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These days, it’s all about your company or brand’s “story,” which (perhaps mercifully) has replaced the 60-second “elevator speech” in communicating what an organization or its brand is all about and, most importantly, creating a relationship.
In that regard, PR News recently offered some suggestions, including:
– To get a feel for your brand, ask yourself which character it would have been on the TV show “Friends.” Then ask yourself why.
– Expand your vision. It’s not just about your products and employees, but how you can help people in the larger scope of your business and/or expertise.
– Look around you, mining the stories from all departments and business units, including customer service – the frontline when it comes to knowing what consumers want to know.
– Get personal, using profiles of the people behind your products and anecdotal lead-in to your stories.
– Take every opportunity you can to establish your brand as the subject-matter expert in your realm.
Admittedly, you might have problems picturing your company in a “Rachel” haircut, but you get the idea. Stories are about people. People relate to people. Get them to relate to you on a personal level.
Kudos to Microsoft, but not necessarily for the new logo design. Four colored squares. Sans serif font. As the Grinch would say: “Cut, print, check the gate. Moving on.”
Actually, they have probably done the right thing by simply reducing the Windows(R) element to its abstract essence. No perspective, but after a trillion online and print impressions over the coming years, it will still evoke Microsoftness. When a company spends more than $9 billion on R&D every year, they tend to spend a bit on advertising, too.
So, enough about the logo. To me, the smartest thing about the rebranding effort is the lack of a tagline to go with it. True, Microsoft hasn’t stuck its latest line — “Your potential. Our passion.” — on much lately, but the absence of a tagline to accompany the new logo means that the marketing folks at Microsoft have decided to go tagline free for good. Okay, for now.
It’s not like they’ve had a brilliant heritage of tagline wisdom. As best as I can tell, here’s the whole lineage in recent memory: “Where Do You Want To Go today?” > “Life Without Walls” > “Be What’s Next” > “Your potential. Our passion.” Maybe you see it, but I don’t find any “Just do it.” winners in the bunch.
There are really only two solutions for any decision about a company’s tagline: work the challenge ridiculously hard until you find the only word or set of words that completely expresses the essence of the brand, or shut up.
Let’s look at a handful of examples in the tech world:
VMware: “The power behind your cloud.” I think this works in an “Intel inside” kind of way. Maybe not perfect, but good.
DELL: “The power to do more” I think they license this tagline from The Home Depot. Not sure. What I do know is that DELL’s “power” tagline does absolutely nothing to draw from its heritage as the first technology company to actually personalize their products. So, why not “DELL: The power of YOU”? Just saying.
Xerox: “Ready For Real Business” Gee, Xerox, what kind of business were you ready for until now?
Norton: “Protecting the Stuff that matters.” Like. It lets the customer decide what to be insecure about. Plus, in the tagline world, the word “matters” is really, really hot.
IBM: No tagline. Correct.
So, with Microsoft, with such a disparate range of products and services and such a long and involved brand history (sounds like IBM), the only option is silence. No tagline at all. Congratulations, Microsoft. “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.”
A Sept. 10 headline on businessinside.com proclaimed, “Investors Not Impressed with JCPenney Haircuts.”
At first I was thinking that surely, as investors, they could afford more upscale stylists. I mean, you get what you pay for.
Then I realized the title referred to the chain’s latest “innovation” in which it was actually bringing back something it had done before – offering free haircuts for kids.
Déjà vu all over again.
Earlier in the year, I blogged about the company’s huge and overly loud announcement regarding its intent to revolutionize retail with “straightforward pricing.” The promise was that they would offer no confusing sales, rather, month-long promotions “in sync with the rhythm of [shoppers’] lives” and “best prices” that are reserved for the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month (while supplies last). Oh, and it recently had a “clearance,” which is not so much a sale as it is, well, offering merchandise lower prices. I think.
Apparently, it all made as much sense to other consumers as it did me, and we’ve stayed aware in droves. This phenomenon led its new CEO to announce plans to “simplify pricing,” while transforming its stores into mini-malls of “shops” a la Target.
As near as I can tell, this latest announcement has been more low-key, with only an insert in the local newspaper to alert me to the availability in those “shops” of value-priced apparel, such as snap-on vests for toddlers.
Some analysts see Penney’s past six months of sea changes as examples of the genius of its CEO, who came from Apple, Inc. Others see it as an exercise in grabbing at straws, hoping to stay afloat.
It will be interesting to see if this softer opening works better than the blaring trumpets. Either way, there are lessons to be learned here about confidence in concepts and managing expectations – your own, as well as your customers.
Apparently,
I hate to beat a dead horse (although it does take less effort)
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What’s the big news this morning about JCPenney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP)? That the struggling retailer has extended its free haircuts for kids promotion. But investors do not seem to be impressed, as shares are lower in early trading, along with the broader markets.
As we said earlier this morning, this free haircuts promotion is just another smoke-and-mirrors effort to regain customers since Ron Johnson joined as chief executive after a stint as head of retail at Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL). Johnson revamped merchandise pricing almost immediately after his appointment, but sales at JCPenney dropped more than 20% in the first reported quarter afterward.
Despite its lack of success, Johnson trumpeted a modified version of the plan again less than a month ago when the company released more bad earnings:
“We have now completed the first six months of our transformation and while business continues to be softer than anticipated, we are confident the transformation of jcpenney is on track. The transition from a highly promotional business model to one based on everyday value will take time and we will stay the course,” said jcpenney CEO Ron Johnson. “This month we simplified our pricing, launched the first of our new shops, and accelerated our marketing efforts to focus on brands, products and value. Early response to these efforts has been very encouraging.”
The quarterly numbers gave no support for the success of any transformation.
However, August saw a sudden surge in insider buying after four years. A director and CFO Michael Kramer cumulatively bought more than 7,200 shares, worth more than $170,000, either to take advantage of the company’s good valuations or as a way to help restore investor trust in the company’s prospects.
Still, the view from here is that the fact that free haircuts are considered a big deal at JCPenney is just another sign of how much the retailer is grasping at straws.
After opening at $28.54, shares were down as far as $28.16 in early trading. The 52-week range is $19.06 to $43.18, and the share price is more than 24% lower than six months ago.
Read more: Investors Not Impressed with JCPenney Haircuts – 24/7 Wall St.
Your brand is more than your logo, name or tagline — it’s the holistic experience your prospects, clients and others have with your organization.
Your brand is what you stand for. The promise you make and the persona you convey. And while it includes your visual identity, your brand lives in the day-to-day interaction you have with your market:
Brands are critical.
Brands make you stand out among your competition.
Brands enhance your competitive position.
Brands bring your value proposition to life.
Brands are profitable and contribute to the bottom line, build company equity and overall client loyalty.
Your brand consistently communicates to your prospects and customers why they should engage with you!
To learn more about how we partner with clients to build their brands, please contact us.
A local church recently quoted Gandhi in its signage, truncating his original statement to: “Be the change you want to see.”
Marketing geek that I am, I was reminded immediately of a correlation with content management: “Be the media you want others to see.”
Yes, in a pre-Internet world a huge chunk of our society couldn’t even imagine, consumers relied on traditional media companies to fill their information needs. Today, of course, this is no longer true, and companies can deliver tangible benefits to prospects and customers through relevant, useful content.
From offering solutions to challenges to sharing news of interest to offering insights on issues to (my personal favorite) bringing a smile to someone’s face, corporate Web sites are becoming the media of choice for many buyers.
And this makes sense. Consider: No one knows more about you and your business or organization than you. And objectivity? People gave up on that long ago. They don’t need buffers any more, believing in their own abilities to see through the “sell” to the product or service being sold.
Of course, companies in some industries have been doing this sort of thing for years. An obvious example can be found in home-improvement store sites, where you can learn to do all sorts of do-it-yourself projects – and, of course, buy all the products you would need to complete them.
Given this example, why doesn’t it make as much sense for consumers to find trusted commercial providers for all their other information needs?
So take a look at your own web copy and ask, “If I were a customer or prospect, what would make me come back to this site?”
As with so many things, it’s all about relationships, which reminds me of another quote I saw recently, this one on Content Marketing Today: “By delivering content that is vital and relevant to your target market,” it said, “you will begin to take on an important role in their lives.”
That’s pretty powerful stuff.
And catnip to marketers such as us.
At Next-Mark, public relations crisis management is one our of main areas of focus. It can take a company many years to build and sustain a strong reputation. The downside is that a good reputation can be destroyed in seconds. Between word of mouth, media communications, social media influence and other online distribution of information, your reputation is always at risk.
It’s important to stay proactive when it comes to reputation management. For example, having a plan of action for when a crisis happens or taking steps to make sure conflicts are avoided. These six tips recently reported on www.mashable.com will help you in knowing how to handle a reputation crisis.
1. Don’t Pretend a Crisis Is Not Happening
Having a response ready in a timely manner is important. Delaying on this could make you pay the price. Also, you do not want to over respond. This is just as bad as not responding at all.
2. Don’t Make an Empty Gesture
Apologizing for apologizing only comes across as lazy and uninspired.
3. Don’t Refuse to Backtrack
Backtracking is simply meant in regards to covering your tracks and not being afraid to admit you were wrong. Social media is the perfect location to communicate directly to your consumers about what your next steps will be to fix the problem, use it.
4. Develop Channels of Communication
Develop your social media by creating a Facebook, Twitter and blog. Combining this with the creation of a strong company will put you in a good position for the future. By having the social media pages, it allows you convey messaging by using video, email and webchats.
5. Establish a Crisis Communication Response Team
This will be beneficial for anything someone sees on the Internet or external stakeholders. Having a response team in place will create immediate attention to the areas needed. Be careful though, some comments or “rumors” may not need attention. There are people that want attention from you and post things that are untrue. If you know it’s going to fall under the radar and not create a potential disaster, it may not be worth your time. Remember, your company must drive the response and messaging.
6. Become Influential and Change Perceptions
Connect with your audience. Becoming a role model and being influential is important. If not, your may fall under the radar yourself, so speak about things that will influence others positively. Use these channels to focus the conversation around your brand so when a crisis does arise, you have more control over the perception.
Remember, a reputation can be tarnished in a matter of seconds, so following the proper steps in a crisis is critically important. Don’t hope that your crisis will blow over, it won’t. Next-Mark has significant experience in public relations crisis management. If you are ever unsure how a situation should be handled, or the proper steps you should take, don’t hesitate to contact our team.
PR Daily recently published a story on 21 words commonly overused in business and pleaded a case for why we may want to use some other term. However, it seems that we avoid these as much as possible, but there are some cases in meetings and emails in which substituting one word or phrase for an entire sentence is more efficient.
Here are a few that fall into that category and some of their thoughts on how we “utilize” these words:
1. Outside the box. Although this phrase originally meant creative thinking, its overuse has twisted its definition to mean the exact opposite. As one PR Daily reader put it, those who use it should be put in a box—and kept there.
2. Tee-off/tee-up. The person who insists upon deploying golf references should be forced to wear plaid knickers and a jaunty cap in the boardroom. And keep your mashie niblick to yourself, pal.
3. Utilize. It means “use.” There is not a single case in which “utilize” is preferred.
4. Noodle. You hear it in this manner: “Let’s noodle some solutions.” Next time someone says it, offer this suggestion: “How about we kimchi them instead.”
5. Paradigm shift. The word paradigm means almost nothing. According to Dictionary.com, it refers to “a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, especially the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme,” or “an example serving as a model; pattern.” You lost me at set of forms.
6. Bandwidth. This is what happens when IT speak spreads to other departments: “Are you sure you have the bandwidth to take on that assignment?” As one PR Daily urged: “Just say capacity, or ability, or time.”
7. Leverage. A perennial favorite. Save it for Happy Hour, when you can leverage a beverage.
8. That being said. Translation: Everything I just said is meaningless. It’s also grammatically wrong, but just don’t use it.
9. Learnings. Don’t add an “s” to this collective gerund to try to make it plural. Just don’t. If you mean “lessons,” learn to say “lessons.”
10. Solutioneering. A study from last year found that “solution” is among the most commonly used words in press releases. Adding “eer” and then “ing” only exacerbates a dire problem.
11. Dial up/dial down. Next time someone says this phrase, take out your phone and ask for the number.
12. Leading. This word earns the Ubiquitous Award in corporate writing.
13. Socialize. To get an idea of the inanity of this word, go home tonight and tell your spouse: “Sweetheart, as you’ve probably noticed, there are a few issues with our relationship that we need to socialize.” Better yet, just take our word for it.
14. Wheelhouse. There are two instances in which it’s perfectly acceptable to use this word: When you’re piloting a riverboat, or when you’re broadcasting a baseball game and the batter has just pummeled a hanging curveball. It is unacceptable when you’re pitching a reporter (unless he or she is a sports reporter, in which case toss that story right into their wheelhouse).
15. Deliverables. When the U.S. Postal Service gets into the snack business, this will be its first product. “Try cheddar-flavor Deliverables, now with even more of that cheesy flavor you love.” Yeah, it’s cheesy all right.
16. Prezo. When you hear this abbreviation for presentation— “Hey, sweet prezo today, bro”—run as fast as you can. The same goes for the word “convo.”
17. Value-add. Which do you prefer: “We hope this article added some value to your day,” or, “We hope this article is a value-add.” If you opted for the latter, you might just be a PR toolbag.
Any others you’d care to add?
Next-Mark client, San Diego-based, Indyme Solutions, wanted us to create a video that demonstrates how their “Smart Response” call buttons are useful within any supermarket. With Indyme Smart Response, supermarket in-store teams instantly know when and where a shopper desires assistance, a cashier needs support, a perimeter door unexpectedly opens, a camera detects a suspicious event, and much more. It delivers real-time awareness resulting in prompt actions that build sales for their clients.
The Next-Mark team was responsible for all aspects of this production including writing, content development, location selection and management, video production and editing in full collaboration with our client, Steve Deal, CEO of Indyme Solutions. Special thanks to our team including Rob Welling, Bonnie Limbach, Shannon Welling, Brad Heiny, Jamie Robinson, Shasten Snellgroves and Chris Depken.
Corporate videos provide a critical marketing channel for our clients including social media postings, website content videos, email marketing campaigns and a multitude of other communications opportunities. When your reading the text on a website, it gives you a general idea of what a product is about. A video provides rich visual content, which creates a whole level of new insight into a product or service.
You can view this video on YouTube or at www.Indyme.com.
“To be buzzed about is every brand’s desire in the digital age,” Said Pr Daily.com. Today, the new measure of marketing success is calculated by the amount of “likes” you have on Facebook or how recognized you are within the social media world. Social media has created a whole new concept of marketing, but it isn’t necessarily easy to accomplish.
Here are three ways to bump up your “likes” on Facebook.
1. Post regularly
When you are handling a social media page you want to post daily, but DON’T over post. This keeps you in the loop of people checking their news feed regularly. Don’t post just anything. Post things that your target market will find attractive or interesting; For example, a link to your blog, event or give-away.
Also, try and keep your postings fresh. People like seeing new information. This will create attention on the subject and potentially cause more people to “like” you.
2. Advertise
Advertising on Facebook is an easy way to boost your “likes” and it’s cheap (sometimes). Create a budget you would like to spend each day and set your advertising limit to that amount. The advertising will generate exposure all across Facebook itself. The more name recognition, the better.
3. Incentives
Everyone loves free stuff. “Like our page and receive a free weekly pass to our gym,” is a perfect example of how to approach this. You can give away anything you like, but the key is to give away things people want.
You also want your incentive to be fit for your budget. Don’t go spending all your money on incentives and not have any left for advertising.
4. Newsletter
When you send out your newsletter every month/week, put a link on it so your receivers can “like” your page directly from there. This makes it very simple for direct marketing and you don’t have to deal with the traffic of Facebook.
TOP 10
According to Pr Daily.com, the list below is the top 10 brands in social media.
1. Subway
2. Cheerios
3. Amazon.com
4. History Channel
5. Ford
6. Discovery Channel
7. Lowe’s
8. Olive Garden
9. YouTube
10. Google