Practical, actionable tips to execute PR, branding and positioning in unison to grow your startup or small business. Focused on teams with limited resources. Given at Hubspot's INBOUND 2016 in Boston.
This document provides an overview of a sales training presentation focused on transforming sales organizations for success in 2014 and beyond. Key points covered include:
- Selling to small/medium businesses is challenging as they are contacted by around 39 sales reps per month and may be confused about who to trust.
- Successful sales requires understanding the customer's perspective and industry, asking the right questions to identify needs, and customizing solutions rather than immediately discussing price or features.
- Many sales organizations and reps contribute to a "perfect storm" by being impatient and pushing products before understanding customer needs.
- To be a trusted advisor, reps need to thoroughly research the customer's business and industry, ask the right questions, and
Developing a digital marketing strategy to drive business growth - LexisClicklexisclick
This document outlines an agenda for a digital marketing strategy workshop. The workshop will cover how to build a brand and influence people, and how to develop a digital marketing strategy. It will include an introduction to LexisClick, the company providing the workshop, and an introduction to the presenter Stephen Bavister. The workshop aims to help attendees develop a written digital marketing strategy to drive their business growth.
This document discusses direct marketing strategies for restaurants, focusing on direct mail campaigns. It argues that most restaurant advertising produces only short-term results, while direct mail can build a business's sales and customer database over time. The document recommends a 4-step strategy: 1) Create a personalized 3-step direct mail campaign, 2) Identify the target "sweet spot" customer segment using POS data, 3) Obtain and scrub a mailing list of those customers, and 4) Mail the campaign pieces to the list at least 3 times for long-term results. Personalized direct mail is presented as a more effective marketing investment than other forms of advertising.
Online marketing is a key part of any business marketing strategy. Learn about how proper integration of social media and other internet marketing techniques can boost the online visibility of your small business.
Marketing for Startups: The Most Important QuestionSeth Cargiuolo
Many early-stage start-ups find themselves strapped for cash and focused on getting their product ready to ship, and don't always have the budget or time to devote to marketing. When they need to explain and pitch their product, service, and brand to customers, investors or potential hires, they tend to fall back on explaining the features and benefits - which is the wrong path to tread.
This deck accompanied a talk I gave to early-stage and funded start-ups about the importance of having a clear, compelling story to tell to customers, investors, and potential talent. I cover how "story" fits in to the marketing process, examples of how important the story is, the importance of emotional connection, and ways to begin assembling a marketing strategy.
The presentation was given at FShareX (Founders Share Exchange) in March, 2015 at a session entitled "Demystifying Marketing for Startups".
FShareX is a monthly meetup of start-ups where entrepreneurs share their stories and knowledge to help their firms and others succeed.
Derby HUG Inbound Sales workshop June 2016Emma Jones
June's Derby HubSpot User Group covered how to implement a more consultative sales & marketing approach which aligns with how prospects research and buy. Presentations covered how to implement an inbound sales process, and achieve sales and marketing alignment for smoother sales cycles and better qualified leads.
How To Get Clients & Sell Without Selling (Social Selling)Jane Frankland
http://jane-frankland.com Let's look at how to sell! If you're interested in how to get more clients, sell without selling and social media marketing, then this is for you.
If you want to change the feast and famine lifecycle you regularly experience; modernize the way you sell and create just ONE system for client generation that you can use over and over again, instead of having to 'reinvent the wheel' each time you go to market then watch the presentation.
In it I'll be sharing how you can:
1. CREATE: How to create a personalized Client and Lead Generation Plan that focuses on attracting your ideal clients, growing your email list and gearing you up to sell more. This will revolutionize your lead generation process and enable you to obtain security with your income.
2. ATTRACT: I'll share with you how you can free yourself from cold calling and endless networking events, and enable sales with speed, plus I'll give you a brand new "Social Media Quick Tip" that I've never shared on a free webinar yet. This one tip recently landed me a 7-figure client and is guaranteed to help you attract your ideal clients on any social media platform.
3. PROMOTE: Learn how to create a quick and easy "Social Media List Building Funnel" to grow your email list and in turn your sales.
4. SELL: Find out how to create posts, status updates and tweets to sell your programs, products and services via all the social channels. These are what I call your social media daily wins and you can be certain that you'll not feel in the slightest bit salezey whenever you use them.
Thanks for watching!
This document provides an overview of a sales training presentation focused on transforming sales organizations for success in 2014 and beyond. Key points covered include:
- Selling to small/medium businesses is challenging as they are contacted by around 39 sales reps per month and may be confused about who to trust.
- Successful sales requires understanding the customer's perspective and industry, asking the right questions to identify needs, and customizing solutions rather than immediately discussing price or features.
- Many sales organizations and reps contribute to a "perfect storm" by being impatient and pushing products before understanding customer needs.
- To be a trusted advisor, reps need to thoroughly research the customer's business and industry, ask the right questions, and
Developing a digital marketing strategy to drive business growth - LexisClicklexisclick
This document outlines an agenda for a digital marketing strategy workshop. The workshop will cover how to build a brand and influence people, and how to develop a digital marketing strategy. It will include an introduction to LexisClick, the company providing the workshop, and an introduction to the presenter Stephen Bavister. The workshop aims to help attendees develop a written digital marketing strategy to drive their business growth.
This document discusses direct marketing strategies for restaurants, focusing on direct mail campaigns. It argues that most restaurant advertising produces only short-term results, while direct mail can build a business's sales and customer database over time. The document recommends a 4-step strategy: 1) Create a personalized 3-step direct mail campaign, 2) Identify the target "sweet spot" customer segment using POS data, 3) Obtain and scrub a mailing list of those customers, and 4) Mail the campaign pieces to the list at least 3 times for long-term results. Personalized direct mail is presented as a more effective marketing investment than other forms of advertising.
Online marketing is a key part of any business marketing strategy. Learn about how proper integration of social media and other internet marketing techniques can boost the online visibility of your small business.
Marketing for Startups: The Most Important QuestionSeth Cargiuolo
Many early-stage start-ups find themselves strapped for cash and focused on getting their product ready to ship, and don't always have the budget or time to devote to marketing. When they need to explain and pitch their product, service, and brand to customers, investors or potential hires, they tend to fall back on explaining the features and benefits - which is the wrong path to tread.
This deck accompanied a talk I gave to early-stage and funded start-ups about the importance of having a clear, compelling story to tell to customers, investors, and potential talent. I cover how "story" fits in to the marketing process, examples of how important the story is, the importance of emotional connection, and ways to begin assembling a marketing strategy.
The presentation was given at FShareX (Founders Share Exchange) in March, 2015 at a session entitled "Demystifying Marketing for Startups".
FShareX is a monthly meetup of start-ups where entrepreneurs share their stories and knowledge to help their firms and others succeed.
Derby HUG Inbound Sales workshop June 2016Emma Jones
June's Derby HubSpot User Group covered how to implement a more consultative sales & marketing approach which aligns with how prospects research and buy. Presentations covered how to implement an inbound sales process, and achieve sales and marketing alignment for smoother sales cycles and better qualified leads.
How To Get Clients & Sell Without Selling (Social Selling)Jane Frankland
http://jane-frankland.com Let's look at how to sell! If you're interested in how to get more clients, sell without selling and social media marketing, then this is for you.
If you want to change the feast and famine lifecycle you regularly experience; modernize the way you sell and create just ONE system for client generation that you can use over and over again, instead of having to 'reinvent the wheel' each time you go to market then watch the presentation.
In it I'll be sharing how you can:
1. CREATE: How to create a personalized Client and Lead Generation Plan that focuses on attracting your ideal clients, growing your email list and gearing you up to sell more. This will revolutionize your lead generation process and enable you to obtain security with your income.
2. ATTRACT: I'll share with you how you can free yourself from cold calling and endless networking events, and enable sales with speed, plus I'll give you a brand new "Social Media Quick Tip" that I've never shared on a free webinar yet. This one tip recently landed me a 7-figure client and is guaranteed to help you attract your ideal clients on any social media platform.
3. PROMOTE: Learn how to create a quick and easy "Social Media List Building Funnel" to grow your email list and in turn your sales.
4. SELL: Find out how to create posts, status updates and tweets to sell your programs, products and services via all the social channels. These are what I call your social media daily wins and you can be certain that you'll not feel in the slightest bit salezey whenever you use them.
Thanks for watching!
Rebekah Radice - How to Scale Successful Omni-Channel marketing CampaignsINBOUND
Creating a marketing campaign is easy. Scaling that into a successful omni-channel strategy is hard. During this session, Rebekah shares tactical ways to produce targeted campaigns across multiple channels. Learn how you can increase engagement, social referral traffic and your customer base through creative, consistent and compelling campaigns.
This document provides marketing advice and recommendations using song lyrics as metaphors. It suggests that marketing should be strategic and focus on the customer journey. Content should demonstrate value, be transparent and tell customers' stories. Metrics and testing are important to improve efforts. Marketing automation, personalization, and disruptive approaches can help drive leads and sales. The overall message is that marketing requires planning, focus on the customer, and continuous improvement.
Sales Strategies- Introduction To SellingJerome Dees
Selling can be a very rewarding career if you have the right foundation! This presentation gives an introduction to selling, a simplified sales process! If you are interested in this presentation for your team, visit us at SmartSelling.Guru
This document discusses marketing strategy versus tactics and outlines the "marketing equation" for creating effective marketing campaigns. The equation is Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = Results. Tactics like advertisements are not a substitute for an overall marketing strategy that identifies the target audience and desired outcome. Following the four steps of the equation helps create marketing that gets people's attention and moves them to take the desired action. An effective strategy promotes unique benefits for customers rather than just focusing on the business.
BizSmart Lunch & Learn Webinar
Presenter - Philippe Ingels
Company - WAKSTER
Everyone’s competing for the attention of new and existing customer. Content marketing is now one of the most important tactics in a marketers’ mix but research shows that the biggest challenges content marketers consistently face are producing enough content, and producing the kind of content that engages their targets. The entertainment industry has been consistently creating and delivering engaging content for hundreds of years – what can we learn from them?
The document provides 10 tips for fashion startups, focusing on defining the brand identity, finding customers, developing products with customer feedback, creating a business plan and financial model, setting targets, and maintaining focus. It emphasizes understanding the target customer, building a brand proposition, excellent product development informed by customers, developing a viable business model and financial plan, and setting metrics and priorities to achieve business goals. Additionally, it stresses the importance of securing support and avoiding distractions in running a fashion startup business.
One Squared Presentation: Dan Tyre - Welcome to the Inbound RevolutionLeighton Interactive
The document introduces Dan Tyre, an early employee and pioneer of inbound marketing at Hubspot. It discusses how over the past decade, there has been a fundamental shift away from traditional outbound marketing tactics like TV, email, direct mail and phone calls, which have become less effective. Instead, inbound marketing has emerged as a better approach, focusing on building relationships with potential customers by providing valuable content before they are ready to buy. The document outlines how inbound principles can be applied not just to marketing but also to sales and customer service. It concludes by stating Hubspot's mission is to make the world more inbound by empowering businesses to connect meaningfully with their audiences.
Making Money and Meaning With Inbound MarketingDharmesh Shah
This document is a transcript of a presentation by Dharmesh Shah on inbound marketing. Some key points:
- Dharmesh discusses how he has been meaning to speak at conferences for years but was preoccupied with starting Hubspot, a company focused on inbound marketing.
- He talks about the importance of having a good domain name that has processing fluency rather than just being keyword-rich.
- Dharmesh discusses how some companies have driven thousands of views to their slideshare presentations, especially if they get featured or top placement. The best piece of content Hubspot produced got over 780,000 views.
- He talks about the need to balance brand and performance, think beyond customer lifetime value to human
The document summarizes key takeaways and lessons from speakers at the INBOUND 2014 conference. Some of the insights included changing your mind is a sign of intelligence, not a mistake; hiring people better than yourself; sacrificing numbers to save people; curiosity and passion lead to success; reframing problems to enable revolution; desire and perseverance are keys to achievement; overcoming fear and self-doubt; educating over selling; focusing on relationships over stories; being bold to get a message across; knowing your competition; and providing value, not just content, to readers.
Armagedon is over, the strong are surviving, and green shoots of recovery are sprouting. But how do you take your business from surviving to thriving?
Kim Gilmore, President of Gilmore Marketing Concepts, Inc. is back, by popular demand, for a second seminar. Marketing 201: How to Market in a Down Economy will give you tips tricks and insider information on how to put your business name on the tips of everyone's tongues and get them to buy.
This document provides an overview of the Lean Startup methodology and introduces a framework for organizing startup tools called the Six Abilities Framework. The framework identifies six core abilities for startups: forming, transforming, projecting, persuading, collecting, and protecting. Examples of tools are given for each ability. The document concludes by introducing a online toolkit resource that provides links to over 230 startup tools organized using the Six Abilities Framework.
story telling imperative for start upsHemant Arora
The document discusses content marketing and pitching. It notes that pitching is an essential skill, not just in business but in many aspects of life. It then provides tips on how to pitch effectively, highlighting the importance of telling your story well. The document also discusses how content marketing can help startups with growth, establishing expertise, learning about their industry, building communities and trust. It provides examples of startups that have succeeded through content marketing like Zomato, Thrillophilia and others. Finally, it suggests words to avoid in pitching to appear more confident and professional.
Some of the key considerations for when you start your own business. Interspersed are parts of my entrepreneurial journey along with a high level view of what you need to do when you want to run your own business.
Stunts. Pranks. Practical jokes. All tend to get lumped in with experiential marketing. But done right, experiential marketing can help your company stay fresh and innovative by pulling together different channels into one connected and memorable experience. INBOUND guests don’t want to miss Ja-Nae's actionable advice on developing fully integrated and connected experiences based on a co-creator relationship with engaged consumers. The end results will demonstrate a brand’s ability to innovate while growing the overall company. Executives can expect to leave this session with a clear understanding of how to make the most of these programs and earn meaningful, measurable results.
Inbound2015 carole mahoney-the rules of inbound engagementCarole Mahoney
So many inbound leads, so few inbound sales people. What's an inbound buyer to do?
What's the secret to creating, approaching and nurturing your inbound leads into customer evangelists? How should salespeople nurture and follow up with leads the inbound way?
Check out this presentation from #inbound15 if you are looking to convert more inbound leads into customer evangelists with some of the simple secrets of inbound engagement. Discover what questions to ask to go from download to customer evangelist with an easy to remember buyer focused process
Patrick Biddescombe - Using Inbound to Source, Interview and Hire TalentINBOUND
This document outlines how to use inbound methodology to find and hire new talent. It discusses traditional recruiting no longer working and introduces passive, inbound and social recruiting. It recommends creating a talent acquisition funnel and applicant personas. Developing a culture code to identify ideal employees is also suggested. The inbound recruitment process involves top, middle and bottom of the funnel strategies like referrals, interviews and onboarding. Key takeaways include leveraging inbound recruiting, developing a candidate persona and culture code, and creating application and onboarding processes.
Susan McPherson - Advertising & Social GoodINBOUND
This document discusses the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its integration with marketing. It notes that CSR used to be seen as separate from business operations, but today companies increasingly view it as a core business strategy. As consumer demand and expectations have risen around social issues due to factors like social media and cultural shifts, companies now strategically promote their CSR efforts through marketing campaigns, social advocacy, and employee engagement. However, the document warns that CSR efforts must be authentic and thoughtfully integrated with business goals to avoid potential PR disasters from poorly executed campaigns.
This document outlines the essentials of an effective inbound marketing strategy. It discusses using buyer personas to create targeted content, focusing on creating remarkable educational content aligned to the buyer's journey. It also emphasizes leveraging content through proper distribution channels. The document provides an example of how an Australian financial services company developed buyer personas to better understand their customers and create targeted content, blogs, and offers. This led to a 200% increase in web traffic and 9.6x more leads through improved lead capture and a 153% increase in sales-ready leads through lead management.
For those of you as interested in sales, productivity and technology as we are, we compiled this list for you. Everyone included Tweets regularly about hot topics in sales and many of them write their own blogs or contribute to other blogs and news sources.
More info: http://www.getbase.com
PR and Paid Media: Navigating the Blurred LinesDavid Griner
Today's PR pros need to be aware of how earned media, paid media and owned media overlap. In this presentation, a veteran digital marketer and journalist looks at the new reality of managing PR, advertising and social media through collaboration.
Rebekah Radice - How to Scale Successful Omni-Channel marketing CampaignsINBOUND
Creating a marketing campaign is easy. Scaling that into a successful omni-channel strategy is hard. During this session, Rebekah shares tactical ways to produce targeted campaigns across multiple channels. Learn how you can increase engagement, social referral traffic and your customer base through creative, consistent and compelling campaigns.
This document provides marketing advice and recommendations using song lyrics as metaphors. It suggests that marketing should be strategic and focus on the customer journey. Content should demonstrate value, be transparent and tell customers' stories. Metrics and testing are important to improve efforts. Marketing automation, personalization, and disruptive approaches can help drive leads and sales. The overall message is that marketing requires planning, focus on the customer, and continuous improvement.
Sales Strategies- Introduction To SellingJerome Dees
Selling can be a very rewarding career if you have the right foundation! This presentation gives an introduction to selling, a simplified sales process! If you are interested in this presentation for your team, visit us at SmartSelling.Guru
This document discusses marketing strategy versus tactics and outlines the "marketing equation" for creating effective marketing campaigns. The equation is Interrupt + Engage + Educate + Offer = Results. Tactics like advertisements are not a substitute for an overall marketing strategy that identifies the target audience and desired outcome. Following the four steps of the equation helps create marketing that gets people's attention and moves them to take the desired action. An effective strategy promotes unique benefits for customers rather than just focusing on the business.
BizSmart Lunch & Learn Webinar
Presenter - Philippe Ingels
Company - WAKSTER
Everyone’s competing for the attention of new and existing customer. Content marketing is now one of the most important tactics in a marketers’ mix but research shows that the biggest challenges content marketers consistently face are producing enough content, and producing the kind of content that engages their targets. The entertainment industry has been consistently creating and delivering engaging content for hundreds of years – what can we learn from them?
The document provides 10 tips for fashion startups, focusing on defining the brand identity, finding customers, developing products with customer feedback, creating a business plan and financial model, setting targets, and maintaining focus. It emphasizes understanding the target customer, building a brand proposition, excellent product development informed by customers, developing a viable business model and financial plan, and setting metrics and priorities to achieve business goals. Additionally, it stresses the importance of securing support and avoiding distractions in running a fashion startup business.
One Squared Presentation: Dan Tyre - Welcome to the Inbound RevolutionLeighton Interactive
The document introduces Dan Tyre, an early employee and pioneer of inbound marketing at Hubspot. It discusses how over the past decade, there has been a fundamental shift away from traditional outbound marketing tactics like TV, email, direct mail and phone calls, which have become less effective. Instead, inbound marketing has emerged as a better approach, focusing on building relationships with potential customers by providing valuable content before they are ready to buy. The document outlines how inbound principles can be applied not just to marketing but also to sales and customer service. It concludes by stating Hubspot's mission is to make the world more inbound by empowering businesses to connect meaningfully with their audiences.
Making Money and Meaning With Inbound MarketingDharmesh Shah
This document is a transcript of a presentation by Dharmesh Shah on inbound marketing. Some key points:
- Dharmesh discusses how he has been meaning to speak at conferences for years but was preoccupied with starting Hubspot, a company focused on inbound marketing.
- He talks about the importance of having a good domain name that has processing fluency rather than just being keyword-rich.
- Dharmesh discusses how some companies have driven thousands of views to their slideshare presentations, especially if they get featured or top placement. The best piece of content Hubspot produced got over 780,000 views.
- He talks about the need to balance brand and performance, think beyond customer lifetime value to human
The document summarizes key takeaways and lessons from speakers at the INBOUND 2014 conference. Some of the insights included changing your mind is a sign of intelligence, not a mistake; hiring people better than yourself; sacrificing numbers to save people; curiosity and passion lead to success; reframing problems to enable revolution; desire and perseverance are keys to achievement; overcoming fear and self-doubt; educating over selling; focusing on relationships over stories; being bold to get a message across; knowing your competition; and providing value, not just content, to readers.
Armagedon is over, the strong are surviving, and green shoots of recovery are sprouting. But how do you take your business from surviving to thriving?
Kim Gilmore, President of Gilmore Marketing Concepts, Inc. is back, by popular demand, for a second seminar. Marketing 201: How to Market in a Down Economy will give you tips tricks and insider information on how to put your business name on the tips of everyone's tongues and get them to buy.
This document provides an overview of the Lean Startup methodology and introduces a framework for organizing startup tools called the Six Abilities Framework. The framework identifies six core abilities for startups: forming, transforming, projecting, persuading, collecting, and protecting. Examples of tools are given for each ability. The document concludes by introducing a online toolkit resource that provides links to over 230 startup tools organized using the Six Abilities Framework.
story telling imperative for start upsHemant Arora
The document discusses content marketing and pitching. It notes that pitching is an essential skill, not just in business but in many aspects of life. It then provides tips on how to pitch effectively, highlighting the importance of telling your story well. The document also discusses how content marketing can help startups with growth, establishing expertise, learning about their industry, building communities and trust. It provides examples of startups that have succeeded through content marketing like Zomato, Thrillophilia and others. Finally, it suggests words to avoid in pitching to appear more confident and professional.
Some of the key considerations for when you start your own business. Interspersed are parts of my entrepreneurial journey along with a high level view of what you need to do when you want to run your own business.
Stunts. Pranks. Practical jokes. All tend to get lumped in with experiential marketing. But done right, experiential marketing can help your company stay fresh and innovative by pulling together different channels into one connected and memorable experience. INBOUND guests don’t want to miss Ja-Nae's actionable advice on developing fully integrated and connected experiences based on a co-creator relationship with engaged consumers. The end results will demonstrate a brand’s ability to innovate while growing the overall company. Executives can expect to leave this session with a clear understanding of how to make the most of these programs and earn meaningful, measurable results.
Inbound2015 carole mahoney-the rules of inbound engagementCarole Mahoney
So many inbound leads, so few inbound sales people. What's an inbound buyer to do?
What's the secret to creating, approaching and nurturing your inbound leads into customer evangelists? How should salespeople nurture and follow up with leads the inbound way?
Check out this presentation from #inbound15 if you are looking to convert more inbound leads into customer evangelists with some of the simple secrets of inbound engagement. Discover what questions to ask to go from download to customer evangelist with an easy to remember buyer focused process
Patrick Biddescombe - Using Inbound to Source, Interview and Hire TalentINBOUND
This document outlines how to use inbound methodology to find and hire new talent. It discusses traditional recruiting no longer working and introduces passive, inbound and social recruiting. It recommends creating a talent acquisition funnel and applicant personas. Developing a culture code to identify ideal employees is also suggested. The inbound recruitment process involves top, middle and bottom of the funnel strategies like referrals, interviews and onboarding. Key takeaways include leveraging inbound recruiting, developing a candidate persona and culture code, and creating application and onboarding processes.
Susan McPherson - Advertising & Social GoodINBOUND
This document discusses the evolution of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its integration with marketing. It notes that CSR used to be seen as separate from business operations, but today companies increasingly view it as a core business strategy. As consumer demand and expectations have risen around social issues due to factors like social media and cultural shifts, companies now strategically promote their CSR efforts through marketing campaigns, social advocacy, and employee engagement. However, the document warns that CSR efforts must be authentic and thoughtfully integrated with business goals to avoid potential PR disasters from poorly executed campaigns.
This document outlines the essentials of an effective inbound marketing strategy. It discusses using buyer personas to create targeted content, focusing on creating remarkable educational content aligned to the buyer's journey. It also emphasizes leveraging content through proper distribution channels. The document provides an example of how an Australian financial services company developed buyer personas to better understand their customers and create targeted content, blogs, and offers. This led to a 200% increase in web traffic and 9.6x more leads through improved lead capture and a 153% increase in sales-ready leads through lead management.
For those of you as interested in sales, productivity and technology as we are, we compiled this list for you. Everyone included Tweets regularly about hot topics in sales and many of them write their own blogs or contribute to other blogs and news sources.
More info: http://www.getbase.com
PR and Paid Media: Navigating the Blurred LinesDavid Griner
Today's PR pros need to be aware of how earned media, paid media and owned media overlap. In this presentation, a veteran digital marketer and journalist looks at the new reality of managing PR, advertising and social media through collaboration.
The document discusses the overlap between branding and public relations. It states that brands satisfy basic human needs for control and reassurance by offering consistency, and that a brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the customer. It also notes that public relations is about managing reputation, not spin, and discusses how celebrities must carefully manage their public image like a brand.
The Powerful Role Of PR In Brand DevelopmentKenny Ong
*The secrets of engaging messages and a story that will effectively position your business and products
*Selecting the right media to effectively drive your brand forward
*Determining the best PR strategies for greater brand impact
*Involving your PR and media in the branding process from the development stage to launching date
*Integrating new media platforms with traditional methods for your branding exercise
Branding & public relations presentationChris Cathers
Branding and public relations are important aspects of any business. Branding involves defining a business's identity through elements like its logo, website, and promotional materials to attract target customers. An effective brand gives a competitive edge. Developing a brand strategy determines how and where the brand message will be communicated. Consistency and strategic branding build brand equity, which adds perceived value and profitability. Defining the brand involves understanding customers and bringing in outside help. An effective public relations strategy manages information flow to persuade stakeholders through cost-effective media like press releases, speaking engagements and social media content.
How social media is changing brand buildingDung Tri
Social media has become a fundamental part of brand building, but it is not sufficient on its own. Brand building strategy must dictate social strategy. There are three strategic roles social media can play to help build a brand: 1) Build a relationship to become more trusted by humanizing the brand and creating support for decisions. 2) Differentiate through an emotional connection to become more remarkable and unmistakable. 3) Nurture loyal fans to become more essential. Marketers must use social media to serve brand building objectives of becoming trusted, remarkable, unmistakable, and essential.
This document discusses key concepts in advertising media and media planning. It defines advertising media as the vehicles used to carry advertising messages, and outlines various print, broadcast, outdoor, and other media types. It then explains that media planning involves decisions about promoting products through different media. The planning process considers reach, frequency, and continuity. Reach refers to the total number of potential viewers or readers exposed to a message. Frequency is the average number of times a viewer sees the message. Gross rating points indicate the total potential audience reached by a media schedule.
Corporate communications involves managing internal and external communications to achieve business objectives. It includes functions like public relations, marketing communications, and internal communications. The goals are to position the organization, manage its reputation, and ensure employees and stakeholders are well-informed. Effective corporate communications requires understanding concepts like brand identity, corporate image, and stakeholder management. It also requires strong media relations, employee communications, and managing communications during crises.
Brands in Transition: Creating the Right Communications MixMWWPR
Public Relations, in its many forms, should be an essential strategic discipline within a company’s 360-degree brand marketing framework. Public Relations carries the greatest impact when it is folded into a larger plan that integrates a well-defined brand message across all marketing and communications activities. This holds particularly true for brands in transition.
PR Trends for 2016: How Modern PR is being defined by the industryprnewswire
This document contains responses from various PR professionals summarizing what PR is now. Key themes that emerged include PR being about relationships, perception and reputation management, evolving with new technologies and tactics, using multiple channels, engagement, integration with marketing, content creation, storytelling, being data-driven, strategic planning, real-time communication, and encompassing many diverse activities.
In this session of Entrepreneurship 101, we define the field of marketing and communications, covering the basics of advertising, branding, public relations and social media. We explore the idea of traction, and provide an overview of the 19 different channels and activities that have the potential to move the needle for your business.
Key topics covered: Brand identity, traction, PR and social media.
Mike Lieberman - How to Push the Prospect's Buy Button with Inbound SalesINBOUND
Prospects don’t want to be sold to, so stop selling to them. Instead guide them through their buyer journey as their trusted advisor. Once you make them feel safe, get them emotionally engaged with your company and then give them the information them need to rationalize their decision you’ll have a new customer 100% of the time. Learn how to create an experiential sales process using Inbound Sales and HubSpot Sales that excels at making prospects feel safe, so they say YES, every single time.
The Best Sales Development Teams Ask These Questions Every DayRalph Barsi
The best salespeople are genuinely curious. They make progress because of their choices and decisions, which come from asking smart questions.
This session will touch on three key areas requiring excellent questions from sales and inside sales reps. How good are the questions YOU ask?
Digital marketing certification provides an overview of digital marketing concepts and tactics. It discusses that marketing is now about building relationships through dialogue rather than just generating transactions. The summary discusses key digital marketing tactics like search engine optimization, content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and more. It also covers the rise of digital consumers and their expectations. Measurement and budgeting for content marketing are also addressed. The document provides a comprehensive overview of digital marketing strategies and best practices.
Emily Pope, a senior content marketing manager, taught a class on content marketing strategy. She discussed defining content marketing and provided examples of successful content marketing from companies like John Deere and Red Bull. Pope stressed the importance of starting with defining the purpose and goals of a content strategy before determining specific tactics. She outlined a three phase process for developing a content strategy: 1) Start With Why, 2) Know Your Audience, and 3) Consider Resources and Workflow. The class concluded with students creating drafts of key materials for developing a content strategy, including a content audit, style guide, and editorial calendar.
The document provides an overview of digital marketing and content marketing strategies. It discusses key concepts like defining goals and metrics, identifying target audiences, creating different types of content, and measuring performance. Content marketing tactics include focusing on quality content, addressing pain points, optimizing content for mobile, and using various content formats and channels for distribution. Copywriting strategies involve crafting headlines, bullet points, and body copy that highlight problems and solutions to attract and persuade prospective customers."
Content Marketing: Publishing is the New MarketingJoe Pulizzi
The document discusses content marketing and how it has become essential for businesses. It notes that consumers now spend more time online and on social networks than with traditional media. As a result, businesses need to become publishers that provide valuable content to attract and engage customers. The document provides tips for developing an effective content marketing strategy, such as understanding customer needs, creating a content calendar, and distributing content where customers spend their time online. The goal of content marketing is for businesses to become trusted resources and thought leaders in their industry.
This document provides an overview and agenda for Debbie Williams' 2017 Content Marketing Workshop. It begins with introductions of Debbie Williams and her background in content marketing. It then outlines the workshop agenda which includes discussions on content marketing strategy, buyer personas, editorial SEO, content ideas, content distribution, and a Q&A. It also includes exercises for participants to apply the concepts and pre-event and post-event surveys to understand participants' goals and takeaways. The overall goal is to help participants improve their content marketing efforts through strategic planning, creation of relevant content, and effective distribution.
Joe Pulizzi gives a presentation on content marketing and how publishing content is the new form of marketing. He discusses how traditional marketing is no longer effective and content must be used to attract and engage customers. Pulizzi provides a 8 step process for content marketing, which includes understanding customer needs, creating valuable content, distributing it where customers are online, and consistently creating and sharing content over time. The goal is for companies to become a trusted resource and thought leader in their industry through helpful, relevant content.
This document summarizes an online career fair hosted by Learning @ Time that featured speakers from various careers at Time Inc. including PR, sales, marketing, and more. The event provided tips for participating online, introduced three speakers and their roles at Time Inc., and encouraged participants to apply for open positions at the company.
B2B-Content Marketing – Weg von Selfies, hin zu Blockbuster-Marketing #AFBMCAllFacebook.de
This document provides guidance on effective B2B content marketing. It discusses setting clear goals and metrics, understanding the audience through buyer personas, distributing content through blockbuster pieces and customer journeys, and optimizing through testing. Visuals, short engaging copy, mobile optimization, and leveraging employees are some best practices. The key is to test content to find the most effective approaches and continuously refresh successful creative elements. Overall it emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience, distributing high-quality content, and optimizing through testing to improve performance.
Industry benchmark study in collaboration with MarketingProfs, Direct Marketing News, Merit Direct, Target Marketing Magazine, The Marketing Advisory Network, and Researchscape. Reveals how B2B organizations understand buyers, create and maintain personas, and put customer insights to use.
The document provides survival tips for B2B marketers managing key tools in their toolkit, including content, lead nurturing, email, social media, and sales enablement. It discusses using content to fuel marketing campaigns and identifying the target audience. It emphasizes that lead nurturing increases quality by choosing the right campaigns for prospects. It also notes that email is powerful for building relationships and social media connects brands with buyers. The tips aim to help marketers effectively manage these important tools.
Presentation given at Inbound 2016 by Karla Morales-Lee, CEO of Hunter & Farm...The UK Agency Awards
The document discusses agency positioning and branding. It provides an agenda for the discussion, including identifying an agency's brand position, conducting a brand audit, and learning 10 key lessons in agency positioning. Some of the key lessons discussed are having a guiding vision, speaking the truth, focusing your agency's offerings, and leading with "why" to explain the benefits clients will receive rather than just listing outputs or deliverables. The goal is for agencies to clearly identify what makes them unique in the market to attract the right clients and opportunities.
Marketing Fundamental - Rio Raditya .pdfRio Raditya
Recently I was invited as the instructor for Mastering Marketing Program at Qubisa. I share the basic theory, the fundamental of marketing to the audiences.
5 Tips to Create Successful Content in the COVID-19 | GMA WebinarsGraceChong37
The 1st in Asia | Growth Marketing Academy
🙌🏻Register for FREE and watch the recording whenever you’re FREE!🙌🏻
👉🏻Join Now: https://bit.ly/3kUligs
【5 Tips to Create Successful Content in the COVID-19 Era Like The Economist】
✍🏻What will I learn…
1.How to optimize your content marketing efforts in the harsh period
2.How to communicate effectively with customers and find the right balance between “tone-deaf” and “COVID-fatigue”
3.How businesses can stay relevant, emerging at the end of this crisis as winners
4.Current examples from The Economist to showcase these skills
👨🏻💼Meet Our Speaker - Alice
Alice is the Head of marketing in APAC, Content Solutions, at The Economist. She oversees the strategy and amplifications for content marketing campaigns in the region. She is in charge of social media, email marketing, and PR of sponsored campaigns, and she works closely with the advertising and events team on integrated projects. She has led amplification efforts for successful integrated programmes such as the Safe Cities Index.
🐾We will update the webinars, if you want to get more marketing knowledge, please subscribe to our channel!
👉🏻 learn more: https://www.growthmarketer.academy/
In 1943, Lockheed Martin created a 'skunk works' team to focus on advanced innovation. Most important, the group operated autonomously & unhampered by corporate bureaucracy. Today, that trend continues in some of the world's most innovative companies like Google's X team and Facebooks F8 Skunk Works.
So ask yourself: Should you create your own Skunk Works team?
Join Nicholas Holland, Director of HubSpot Labs, as he discusses the pro's and con's of establishing a Skunk Works group.
How do inbound marketing agencies compare with other digital marketing and traditional ad agencies and what are the challenges and opportunities lying ahead? In this session, we will explore the ways each type of agency positions itself and how they meet customer demands. What are the unique qualities of each, and can they work together to create added value? What opportunities are out there for inbound agencies, working with other agencies, and what are the best strategies for pitching and closing them?
This document discusses aligning marketing and sales through collaboration on personas, customer journeys, and reporting. It recommends that marketing and sales teams work together to develop personas representing their target customers, map the customer journey through the sales funnel, and have marketing regularly report results to sales. This will help ensure they use a shared vocabulary and understand both the customer perspective and how their respective roles intersect at various points in the sales process. Defining lead quality and getting sales input on marketing automation and account-based marketing implementations are also emphasized.
Similar to PR, Branding and positioning to take on goliath (20)
Boost Your Instagram Views Instantly Proven Free Strategies.pptxInstBlast Marketing
Join Performance Car Exclusive to drive the finest supercars, engineered with advanced materials and cutting-edge technology for peak performance.
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2024 Trend Updates: What Really Works In SEO & Content MarketingSearch Engine Journal
The future of SEO is trending toward a more human-first and user-centric approach, powered by AI intelligence and collaboration. Are you ready?
Watch as we explore which SEO trends to prioritize to achieve sustainable growth and deliver reliable results. We’ll dive into best practices to adapt your strategy around industry-wide disruptions like SGE, how to navigate the top challenges SEO professionals are facing, and proven tactics for prioritizing quality and building trust.
You’ll hear:
- The top SEO trends to prioritize in 2024 to achieve long-term success.
- Predictions for SGE’s impact, and how to adapt.
- What E-E-A-T really means, and how to implement it holistically (hint: it’s never been more important).
With Zack Kadish and Alex Carchietta, we’ll show you which SEO trends to ignore and which to focus on, along with the solution to overcoming rapid, significant and disruptive Google algorithm updates.
If you’re looking to cut through the noise of constant SEO and content trends to drive success, you won’t want to miss this webinar.
Boost Your Instagram Views Instantly Proven Free Strategies.InstBlast Marketing
Supercars use advanced materials and tech for top-speed performance. Join Performance Car Exclusive to experience driving excellence.
https://instblast.com/instagram/free-instagram-views
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Women-Focused MarketingHighViz PR
Women centric marketing is a vital part in reaching one of the most influential groups of consumers. Here is a guide to know and measure the impact of women-centric marketing efforts-
Boost your brand with top-notch digital marketing services in New York! Our expert team specializes in SEO, social media marketing, PPC advertising, and email campaigns to drive engagement and increase your online presence. Partner with us to reach your target audience, track performance, and achieve measurable results. Transform your digital strategy and stay ahead in the competitive NYC market. Contact us today!
Top 10 Digital Marketing Institute in lucknow.pptxzaireendigitech
Welcome to our ppt on the top 10 digital marketing institutes in Lucknow! If you're looking to enhance your skills in the dynamic field of digital marketing, Lucknow offers several excellent training options. Our curated list highlights the best digital marketing institutes in Lucknow, providing comprehensive courses that cover SEO, social media marketing, PPC, content marketing, and more. These institutes are renowned for their experienced faculty, practical training, and industry-relevant curriculum. Whether you're a beginner or a professional seeking to upgrade your skills, these institutes can help you achieve your career goals in digital marketing.
Digital Marketing Company in India - DIGI BrooksDIGI Brooks
This infographic provides guidance on marketing analytics, helping businesses grow using tools like Google Analytics and AI, measuring ROI, and analysing future trends to track business development.
https://digibrooks.com/digital-marketing-services/
We’ve entered a new era in digital. Search and AI are colliding, in more ways than one. And they all have major implications for marketers.
• SEOs now use AI to optimize content.
• Google now uses AI to generate answers.
• Users are skipping search completely. They can now use AI to get answers. So AI has changed everything …or maybe not. Our audience hasn’t changed. Their information needs haven’t changed. Their perception of quality hasn’t changed. In reality, the most important things haven’t changed at all. In this session, you’ll learn the impact of AI. And you’ll learn ways that AI can make us better at the classic challenges: getting discovered, connecting through content and staying top of mind with the people who matter most. We’ll use timely tools to rebuild timeless foundations. We’ll do better basics, but with the most advanced techniques. Andy will share a set of frameworks, prompts and techniques for better digital basics, using the latest tools of today. And in the end, Andy will consider - in a brief glimpse - what might be the biggest change of all, and how to expand your footprint in the new digital landscape.
Key Takeaways:
How to use AI to optimize your content
How to find topics that algorithms love
How to get AI to mention your content and your brand
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Snapshot of Consumer Behaviors of May 2024-EOLiSurvey (EN).pdf
PR, Branding and positioning to take on goliath
1. #INBOUND16
Make your business larger than life
Christine Perkett
@missusP
@seedepthinc
PR, BRANDING AND
POSITIONING TO TAKE
ON GOLIATH
2. #INBOUND16
1. The Importance of Branding
2. Today’s PR: Opportunities and Challenges
3. Today’s Best Tools For Startup Marketing Budgets
4. Case Studies
5. Framework for Self Sustaining (Almost) PR
6. Additional Resources
AGENDA
7. #INBOUND16
“Your brand is your voice in the marketplace, and it is
your proposition for disruption.”
- Amy Cosper, Entrepreneur
8. #INBOUND16
1. Establishes Credibility
2. Creates Trust and Loyalty
3. Improves Recognition
4. Generates Interest
5. Builds Value
6. Is More Than a Logo!
Branding isn’t just what you tell people, but what they believe based on the signals
your brand sends.
A Strong Brand
9. #INBOUND16
A Great Brand Story:
• Taps into your target audiences’ emotions
• Ties your values to your brand promise
• Conveys the overall brand experience
• Is powerful: relevant, memorable, consistent
• Builds a strong and loyal customer base
12. #INBOUND16
Getting to Brand Position
• Vision - should define a company’s ongoing purpose and
overarching goal. It should be bold and aggressive – it may even
feel unreachable.
• Mission - defines the practical goals of the company and clearly
defines what a company does. It should answer three questions:
– What is it that we do?
– How do we do it?
– For whom are we doing it?
• Elevator Pitch - should be a high level description of a brand that
is persistently used by employees when asked what the company
does
13. #INBOUND16
Getting to Brand Position
• Positioning Statement - a specific, focused statement that
competitively positions a brand vs real or perceived
competitors.
• Tagline - The tagline is a catchy descriptor that’s
memorable and brief; often dramatic for effect.
• Core Messages
– Leadership Position
– Unique Value Proposition
– Competitive Differentiators
14. #INBOUND16
Getting to Brand Position
• Proof Points
– Proof Points are stats or stories that can back up a brand’s claims. They
can be snippets of results for customers, credibility builders such as
awards or speaking gigs, etc. They are the “proof” that our approach
delivers stronger results, that our agency has experienced and respected
executives, and more.
• SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats
– Real and perceived
• Key Audience ID
– Determine the key audiences for your brand and define key messages
for each
15. #INBOUND16
1. Memorable
2. Consistent
3. Clear
4. Responsive
“A brand is what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service or
organization – whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.”
– Tronvig Group
Best Practices
25. #INBOUND16
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you
make but about the stories you tell.”
- Seth Godin
#storiesyoutell
@missusP
26. #INBOUND16
1. Topical, timely
2. Emotional
3. Controversial, surprising or entertaining
4. Relevant
5. New
6. Informative
7. Resourceful/helpful
A Good PR Story
28. #INBOUND16
1. Social media
– Where’s your audience?
– Chats; hangouts
2. Blogging
– Key terms
– Guests
3. Media outreach
– Comments
– Bylines
If You Can Only Pick Three…
29. #INBOUND16
1. Focus
2. Don’t panic
3. KISS
4. Read
5. Invest in relationships
6. Humanize your approach
7. Get writing
8. Be realistic
9. Cross-channel investment
Elements to Success
33. #INBOUND16
1. News
– Make sure it’s meaningful
2. Stories
– Topical, timely, unique, relevant
3. Facts/Figures
– Data-centric world
4. Proof points
– Customers, other
5. Make it easy
The Right Mix
37. #INBOUND16
“…ran his campaign sensing the feeling of
dispossession and anxiety among millions of voters.”
“reads the waves of resentment and rides them to a
popular victory.”
- The New Yorker
40. #INBOUND16
1. Visual, Unique Content
1. Make it more visible through title, descriptions, tags
2. Piggy back on user-generated content; include their voices
• Increases amount of content and further engages your audience
2. News & Social Calendar
1. Not just yours: ”Hallmark,” industry
2. Include assignments
3. Empower Advocates; Assign Ownership
1. Executives
2. Customers
3. Partners
4. Employees
5. Fans
PR Framework – Key Elements
41. #INBOUND16
1. Business Goals
2. PR Assessment, Audit
3. PR Plan: no more than six months at a time
1. Include Goals, Strategies, Objectives
2. Budget and Tools
3. Timetable: editorial and social media calendar
4. Team and Assignments
4. Measurement and Analytics
– What’s working? What isn’t?
– Measure what matters
PR Framework - Non Negotiables
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 28 million small businesses in the country – and while they may be small, they have a big impact – accounting for (read slide).
https://www.sba.gov/managing-business/running-business/energy-efficiency/sustainable-business-practices/small-business-trends
This doesn’t even account for the startups that are in the landscape!
If you own or work for a small business, marketing can be a challenge. How do you stand out when budgets are small and resources are so focused? It can be especially difficult when you’re the startup or smaller player in a sea of larger organizations with big budgets. The first thing you’ve got to do is establish a consistent, noteworthy and memorable brand.
Branding goes well beyond a cool logo and fun company name. Branding is your voice in the marketplace, as Amy Cosper of Entrepreneur has said, and is your proposition for disruption. What do you want people to know about you? Why are you memorable? Brand is crucial for establishing your presence in the market.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243371
Professional look/feel build credibility which inspires trust
Recognition goes beyond the logo; word association is important, too.
Makes selling easier; people buy from those they know and like – a good brand puts forth that promise
Leads to name and visual awareness
Your brand’s story is the underlying story that drives everything your brand does, says, sells, promises, elicits The best brands are built on great stories. So what makes a good story? It depends. First and foremost, you need a story that appeals to your audience’s emotion.
What is a brand’s promise? It’s a single promise you tell or imply across all communications – the unique value that is delivered. Coca Cola’s promise is happiness. Apple’s is innovation, Luis Vuitton is luxury and importance, Tom’s is to improve people’s lives in different ways.
Vision should be focused on a company’s inherent future potential. A good example is PepsiCo: to improve all aspects of the world in which we operate – creating a better tomorrow than today.” Very lofty but gives employees a guiding light of what the company is striving to do.
Mission is more practical. For example, Warby Parker’s is “buying glasses should be easy and fun; leave you happy and good looking, with money in your pocket.” Uber’s is “Provide a crowd-sourced solution to the issue of over-priced, hard-to-find taxis, and revolutionize the unwiedly and monopolized taxi industry.”
The Elevator Pitch is an even more straight forward description of what you do, and should be clear enough that you could explain it to someone in the length of time it takes to ride an elevator. Using Uber again as an example, they state they “connect passengers with either drivers of vehicles for hire or ride-sharing services in several cities around the world.” Pretty clear!
A positioning statement is important from a competitive standpoint – you want to make it clear why you’re better and different. During this exercise, you should take into account both real and perceived competitors – that is, you might not think they’re competitors but if they can compete for your customer’s dollars, they should be considered.
Taglines are used on websites, logos and even email signatures. They should be short and snappy. Using Uber again as an example, their tagline is “Get there – your day belongs to you.” They give you your whole day back – that’s a dramatic but effective statement that clearly delivers their value proposition as well.
Speaking of value proposition, it should be clear and unique. You’ll want to create three core messages that you or your spokespersons always share when talking about your brand: why you’re a leader, what unique value you deliver and why you’re different or better than competitors.
And finally, to cement your brand position, you’ll need proof points. Too many brands don’t spend enough time unearthing these. They can be found through conversations with customers, analysis of data, execution of a survey, or even alignment with industry statistics. They support and prove your claims. It’s not enough to stand on your soapbox and say how great you are – you need proof. (Unless of course, you’re running for President of the U.S.)
Two other important exercises in getting to brand position are a SWOT analysis and Audience ID. For both, it’s crucial to be brutally honest and dig deep ideally, bring in an outsider to run this exercise – it can help to keep your team from drinking too much of the company’s Kool Aid. The point is to identify any and all places of vulnerability, so you can position your brand as strongly as possible.
Remember that brand is your company’s personality – so it should be memorable and clear and most importantly, consistent. Are you a serious brand? Funny? Romantic? Be sure your marketing content and PR campaigns support and show that personality. If your brand isn’t one whose voice aligns with using slang, GIFs or memes, don’t use them. Before you create any content, think about whether it fits your core brand identity and overall strategy.
Today, responsive branding – that creating unique and on demand engagements - is a very effective strategy in our always-on, ever-connected world. A great example of this is fro Oreo - during a power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans during the 2013 Superbowl, Oreo’s ad group, the Martin Agency, immediately sent out a tweet of an image of the cookie enveloped in darkness with the caption, “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” It was re-tweeted more than 15,000 times. Responsive branding is very effective and doesn’t have to be costly – although keeping your eye on what’s happening and quickly reacting with creative content can be time consuming, so you’ll need to be sure that you have a dedicated resource to execute such branding.
If you’re in a smaller business or a startup, choosing where to spend your money can be tough. You want to do what works. So is PR effective? Sir Richard Branson thinks so, and so do I.
First things first, let’s be clear that PR isn’t dead. It’s changed – a lot – but despite the rumors, social media has not killed it. If anything, good PR is more important – and easier to do – than ever.
Let’s start with defining what is PR, anyway? As I mentioned, it has changed a lot, especially over the last 10 years, as social media gave every company a new way to engage directly with influencers, media and customers.
With social and digital work, the role of PR now spans many different areas. These can include the ever-popular media relations, as well as awards, speaking and events programs, news releases, customer communications and promotion (such as writing case studies), social media management, digital production (including video, website development), content creation, ghost writing, media training and more. It also now includes data analytics.
Recent article, don’t forget importance of media relations: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2016/10/21/its-5pm-cmos-do-you-know-what-your-pr-team-is-doing/#71b7ec6a7f1b
At the end of the day, PR is the part of marketing that promotes your brand. But to do it well, you’ve got to relate to your target audience, and show them you understand their wants and needs. A good PR executive understands how to relate to your audience – whether it’s a journalist, analyst, customer or prospect. Great PR involves taking the time to engage, not just push out promotional materials. Nobody wants to listen to – or take recommendations from – someone they can’t relate to. Just think of PR as a relationship, and you’ll be off to a good start.
It’s not rocket science, but it does take investment: a decent budget, a smart team (even if it’s just one person you’ve dedicated to the effort), and creative storytelling. Great PR also takes time. You’ve got to plan on an ongoing investment.
So where do you start? Always, always start outside of marketing – with your business goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Work backwards from there to build a PR strategy. Plan SMART - create specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals.
Your plan should include and outline what tools you’ll use – will social media be a part of your effort? What about visual content? And, plan out how you will manage the effort – will you do it yourself? Will you hire an employee or an agency? Maybe a PR consultant is a good place to start. And finally, make sure you include measurement to determine how your investment is paying off. Pay attention to what’s having the greatest impact so you can repeat what’s working and pivot from what isn’t.
There are a few crucial elements to a successful PR strategy but ultimately, the ability to tell good stories is key. Not everything your business does is interesting, so step outside of your own head sometimes and think about what interests you from other companies.
Determine who the key players will be in your campaign. Which executives will be spokespersons? Are they media trained? Do they do well in interviews? If not, I highly recommend finding a qualified media trainer and investing in a session.
Every company thinks that they’re special, but you have to truly put work into identifying your differentiators. What’s special about your business? Why are you better and different than the competition? What’s your ongoing story – are you the innovative company like Apple, the customer-service obsessed brand, or do you own the majority of the market? No matter your size, you have to find a special angle, a sweet spot that is the narrative of your ongoing story.
Timing is also crucial for an effective campaign. If you’re releasing news, for example, plan carefully – look at the rest of your industry and note other things that you’ll be competing with, such as conferences or competitor’s events.
People remember how you make them feel. People love brands that make them feel good. So your stories should start from that consideration – how do you want your audience to feel? Taken care of? Nostalgic? Excited? Empowered? All of your stories – whether in your ads, social content, press releases or media pitches – should support this underlying feeling. A great example Budweiser – they want you to feel you belong, whether it’s a puppy leading a horse back home, or a bunch of friends hanging out, their content always has that underlying note.
What makes a good PR story can vary… but it usually has one or more of these elements. In addition, if you’re pitching your story to a journalist, it has to be relevant to what they write and for whom they write. Be sure you do your homework and understand the kind of stories they are looking for, then shape your pitch to that.
Who’s the story for? Why will they care? It’s not about direct promotion any more. You have to relate to people about topics they care about first. Blatant promotion on your products or services no longer works. If you create content (media articles, blogs, social content, etc.) about topics I care about – and you are a resource to me – I am going to be more likely to recognize your brand and listen to you when you have something to say – including about yourself.
So if you have limited resources and you can only pick a handful of things to do, here’s what I suggest. READ SLIDE
Social media is by and far the best thing that’s happened to marketing in a long time. It offers inexpensive ways to reach a mass audience (if done correctly), expand your audience beyond what was once regionally-captive, and become an influencer in ways that weren’t before possible. But – don’t count out traditional media relations. Although there are many that espouse its demise, it still remains a very influential form of PR. Third party endorsements are possible with both of these – you can inspire customer advocates and engagement via social media, and media still carries weight, even if they just write about – but not blatantly endorse – your company. Writing about it is an endorsement enough to say they thought it was worth taking a look at, and filling column inches (or blog pages).
PR can be intimidating but if you really want it to work, you’ll dedicate the resources to it
So if you’re a small business or a startup you probably face these challenges. I’ve been there – I’ve started and run a small business and I’m in the midst of a startup. I know what it’s like to have to be more ”creative” with your money and time, including trying to navigate the never-ending sea of recommended tools and vendor pitches. Here’s just a brief look at the martech landscape from Chiefmartech.com’s 2016 Marketing Technology Landscape. How do you navigate your needs – and find the time to figure out the best fit for your needs? And once you do, how do you find the time to educate agencies or vendors, provide feedback for creative content creation, and ensure successful execution? It’s not easy.
But you do have options for help. You could hire someone inhouse or as a consultant, hire an agency, or do it yourself. Each have costs – not just money, but time. You have to decide how important your time is vs. your dollars.
No matter what you choose, make sure you have a good mix of what really matters. News should be relevant to your audience. Stories can be timely and topical and uphold you as a thought leader. Facts and figures always make your stories more credible and interesting. Proof points are essential – whether a customer backing you up, growth percentages, or otherwise, proof points are the pillars to your story It’s not just enough to say, “but we’re awesome!.” And make it easy for your audience to learn about you and consume your content – make it so obvious where you are, how to reach you, what you do. I can’t tell you how many PR agency sites I come across that don’t’ actually say what they do on the homepage. They use language that’s familiar to them – not to their audience. You must speak language your audience understands.
If you want to announce news – in the old days we called that a press release – make sure it’s meaningful for its intended audience. Sometimes news is important to customers and prospects, but not the media. If that’s the case, consider “announcing” something without a press release – do a video blog from the Owner/CEO or share via your newsletter. Too many small companies – especially in B2B/tech – think that issuing a press release and paying for it to cross the wire – makes them more “credible.” I don’t have enough time in this presentation to dive into it – but press releases across the wire are meant for the media. So, if you’re doing that, make sure you have a press release that’s interesting enough for the media, and that you’re targeting the rigth media. (As a small business, you’re better off sending directly and personally to a few key journalists). . If you need a press release to prove value to a Board or customers, post it on your website and blog for prosperity's’ sake, and save the $500-$1500 fee.
As a small business and startup owner, I’ve tried a lot of tools. There are some amazing things out there – like Hubspot, which I assume most you have used or tried, since you’re here. But when you’re watching the bottom line closely, sometimes you need some additional options that can enhance your campaigns without adding additional budget.
Luckily, there are a variety of free or inexpensive tools out there. Some of my favored include READ SLIDE
In addition to social media tools, you’ll want to also invest in publishing and monitoring tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite, where you can pre-post social updates across a variety of channels. This is very effective for maintaining intelligent time management. In addition to these media approaches, also sign up and use HARO, a free service that sends emails several times a day with reporter’s queries for resources on stories they are writing. Profnet also offers a similar service.
A challenger brand is a company or product brand in an industry that is not the category leader. I’m assuming that’s a lot of you, and that’s why you’re here.
Being a successful challenger encompasses a mind-set and a number of behaviors. It means being able to clearly articulate exactly who you are and what you stand for, with confidence that this comes from your purpose and values, not what market norms dictate.
While not necessarily a small business, Donald Trump is a very timely example of a challenger brand. His PR / political campaign ran on enciting people’s emotions – he played on fears and played to the emotion of anger and resentment. Challenger brands don’t play to the norm, they don’t follow the rules. They demand customer’s attention – and I think we can all agree that Donald Trump’s campaign certainly did that.
Being a challenger isn’t necessarily about being small; it’s about being bold enough to be different, and single-minded about what you want to achieve.
And finally, a good PR framework is almost self sustaining – but you’ve got to put thought into it.
There are several key elements for a simple but effective PR framework. Always include visual content. Be sure to create a news and social media calendar – not just your own, but paying attention to the time of year, popular events or industry happenings. Be clear on who should do what.
And finally, create and empower brand advocates – these can be your employees, customers, partners or even just fans. Give them the tools to share your brand’s voice and message across social media. Create sharable content, provide social media guidelines, appoint employee advocacy leaders who engage others and set an example.
In your PR plan, these are ”must haves” – understand your business goals, start with a PR audit- what have you done, what’s been effective to-date? Create a new plan and benchmark against that assessment. Be clear with your goals, strategies and objectives, so everyone knows what you’re trying to accomplish and how. I recommend planning no more than six months at a time, because things change so quickly these days. Identify the budget and tools you’ll use, a timetable and clear ownership assignments.
And finally, don’t forget to measure!
Explain editorial and social calendars. Where to find?
No more than 6 months in this day and age of rapidly moving
Don’t measure “possibilities”
When I say “measure” it’s really important to clarify that you should “measure What Matters. Nobody wants to throw money out the window, so make sure you have measurement strategies in place to analyze the success of your programs and investments. Don’t measure “possibilities” like Circulation or Impressions. Measurement today is getting more and more sophisticated.
For example,
Google Analytics is your friend. Use it. It can seem daunting, so find a specialist or a PR Analytics vendor that integrates with it and can bring the insights into a more PR-friendly dashboard.
If you have a PR agency, ensure they are delivering reports on outcomes that affect the business,’ bottom line, not just reporting on output of what they’ve done. (examples; called 10 reporters today, drafted 5 awards submissions)
If they haven’t secured a single media hit or driven a single referral to your site in three months, there’s an issue. Six months, you should move on. If they thought they could do these things, it shouldn’t take them longer than this timeframe. Maybe they don’t understand your business, or don’t’ understand your audience. Either way, you’re wasting money
Determine your goals ahead of time, benchmark where you are and measure against your ability to reach those goals.
There’s a ton of new PR Tech vendors and other resources out there that can help you but you can also create your own formulas and dashboards with enough training – and time.
And finally, there are a lot of resources out there, Hubspot being a great one. Here are few other of my favorites.