I got when I called back – buy tickets for 10 additional games and get a small discount on the face value of the tickets.

Were they serious?

There was so much wrong with this offer:

• As a one time customer, was I really going to commit to 10 additional games at two tickets per game? They were asking me to go from spending $100 to spending $1,000. That's a massive jump.

• The discount was very modest and the offer was available on their website – I'd hardly call it an “offer”, and it certainly wasn't exclusive.

• There was no alternate offer available. Once the rep knew I wasn't going to commit to 10 games, there should have been an alternate 2 or 3 game offer available. Instead they went with an all or nothing offer – either the guy buys 10 times what he originally bought, or he buys nothing.

Your existing customers are more likely to be interested in buying more of whatever it is you are selling. But getting them to buy more is like climbing a ladder. It is next to impossible to do unless you take one step at a time.

When making offers to your existing customers (especially new ones), consider what the next logical step would be in their relationships with you, and make them a good offer to take that step.

I would have gladly taken the next step and committed to one more Jays game, maybe 2 in response to a good offer.

Not 10.