Should Your Business/Organization Blog?

Who is blogging?  According to Sysomos.com, the most active bloggers are people 1 to 35 years old (that demographic makes up 73.3% of the blogging population).  Only 7% are in my age range—and that is ‘just’ older than 50 years old.

Sysomos.com analyzed more than 100 million blog posts.  It found that there are an equal amount of men and women.  Most bloggers are located in the U.S. (about 30 %).  What the study didn’t differentiate is how many are business blogs and how many are personal blogs.   Or, how many people start blogs and stop.

Rather than sending out sales e-mail after sales e-mail about your business, a blog allows you to be more authentic and complex in your messaging.  There is more meat to your message than bun.  The online space is rapidly evolving and new models for communications are emerging:  A blog gets you in the electronic game.

If you have a “What’s New” section of your website, you should already be blogging to some extent. A blog does help build community and true relationships that can develop and grow over time.   It can be one of the best tools for sharing information and expertise.   And that is good for business on many levels.

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Business Means Saying You Are Sorry

I’m really, really sorry for this blog.  I’m sorry it can’t be more.  The reason I’m apologizing is I just wanted to join the ranks of those making public apologies:  General McChrystal, Tony Hayward of BP, Toyota’s president, the Catholic church, British prime ministers, a host of politicians, Tiger Woods, Don Imus and Kramer.

In the first 30 seconds of Tiger’s press conference, he said he was sorry.  When you work in the public, you must be forgiven by the people you offended, but then you must also be forgiven by the general public.  Don Imus was forgiven by the Rutgers team, but not by the public.

Three things must happen in a public apology:

1. Express genuine remorse
2. Take full responsibility
3. Introduce a plan to never let it happen again

How well is BP doing?  They are missing part three.  They can apologize again and again, but they need the plan for going forward.

Now, you may not spill oil in the gulf or have your car accident interrupt network programming, but you will make a mistake.  And, you will need to apologize.  Not just to the person you’ve wronged, but to all your customers.

In this social media age, word can travel at light speed.  Your apology needs to travel faster.

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A Logo Test

Quick, what is Geico’s logo?  Did you guess a gecko?  A caveman?  Or, did you guess the money with the googly eyes?  Actually, Geico’s logo is just a dark-blue font, which is Eurostile Bold Extended.  But does their logo really matter?

I believe the day of lifeless logos may have passed while we were all watching the recession.  The Internet is changing everything.  But changing things more than the Internet is clutter.  You have to breakthrough to be noticed.  Safe is not a safe marketing strategy.     

Geico created strong avatars for its brand — stronger icons than its logo.  Or maybe better than its logo.  Or maybe the avatars are now the logos.  Today, flat, inanimate logos are changing into lifelike, moving icons. 

The Internet has made Disney creatives of us all.  Today, logos need to be engaging, compelling, they need to move and they must be more human.  Humanizing your logo will help make it memorable. 

Think about AFLAC.  What does AFLAC’s  logo look like?  A white duck, right?  See the Jolly Green Giant in your mind?  Now, what does the logo look like?

“An avatar even goes further by becoming the symbolic actor in a continuing brand story,” says Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap.  It is time to get your logo into action.  And that will re-energize your brand and your organization.

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Visualize to Strategize

Did you watch Lindsey Vonn win downhill skiing gold at the Olympics?  You may have watched the race, but Lindsey already had won the medal at the top of the hill. 

Prior to racing, Lindsey goes through a pre-race routine:  eyes closed and hands out, she visualizes the course, making every turn and moving her hands as she goes through the mental map of the terrain.   This pre-seeing of the course helps skiers navigate the course at breakneck speeds. 

I read an article in Golf Magazine that talked about the same visualization technique:  It said that when you take your practice swing, visualize the ball sailing in the air, straight at the pin and landing softly on the green.  You may think this sounds a bit Zen-like, but I believe you must go through the same mental mapping of your brand’s future to ‘see’ where your efforts will take you. 

We all get caught up in the tactical side of marketing and forget to step back, close our eyes and visualize how to best target a specific audience segment. You must visualize to strategize so you don’t target too broad an audience spectrum — it’s the same as staying close to your gates on the Super G fall line.  Visualization gives you incredible focus.   

Close your eyes and visualize your brand.  Focus on your target audience.  See your brand sailing straight and true at that audience.  Focus and then watch your organization soar.

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The Internet Is Not Killing Newspapers

My first  job was delivering newspapers.  Today, I’m delivering a much different story.  The Internet isn’t killing newspapers.  News is killing newspapers.  The medium is not the message.  I believe our news appetite has changed and newspapers have not realized the shift in tastes. 

A Pew Research Center study shows that newspaper readership has fallen from 34% in 2006 to 27% today. But even more profound is that 34% (up from 25% in 1998) of people are ”newsless” (people who get no news on a typical day).   And 51% of Americans say they are now “news grazers.”    

The problem is that we are now information-rich and time-poor.  So our sorting skills and news-relevancy sensors are much more sharpened.  We want to ”search” the information that is relevant to us and discard the rest.     

So think about the last time you searched for car accidents?  Did you search for bank robberies in your area?  What about jury selections?  Searched for the city council minutes recently?  People will always need an arbiter of content, but newspapers will need to rethink news if they want to survive.    

What can save newspapers?  The same thing that sells any product:  clear differentiation and targeted benefits. 

So what are newspapers to do?

• Rethink what is news. Target the audience and give it what it wants. 
• Strip out all that is on the Internet (such as stock listings, national sport scores, ag markets).
• Become hyper-local.  No national or international news unless a local hook exists.
• Embrace citizen journalists.  ABC ran a story about the East Coast’s winter storm. It featured Flip camera video stories from citizen journalists.  The citizen stories were much more interesting than the ABC reporter’s, who obviously never got a household ready for a snowstorm. 
• Shorter articles.  More bullets.  More pictures (but not more pictures of the mayor, we all know what he looks like). More easily consumed charts and graphs.   

Newspapers need to refocus on the readers.  Just like any business needs to focus on its target audience.  It’s time to hone the news menu for the audience’s new tastes.

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The New Normal of Value

When the flood of 2008 hit Cedar Rapids (and poured nearly 10 feet of water into our Cedar Rapids office), many who had been through similar floods told us of how things would never return to normal, and to expect a “new normal” to arise.  

That is what seems to be happening with the flood of bad economic times.  It is changing our business world in ways we will not understand for years to come.  But there are some clear signs of our “new normal.” 

One big change is in the way consumers perceive ‘value.’  What is surprising in this recession is that ‘value’ has become not about price, but about other metrics consumers use to rank a product or service.  It is less about value=price and more about value=benefits (and then compared to cost). 

Several brand-tracking services are finding that consumers are becoming more ‘brand conscious’ and looking for brands that offer real ‘value.’  Commoditization does allow for price-only-driven decisions.  Yet some brands that have clear benefit advantage are not the low-cost alternative.  Apple, J.Crew, Nikon and Nike all rate very high on brand rankings because they break from the value=price cliche.  They offer a high value for the dollar spent.   

The “new normal” of value:

• Does it make things easier for me?
• Is it innovative?
• Is it clearly differentiated from the other products or services?
• Does it heighten my experience?

It seems to me that people today are looking for a Return on Purchase.  What is the perceived value we get in terms of product’s or service’s functional or psychological benefits?  People may be less likely to spend money today, unless you can clearly demonstrate a return on purchase.  Does your product or service really make me happy?  And, that means you may need to communicate with that customer more after the sale or service transaction to make sure they understand your value. 

The value statement floating around today should be, “Are we really worth what we charge, and why?”  Consumers are impatiently waiting for the answers.

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Viral Video and the Cowboys

Did you watch the Dallas Cowboys game Saturday night?  Did you see the super-sized HD screens?  Even the players and coaches could be caught watching the big screen TVs from the sidelines.  Today, video is more compelling and video is viral. 

In the new stadium there are 71-foot-high and 160-foot-wide mammoth HD monitors stretching from one 25-yard line to the other.  Surprisingly, there are another 3,000 video screens in the stadium  (1 for every 30 fans).  

That is so, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, you can tell the “whole story” of the game.  Video cameras are everywhere in the stadium so they can show people in the stands or a player going to the locker room for an X-ray during the game.  You see the game and the ‘back stories.’ 

“They can’t turn away, so you can hammer them with your message,” said Mr. Jones.

It is TV’s on-screen movement that keeps you from turning away.   White space leads the eye in print media, but movement directs the eye on a video screen.  And video (or video-like) movement on a Web site makes for a more compelling brand/selling experience.

Video is also the best way to go viral:  A Canadian singer couldn’t get United Airlines to pay for his guitar damaged by baggage handlers.  Finally, United paid $3,000 to the singer’s favorite charity.  Why? He made a music video about the experience, “United Breaks Guitars,” and generated  7 million hits on YouTube.   Now that will get things moving in any company. In fact, United now uses the music video to train service reps, but alas, not baggage handlers. 

Blog Brand Promise:  This blog will energize your marketing in less than 1 minute — unless you are a very slow reader. 

Note:  The idea for today’s blog came from one of my ‘pickets.’  A ‘picket’ is a lookout, a soldier watching for a surprise attack.  Thanks for the photo Dee. 

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HO to the Third Power

I have a button I wear every Christmas.  I believe I’ve had it for more than 20 years.  Some people get the message, many do not.   The way my mind works, I got it the first time I saw it and I had to buy the button.  However at parties and in group settings,  I see some people struggle to find the true meaning. (Sounds like a good Christmas tale?)

When I see the way different people react to the button, it always reminds me of how people respond differently to messaging and advertising. 

Scientists and physicians rarely get the button’s message.  I’ve had many say, “What element is that?” or “I know what H2O is, but what is HO3?”   Kids get the button’s message fast and are the first to yell out “HO-HO-HO.”  More women than men decipher the meaning.   Detail people don’t get it; 10,000-foot people usually see the joke.   

It doesn’t mean that one group is better than the other.  It means we are different in how we view and interpret messages.  One message rarely works for all people.

We really need to think about our target audiences psychographically, rather than just demographically.  So the next time you are thinking about putting a message out there, think about what the people you are trying to reach are like:  How do they view the world? Are they left- or right-brain thinkers? How are they moved emotionally?  Then ,craft your message accordingly.  

And if you are too clever, you may be missing a large part of your audience. Loud and literal always wins the day, even at Christmas.  HO HO HO.

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Brian Kelly as PR Man

You know Tiger Woods is one of the worst PR people, but football coaches are another group of fumbling fools when it comes to managing media relations.   Most coaches (pro and college) look like they just woke up from a nap when it comes to talking with members of the new or old media.   Brian Kelly from Cincinnati University wins this week’s Heisman Award for poor PR performances.

When asked questions before and after the Pittsburg game, he looked like a freshman defensive back surprised the ball was thrown to his side of the field.  Hey coach, before you face the nation on TV, radio, print and Web, be prepared. Establish a game plan.  Practice.  Don’t wing it.

What would he tell his players?  Be ready.  Anticipate.  React.  Be decisive.

Instead, he fumbled.   He was so afraid of facing the media, he announced his intention to interview with Notre Dame on Twitter.  I like the use of social media, but in this case it is fear: he is hiding from the public.  He must be talking to Tiger’s attorney. 

PR 101 for coaches. 

• You are not good liars, so tell the truth. 
• Go to PR training camp and learn some skills.
• Write out potential questions you know will be asked.
• Write out your answers.
• Practice your answers, out loud. 
• If you can’t remember it all, then write it down on a 3×5 card (just like a quarterbacks write out plays on their arms). 

It is time for coaches to grow up.  They need to learn to deal with the questions in a professional manner.  And,  we have a lot of questions.  Recruits, reporters, contributors, owners (citizens of the state), and fans all have questions that you must answer.    

As for Brian Kelly, we all knew he was lying.  I hope he does  go to Notre Dame so they can really turn up the media intensity.  We will see how you perform.  In the meantime, Mr. Kelly, think like a player and start practicing.

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Throwaway Marketing Words

Words mean things.  Yet in marketing, we tend to puff-up everything.  We try to sound comprehensively smarter.  We try to sound very excited.  We try to sound louder!

George Carlin hated unnecessary words, such as, “Let’s begin the boarding process.”  Why a “process?” Why don’t we just begin boarding?  He also hated shower ‘activity,’ confidence ‘level,’ knowledge ‘base,’ and fear ‘factor.’

Here’s a short list of other advertising words that should be cut from marketing lingo:

• Simply…the best.  Why do we always explain so much and then end with “simply…________.”  It is never that simple and everyone knows it, but you.
• Crush the competition.  This is mostly a car-dealer line.  Do people know or care about the elusive “competition?”  Most business is not playing a game, so try selling benefits instead.     
• Most competitive prices.  That is a sure sign you don’t know why you charge what you do.  Competitive with what?  Competitive means you’re not the lowest. 
• Comprehensive care.  ”We simultaneously center our programs on an integrated approach to healthcare delivery.”  That almost makes sense.  I wish comprehensive would go the way of tertiary care.
• Very.  I especially love that very unique attribute of making something more than it can be.
• And More!  There never is more.  There is always just what was listed.
• !  We were all given 5 exclamation points at birth.  Use them sparingly.  They mean a yell such as “Fire!” “Look out!” ” He’s got a gun!”  Not “Limited time!”  “Come in and see what we have for you!” ”Cider and cookies this weekend! “And more!”    

As Mr. Carlin said, “…my typing process is beginning to tire my finger area…It’s time to consider the break factor before I have a fatigue incident.”  Sounds really smart.

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