Take notice, the current philosophy of marketing is moving from the marketing concept where “customer is king” and shifting toward the interaction concept, where relationship is king, and the brand is owned by both the firm and the customer.  In this segment of PRI’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, author of New York Times Magazine’s column, “Consumed,” Rob Walker discusses how word-of-mouth can support or radically change the meaning of a brand.  This well illustrates how stories conveying reputation, relationship, experience, and symbolism define the value of a brand.

Become an MPR Fan on Facebook
 
 
The October 2009 issue of PR Week discussed the findings of its Social Media Survey for this year.  In addition to the fact that 37% of the 271 companies surveyed did not use any type of social media, I found it striking that there seemed to be no consistency of use among firms.  The tone of the article (Reality Check by Kimberly Maul, pp. 34-40) gave the impression that most firms are either waiting to see what happens (as if social media is a fad) or experimenting with a completely new reality.  The list of barrier to implementation found by the survey included lack of internal resources, lack of expertise, uncertainty about ROI, fear of negative customer reaction, and lack of global scale, to name a few.  The perception of these barriers leads marketers and executives to believe that there is a chasm between social media and the rest of marketing when, in fact, there is not.  What we know about marketing, we still know about marketing, and we can apply it to social media.  The model for understanding this is simple. Social media is like using PR for marketing purposes.  There is an audience that can be reached by using information intermediaries, which I refer to as connectors.  In PR the connectors are the mainstream media.  With social media the connectors are bloggers and others who feel a special connection to a brand or product category.  Both approaches are great because they come with tons of credibility, and are reasonably inexpensive to execute.  The downside, of course, is that we are giving control of our message to the connectors and risk negative interpretation.  Social media efforts are also more likely to draw direct comments from customers and prospective customers.  These comments are feared by some companies as company execs believe that negative commentary will have an adverse impact on the firm.  That’s surely possible, but these sorts of comments were being transmitted from person to person before social media was ever conceived.  The comments that arrive via social media are a blessing as they allow firms to respond to concerns (real or imagined) as they arise.

So, as we enter the holiday season I’d like you to consider following my calendar:

November 26: Be thankful for those who make comments about our firms, brands, products, services, and people through social media.

Sometime between December 21, the Winter Solstice, and the end of the year (pick the holiday that suits you the best), give the gift of social media to your 2010 marketing plan. Yes, you need to have a marketing plan and social media should be something you look at strategically, not as an experiment. (Email me if you want help with this.)

On January 1, resolve to make your marketing public relations and social media functions one and the same, and use them as your chief brand building, and communicating strategies for at least the next five years. 

Have a peaceful and happy holiday season.

Best,

Gaetan
 
 
Here’s my video talk to the Small Business Council of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce on November 20.  Just the basics on PR and social media. (Thanks to the Greater Lehigh Valley Ad Club for setting this up.) HZ2B9CJF844N
 
 
It has long been my belief that positioning a firm’s executives and knowledge workers as experts in the eyes of media and the company’s stakeholders is one of the most effective ways to promote a brand, product, or service.  It has been my experience that too few firms take advantage of this opportunity.   To venture a guess, I will say that the reason for this lack of enthusiasm for expert-based promotion is ignorance of this type of promotion or the insecurity marketers feel about this type of activity.  It is with a fair amount of certainty that I claim the reason for both the former and latter stem from the fact that colleges and universities don’t teach this within their business and marketing curriculum, and that marketing firms and advertising agencies largely ignore this approach to marketing.  Fortunately, there is someone out there with his eye on the ball, Ken Lizotte, author of The Expert’s Edge (McGraw-Hill, 2008).

Lizotte’s book is a well written guide to turning garden variety experts into “thought leaders.”  The foundation of his philosophy is based on his five pillars of thought leadership: publishing (articles & book); public speaking; conducting research (he calls it “fresh thinking”); leveraging the internet; and using the media.  The book’s primary audience consists of consultants, small business owners, and people interested in creating a “personal brand,” and for those of you who fall into one of these categories, this book is a must read.  I also want to suggest that The Expert’s Edge is a great resource for marketers in companies of any size.   Lizotte’s tactics for turning oneself into a thought leader can, with a little ingenuity, be used by marketers for transforming their firm’s executives and knowledge workers into thought leaders.

Oh, and for you college professors teaching marketing or PR, this book makes a great complement to many texts.  I can recommend it specifically to those using Marketing Public Relations as supplemental reading for chapters 11 and 12-especially for graduate level courses.
 
 
Thanks to Sales and Marketing Magazine for posting an excerpt of Marketing Public Relations.
 
 
As marketers, we are always looking for ways to define our audience.  Armies of market researchers conduct surveys, observe behavior, and sift through artifacts of commercial life to discover what makes a particular group of people tick.  Or, more importantly, what makes them buy.  We are in an interesting time in that the generation coming of age today, the Millennials, has been imbued in brand culture and immersed in social media.  While this may give some parents pause, it is an opportunity to observe these savvy and social consumers in action, and to record and study their journey from young adulthood to their rise to dominance in business and culture.

In attempt to harness this tremendous potential, Edward Boches, Chief Social Media Officer at Mullen, has launched “The Next Great Generation,” or TNGG.   This ambitious project aims to get Millennials to share their thoughts regarding life, work, brands, technology, environment, money, faith, sex, and love, while giving other generations a chance to listen, learn, and even ask questions about them.

If you fall into the Millennial age group, I implore you to check this out and get involved.  If you teach or work with Millennials get this information into their hands and encourage them to participate.

TNGG’s website is linked here, and you can followe the conversation on Twitter using the hash tag #tngg.  Spread the word.
 
Tribal Video 11/09/2009
 
There are a handful of high profile business and marketing people who capture the essence of Marketing Public Relations.  Seth Godin is one of those people.  This video is one of a handful of videos of Seth that will make you think about what we do.  I suggest that connecting with “tribes” is what MPR is all about.  He also discusses how tribes create stories about a company or product and spread them.  This is the MPR notion of creating “brand authors.”  Bravo Seth.  Enjoy the video all.
Here's another.
 
 
It is somewhat ironic that I found out about the Tribune’s planned one week fast of Associated Press (AP) wire material from an AP article in the New York Times.  If you haven’t heard, the Tribune, parent of the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and other regional newspapers, announced that it will not be using AP content next week.  There has been much analysis of what this means for the media, particularly newspaper industry, but I think this shift might signal opportunity for MPR pros. 

As mission driven (ethnic, religious, etc.) and locally focused media are the bright spots in a rather gloomy forecast for traditional media, I think it is reasonable to suggest that audience focused content will replace national news in many outlets.  While it will take more work for MPR folks to identify and pitch a growing number of news channels, it will lead to a more direct and meaningful dialogue between those with a story to tell and those eager to consume it.  Rather than saying “this is why our (company, brand, product, etc) matters to the world,” you should be saying “this is why our (company, brand, product, etc) matters to you.”  Since the big media companies and new aggregators will continue to cover national and global events, it will still be useful to tie larger trends to the interests of regional audiences and affinity groups.  To make this connection valuable to the audience, medium and firm, savvy MPR pros will have to use stories relating their brand’s value in terms of reputation, relationships, experience, or symbolism as the conduit.

I am interested in hearing what you think.  What effects with the changing media industry have on those of us on the marketing side of the PR fence?
 
 
Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time on social media, and while that is really important in today’s marketing environment, there are tons of great topics on the traditional side of marketing PR that are worth covering.  I have been getting some good feedback on a video I did for my Applied Public Relations class on pitch letters, and I think it is worth sharing with you.  Keep in mind that this was created for a class, but there are some good take-aways here for you.

You know where to find my book, but if you want to check out Richard Laermer’s book you can click here.  Please remember to tweet this story to your friends.