Our Breakout Brand strategy is in the news again. Earlier this week, PRNews ran a great story about our Customer Insights study, which show the value of brands focusing on the customer, not the competitor.
Today, my second guest blog post at PRWeek went live, and it’s about how emotions can drive brand success.
What do Zappos, Apple and Starbucks all have in common? These are brands that create powerful, memorable customer experiences. That approach can have a tremendous impact on a company’s bottom line.
According to a survey by the polling firm IBOPE/Zogby International for rbb Public Relations, of the 2,000 adults surveyed, 83 percent said they are willing to spend more on a product or service if they feel a personal connection to the company.
Read my full post at PRWeek for three specific steps to adopting Breakout Brand strategies to make your cash register sing.
Posted in: Business Thoughts, Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: best practices, client management, prweek
Like last year, I was asked by PRWeek, a dominant industry publication, to be their featured guest blogger for the week. I was more than happy to oblige, and my first post on what clients really want appears today.
My post focuses on an idea that seems counterintuitive at first – the last thing people think about when hiring a company is their actual ability. My point is that most clients who’ve done their research already know a PR firm can do the job, so I believe that prospective clients are more concerned with how you do the job. In other words, is there chemistry? How well will you work with their team?
It may seem superficial, but it’s a philosophy that can help boost client satisfaction. Read my post at PRWeek to see how affability, availability and ability really come together when building a successful relationship.
Posted in: Business Thoughts, Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: best practices, client management, prweek
While we slow down later today to begin reuniting with friends and family and contemplate all there is to be thankful for, retailers race to compete in light of a brazen new strategy to further capitalize on the Black Friday weekend by opening doors on Thanksgiving night.
Early discussions on the topic show more criticism than celebration, yet retailers are suggesting this is in response to customer demand. This begs the question: Are these retailers breaking tradition or breaking out?
Posted in: Marketing
Tags: black friday, breakout brands, customer, cyber monday, Marketing, thanksgiving
I had the great opportunity to attend the 2012 Marketing Profs 6th Annual B2B Forum in Boston earlier this year. The event was incredible, with two jam-packed days of seminars, breakout sessions, keynotes and networking.
Although the sessions focused on B2B marketing, there was plenty of advice given that could apply to all marketers and PR pros.
There were five tracks covered in the forum: lead gen, social media, mobile, content, and marketing essentials, which made me wish that I could somehow split myself up to attend everything. Alas, Google and Apple haven’t figured out a way to do that yet (though I am sure its coming).
As you can imagine, there was a lot of information to digest. Below are some of the key takeaways of the sessions that I was able to attend.
Posted in: Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: advice, best practices, Marketing, marketingprofs, Public Relations, Tips
The phone that you carry says a great deal about you. Smartphones are great for PR pros, because the infinite amount of apps available keep us in the loop with the latest news and help manage our constantly busy lives.
With so many apps to choose from, it’s challenging to find the perfect ones that suit your needs. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of essential apps that every PR pro should have to help them maintain their career and sanity.
Posted in: Public Relations
Tags: android, Apps, iPhone, itunes, Public Relations, smartphone, technology
Do you believe that regular exercise is good for you? Most of you would raise your hands and say yes. But do you exercise regularly? I bet most of those hands would go down. If you know something is true, why isn’t that belief enough to cause you to act?
That was one of the questions posed at the Holmes Report Global PR Summit earlier this month. John Iwata, both CMO and CCO at IBM, shared his thoughts on how public relations moves audiences from awareness to belief to action. Joining the roster were leaders of global brands and agencies from as far as away as Ukraine, Demark and Morocco.
It was my first time at a global summit, and the overwhelming takeaway was that, yes, it really is a small world. When I spoke on how to build a civilized workplace by weeding out the jerks, people from a multitude of cultures and countries nodded in agreement at the problems jerks cause.
Well, maybe knowing there are jerks all over the world isn’t a big “aha,” but throughout this three day event I repeatedly had conversations that reinforced the universal issues faced by communicators the world over. If I had to boil it down, I would say the top questions were:
- How do we engage audiences to inspire action, not just knowledge?
- How do we manage through a changing marketplace?
- Are there new social dynamics in each generation that change how people behave?
- Can you harness technology to enhance communication?
- Do companies have to make emotional connections or stand for something to be relevant to customers? (We say yes. See our blog on Breakout Brands.)
- Is “the big idea” still relevant?
- Will all communications eventually be integrated and not silo driven by PR, advertising, etc.?
And what were the answers? Yes, yes, yes, yes and oh boy yes.
The excitement expressed by presenters on every panel echoed that times are changing and the communication industry is racing to keep up or get in front. I also saw that company size or location had little influence on the strategies used to grow market share.
rbb’s own panel on Breakout Brands was a perfect case in point. Panelists from Bacardi, Duncan Hines and Better Place all had stories to tell of adopting a “customer first” strategy that created emotional connections with consumers that drove bottom line purchases. The case studies we saw showcased creativity as well as results and challenged each of us to push harder to do great things.
The Global PR Summit made me believe that public relations is a global profession with a growing body of knowledge and inspired me to act by sharing my thoughts with you today. You can see all the things you missed at the Holmes Report Storify.
Posted in: Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: best practices, breakout brands, conference, global, holmes report, Innovation, Marketing, Public Relations
The most expensive presidential race in American history has provided a real boost to the marketing industry. Collectively, the candidates, parties and independent groups have spent more than $1 billion on TV advertising since April according to data compiled by media trackers and provided to the Associated Press.
Even if you don’t reside in a battleground state targeted with most of the TV buys, you were no doubt exposed to the $78 million worth of online and social media activities executed by the Romney and Obama campaigns.
With both the airways and the blogosphere dominated by presidential campaign chatter, rather than try to compete for attention with standard consumer brand awareness campaigns, savvy marketers feed our country’s patriotic binge with creative election-centered promotions and content.
I am sick and tired of the ads, phone calls and junk mail…and after today, it will just about be over.
But despite the frustrations of long lines, Facebook friends you no longer like and politicians you just don’t trust, Seth Godin has uncovered a really good reason to vote.
It’s a quick read and well worth it. After all, don’t we all want people working hard to please us?
Why vote? The marketing dynamics of apathy
Here’s what political marketers learn from people who don’t vote:
Nothing.
If you don’t vote because you’re disappointed with your choices, disgusted by tactics like lying and spin, or merely turned off by the process, you’ve opted out of the marketplace.
The goal of political marketers isn’t to get you to vote. Their goal is to get more votes than the other guy. So they obsess about pleasing those that vote. Everyone else is invisible.
Steakhouses do nothing to please vegetarians who don’t visit them, and politicians and their handlers don’t care at all about non-voters.
The magic of voting is that by opting in to the system, you magically begin to count. A lot.
Posted in: Politics
According to a survey by the polling firm IBOPE/Zogby International for rbb Public Relations, companies have to show consumers the love in order to attract – and keep them in today’s dynamic marketplace.
Of the 2,000 adults surveyed, 83 percent are willing to spend more on a product or service if they feel a personal connection to the company. One fifth of respondents said they would pay 50 percent or more if they felt the company put the customer first.
The survey found that to stay competitive, companies are adopting marketing strategies that align with today’s new consumer perspective. Instead of chasing the competition to become number one, creating powerful customer experiences is the top priority. rbb has labeled companies leading this charge as Breakout Brands.
Posted in: Business Thoughts, Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: best practices, breakout brands, Innovation, Marketing, Public Relations, starbucks, survey, zappos
At the Global PR Summit in Miami this week, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a panel discussion called “It’s a Conversation, Not a Campaign: What Marketers Can Learn From PR.”
The panel featured C-suite communications executives from the likes of Lenovo and Proctor & Gamble discussing how traditionally separate communications disciplines are becoming more and more integrated in today’s digital world.
That is, marketers must learn to speak the language of PR and social media to meaningfully engage today’s consumers. The top piece of information most public relations practitioners (83 percent of those surveyed) think marketers need to learn is that reputation is a consequence of the authentic behavior of an organization.
Posted in: Business Thoughts, Marketing, Public Relations
Tags: advertising, best practices, Business Thoughts, Communication, conference, global pr summit, holmes report, Marketing, Public Relations
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