Business Success

Fabrics Of Our PR Society And Economic Culture

Fabrics Of Our PR Society And Economic Culture

Garth Beyer

I had lunch with a Madison PR pro today, and she mentioned how awesome Madison’s PR industry is. No surprise there other than in her reasoning.

Madison Public Relations

In the past if you worked at one agency and wanted to switch to another (a competitor!), you often didn’t for fear of burning bridges, being viewed as a traitor or you didn’t want to lose the friends you made because people at agency A just don’t get close with people at agency B.

But now – and I argue it’s not just Madison – there is no burning of bridges. In fact, there’s little competition. Where there was once disdain, there is now complete respect for one another. Agency B is happy to have people come work from Agency A or C or D or E…

This, of course, isn’t just the way the PR industry has shaped up to be; it’s how the world of work and art is. We are living in a time where success is leveraged by gigs, resources, remarkable work, and constantly changing – but always consistently occurring – partnerships and projects.

Agency A won’t survive if it refuses to connect with those at agency C, and vice versa. Survival may be met by an individual, but success is met by a team, a community.

Our culture – not just the PR culture – is based on innovation, inspiration and connections between people (and agencies).

The wellness of our economy is dependent on the value people like you and me and PR pros and mechanics and Etsy owners create.

It’s easy to become absorbed by the work of the industrial revolution. It’s much more difficult (but ultimately more rewarding) to absorb ourselves in the people around us. At least, we must, if we wish to succeed in business.

This isn’t just a revolution in the PR industry, it’s a revolution in every industry. I’m just happy to see the Madison PR agencies recognize this. Just one more reason to love it here.

 

Stay Positive & People Are Everything

If Quality Is A Given, Where Does That Leave Us?

If Quality Is A Given, Where Does That Leave Us?

Garth Beyer

Bike Design Quality

It’s harder to differentiate our product or service by saying “we’re better than this other product because our product is bigger/stronger/smaller/faster/etc,.”

Now different styles of a phone are parallel in terms of quality.

We’ve come to realize the facts that a bike with thin tires isn’t too different from a bike with fat tires. Both get you to where you want to go. One tire is a half-inch wide and the other is two inches wide. Neither makes one much better than the other… except in the story they are telling the customer.

If quality is a given, we’re left with the story the product or service tells.

In the past, good design meant better quality. Now good design is about telling a story. It’s that story that stops potential consumers from even thinking about your competition.

 

Stay Positive & What Does Your Design Say?

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Two Ways To Succeed

Two Ways To Succeed

Garth Beyer

Hustle & Endurance

Some successful entrepreneurs, writers, artists are hustlers. They beat the competition because they work harder, faster, smarter. They give themselves short deadlines they never miss. They run laps around their competitors.

The other successful method is endurance. If you can just outlast your competitors, you will succeed. People who blog every day for four years, manage to host a podcast seven days a week, write a book each year, they succeed because they have built themselves to survive.

Both methods have their tribulations. The challenge is choosing which is true to you, your energy, your passion.

 

Stay Positive & Choose, Then Run With It

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When People Come To You With Problems

When People Come To You With Problems

Garth Beyer

Solving Customer Service Problems

Zappos and a few others revolutionized the way to handle problems. It’s not merely about their shipping policy. Nor is it how nice they are when you call them.

Say you’re at Target or Culver’s or some other physically established business, and you have a problem with a product or your meal. You have to go to the customer service desk or they have to phone the manager to get a solution. You’re fighting a battle on enemy territory. Most of the time you win, but does it really feel that way? Do you leave happy?

Where a solution gets hashed out surely is as important as how it gets hashed out, but neither are as important as how the person feels while hashing it out. When you walk up to the customer service desk, you’re on that store’s turf and, perhaps, feeling mad and uncomfortable. Zappos (and so many other online retailers now) do so well because they meet you at your home, where you feel more comfortable. But, we can’t all be online businesses, nor should we.

What if the restaurant resolved your problem in a remarkable way? What if they tried accommodating you in a way that leaves you feeling it wasn’t a big bump in your day? What if they replicated in person the same phone experience you might have with Zappos when you call with a problem?

Sure Zappos and online businesses meet you at home, but what’s stopping other businesses from making you feel the same?

 
Stay Positive & Seems The Best Solution Is To Make Your Home Theirs

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Unnoticed Celebrities

Unnoticed Celebrities

Garth Beyer

I'm A Celebrity, Go Away

You’re one of them. Me too.

What does the noticed celebrity artist have that you don’t?

You may say “a following” or “venture capital” but both are snub excuses because you have the same resources that any celebrity has or had at one point to build a tribe and acquire funding.

Drake needed Lil Wayne to lift him up. What’s stopping you from reaching out, asking for help, finding a mentor?

All of these businesses needed capital. What’s stopping you from making pitches, asking for sponsorships, finding a partner?

How you become a celebrity, an expert, an artist isn’t that difficult to figure out. Following through with all the hows is the difficult part.

 

Stay Positive & Just Like Them, You Can Do It

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Well That’s Catchy


					

				Garth Beyer			

			


			

			
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There are a few awesome McDonald’s ads around the Madison area.


 


“There’s a cold front ahead.” – advertising their iscream


“Diversify your thirstfolio.” – advertising the variety of beverages they offer


 


My significant other loves the advertising (and she’s not one to care much about ads of any kind, so it’s a big deal if McDonalds can stand out to someone who never pays attention to ads).


McDonalds advertising, I must admit, is extremely catchy and sharable, as in, easy to describe to someone who has never seen it before. “There’s a line of different drinks from McDonalds on the billboard and it says ‘Diversify your thirstfolio.'” Catchy because the billboard is placed right between two college campuses.


The problem is… neither of us have gone to McDonalds for iscream or beverages, and we won’t go either. It’s not our thing.


As a result, I have trouble admitting the advertising is catchy because neither my SO or I have been caught.


Some may believe any publicity is good publicity, but most publicity doesn’t lead to increase in sales, customer conversion or general business success.


It’s one thing to be catchy, it’s a whole other thing to not need to be.


In McDonald’s defense, perhaps they use the billboards to maintain their lighthearted, intelligent but goofy personality. I suppose only the McDonalds marketing team knows. But is that a good thing that we don’t?


 


Stay Positive & What Are Your Thoughts?

					

	
	



			
				



	
Reaching The Market Outside Your Home Town

	

		
Reaching The Market Outside Your Home Town


					

				Garth Beyer			

			


			

			
Marketing Outreach


This is a longer post than I usually write. You could easily skip it and respond to the notification awaiting you on your phone. Alas, I hope you find this as practical, if not more.


We’re All Marketers


I’ve never understood PR folk talking about “outreach” in their own community. To me, that’s inreach, as in, easily in reach; as in, if your business is remarkable enough, the success of it will have enough momentum to touch all those in reach. A great business has inreach built in. Steven P. Dennis calls the hometown diehard fans of a business the obsessive core. Marketers, therefore, are for reaching out beyond the core.


Business plan = inreach.


Marketing = outreach.


Clear? Now let’s tackle the outreach by going over a few tools every marketer needs to understand to reach the market outside their zone, their base, their marked territory.


Not Your Average Advertising


As complicated as Facebook advertising is to understand, it’s quite easy to use to target consumers outside common ground.


Say you’re marketing MobCraft Beer to a state other than Wisconsin where they are based and a current Wisconsin resident follows Mobcraft’s FB page. This follower also has a few out-of-state friends she regularly interacts with. Facebook’s advertising algorithm will pick them up and advertise directly, noting to them there Wisconsin resident friend has liked MobCraft Beer’s FB page and they should too.


All social network advertising, not just social media networks are taking into consideration the value of connections, of handshakes, of conversations over the value of eyeballs. You don’t want the mass, anyway. You want those who matter. Right? Advertising isn’t what it used to be. (That’s a good thing for us marketers.)


Working Email and Mailing Address Lists


There’s no reason not to be A/B testing.


A/B testing in its most simplified definition is trying two different things and seeing which works better. Does a zen-like website page get more click-throughs than a collage-designed page? Will a handwritten card with a great photo on the front work better than a brochure? Will emailing small-time bloggers be more effective than a press release to those in authority? It’s time to find out.


Test and measure, test and measure.


And remember: Don’t get on the scale unless you’re willing to change your diet and exercise routine and don’t change your diet and exercise routine unless you will regularly step on the scale. Test and measure.


Surfing the Internet


If I’m not doing some grunt work, I know I’m not doing the best marketing I can. No matter what client I’m working with, I search on multiple search engines to find forums, blogs, and other places where the tribes have gathered. (And, yes, I go into the depths of Google, far beyond the first, second and third pages of results.) The long tail matters. Every small tribe matters.


A smart place to start is Reddit. A fellow PR daily contributor, Mickie Kennedy wrote a short bit on how to use Reddit for PR.


Through surfing the Internet, you’ll realize very quickly (if you haven’t already) how critical being human is. Most online tribes are skeptical; they will downvote blatant advertising and seek clarification of credibility before they upvote, make a purchase or share what you offer.


You’ll also learn (if you haven’t already) those who are the most loyal to brands are the most likely to turn their shoulder to a brand if they feel the outreach is robotic, if they believe the email they received is the same email everyone else on the list received, if they think you’re just in it for the money or job security or because it’s what your boss told you to do.


Moreover, Outreach has Changed/Improved/Realligned


When I get a pitch that tells me I am part of a company’s ‘blogger outreach program,’ it feels condescending to me. My inclination is to get bristly with the person doing the pitching. Other social journalists feel the same way.” – Shel Israel


Now, I wouldn’t be the first to say you have permission to market to everyone, but why would you need 10,000 strangers when you can make 10 friends, 10 people who trust you, 10 acquaintances who respect you, 10 passionate folk who need you.


Permission is one thing, participation is another. Participation is what matters. Find the 10 avid bloggers who need your product or service and connect with them. Find 10 die-hard craft beer drinkers and get on a Google Hangout together. Successful outreach rarely comes from a single click of “send;” it comes from continuous care, effort, and conversation. There’s another obsessive core out there. Reach out to them.


Successful outreach has improved since the days of mass advertising. It’s not about eye balls anymore; it’s about eye contact.


Now is your chance to build your tribe, to establish connections that matter. As for my last PR/marketing tip: never refer to people you are reaching out to as your target market, as part of your outreach program, as part of your market. They are not a special case because they are outside your hometown, your normal campaign realm, your regular target market. They are all strangers at first, then friends, then customers, no matter what geographical market they are in.


 


Stay Positive & Only Reach Out If You Plan To Truly Lift Someone Up


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