Marketing Communications

Posts Tagged ‘Marketing Communications’

What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate

Monday, August 23rd, 2010

In ThomasNet’s Industry Market Trends, the lead article discusses workplace communication. Really good communication is critical to employees’ success, to say nothing of the organization.

Amen.

That said, though, good communication ain’t all that easy. Many people think MORE communication is better communication. It isn’t. The best communication is between two parties, both of whom put themselves in the other’s shoes.

If I am a CEO, and I want to share my vision for the company, I want to share it in a way that everyone in the company understands. (And by the way, if you’re a CEO and you don’t want to share your vision, you should probably rethink that.)

The first thing to do is think about who your audience is. How will each segment of your audience receive the message? Under what circumstances will they be most receptive? Most people want to get important info like the CEO’s corporate vision in person. Face-to-face. With plenty of opportunity for questions and answers.

That’s not always practical. Your salespeople might be best reached on their Blackberries while workers in the plant may have to get a written message. And this is only the delivery method.

What about the message itself? It’s impossible to communicate well if you haven’t thoroughly thought through what you’re trying to say. Articulate your message as simply as possible. Leave it overnight and look at it in the morning. Imagine yourself as an employee who is not privy to what the CEO thinks. Look at the message through that employee’s eyes. Does it make sense? Can you cut things out for clarity’s sake? You will seldom need to add.

Now, why are you doing this? What result do you expect? Do you want people to understand where you want to go? Then what is the individual’s role in getting there? How does the vision relate to each person in your company? You may have to craft several messages, targeted to different employee groups. Everyone will want to know how your message relates to them in particular.

And finally, create an opportunity for feedback. Not the kind where e-mails evaporate into black holes, but the kind where you acknowledge the comment, and follow up with meaningful action, if appropriate. And then, make sure you report on that action.

See? It’s a lotta work. No wonder so many people have a failure to communicate.

Tags: employee communication, Marketing Communications
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

How to Tell if a Trade Show Is a Black Hole?

Monday, August 16th, 2010

I’ve already admitted to having a nerdy love of trade shows. The right trade shows, that is. You know, the ones where potential customers show up with business cards proclaiming they have a big budget and a deep desire to spend it on your service within the week. The ones where the trade press elbow each other to get over your carpet line and into your booth to do a feature on your latest widget.

Well, it’s possible. I’ve even seen it. But how do you know what kind of results you’ll get before you commit to the show? Electronics Midwest looks like a good show to me (Rosemont, IL, September 28-30). The web site tells you everything you need to know about the actual show—schedules, conferences, exhibiting, workshops, events, floor plans, how to get there, where to stay. This is all good.

But what if you’re thinking about being a first-time exhibitor?

The web site lists the types of equipment, systems, supplies and services attendees are looking for at the show. But there are no demographics. And nothing remotely like a BPA audit report or circulation statement that magazines have.

In defense of Electronics Midwest, I’ve never seen it for other trade shows either. It costs a lot of money to gather that kind of info.

But it costs a lot of money to exhibit, too. So I scouted around on the web site and saw a list of other companies that exhibit, which gives me an idea of who else thought this show was a worthwhile investment. And the titles of the sessions help me out. Who’s delivering papers is another clue.

None of it’s a substitute for really good info on attendees, though.

And, if it’s not being too demanding, I’d like to know who’s coming from the trade press, too.

Tags: EMS, Marketing Communications, marketing ROI, ROI, sales leads, trade shows
Posted in marketing | 2 Comments »

ROI Is King

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

At least that’s what “roi” means in French, “king.” What does “ROI” mean to marketers?

I just saw the term used loosely again, in a feature article of B2B magazine. A sophisticated marketer referred to his program to measure marketing effectiveness as his ROI program—you know, click-throughs, webinar sign-ups, landing page hits. Aaaugh!

Why do marketers insist on using this term incorrectly? It has a very specific meaning. Basically, ROI is the profits generated over and above the initial investment and expressed as a percentage of the investment. It’s a financial gain—not an increase in awareness, not market share, not the number of leads you get or click-throughs to your web site.

As marketers, we should be aware of the importance of language. We should understand that precise wording makes meaning clear. We should know that it’s critical to be accurate with words if we want to communicate with the best possible results.

Yet, we continue to misuse this term, Return on Investment. Worse than sloppy language, its misuse demonstrates—no, trumpets!—our ignorance. We must use the term carefully, because we need to interact with people in our finance department if we want to calculate ROI according to best practices in our own company. We need guidance from finance to determine what constitutes gross margin, how to define what our investment is, and so much more.

How can we ever hope to work with our finance department if we persist in using finance terminology incorrectly? It’s a problem I’ve been kvetching about so long that I wrote a book, www.marketingroitruth.com. Okay, I’ll get down off my soapbox. For now.

Tags: accountability, Marketing Communications, marketing ROI, metrics, ROI
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

50+ Years Later, Brand Basics Remain

Monday, June 21st, 2010

There’s an iconic B2B ad by McGraw-Hill Publishing from 1958 that’s been played and replayed over the years. I first saw it in the ‘80s, and now it’s been reprinted in the current issue of B2B magazine. It’s a fabulous photo of a grumpy businessman sitting in his office chair on a white background, glowering at the reader. Here’s the copy:

“I don’t know who you are.

I don’t know your company.

I don’t know your company’s product.

I don’t know what your company stands for.

I don’t know your company’s customers.

I don’t know your company’s record.

I don’t know your company’s reputation.

Now—what was it you wanted to sell me?”

It’s a classic ad, as true in 1958 as it is today. Yes, things have changed significantly, but it’s still important to build your brand, maintain your reputation and be memorable in the marketplace. It’s still important to pre-sell your audience, regardless of the vehicle you use. Of course, in 1958 there was only one practical vehicle, and hence the final line of copy in the ad:

MORAL: Sales start before your salesman calls—with business magazine advertising.

Now sales start with web sites, e-mail campaigns, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and so much more. But the fundamental concepts haven’t changed a bit.

Tags: B2B branding, marketing, Marketing Communications, reputation, trust
Posted in Branding | 2 Comments »

BP: Bummer Petroleum Part 2

Monday, May 17th, 2010

In my last blog I said that no amount of PR would help BP if, indeed, they were not safe and environmentally sound. Their brand is certainly damaged, particularly because they built it to be green. BUT crisis communications are still essential, regardless of what the brand stands for. And man, is this a crisis.

Here’s the problem, from a communications point of view. The first rule in a crisis is to tell the truth. And if the truth isn’t good, tell it anyway, express sincere remorse and then explain how you’ll fix it. Well, the leak continues, and as long as it does, BP is in the spotlight.

So it’s not a finite event. You can’t just say ‘mea culpa’ and move on. You can’t promise it will never happen again when you don’t even know how to stop it from happening now.

To BP’s credit, they are admitting to mistakes. They are taking some responsibility. They are offering to pay all legitimate claims. (Although you immediately wonder what BP’s definition of “legitimate” is.) But in a catastrophe of this magnitude the normal rules of crisis communication, even when applied properly, may not be enough.

Perhaps that’s why I saw this headline in PR trade press a couple days ago:

BP Launches Lobby and PR Blitz

These efforts are mostly to respond to Congressional hearings as well as reporters.

The article mentioned that the company has also hired another PR firm, Brunswick Group, specializing in “critical communication challenges.” (So says their web site.) But to bring in new people at this stage of the game? A couple weeks after the initial incident? What about BP’s existing firm? What about the existing crisis communication plans that every company should have in place?

We can only hope BP knows how to stop leaks better than they know how to handle crisis communications.

Tags: B2B advertising, B2B branding, crisis communications, Marketing Communications, reputation management, trust
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

Sea Change Is Official

Monday, May 3rd, 2010

A couple decades ago, I was in London on business and while there, met a Reed Elsevier rep for lunch. Among other things, Reed Elsevier is a global publisher of B2B magazines, directories and online information. The company is listed on several of the world’s major stock exchanges. It’s big.

I forget which publication rep I had lunch with—Consulting-Specifying Engineer, Control Engineering, Logistics Management, Modern Materials Handling, Purchasing, Supply Chain Management Review or the most ubiquitous, Plant Engineering. I have purchased space in all these publications for clients.

Well, in a recent announcement by Reed Elsevier, all the above magazines (and more) are to be closed. Kaput. Shut down. Others were divested.

But the titles above—the ones so familiar to me, my clients and their customers—are “to be closed.”

Wow.

It almost feels like a sock to the gut. Which is just about what I got when I had lunch all those years ago. The magazine rep took me to a charming pub outside London that was one of the oldest in the area. Apparently the mayonnaise in the crabmeat salad I ate was also some of the oldest in the area, because I was knocked out by food poisoning for the rest of my trip.

I don’t feel quite that bad now, but there is a bad taste in my mouth when I think of all these publications going down the tubes. The sea change (a phrase Shakespeare is credited with originating in The Tempest) is here. It’s official.

Tags: B2B advertising, Marketing Communications, Print Media, Trade Publications
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

Be Desirable

Monday, March 29th, 2010

The Business Marketing Institute (BMI), which is all about measurement and building sales leads, publishes something called Tuesday Marketing Notes that I find in my e-mail in-box every week. It’s usually pretty good info, so if you don’t subscribe now, give it a shot.

This week, they’re telling me that it’s not enough to have great content in your marketing communications. You have to be recognized as unique, different and desirable. Sounds like eHarmony.com.

BMI is right, of course. They ask readers to look at three tag lines, all of which basically say save money and improve performance. Then they say that the content isn’t differentiated enough. The trouble is, when you’re buying any B2B service or product, isn’t that just about always what you want—money and performance?

Well, maybe not. Maybe potential customers want to deal with really pleasant people, or maybe they want to be dazzled with bells and whistles, or maybe they want you to paint your widget magenta.

The old adage is true—you’ve gotta know your customers inside and out. Then you’ve gotta make sure that what you have to offer is what they want. And then you’ve gotta tell them what you have in a way that makes you recognized as unique, different and desirable.

If you can do all that, you’re probably not paid enough.

Tags: marketing, Marketing Communications, sales leads
Posted in Marketing Communications | No Comments »

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