Posts Tagged ‘B2B’


The Future of Public Relations: Seizing the Opportunity

Monday, July 19th, 2010

Bulldog Media Relations Summit Virtual Conference: The Future of Public Relations Seizing OpportunityI wasn’t able to attend this year’s Bulldog Reporter’s Media Relations Summit workshop (in New York) in person earlier this month. However, I did have the opportunity to attend virtually. 

Speakers for the panel “The Future of Public Relations: Seizing the Opportunity” consisted of:

  • Aedhmar Hynes, CEO of Text 100
  • Matt Harrington, president and CEO of Edelman U.S.
  • Peter Land, SVP, communications, at PepsiCo Beverages Americas
  • Martin Murtland, VP, solutions for corporate communications for Dow Jones Inc.

I’ve listed some of the key points that I heard in the podcast. (NOTE: Unfortunately since there was only audio and no video, I was unable to keep track of exactly who was speaking at some times – so my apologies, in advance, to the panel if I’ve not credited you with your quotes.)

Hynes talked about marketing, advertising, public relations, etc. all being separate departments with separate budgets, as this is the business model that’s served well in the past. However, in reality, the future of the industry is about communicating the brand of the organization. What are the goals as a whole and what are the skill sets that match those strategic goals? This is the time for organizations to think about the fundamental concept of moving away from managing information or news to shaping and directing conversation.

Companies must influence the influencers. The concept of third-party advocacy has never been more important than it is now.

As in any discussion of PR these days, the conversation moved to changes in ROI and measurement and analytics. We all know we should get away from ad value equivalency, but what do we use in its place (aside from media value)?  How do you know your campaign is a success?  There are many tools out there that measure “online buzz.” Yet what does that really mean?  It goes back to where you start – when you set your goals, they must be measurable. Measurable goals will drive your reporting and allow you to determine which strategies were successful.   

So, what does the future look like for public relations?

  • PR now has more opportunity and voice as it relates to corporate strategy. In other words, PR professionals are gaining more access to the C-suite.
  • The future (of PR) is about confidence and being nimble. According to Land, we must be able to move incredibly fast and confident to walk into our CEO’s office and make suggestions.
  • The move away from “agency of record” was briefly discussed because corporations have multiple needs (e.g., advertising, digital, creative, B2B, direct to consumer, etc.)  
  • The next decade in public relations is predicted to be the most exciting in history thus far. It may seem like it’s “back to the future,” as some have lost sight of fundamental best practices, but we must now come back to this strategic consulting in shaping views, per Hynes.

What would you add? What does the future of PR look like in your mind’s eye? If you attended the conference virtually, what are some of the points you took away from it. Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.

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Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Industry Events, Media Industry, Media Measurement, Public Relations | 2 Comments »

Social Media Success for the Small and Middle Market

Monday, August 31st, 2009

Gail Nelson
Recently, I read The Cost– And Payoff — Of Investing In Social Media by the freelance writer Lydia Dishman. She reported on how small businesses owners could participate in and benefit from social media. One entrepreneur was quoted as saying, “Previously wasted downtime like sitting in taxis for 20 minutes or standing in a bank line for 10 minutes is now spent on my mobile phone, bouncing between Twitter and Facebook. It’s getting easier and easier, and for branding an entrepreneur, I think it’s golden.”

71918615_14resizeforblog2.jpgOn the other end of the spectrum lie the investments large companies make in social media. If you watch any TV at all, it’s likely you’ve seen BestBuy’s pricey TV ads designed to spread the word about Twelpforce – a cadre of staff providing customer assistance via Twitter.

So what does social media success require? Simply a long commute and a smartphone, or a major restructuring of the business? Of course, the scale and type of effort depends on the size of your organization, its business goals, and other factors, but it’s a question many B2B PR and marketing pros are wrestling with right now. It reminds me a bit of the customer relationship management (CRM) revolution of yore: As with CRM, social media burrows into the heart of company’s interactions with its clients, and like CRM, getting to a winning strategy is a journey.

I’m happy to report that I’ll be participating on the panel of a free Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) webinar exploring what really works for the “meaty middle” of the market – companies with more than one employee but less than the 10,000+ of an IBM. During Overview of Business Applications of Social Media (part of a webinar series on social media in a B2B setting), I’ll be sharing the BurrellesLuce experience with the social media revolution – our sales, marketing, PR, and customer service goals, our program results, and a word about our clients.

Joining me are some top-notch PR and marketing executives: Angela Lauria, CMO of AppAssure, will present her company’s case study. Jeff Majka, Director of Marketing and Business Development at the national PR firm Strategic Communications Group, will offer insights based on his firm’s work for its portfolio of clients. Guiding the session is Karen Leavitt, CEO of Marketing Fusion. Here’s where to register for the September 8 webinar. Hope to see you there!

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Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Industry Events, Public Relations, Social Media | 1 Comment »

How Do You Bridge the Gap Between LinkedIn and Twitter?

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Gail Nelson
A recent Mashable blog post outlined the different ways to apply Twitter and Facebook to your social media strategy and described how the author, Soren Gordhamer, uses each platform. For B2B marketers, though – many of whom have grown up with LinkedIn – that social network remains important.

I started to wonder, with Twitter gaining traffic every day, how do PR and marketing pros balance their use of LinkedIn and Twitter? I ran a quick, one-question poll earlier this week on both LinkedIn and Twitter, and this is what I found:

twitterlinkedin.jpg

As expected, the preferences of the 58 folks who answered the question at the time of this post differed a bit based on whether they accessed the Twitter poll or the LinkedIn poll.  For example:

  • More than half (56 percent) of the Twitter poll respondents used both, but preferred Twitter.
  • LinkedIn respondents were more likely to say they used both and found them equally useful.

(For those of you looking to run a poll on these services — perhaps more scientifically than I did – consider using LinkedIn. It has good free tools and, for a fee, the ability to target the right people inside and outside of your network. But for a full-fledged survey, I still like SurveyMonkey. )

For insight into the Twitter versus LinkedIn issue, I asked two successful users of both services to weigh in.  

Kent Huffman, CMO at BearCom Wireless and author of the soon-to-be launched SystemicMarketing.com (Twitter: @KentHuffman LinkedIn: Kent Huffman), has built a large community of marketers. Here’s what he had to say:   

“I spend about the same amount of time on Twitter and LinkedIn. Twitter has been a great tool for finding like-minded professionals and initiating relationships. By contrast, I’ve found LinkedIn and its associated groups to be ideal for sharing more in-depth conversations and relating on a deeper level. Both forums have helped connect me to some awesome people who have become great colleagues and even better friends.”

Johna Burke, Vice President at BurrellesLuce and Southern Region Chair for IABC (Twitter: @gojohnab LinkedIn: gojohnab ), said:

“I find them equally useful, but my contacts are different on both networks and I use them for varying purposes. There are significant distinctions in how I share and engage on each network. I update Twitter more frequently and send and receive on average 25 direct messages each day. I have an average three emails daily through LinkedIn, but then talk – yes “old school talk,” – to at least a couple LinkedIn contacts each week.

“That said, there is still some industry cross-over in both networks and when there is something relevant I will post an update to multiple platforms via ping.fm. There are other services, but this is the one I have found to be the easiest for me.”

As for me, I have found that as the time I spend on Twitter has accelerated, I check LinkedIn less often.

How do you participate in LinkedIn and Twitter? Are you phasing out one in favor of another? What is the best use of each?

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Posted in Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »

Who Responds To Social Media Postings In B2B Companies?

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

Gail Nelson
Many of the B2B companies now stepping up their participation in social media are like BurrellesLuce - not huge, but still large enough to need carefully defined processes to manage who responds to social media postings.   

For B2B marketers at small and medium-sized companies, reaching out to other departments for assistance in meeting business objectives is not new. Most of us pin down executives for media interviews and persuade salespeople to spend time securing testimonials. We convince tradeshow staff to provide measurable feedback. But in my many years of experience, I haven’t seen anything as transformational as social media, or as big of a challenge to manage from a staffing point of view. 

John Cass, who writes the PR Communications blog, last week addressed the issue of  conversation escalation, the term used to describe who should respond to social media content. His post, entitled Deciding How Social Media Monitoring Strategy Works for You, hit just as I was contemplating how to best address the need for additional sales and customer service resources devoted to social media escalation.  

BurrellesLuce customers are PR folks, and not surprisingly, very tuned in to Twitter. As an organization, we are centered on client relationships. Each client has a dedicated Account Manager and Salesperson, and part of the essence of our brand is personalized and effective partnerships with our clients. Currently, a number of BurrellesLuce staffers, some of whom also blog here at Fresh Ideas, are active and passionate Twitterati. We monitor tweets, along with other forms of social media, and pass the content to Sales and Service throughout the business day using our established routing systems. 

How do you organize the effort more effectively with a multi-tasking staff? Have you hit on a workable combination of processes, persuasion, software, and maybe even incentives for distributing sales and service requests? If so, please consider sharing your ideas and solutions with us.

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Posted in Media Outreach, Media Relations, News Coverage, Public Relations, Social Media | No Comments »