© 2009 Barbara Wayman, APRbluetreemedia.com/pdf/BTM_Book_of_Marketing_Tips.pdf · 2 © 2009...

© 2009 Barbara Wayman, APR

www.bluetreemedia.com

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© 2009 Barbara Wayman, APR www.bluetreemedia.com

Greetings! I’m Barbara Wayman. I’ve been doing award-winning public relations work for over 15 years. I’ve gotten my clients coverage in The Chicago Sun-Times, USA Today, the L.A. Times, the Columbus Dispatch and hundreds of other media outlets across the country. This ebook is my way of passing along some of my best tips and advice in an easy-to-implement way. Feel free to forward it to those you think would enjoy it. Remember, the best PR techniques don’t do anything if you don’t actually use them. For more easy-to-use tips like these, subscribe to my ezine, The Stand Out Newsletter at http://www.bluetreemedia/ezine.html It comes out once a month and it’s free. To Your Success,

www.bluetreemedia.com

http://www.bluetreemedia/ezine.html

http://www.bluetreemedia.com/

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Table of Contents Three Secrets of Marketing 4 How to Set Your Marketing Budget 6 Three Words You’ll Never Hear Me Say 7 5 Great Ways to Create Bad PR Outcomes 8 Amplify What Makes You Different 10 Why Consistency Matters 11 Looking Forward to Being Uncomfortable 12 5 Tips to Name That Firm 13 10 PowerPointers 15 Gold in Testimonials 17 Networking Notworking? 18 What “What Do You Do” Really Means 19 Your Thank You Chain 20 Proximity is Destiny 21 Your Sacred Day 22

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Three Secrets of Marketing In over 15 years of doing marketing communications work, I’ve picked up quite a few tips on how to best get the job done. From start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, my three marketing secrets make a significant difference. 1. Consistency Is Key If I had only one piece of marketing advice to offer, this would be it: The secret to effective marketing is consistency, plain and simple. A press release here, an ad buy there, a brochure that looks one way and a website that looks another … these hit-or-miss efforts are doomed to failure and are just a waste of your money.

TIP: Don’t dabble at marketing. If your budget is limited, invest in a good, solid marketing plan and then consistently execute just one part of it until you can afford to do more. Don’t let it fall down on your list of priorities. If you think marketing can be of value to your company, start doing it, even in a small way. And then don’t stop. You’ll see results. 2. Amplify What Makes You Different As teenagers we desperately want to blend in with our peers, never imagining we’ll one day embrace the very things we worked so hard to hide. In business, marketing yourself and your brand is much easier if you have memorable qualities that stick in people’s minds. Don’t be afraid to be distinctive. Barbra Streisand’s strong nose, Warren Buffett’s frugality, Cary Grant’s elegance – these qualities are entirely authentic but hard to duplicate.

TIP: Take a moment to think about your business persona or company. What do you have that others don’t? If you’re not sure, do a quick review of competitor websites or think about comments you’ve received from others. Now how can you amplify those qualities?

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3. It’s All About Third-Party Credibility Okay, now I am going to tell you some gossip. Did your ears just perk up? Would you have had the same response if I had said, “Now I am going to tell you all about me.” Probably not. What someone else says about you will always carry more weight than what you say about yourself. When thinking about your company’s marketing, look for ways to build your reputation with others. Reporters, editors, bloggers, customers, business and government leaders are all examples of influential audiences who could be spreading your message. It’s your job to make sure they know and understand what makes you special. As an illustration, one of my clients, a luxury motor coach modification company, proactively invited the Mayor and City Administrator to come take a plant tour and learn about the company. Later when the firm was ready to expand into a new building and needed help with zoning permits and the like, those key relationships were already forged.

TIP: Take a look at the marketing you’re doing. Are you missing any important audiences? What one thing can you do to reach out to them?

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How to Set Your Marketing Budget

“Most people miss opportunity because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

-- Thomas Edison A common question from entrepreneurs and marketing professionals is where to set the marketing budget. I wish I could give you a simple answer, but the truth is there is no one-size-fits-all amount. Since businesses and industries differ widely, it’s important to look at the maturity of the business, the level of competition, revenue goals, desired positioning and other factors, like how new you are to market. Sometimes even within the same industry, marketing spending can vary due to different goals and objectives. For example, Wal-Mart spends 0.3% of its revenues on marketing while Target spends 2.5%. The reason is Target’s business strategy is to position itself as upscale and exclusive (which requires reinforcement) while Wal-Mart’s positioning is based strictly on low prices. Many entrepreneurs calculate all their costs and profit, and then use what is left over for marketing, which is NOT a good strategy. A better approach is to consider the factors I’ve described above to see where you might fall in the generally established range of 2% to 10% of sales. If you’re looking to launch a new product or grow aggressively you’d be in the higher end of the range. If your product is well established and faces little competition, you’d be in the lower end. Often people focus on saving money when it comes to marketing, but there are serious risks of spending too little. Remember, if done properly, your investment in marketing will pay for itself by taking your business to new heights. After all, that’s exactly what good marketing is designed to do.

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Three Words You’ll Never Hear Me Say

“…You cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” -- Abraham Lincoln

One of the tricky things about working in public relations is that the field is ripe with misunderstanding. People have a hard time grasping exactly what PR is. Despite the fact that the PR industry is generally populated with dedicated professionals, a stereotype still exists of people deceiving the public for their own ends. So what exactly is PR? The best definition I’ve found is “the management of communication between an organization and its publics.”¹ Therefore, three words you’ll never hear me say are:

Spin

Image

Schtick These words buy into the myth that public relations is all flash and sizzle, with no real substance. If that were the case, I would have left the profession years ago. In reality, public relations is about authenticity. The best PR programs identify and communicate what’s unique and real about a company, product or service. Quite often my clients have fascinating stories to tell. They haven’t told their stories because:

They don’t know how

They’re busy

They lack perspective on what people will find most interesting about them

My role is to get to know the company, its people and its current situation so that I can identify and share newsworthy information to benefit all involved. This information is always based on fact, not fluff. ¹ Grunig & Hunt 1984

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5 Great Ways to Create Bad PR Outcomes

“Failure is not the only punishment for laziness. There is also the success of others.”

--Jules Renard I’ve been working in PR for over 15 years, so you can bet I’ve got some expert thoughts in how to make the absolute worst PR decisions possible. Below are my top 5 ways to ensure the worst PR outcomes.

1. Be inconsistent in your messages. Sure, big successful companies come up with a clear platform of messages around their product that they use over and over again, but that’s so boring. Rework your key messages frequently and make sure they change radically. Use lots of industry lingo too, to make your messages obscure. People should have to work to be able to understand who you are and what you stand for. Don’t make it so easy for them.

2. Hire a professional PR firm but don’t listen to them. It’s true, you weren’t getting great results on your own, which is why you hired the professionals in the first place. But once they start getting results, (or even before), decide that you know better and over-rule their recommendations.

3. Only reach out to the media when you want something. Don’t

bother to familiarize yourself with media outlets. They won’t notice. And take your time responding to media requests. They overstate the importance of deadlines anyway. Operate your media relations on a sporadic basis, and only when it suits you. Keep your focus on how important you are. Everyone will realize it soon enough.

4. Don’t work from an annual plan. Shoot from the hip. Planning is too fussy and besides things are always changing anyway. It’s more fun to make decisions about what people think about your company on the fly.

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5. Don’t respond to your PR firm in a timely manner but still expect them to produce quality deliverables on time. They can pick up your brainwaves. After all, telepathy is a valid means of communications in many television shows and Hollywood movies.

I suppose that by now you’ve noticed that my tongue is firmly in my cheek for this list, but I truly have seen people implement these tactics and still expect great results. Don’t let that be you.

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Amplify What Makes You Different

“While we have the gift of life, it seems to me that the only tragedy is to allow part of us to die – whether it is our spirit, our creativity, or our

glorious uniqueness.” -- Gilda Radner

You might not know it to look at me, but actually I am a big fan of eccentricity. Reliable studies have shown eccentric people live longer and have better health than those who aren’t eccentric in some way. Former Vogue editor Diana Vreeland once said “a little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika.” I’m not necessarily talking about bad taste, though. Rather something unusual and out of the ordinary. When I evaluate potential clients I always search for their company’s unique qualities that their competitors can’t claim. Maybe it’s a long and distinguished history. Or a proprietary new approach to service. It could be the strong personality of the company’s top executive. Whatever it is, my marketing activities are sure to reflect and emphasize these key differences because they are what make the company unique and memorable. One of my clients is a chocolate company whose owners came from the automotive industry. They had developed skills with robotics that they applied to the chocolate factory floor to improve speed, efficiency and accuracy. The fact that no one else in their industry was using robots to make chocolate lollipops led to an in-depth cover story in their leading industry magazine. It was such a unique approach that it merited media attention and interest. In today’s news-saturated world, it’s just not enough to be bland and nondescript. To leverage your marketing dollars, look for ways to identify and amplify the qualities few others possess.

TIP: As you network with colleagues at upcoming events, take the opportunity to ask them what about your company has always stood out as unique to them. Listen carefully to the responses. They may become the basis of your success.

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Why Consistency Matters

“Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.” --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson called consistency the hobgoblin of little minds, but when it comes to public relations, consistency is THE most crucial key to success. Why? Because we live in a world of cause and effect. The number of people who know about your company is a result. Your company’s reputation is a result. The way people feel about buying from you is a result. What people associate with your product is a result. All of these things stem from the communications activities you undertake on a regular basis. If you undertake no communications activities on a regular basis, your public perception will reflect that too. In that sense, public relations is a lot like exercise. If you do it effectively and steadily you’ll see good results. If you do it sporadically or not at all you won’t. One of my clients runs a leadership development firm. It’s a small company with only a couple full-time employees, but because of a consistent focus on media relations, it has enjoyed media attention and awareness that belies its small size. My client says her competitors often comment that they “see her everywhere,” and ask how she does it. Our approach is not difficult, it just requires a solid commitment to ongoing media relations. As a PR counselor and advisor, people often come to me because they’re unhappy seeing their competitors, who have a lesser product or service, garner the lion’s share of attention in their industry or town. When people are unhappy with the fruits of their tree, the solution is often found down in the roots. The first thing I look at is what they have done to build a robust PR program that incorporates all the audiences that matter most.

TIP: What one small PR task can you commit to doing consistently? It could be a press release every quarter, a monthly ezine or picking up the phone to call your customers Just to say hello at least twice a year. The task isn’t as important as the commitment to actually doing it is.

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Looking Forward to Being Uncomfortable

“…Anxiety, fear, worry, nervousness, resistance…all these are normal reactions to new situations. It need not mean something is wrong. It just

means something is different.” --Barbara Stanny

Growth, whether it be exponential or slow-and-steady, always carries feelings of unfamiliarity. In order to develop ourselves and our skills, we are required to set aside comfortable ways of doing things and step into the unknown. After all, as the saying goes, “If you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.” If this is the year you’ve decided to step things up a notch, whether it’s in your company’s marketing efforts, your career or a personal project, you’ll get better results if you remain open to the idea that you won’t be feeling totally comfortable during this phase of change. The good news is that the discomfort you feel is actually sign that you’re making progress. In 2008, I quadrupled my company’s billing. To do that required a significant change in virtually every business system and overall philosophy I had. Did it feel uncomfortable? YES!!!!! But I was committed to the results so I chose to embrace the discomfort as a necessary part of the process. Instead of feeling frustrated during those times when you totally don’t want to work toward your goal, just recognize it natural and right. Practice doing things you’ve never done before, or things you don’t especially want to do. Get support. And keep persisting. If you stick with it long enough, the new ways of doing things will eventually become your comfort zones.

TIP: The next time you’re facing a new situation and are tempted to tell yourself it is so hard, ask yourself, is it really hard? Or is it just uncomfortable?

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5 Tips to Name That Firm

“Build your reputation by helping other people build theirs.” --Anthony J. D’Angelo

If you were going to run a marathon, you wouldn’t do it with a knapsack full of rocks on your back, right? Yet many businesses are saddled with names that are misleading, out of date, hard to pronounce or just plain bad. That makes their marketing extra difficult. If you’ve decided that a new name is needed for your business, here are five tips to help you find a great one.

1. Start with what’s unique – Begin by making a list of the main traits you want to get across to people about your firm. Is it quality, edginess, experience, creativity? Think about what it is about you that your customers most value. When you list a range or words and word combinations, you’ll want to gravitate toward those that reflect or can connect to that particular quality.

2. Narrow down with a story – A story is a powerful way to help people connect your name to what you do. For example, when people ask me why my company is named Bluetree Media, I explain it’s because a lot of what I do is help my clients stand out and get noticed, like a single blue tree in a forest of green. I can literally see the light bulb appear in their eyes when I say this. Think about what story can help tie the names you’ve chosen to your firm’s unique quality.

3. Get reactions – Test out your top few names with a variety of audiences to see what they think. Do people make associations that tie back to your core brand identity? Do they find the name easy to say and spell? Listen for themes that crop up. If the themes connect to your desired positioning, you may have found a winner.

4. Check URL availability – A firm without an online presence is a firm

with no presence these days. Nabbing a website that ends in dot com is critical to being perceived as legitimate. Visit web hosting services (I like www.GoDaddy.com) to see which of the names on your list are available for purchase.

http://www.godaddy.com/

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5. Lock up all the URLs – Once you’ve selected your final name, don’t

just buy the .com URL, make sure you lock up .net, .org, .biz and .edu. as well. Domain names usually cost less than $15 a year, and can help make sure everyone who is looking for you online can easily find you, not someone else.

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10 PowerPointers

“Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening.”

-- Dorothy Sarnoff Giving a PowerPoint presentation sometime soon? Probably the answer is yes. It seems like the PowerPoint program has become a constant of the modern business world. Yet PowerPoint speeches can sometimes frustrate more than illuminate. Here are ten ways to achieve an even better outcome with your next presentation.

1. Brand your slides. For a presentation to external audiences, put your company’s logo in the corner of every slide and close with your logo and web address. This reinforces your authority and helps people learn where to go to find out more about your organization.

2. Plan realistically. Given the rate at which most people speak, a good

rule of thumb is one slide for every two minutes. If your information is particularly dense, plan on a few less.

3. Openly state why your topic is relevant and important to your

audience. Don’t make your listeners try to figure out the context themselves, as it will distract them from hearing what you have to say.

4. Keep it simple with fonts and movement. Yes, you can really customize your presentation, but surveys have shown hard to read fonts and moving images merely annoy people. Stick to something clear, easily readable and professional looking. Sadly this rules out dancing animals of any kind.

5. Use bullets and be concise. PowerPoint is not a script. It’s there to provide a summary and help you remember the things you want to say.

6. Lighten up. Do use visuals, including charts, graphs, photographs

and even cartoons that tie to your topic. Non-stop copy gets

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monotonous after a while. Provide some imagery to break it up and help keep people focused.

7. Proof, proof, proof your copy! And then get someone else to proof

your copy. When you give a presentation with typos and grammatical errors, you not only distract your audience, you make them question whether you really are the expert you seem to be.

8. Summarize. Wrap up your talk concisely and restate your main points at the end. Make it easy for your listeners to “get” the main takeaways of your presentation.

9. Give some thought to what you want them to do. Would you like

your listeners to take action of some kind? Know in advance what that action is. For example if you’d like them to go to your website and take a survey, tell them so and provide a deadline and incentive for them to follow through.

10.Give useful handouts. This is especially true for presentations to

external audiences. Useful takeaways help listeners remember and apply your messages, and they give them an easy way to follow-up with you. Just make sure the handouts are packed with facts, not fluff and be sure to type in copyright language to protect your intellectual property.

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Gold in Testimonials

“Gain a modest reputation for being unreliable and you will never be asked to do a thing.”

--Paul Theroux I look at a lot of websites in my line of work and I’m always amazed at how few companies incorporate testimonials. Simply a written or spoken endorsement of a product or service by a third party, testimonials are a powerful way to turn prospects into clients by anticipating and addressing reasonable questions and concerns that naturally arise in the selling process. Sometimes my clients are sold on the idea of adding testimonials to their sites but they aren’t sure how to go about doing it. It can certainly be daunting to ask clients to write supportive statements on your behalf. A process I’ve found that works well is to first identify the types of products or services you’d like to sell more. For example, if you’re a lawyer and you really enjoy drafting wills, you’ll want to focus on getting testimonials from your will buying clients, not your intellectual property ones. Approach each customer individually by explaining that you’re going to be adding testimonials to your website and would like to include them. It’s easier on your client if you send them a list of questions to answer, rather than expect them to draft something from scratch. Form the questions by thinking about common questions or objections you hear from prospects, and keep the questions open-ended to draw out specific, believable information. Once you receive the answers, you can edit together a short paragraph and run it by your client for approval before posting it online. You’ll find your online testimonials will help do your selling for you, 24 hours a day. They’ll also help you understand what your clients find most valuable about your product or service.

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Networking Notworking?

“Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of witnesses.”

-- Margaret Millar I am so excited to discuss networking because it is a topic I have experienced a 180-degree change in over the course of my career. I used to approach networking events like one would a root canal. I’d force myself to talk to people but secretly wish I could hug the wall and hide behind the coffee stand. Now I thoroughly enjoy networking and have met many wonderful clients, colleagues and friends through the practice. In fact, many of you reading this newsletter may have met me this way. So what changed? A big factor was realizing the true purpose of networking. It’s not to sell something. It’s to learn about others’ products, services and needs to see if there is a business fit in some way. It also helped to learn a few simple phrases that made it easy to start and conclude conversations, like “So what brought you here today?” or “It was so nice meeting you, I am looking forward to keeping in touch.” When I realized how many clients I have met through networking, I stopped perceiving these gatherings as rooms full of strangers. More accurately, they are rooms full of clients and colleagues I just haven’t met. And the more networking I do, the more familiar faces I see each time, so that makes it easier too.

TIP: Experiment with making no attempt to sell at your next networking event. Put all your energy on learning as much as you can about the people you talk to, and notice the difference.

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What “What do you do?” Really Means

“Build your reputation by helping other people build theirs.” --Anthony J. D’Angelo

Aside from “How are you?,” “What do you do?” is probably the question you’ve been asked most often. It’s the question that pretty much defines American culture. Recently I heard a networking expert share what she thinks the question really means. Her take? It means “How do you help people?” or “How can you help me?” I thought this was an interesting re-frame because it totally changes how one answers the question. Let’s say you’re a computer consultant. Your standard answer, “I’m a computer consultant,” doesn’t really enlighten your listener aside from now knowing you work with computers. How much better to say, “I help companies keep their online information secure.” Much more helpful, right? And more clear. Revising your answer this way is more engaging and is especially useful if you need to sell your service in some capacity, either inside or outside your organization. The added clarity on exactly how you serve others makes it easier for others to purchase your service or refer you.

TIP: Take a moment and think about the results that your work delivers to others. When someone asks you “What do you do?” pretend they asked, “How do you help people?” Then play around with some new ways you might answer the question and see which ones create the most understanding and interest. When people seem able to completely grasp your role without needing a lot of follow-up questions, you’ll have a winning answer.

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Your Thank You Chain

“Silent gratitude isn’t very much use to anyone.” --Gertrude Stein

It isn’t often I come across a completely novel and unique business tip that’s both powerful and simple. It happened recently when I was reading Million Dollar Networking by Andrea Nirenberg. Andrea is a master networker who came up with the thank you chain. It sounds like a fun piece of jewelry, but it represents all the people who play a role in making success possible. Think about it – sometimes you meet someone at a networking or professional event and they become a client, vendor or whatever it is you’re looking for. But perhaps more often that person introduces you to another who may connect you to yet another before you find what you need. Each of these individuals would then become links in your chain. Wouldn’t you be delighted to receive a handwritten note in the mail letting you know that two people you introduced at a party are now happily working together and that you’re the one who made it possible? It would make you feel great, right? Add power to your referral network by finding out how new clients heard of you and be sure to acknowledge each one. Success usually involves at least a small group, if not a crowd.

TIP: When you win new business or solve a major problem, don’t just thank the most obvious contributor. Look closely for others who may have played a role and be sure to thank each link in the chain.

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Proximity is Destiny

“Tell me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.” --Assyrian Proverb

Do you have a life philosophy? For the past decade mine has been “proximity is destiny.” This somewhat opaque saying speaks to me because it reinforces a basic fact of the universe – we become what we think about most of the time. And we tend to think about that which surrounds us, either in place, time, order or relation. I’ve noticed most self-development literature tends to overlook the importance of proximity. In fact, if you Google the phrase only 98 references pop up. That’s a shame because proximity is the basic tenet that popular “Law of attraction” thinking is based on. Let’s face it, human beings reflect their surroundings and those they associate with most often. If you work in a great company with lots of opportunity, your career is likely to grow. If you work somewhere with little opportunity, it’s unlikely to happen, at least there. I’m not saying it’s impossible to be radically different than that which surrounds you. I’m just saying it takes more energy and more time. Beyoncé Knowles espoused this philosophy in a recent Elle magazine article when she said, “If I don’t want to be like you, I don’t want to be around you.”

TIP: Take a moment to consider the role of proximity in your life. Write down a list of who you spend most of your time with, both personally and professionally. Do the people on this list reflect the person you want to be? How about your environment, is it an accurate reflection of you? If not, what project can you start in 2009 that brings your environment into better alignment with who you are?

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Your Sacred Day “The art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and

worry is probably one of the secrets of energy in our great men.” --Captain J.A. Hadfield

Every successful professional has experienced burn-out, that dreaded block of time where you can’t seem to get motivated, you’re crabby and irritable and you produce little results. In our information-filled world it’s very easy to get overwhelmed and tip into burn-out. That’s why I wanted to share an easy way I’ve found to keep burn-out at bay. I call it “My Sacred Day.” Every week I take at least one day to do only what I feel like doing. I schedule no appointments, I make no social plans (unless I want to), I write no “to do” lists. This is a selfish day where I might never even change out of my pajamas. I also take at least one evening a week for the same purpose. I call it my “Sacred Evening.” What’s sacred about it is that I do this every single week without exception. I treat this downtime the same as I would an important appointment or project – because it is. By ritualizing my sacred day and evening, I don’t have to remember to schedule some downtime. And I rarely tip into burn-out, so my productivity remains consistent. This is an idea that can work for a couple or family with just a bit more coordination, such as taking every Sunday afternoon for everyone to do their own thing. As far as what you do with this time, there are no rules. Sometimes I spend my sacred day reading on the back porch. You can do chores if you’d enjoy the puttering. You can do fun things with family and friends. The only thing off limits is anything that feels like work.

TIP: This week, take one evening and at least part of one day just for yourself. You can start with even just an hour to see how you like it. Notice how you feel.

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Copyright © 2009 Barbara Wayman, APR All rights reserved Barbara Wayman is an award-winning PR practitioner and president of BlueTree Media, LLC. She writes and speaks on ways to help people maximize their public relations and marketing. To book Barbara for your next associating meeting, conference of corporate event, contact BlueTree Media at (614) 766-6878 or email [email protected]. If you found this book helpful and would like to know about other ways to help your company gain exposure and market share, please join my business group on Facebook, called Be The BlueTree. This group will connect you to other like-minded entrepreneurs and business people who want to take their companies higher through the power of public relations. There is no charge whatsoever and your privacy is guaranteed (you do not have to be anyone’s “friend” to be in the group). I encourage you to check it out, because success is a social activity. I wish you all the best with your efforts! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=55303854934 Barbara Wayman, APR BlueTree Media, LLC P.O. Box 1995 Dublin, OH 43017 (614) 766-6878 [email protected] http://www.bluetreemedia.com

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