Marketing Into Headwinds

I've been wanting to post on branding--Business Week just came out with it's annual Top 100 Brands story--but it just doesn't seem relevant somehow!
But, it is. The stronger brands will weather the storm better, and come out the other end that much stronger. We all know that. It's never a good time to STOP investing in your brand but it is a good time to make sure every marketing dollar you spend, is spent wisely. That means focusing on the basics:
---What are the business objectives?
---What is a "must have" program, not a nice to have?
---What's the target audience and how do I reach them in the most efficient manner?
---What story do I have to tell and how do I make it relevant in today's world?
I call this "marketing into headwinds". Something we all need to be thinking about these days.

Oh My, What a Week!

I'm trying to remember what it was like in the dot com bust. Somehow I don't remember the market falling this far, this fast. Or, am I just conveniently forgetting? I talked to my accountant and he is in the market actively buying. He thinks it's a great time to scoop up some deals. I said, you are brave!!

The Bonesetter's Daughter from SF Opera

I generally don't like to veer too much into personal likes/dislikes on this blog but I just saw an amazing opera from the San Francisco Opera company. I've been an SF opera subscriber for years; I love the combination of wonderful music, beautiful vocals and the storytelling of live theater. And, we are so lucky to have a first-class opera company here in SF. Each season there is typically a new, "modern" opera as part of the subscription package.
This year we are so lucky to have the World Premiere of Amy Tan's "The Bonesetter's Daughter". I have not read the book and had no expectations for the production. To my delight, it was superb on so many levels. The story is beautiful and the music and lyrics are simple but at the same time very engaging. The sets and costumes are wonderful. I love the way they have integrated traditional Chinese opera into the score--it makes adds richness and a sense of history. Here's what the SF Chronicle opera reviewer had to say.
I think this is an opera that any music and/or theater lover will become totally immersed in. Unfortunately there are only two more performances scheduled here but I am certain that this opera will be produced by other companies.
If you have an opportunity to see it, do it!

TechCrunch Post on PR and Blogging

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch has a post today about the practice of PR in today's blog-intensive world. Basically he posits that PR professionals are not keeping up with nor understanding how to work with bloggers and new media, and are consequently delivering less and less value to their clients. The whole post is worth reading.
I actually agree with Mike's overall premise here--the world of PR IS changing in many, many ways due to the underlying, fundamental changes in the media world. It's not just the emergence of the blogging community that keeps today's PR pros on their toes, but a whole raft of additional changes:
----the emergence of the 24 hour news cycle
----gross fragmentation in media outlets
----ongoing decline in traditional print outlets, print and magazines
----new, visual communications tools

All of these very fundamental changes have occurred over the past few years, mostly due to the anytime, anywhere communications made possible by the Internet. It's no wonder that even the most conscientious PR professional is going to have a hard time keeping up with all of it.

And, still have time to do a good job servicing clients, and blogging! :)

But, despite all this change, and something that Arrington misses totally in his post, is that some things have not changed and probably never will. And, it is this value-add that clients need most from their PR professionals.

PR still is, and always will be, a relationship-based business. It's who you know, what you can tell them, and how you foster those relationships on an ongoing basis that's important. Most CEO's do not have time to manage all the media relationships and still run their companies. That's why they hire good, well-connected PR professionals to help them out with this.

More on this important topic later...

The Go Game--Team Building

Last Friday I had the immense pleasure of participating in a team-building exercise with one of my clients. Typically, I'm a little leery of these adventures. Too many times the experience tries too hard to force people into interactions and the whole affairs ends up being more awkward than productive.

Well, I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. Delighted, as a matter of fact. The game was masterminded by an excellent groups of folks who market "The Go Game". We split into three teams and played for about two hours using the University Avenue area of Palo Alto as our "playground".

The game itself is like a multi-media scavenger hunt. The game is played as each team fans out completing "missions" as directed by the game leader. The game is customized somewhat to the specific team, or company participating.

I don't want to say a whole lot more about the game itself because if you are lucky enough to participate, the surprises are part of the fun. Suffice it to say that it's done in a way in which everyone truly is a "winner". It's challenging and fun, and interactive enough to appeal to extroverts without causing embarrassment or awkward moments for those who are more inhibited.

Rethinking the Presentation

My client, whom I've mentioned before in this blog, Wasim Ahmad, vice president of marketing at Voltage Security recently recommended reading Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. I'm only about halfway through the book but I'm already a convert and rethinking my own presentations and those I help my clients prepare. Here is Garr's blog with more insights.

The Best Corporate Reputations? You Decide

The Reputation Institute, a private consultancy dedicated to corporate reputation management, has just published its 2008 Global Pulse Report which attempts to measure corporate reputations. A synopsis of the U.S. study is available for download at the Institutes's website and it makes for interesting reading by anyone in the business of advising clients about reputation issues. (The complete report is available for a hefty fee.)
The global report looks at 600 companies; the U.S. portion ranks 150 companies. The rankings are a result of over 60,000 online consumer interviews across 27 countries.
Of the 150 U.S. companies measured, are you surprised that Google ranked #1? With the mantra of "do no evil", it appears consumers believe that Google continues to act positively on their behalf.
Keep in mind, this is a measure of broad consumer perception, not necessarily the perception of those reading the business pages day-in and day-out.
The report notes that a high score indicates that consumers have a "high level of trust, respect, and good feelings for the company".
Of the top 10 companies, most are well known consumer brand companies: Johnson & Johnson at #2, Kraft Foods at #3, etc.
But, oddly enough, of the tech companies, fading brands such as Xerox (#8), Texas Instruments (#10) and Kodak (#11) handily beat out such brands such as Apple (#17) and Microsoft which comes in at a disappointing #43.
The report also points out that there is a very high correlation between levels of recommendation and what the authors call "support" or recommendation. In other words, the better the reputation ranking, the more likely consumers are to recommend the company.
What this report also says to me is that consumers have a long memory and, perhaps especially with consumer technology, even "old" names still carry cachet.
It's hard to believe that Xerox, Kodak and TI are beating Apple.
We know there is a changing of the guard in tech brands but the word hasn't got out to the general consumer quite yet.

The New Demographics

This fascinating article "The Changing Face of the American Consumer", published in this week's Ad Age, by Peter Francese, outlines the leading demographic trends as summarized from the US Census data and details specific advise on how savvy marketeers may deal with these shifts. Francese, the founding publisher of American Demographics Magazine, is a reliable source for this kind of thoughtful analysis.
We all know that the U.S. population is trending older as the baby boomer generation continues to age, and that immigration is changing the face of our nation, particularly in the west. But, other insights by Francese are truly surprising--the analysis of female demographics and what this means for spending trends is very interesting. As, is the information about trend differences based on geography.
The most obvious insight is the section on teens and mobility. Any marketer can look around today's city streets and realize that teens, tweens and young adults are primarily interacting through their cell phones. Those of us immersed in the tech world are all ready well aware of the profound changes this will mean for all of us as time moves on.
One of the most interesting points made is that right now, the marketers trying to reach this burgeoning, mobile younger demographic is older, and in many cases, much older.
And, that's a clear disconnect.

Recommended Reading

This post "How One CEO Facebooked His Company" in his Fortune column "Fast Forward" by senior editor David Kirkpatrick is well worth reading by anyone interested in corporate leadership in this "web 2.0" era. Even in the heart of Silicon Valley, there are (still) companies where the concepts of social media, citizen journalism, user-generated content, wisdom of crowds, etc., are barely understood and rarely discussed. These companies are often older entities, founded prior circa 2004 and the rush to the digital web. They are often companies selling products and services for the enterprise market or selling services into niche segments.
What these companies are not recognizing is that even if they don't believe their products or services are impacted by the digital web, their customers are being impacted and their competitors know this.
When competing with technology, it's imperative to keep-up with and understand the latest trends, especially those impacting the customer base in a broad and profound way. Those technologies are moving mainstream and, as such, need to be considered in any new endeavor.
I really like the way the CEO profiled in David's post uses a simple approach to move his whole company forward. The results speak for themselves, providing value to the company, the employees and to customers.

Lessons From "D"

So, what are the lessons any executive can take from these “D” interviews (see my post) and generalize to their own interview preparation?

1. Preparation is paramount. Before going into any interview, you need to review your business top to bottom and become familiar with all the relevant issues and perspectives. Specifically review all public information and recent discussions in blogs and other public forums—these are the sources journalists will turn to when developing their interview questions.
2. Know your stats. Get an refresh on key stats that drive your business and be prepared to use the numbers in your answers. Showing command of this level of detail demonstrates your deep understanding of your business and your customers and is a way to build credibility. Stats are also a great way to refute an inaccurate assertion made by a journalist.

3. Be able to summarize your business and position in the market place in a single sentence. You need to be able to describe your business clearly in about 10-15 words or less. You also need to differentiate your business (position it vis a vis the competition) concisely--preferably in a single sentence. You can use an analogy to do this. And, you need to be able to succinctly answer the question “why” is this important? Why should the customer care? Why should the audience care? If you are running a large business with a lot of moving parts, you need an umbrella vision or mission that ties together the pieces into a single, meaningful entity with a singular purpose. If you don’t have all of this already sorted out, don’t wait until the night before your interview to complete the task. Start a few weeks ahead and get a positioning expert (like me) to help you.

4. Don’t over rehearse. Yes, you should role-play the interview with someone who is tough enough to ask the really hard questions. And, yes, you should practice enough that you can easily answer the basic questions and have full command of your stats. But, do not over-rehearse to the point where you are a talking head, parroting out the same line over and over without any emotion.

5. Tell a story. You need to tell a story with your interview. Don’t be afraid to personalize your answers with antidotes, funny insights, or little asides that illustrate your key points. Use the customer’s voice. One of the most effective techniques in any interview situation is to talk from the customer – or users- point of view. Before going into your next interview, make sure you call a few customers yourself and get their immediate feedback, or talk to 10 random users and hear what they have to say about your product or service. The feedback will be illuminating and the stories will help bring the customer perspective into your comments.

2. Treat the interview like a discussion. Without forgetting that you are sitting across from a journalist, relax and enjoy the intellectual give and take of the interview. Remember, you are all in this together. You, the interviewer and the audience; at the end of the day, everyone wants the same thing. A good interview with lots of insightful discussion and meaningful dialog.

To get there takes preparation and know-how but it's a trip worth taking.

Reflections on the "D" Conference

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate to attend the annual “D: All Things Digital” conference sponsored by the Wall Street Journal and co-produced by preeminent technology journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. The format for “D” is somewhat unique in that, instead of executive keynotes or ‘fireside chats” that are typical at executive conferences, “D” features a series of executive interviews. Usually these are done mano a mano where Walt or Kara interview a specific exec but sometimes the format varies slightly and two execs from the same company are interviewed by Walt and/or Kara. The interviews last about 45 minutes and there is time for Q&A.
This interview format works particularly well at "D" because of the interviewing skills of both Kara and Walt. Because of their long-term experience in the tech and media industries, they are able to ask insightful, hard-hitting and thought-provoking questions.
As a communications professional, it’s interesting to observe each executives’ prowess in handling the interview itself. Do they answer the questions directly? Do they dodge the tough questions? Is he or she a master of spin? Or, are they honest and straightforward. Are they off message or on?
And, of course, content is key. Do they have anything to share in their answers? Do they know their business backwards and forwards? Can they articulate a clear mission/vision or raison d’etre for their company? Is there a strategy? Do they have a sense of the future and how to win the competitive battle at hand or ahead? Do they understand the technology trends and how to take advantage of them? Do they know the specific drivers impacting the day-to-day business, the key stats that keep the motor humming?
Throughout each interview the listening audience, comprised of nearly 400 technology industry veterans, several dozen leading tech journalists, bloggers and pundits, large corporate CIO’s and representatives from all the leading venture firms, is evaluating the executive based on an ongoing analysis of the above dimensions.
It’s a wonder any of them get through this wringer unscathed. Surely, aside from a raucous shareholder meeting, this may be the most challenging interview situation ever faced by many of these executives.
So, this year. Who won and who lost the battle. Well, the clear winner in my mind, and many others whom I spoke with, was Rupert Murdock the founder, majority owner and long-time CEO of News Corp. News Corp is perhaps the largest and most diversified media conglomerate in the world, owning newspapers like The Australian, The London Times, The New York Post and as of last year The Wall Street Journal, online leaders such as My Space, television networks such as Fox News and Star Broadcasting, and the Fox movie business, as well as, the All Things Digital conference. So, it was quite interesting when Murdock took the stage and sat down to answer a series of questions from Walt and Kara. And, even though he is their boss, Walt and Kara asked tough, serious questions about all of the News Corp businesses.
Throughout the interview, Murdock was the face of relaxation, clearly enjoying the banter and give and take. Because he approached it more like a discussion than an interview, he came off as relaxed, comfortable, and enjoying the back and forth. At the same time, he demonstrated a firm grip on all the fundamentals of his business, clearly communicated a sense of vision and long-term commitment, showed that he understood the technology, competitive scenarios and drivers behind each specific business. It was a showcase of how to handle the tough interview for any executive to watch and learn from. You can see some of the video highlights here at the AllThingsD website.
Showcase that against other attempts that left the audience confused in one case, and decidedly lukewarm in another. When Jerry Yang and Sue Decker, CEO and President of Yahoo! took the stage there should have been a single, over arching goal: regain credibility. Despite Walt and Kara’s best efforts to illicit a clear articulation of their business direction, strategy, value and, indeed, their own sense of leadership, neither Yang or Decker were able to step up to the challenge. Their answers left the audience with more questions and did nothing to clarify important issues of direction for the company. An opportunity was lost.
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer were interviewed the first night of the conference, and although their message was articulated more clearly, they still could not convince this audience that they had a viable strategy going forward to effectively combat the frontal assault of Google.
Lastly, a miss was also made by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and new COO Sheryl Sandberg. Clearly the darlings of this crowd, there was probably more residual support for this duo than any of the others. Unfortunately, Zuckerberg was over-rehearsed and could only manage to repeat a one-line mantra over and over, never answering a fundamental question of “why” and Sandberg valiantly tried to illustrate the company’s advertising potential with two relatively weak examples.
The most creative attempt to control the interview had to go to Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner who, when being interviewed by Swisher, reframed her questions by describing what she was really wanted to asked but didn’t. It worked; he was able to effectively recast the tough questions which enabled him to communicate the information he wanted to.

They Have All the Answers

What "they" am I talking about here? The customers. That's who.
I was talking with Anu Sanghvi, one of the very smart product managers at my client, PayCycle. We were discussing a new service enhancement that she's working on bringing to market; talking about features, benefits, pros and cons. I was asking her "why?", "why", "why"?
"Why did you decide to do that?" "Why did you make that decision?" "Why did you include that and not this"? You get the picture. Being a general pain in the side.
But trying to get enough insight to understand her thinking.
Finally, she looked at me long and hard and said, "I just asked the customers. They have all the answers. All we have to do is listen."
Aha, yes. So true.
All we have to do is listen.

Who, What, When, Where...

Today I sat in on an interesting conversation between a group of public relations professionals and a blogger from a leading business publication. As typical, the journalist began to complain about all the misguided pitches he receives from PR folks.
Someone asked, "what's your favorite" pitch to receive. The answer was a stark reminder of the basics of good reporting and consequently, good PR. He said, ..."I want a straightforward pitch. Just give me the who, what, when and where..."...and add-in the why and how if it's relevant.
Anyone who attended journalism school has heard of the "Five W's and a H" --the standard formula for collecting the relevant story facts for a lead paragraph. What this reporter was basically saying is, pitch me a lead with the salient facts.
If I'm interested, I'll let you know.
A good reminder that sometimes less really is more.