As marketing organizations struggle to better understand and justify their role and purpose, there are a limited amount of tools available to succinctly measure marketing’s and public relations’ effectiveness.  Many businesses are conducting Marketing and Public Relations Audits to gain new insight into their productivity and effectiveness.  Audits can be a very formal process (conducted by an outside firm) or a more informal process (facilitated by an organizational leader). Either way, audits need to be objective and comprehensive. Marketing and Public Relations Audits thoroughly examine and evaluate marketing and communications practices and results.  They offer a baseline for performance measurement and a framework for effective future planning.

Marketing and Public Relations Audits help organizations identify their most urgent marketing and communications needs.  It can be a time-consuming operation, but the information gained can provide invaluable insight and provide strategic direction.  The audit includes a comprehensive review of the company’s marketing and public relations environment, communications objectives, business strategies and tactical activities.  The audit identifies operational strengths and weaknesses and recommends changes to the company’s marketing and public relations programs.  Each Marketing and Public Relations Audit is unique to the individual organization.  The audit should serve as a basis of discussion and review and not necessarily be a definitive action plan.

The primary benefits of conducting an audit include: new learnings and measurement for past and future successes; a quantitative benchmark for future evaluative studies; and a fair and consistent appraisal of past and future performance.  Most importantly, audits can serve as an important basis for annual marketing and public relations plans.

When an organization cuts marketing and public relations spending, it cuts the one function whose sole purpose is to increase business!  By engaging in an audit process, organizations can better assess the functionality and effectiveness of their marketing and public relations departments.  The marketing and public relations audit becomes an essential tool for business success.

In a word, Marketing is Dynamic!  Marketing is full of life and there is little room for marketing activities that do not embody the life of your business.  Beyond all of the new technologies and tools to support the growth of your business, the basics still apply.  The following list provides insight into everyday marketing strategies for your business.

1. Remember to “Sharp Shoot.”

Know the segment you are targeting and build your marketing programs to specifically meet the needs of that segment.

2. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships.

The three keys to marketing success – no matter what your product, business today is based on strong productive relationships. Whether it is a strategic partner, client, competitor or vendor relationship – strong relationships can drive business growth.

3. Get “Up-close and Personal.”

Direct Marketing, including direct mail, tele-sales and Internet strategies, places you closest to your prospect. Incorporate these tools into your marketing strategy.

4. Experience the “Joy of Referrals.”

Referrals are the fuel of business today.  A client who is referred to your business is more likely to make purchases and maintain a long-standing productive relationship with your business.  Remember always ASK for referrals from your customers, prospects, colleagues and even competitors!

5. “Love” Your Competitors

Your competitors may be your greatest resource for learning about success and failure.  Track their products and services and routinely leverage that information for decision-making. There is lot to be learned from your competitor’s successes and failures. (Continued on Side Two)

6. Publicity is Free.

Public Relations is an invaluable tool at a community, national and even international level. Work hard to get a third party to tell your story in any form of media.  Remember, most publicity is free and available to those who ask.

7. Perception Is Truth.

Perception is the way we receive and translate our experiences – how and what we think about them.  When we discover how we are perceived, we gain invaluable insight into others’ truths. Work hard to transcend the limitations of perception and begin to address others’ truths.

8. Overcome the “Fluff Factor”.

Don’t underestimate your prospects or customers, they know when it’s “Fluff” and when it’s Real. Remember you can’t hide behind an inferior product of flawed service; instead focus on making your product or service superior and eliminate the need for fluff!

9.  Recognize the Power of Words.

Can you deliver what you say you can? The words you use to express your value proposition will endure.

10. Celebrate Your Failures!

Don’t be afraid to Celebrate Your Failures. Our failures will always have more information than our successes.  Never be afraid to re-address why you failed and what lessons you learned in the process. What will you do different the next time around?

So I’m three episodes into AMC’s reality TV show “The Pitch.” I am still thoroughly entertained, which is pretty impressive as there are only a few reality TV shows that can keep me entertained past two episodes (Duck Dynasty being one – which is quite possibly the funniest thing on television).

I did a little a digging to see what other marketers had to say about the show and found a few controversial threads in advertising blogs. One in particular caught my attention as it directly relates to a conversation I had with my Art Director while discussing the show. These elaborate pitch’s that the agencies put together on the show cost some serious coin and would result in devastating losses for most advertising agencies. This may be a fundamental flaw in the business not just the show itself.

The show might be giving a slightly skewed view of the industry, but it does make for some entertaining television (it’s still no Duck Dynasty). Check out the attached article for a more detailed analysis of What “The Pitch” Left Out: Why Agencies Get Hurt By An Upside Down Approach To New Business

Blatantly piggy-backing on the growing popularity of Mad Men, AMC recently aired a reality of show based on the behind-the-scenes world of advertising agencies called “The Pitch.” Being in the industry, I figured that this could be pretty entertaining.

Sidenote: Does anyone else find it ironic that we are drawn to the marketing of advertising in-between which we watch advertisements?

The Pitch offers viewers a never-before-seen view inside America’s top ad agencies. Each week watch two agencies as they compete to win a new client the only way they can: by going head-to-head in a cut-throat, winner-takes-all showdown, a presentation known as The Pitch. With only seven days to prepare, the pressure to perform is intense. The whining, the brainstorming, the blue-sky thinking: it’s all here as the teams work around the clock and pray for the moment of inspiration that will win them the job and keep their companies alive.

I caught the first episode in which two agencies compete to win an account with the creators of the sandwich artist, Subway. I have to admit I found the show pretty entertaining – and well, relatively accurate in some senses. I don’t want to be a spoiler so I highly recommend that you check out this show. I have a feeling “The Pitch” will be a topic of some future blog posts from myself and the Next-Mark team..

The Pitch Trailer

I recently read about a man named Ed Samane, who started a martial arts franchise business with a twist – a focus on bullying prevention. It made me wonder how many other types of businesses could tweak their concept for new audiences and take advantage of opportunities just waiting to be “ripped from the headlines.”

Samane drew on his own experiences as a morbidly obese child who had turned to karate to lose weight and end the taunting. He succeeded at both. Significantly, it wasn’t his fighting skills that won the day, but the confidence and self-esteem he’d gained that allowed him to stand up to bullies until they backed down.

Now offering seminars for kids and parents at franchisee stores, Samane is rebranding the concept in order to launch a nationwide schools program. From a business angle, I guess we’ll see. But, on a marketing level, it’s a natural – a darn good story tied to a national issue focused on the very thing most people hold most dear – kids.

So, got ideas? If so, we can help you assess their potential.

I recently returned from the Coachella Music Festival in Indo, Ca. If you happen to be generationally disconnected or just generally dis-like awesome music then you may not have heard of this epic event – where basically all of the best bands and DJ’s from all over the world congregate in the desert for three full days of amazing-ness (or madness).

Coachella is more than just a music festival, granted, it is quite possibly the best music festival in the world, but it is a gathering of like-minded invidiuals, it’s the modern-day Woodstock – well, maybe a little cleaner and a ton more organized (so I’ve been told). The tickets went on sale for this years’ event at January 13, 2012 at 10am and were sold out by 1pm PST – that may help you understand the recognition that Coachella as a brand holds.

I ventured out West to the desert with my good friends, Maxwell Winchester, Blake Bockhold and Chris Stewart. We only get together a few times a year and the excitement for this; our inaugural Coachella trip has been building for almost a year.

Arriving at the venue on Friday was somewhat overwhelming with the sheer size and extravagant production of the multiple stages, vendors, art displays and the music already blasting into the desert (If you want to hear more about all the rad performances that we had the privilege of seeing throughout the weekend stay tuned). I want to take a minute to thank all the people involved in the production of this spectacular event. Having been involved in putting events and trade shows together for clients at Next-Mark, I really appreciate the manpower and effort that it must have took to put on an event of such magnitude. Every nuance from lighting, stage set-up, to beer gardens and shuttle transportation was put together seamlessly.

There are many aspects of this event beyond the music that impressed me including the impact of digital marketing, social media, and the vast product placement (Heineken, Red Bull, Apple, to name a few). The digital integration at Coachella gave the ability to be automatically “checked-in” on Facebook with your wristband at various locations throughout venue, virally promote surprise acts (i.e Tupac Hologram), and build awareness of trending #coachella topics. Check out my pictures for a visual experience!

Last night the Next-Mark team hosted a group of Sarasota young professionals at the Sarasota Film Festival’s  showing of High Ground .  High Ground is an emotionally charged  portrayal a group of injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as they undertake an expedition to climb the 20,000 foot Himalayan giant Mount Lobuche. As the soldiers grow together as a team, their injuries and PTSD become another challenge to overcome. Leading the way is blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer  and a group of guides who first climbed Mt. Everest ten years earlier. With nearly every military branch represented, the eleven veterans and their guides set out on an emotional journey in an attempt to heal their wounds, both physical and mental.

After the viewing of the film, we hosted a private reception at our headquarters with Michael Brown, the Emmy Award winning producer of the film along with producer Matt Murray. Clearly, our guests were profoundly impacted by the message of High Ground.  This visually stunning film will be shown again tonight at the film festival.  We highly recommend it!

The Next-Mark team attended the Sarasota Film Festival Opening on Friday. It was great to see the art direction of our Rob Welling and all the hard labor of The Sarasota Film Festival staff come together and produce such a fantastic event.

The opening night film, Robot and Frank, was very entertaining and I highly recommend that you check it out when you can! Frank Langella and director Jake Schreier were equally as entertaining in the post-film Q and A where they discussed everything from filming on low (zero) budget to the acting style favored by Mr Langella.

At the after party guests included the who’s who of Sarasota, Film Festival attendee’s and sponsors, aspiring film makers and actors. We got to meet a few film makers who’s work we’ll be sure to check out later in the week. The drinks flowed inside and outside under the stars and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Check out the gallery below for some pictures from the event..