Mike’s Points

If your company or clients only advertise, opportunities are missed.

If only media relations or just any other type of public relations, opportunities are missed.

If only direct mail, opportunities are missed.

If only SEO or SEM, opportunities are missed.

If only Twitter, opportunities are missed.

If only, Facebook, opportunities are missed.

If only blog, opportunities are missed.

Okay, by now you get the picture.

While my communications career has had its focus, I’ve never been a one-size-fits-all type of person. In the same way, companies should not limit themselves — budget permitting — to one communications approach.

Each communications vehicle can play off another. For example:

In advertise, beat your chest. Brag. Boast.

For media relations, educate your audience about what your ads brag about, show real-world examples, and prove to your media contacts how/why it’s news.

Then, try to combine your editorial targets with your media schedule to get more opportunity to make more and varying impressions on readers in each issue.

Take social media as another example:

If you have a Facebook Page, great. Provide value. Encourage discussion. Get feedback. Do a little self-promotion.

Complement that Facebook effort with a Twitter account to seek out those who might be interested in being part of your Facebook Page community. Facebook Pages are limited in self-promotion because Facebook’s platform is focused on individuals. That’s why you have people suggesting Pages, and companies starting off with a Profile; and later moving to a Page — asking their friends to take still another step and become fans.

But, with Twitter, you can be proactive by searching for tweeple tweeting about your terms, and then following them, engaging them and directing them to your Facebook Page.

Sure, there’s more people using Facebook than Twitter, but I’m talking about just one tactic for reaching out to prospective community members, rather than relying on your personal network or being passive.

The main point is, don’t become so narrow focused on one tactic or the latest trend. Take a look at your core needs, objectives, goals and then develop a plan — an integrated plan — of strategies and tools that will give you the best opportunity to achieve those needs, objectives and goals.

-Mike

If you’re looking for a fresh look on marketing communication program, let me know. I’d be more than happy to brainstorm with you.

*One of my main tenants in marketing communications is, go where the fish are. That is, it’s easier to develop and retain customers if you go to the places, the sites, etc., where they are then it is to try to get them to change their habits and come to you. So, if advertising is not one of the best ways to reach your marketplace — don’t advertise. If your prospects and customers are not online (that’s becoming more rare each day) — minimize your time online.

Your marketing communications approach needs to targeted around the needs of your prospects, customers and influencers, and, of course, your budget.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/certified_su/ / CC BY 2.0

call someone.

It is so easy to email, DM, Facebook, IM and use other forms of digital communication these days. Too easy, I’d say.

If I want or need an immediate response, I will call someone or IM (if the person is online). If I really, really want a reply, I call. Otherwise, if you email, a response is at the will of the other person — and who knows what else he or she has going on. His/Her timing likely won’t equal your timing.

And, if there’s no rush, that’s fine. There are many times when email and other digital communication is effective and appropriate.

But, for immediate response, don’t forget about the old fashioned telephone. Or, rather, cell phone.

So, for those times when you NEED a response and don’t want to leave a message, when are you best chances to reach out and talk to someone?

I don’t have any cold-hard facts for that answer. Just anecdotal gut-feelings brought about after years of media calling, combined with prospective employer or client follow up calls. Here’s my list of the best time to call AND speak to someone:

Between 8:30 and 9 a.m.: By then, most people are in the office, have had their cup of coffee or tea, and are starting to settle into their day. Typically, most meetings don’t start until 9 a.m. So, when you call within that half hour, you can catch someone after they are ready for work but before they head off into any meetings or dive into any projects.

Just before noon or just before 1 p.m.: Everybody eats lunch, right? Even if they go out, you can catch them just before noon before they head out. Being late for lunch is not as big a deal as being late for a meeting or being interrupted when in the middle of a project. If they eat at their desk or don’t go out, it doesn’t take an hour to eat — even if you include conversations with co-workers. So, they are usually back by 1 p.m. and you can call then without interrupting lunch.

If you are making media calls, you also need to know when deadlines are and avoid them.

Also, I suggest NOT calling towards the end of the day. Typically, people are wrapping up the day’s work and looking forward to going home, or putting out a last-minute fire. Either situation is not ideal for getting a positive response from someone with whom you need or want something.

So, what do you think? Am I off? Do you have other good suggestions of when people can reach out and talk to someone?

-Mike

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trashit_t-shirt/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

I don’t have a lot of experience in signs. I know some of the basic guidelines, like for billboards (simple message, under five words) and a few others.

What I am pretty comfortable with is the English language — especially in writing (okay, typing).

If you are into signs or any type of similar public display, let me offer a little PSA with a couple “don’ts” for you.

The first one (right) is a simple improper use of apostrophe. Use apostrophe s — ’s — only to show that something possesses something else. Don’t use an apostrophe because you don’t like the way an s looks at the end of a word. Unfortunately, there are plenty other examples of apostrophe abuse.

The other one (below) also is pretty basic mistake. Even my 2nd grade son knows that when you write or read, you do so left to right, or up to down. Not, bottom to top. (If you happen to recognize this one, please know that it was done by a volunteer parent, not the school. And, it was not done by me or my wife. I’m sure the parent put in a lot of time making the door signs and is to be commended for the effort; just not as much on the end result.)

If these little tidbits can save your own “sign language,” I can sleep easier at night.

-Mike

Transparency, authenticity, disclosure, etc., are common buzz words in social media marketing.

To me, those and similar terms are about good ol’ honesty and integrity. Yes, integrity in public relations (or whatever realm you put social media marketing in).

I see nothing wrong with being paid or having other commercial/financial vested interest in promoting a company or group via social media technologies and tools — as long as you disclose your relationship, motive, etc. Heck, I’ve been paid to do it for the better part of the past four years.

Social media marketing is an interesting work process compared to traditional, offline media relations. It has forced PR pros to “step out from behind the curtain” because social media can easily intertwine our personal and professional online personas.

While the content is important, the source is just as important because the source is one way to help me judge the quality of the content and if I want to follow any links (such as content that is tweeted). If it’s a corporate or association Twitter account, for example, I don’t care who’s behind it because it’s a safe bet that most of the content is designed to help the company or association.

But, if it’s a person behind the tweet, for example — whether I know him/her or not — I definitely want to know if the content he/she is tweeting is because of personal or professional interest, or both.

To me, there’s a very basic litmus test to determine when you should disclose the relationship:

If you are being paid, will otherwise financially or somehow professionally directly benefit from a blog post, tweet, etc., you should disclose — even if the topic also is of personal interest.

For me, I am involved in public relations, social media marketing, and other marketing communication activities. I also do freelance journalism work for a couple Toledo-based newspapers. One is the Toledo Free Press. Every so often, I’ll retweet a tweet by the TFP. I do that because I think an article is important and I think others should know about it (others meaning people who may follow me but not the TFP).

I don’t think RT’ing the the paper’s tweets will directly benefit me (and I’ve never RT’ed a TFP tweet that was one of my articles). I guess by helping spread the exposure of the paper, one could argue that I’ll indirectly benefit by the chance that more people will be exposed to its articles, and likely visit its site, which could reinforce to advertisers that the TFP is a sought-after paper. And, if the TFP does well, one could argue that I would benefit.

I haven’t disclosed that I’m a stringer for the TFP in my RTs. Should I? To me, it’s a bit of a stretch that I’ll benefit by RT’ing the paper’s tweets. I also have RT’d the Blade’s tweets. Are those RTs any different?

If you disagree with me and think I should disclose my relationship with the TFP when I RT, please leave a comment.

And what about you: Do you disclose your business relationships with your tweets, posts, etc.?
-Mike

When my kids try something new, I tell them ahead of time that you rarely do it right or perfectly the first time. But, do keep trying; it’ll be worth it.

It seems like there have been a lot of very public mistakes of late involving social media. And, that’s okay — as long as people learn from their mistakes. Take Jeremy Epstein/NSM for example (hat tip to Lara Kretler). He even blogged about it, and included what he learned:

What the social media era is about is not pretending to be perfect and impersonal. It’s about being real and authentic. It’s about recognizing that, although people are trying to do their bests, sometimes they make mistakes.

But, if they apologize, understand, and learn from those mistakes, then, as humans, it is our responsibility to just move on…and go ahead and make new ones.

While Jeremy clearly learned from his goof, I hope a few other people will as well. For example, please do not betray others’ trust nor their property (and if you do, don’t post it on the Internet!):

• Disgusting Domino’s People: Okay, so teen brains are still developing, and as the video shows, even young adult brains are not fully wired. Regardless, if you want your 15 minutes of fame or want to show you have power over people’s food, please do not video yourself or friends doing disgusting stuff to it. What? Did you think no one would see it? Hopefully, the two young people in the video have higher aspirations than making and delivering subs and pizza*, and have learned their lesson: whether or not you record it, do not betray others’ trust.
• Similar to the above, renting a place means it’s not yours to do with what you will: Again, the culprits are 20-somethings who posted party pictures on Facebook — and then the landlord saw it, and evicted them. Hopefully, they will get some negative exposure and learn that you respect others’ trust.

And, I am by no means exempt from social media mistakes. My biggest lesson learned came a couple years ago — don’t rush to comment or blog about something unless you really read (not scan) it all.

Remember, Life is beta: Try something. Seek feedback. Improve. Repeat.

-Mike
*Don’t get me wrong, working at Domino’s or other pizza place is an honorable job. I’ve done it, and the pay was pretty good for not needing any other training. However, unless you are looking to become a manager or higher level, there’s not much to it once you get the process down.