Brenner Associates recently redesigned a website for a software/services company. They were flabbergasted that we recommended NOT mentioning the name of their flagship product anywhere on the home page (with limited room for text). Instead, we suggested substituting the product name with important key phrases that clearly explain the benefits and value of this product.

To someone inside the company, the product name is everything. While under development, the product – and its name – was everything to the employees. They lived, breathed and dreamt about it for months if not years on end. So when it came time to market their new widget, it seemed obvious that the company’s website homepage should scream the product name upfront and center.

Too bad the rest of the world did not have the same pre-launch experience. Potential customers never head the product name before and don’t care, at this point, what it’s called. However, what they DO know is that they have a problem that needs solving. And they have a general idea of what terms to use to look for solutions.

For example, say your company has just launched a new product called MoraleCentral, a new online tool that gives users tips on how to solve employee morale issues. 

Chances are, potential customers – those with employee morale problems – would go to the Internet and Google such terms as  “employee moral”, “moral boosting”, “improving employee productivity” or “teamwork tips” But unless they are already familiar with the product itself, chances are zip that they would search for “MoraleCentral”.

More importantly, once they found your website, its important that they instantly know that they’ve came to the right place. If you don’t catch their interest in the first second or two, they are just a click away to the next site.

So, what would be of more value to have highlighted on your homepage? The term MoralCentral or the words “Solve Employee Morale Problems Now”? The product title means diddly to them. But when they see the “solve employee moral” highlighted, they know instantly that they’ve come to the right place.

For the guy who has been working on MoralCentral for the past year and a half, this might seem counter intuitive. For an outside marketing pro, the choice is obvious.

It addition, MoralCentral will certainly have no SEO value whatsoever. The phrase used to highlighting the problem/solution, however, will have been chosen based upon its proven track record for driving viewers to websites. What’s the point of highlighting anything if no one will ever see it?

Another case in point

Several years ago, Brenner Associates was working with a top printer manufacturer. The internal marketing team was quite excited (and anxious) because the company was about to launch a new printer, the XPT 3000 (not the real name). The reason this was such a big deal to the printer company and its employees is because the new XPT3000 was about to replace the company’s best selling printer to date. If this new printer wasn’t a success, it could really hurt sales.

So Brenner Associates looked at the new product and at the competitive landscape and at customer demand and decided that the best thing about this new printer was that fact that it was, by far, the fastest printer under $100. And that is what we led with our press release headline – AJAX Introduces The Fastest Printer Under $100.

The internal marketing manager was upset. Why didn’t we mention the name of the printer or that it was replacing their most popular printer?

He wanted a headline that read AJAX Replaces Popular XPT1000 With New XPT3000.

To you and me (outsiders) it should be obvious. But it wasn’t so clear to the person that had been living and breathing XPT3000 for the past six months.

Then I asked the manager, “what if Frigidaire was about to replace its best selling refrigerator with one that was twice as big for half the price. Should the headline be Frigidaire Replaces Its Best Selling Refrigerator With New One or Frigidaire’s New Refrigerator Gives You More For Less ?

This was easy for him to answer correctly.

He was an outsider looking in.

Objectivity.

Subtle changes - can you find the arrow?

Did you notice? Earlier this month, Google launched a new redesign of its website and results pages. While I’ve read bits and pieces about technology changes done to the background, from an “experience” viewpoint, many of the changes are fairly minor and perhaps indistinguishable untill someone points them out: the logo is cleaner, small border added between menu links, bright blue color used throughout etc. Ho hum.

But by far, the most significant change is on the left hand side of the results. While Google has always had a means to filter your search to include just video, or blogs, or news etc., it is now easier than ever to do so. In fact, if you are doing a search on a topic such as “American Idol” or “digital cameras” its hard not to click on one of the left-hand filters to check out what videos you can find, or what blogs are saying about the topic. These elevated options are clearly a reflection of the growing importance of social networking and other “real time” communications.

To that point, the new Google search also makes it simple to filter news from non-news – and more importantly, select the time period from when the entry was posted – past hour? past 24 hours? past week?

This change highlights the signficant role that strategic PR/communications plays in gaining Internet visibility. Now, more than ever, distributing regular press releases are a must. Participating in relevant social network forums are valuable. Blogging grows in value as well.

And that all requires a communications professional that understands “new writing” rules. As always, content – whether it be a news release, article or blog post – must be interesting and provide value to the reader. But it must also be in a form apporpriate for the media (please: no more mile-long blog posts) and strategically crafted to gain SEO. And that’s what today’s top PR pros are all about.

Now, more than ever, public relations and communications play a vital role in marketing success.

And even if I’m wrong, the fact that I (and most American consumers) would probably bet that I’m right, is indicative of a crisis communications strategy that is about as bad as it gets. By breaking some of the most fundamental rules regarding crisis PR, Toyota has destroyed any sense of the trust that they’ve built up over the past couple of decades. And each day it just gets worse.

Here are some of the rules that Toyota apparently continues to ignore:

Rule 1. Be up front and honest.
Rule 2. Be quick to admit mistakes – it’s better that you reveal them yourself then have someone else do it.
Rule 3. Show sincere concern for those harmed and those that may be harmed in the future.
Rule 4. Lay out a viable strategy for setting things right.

The New York Times reported that there is evidence Toyota knew about some of the most recent problems back in 2007 or earlier. And now, instead of admitting their mistakes, it appears that the Japanese company is trying to minimize the extent of the problem – blaming it on floor mats..even when there is strong evidence to the contrary.

To reduce public concern, the company quickly put out ads telling Americans that Toyota made a mistake and is now refocused on quality control. Sorry guys. Too little, too late. You provide no specifics to what the problem was or how you are correcting it. You do not address the inordinant amount of time it took to reveal these problems or how you are addressing internal issues to prevent this from happening again.

And still the reports of runaway cars continue to make headlines.

Of course, the company’s current crisis communications plan is the result of executive decisions to reduce the impact on sales. In the meantime, the law suites and recalls will certainly add up to be one of the biggest and most expensive blunders in automotive history. Yet, the company continues to portray, what seems to be, indifference to its customers and greater concern for its own bottom line. Not good.

As far as the bad and the good…While not as ugly as Toyota, Tiger Woods didn’t do so well with his crisis communications either. He did finally hold a press conference and spoke honestly about what led up to his crisis. Unfortunately, it was another case of too little, too late. He did outline a strategy for fixing the problem (off to the sex clinic) and in time, his fans may actually forgive him and the endorsements may return.

As for the good, I’m reminded of a corporate crisis that came across my desk over a decade ago. Turned out that the largest personal printer manufacturer in the world was selling a printer that could kill you! That’s right. If you put your finger in the right place at the right time, you would receive a shock that was bigger than the one you’d get when you saw how much you’d be spending on printer ink cartridges.

As soon as the problem was discovered, a meeting was held to determine the proper course of action. While the implications for damage to immediate sales were not good, the right decisions were made:

1. An immediate recall of all effected printers
2. A halt in production until the design was corrected
3. A proactive communications strategy.

That’s right. Even though no one had yet died (or was even harmed) from the printer, it was the company’s own PR staff that first alerted the press (and subsequently, the public) to the problem. The potential danger was, if anything, exaggerated rather than minimized. A strong course of action was outlined…and in the end, the company received more press for its quick action than for the original problem.

The ugly, the bad, and the good.

As promised in my last post, here are some more ads from the past that may raise an eyebrow or two. If you have others you’d like to share, pass them along and I’ll post them.

Someone sent me an e-mail the other day that reminded me of the fluidity of marketing. They had images of ads from the past that really brought home the point: what might be appropriate today could be disaster tomorrow. This goes well beyond simply being politically correct. In fact, the current backlash of being overly PC today can make being unPC very PC (did you see the GoDaddy Ads on Superbowl)?

Which made me consider the fact that smart marketing often involves breaking the rules. 7Up did it when they became the UnCola. Avis did it when they boasted about being #2. Brenner Associates has been effective at gaining client visibility by breaking some of the most hardened rules regarding press releases (see earlier post). But as my piano teacher told me many years ago, you really need to understand the rules before you can break them. That’s because it involves risk. But then (as the same wise piano teacher told me) you never attain real greatness without engaging in some level of risk taking.

Well, with unnecessary over-analysis aside. I think the following ads from the past speak for themselves. Hope you enjoy…or at least find them thought provoking.  Next week, I’ll post a few more.

And oh yes, if you have similar print advertisments from the past that belong in this collection, I’d be happy to share them in future posts. Just send them along.

Text donation played a big role in Haiti relief efforts

As most everyone knows by now, on January 12, 2010 Haiti was all but leveled by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. And while TV news played a big role in informing the world about developments related to this disaster, it was non-traditional digital communications that really stole the show.

It was cell phones and websites, Twitter and blogs, personal websites and social networks that called the world to action and resulted in one of the most successful relief support (donations) efforts ever conducted.

 Soon after the word of the earthquake began to spread, agencies such as the Red Cross and AmeriCare jumped into action. The word spread and requests for donations to help relief efforts were at the forefront of the messages being relayed.

 In a matter of days, the Red Cross began receiving millions of dollars from $10 donations sent via text messaging over mobile phones.

In addition, bloggers jumped into action, creating conduits for receiving and delivering additional donations. WhatGives!.com , launched a 24 hour fundraising telethon that raised thousands of dollars in aide. Partnered with a radio fundraising broadcast, they raised thousands more.

At the same time, those that gave and those that were concerned got onto their Twitter and Facebook pages to tell the world of their actions and ask that  readers do the same.

The result was the quick accumulation of much needed relief donations. The Red Cross alone raised more than $21 million – that compares to $400,00 raised for Hurricane Katrina and more than 5 times the amount raised in mobile donations in 2009 by ALL CHARITIES PUT TOGETHER.

The use of digital media has once again proven to be a highly effective means of spreading the word and calling people to action. 

As a PR pro, I am often asked to review and comment on existing websites. In many cases, a company has just plunked down thousands of dollars on a website makeover only to find the results disappointing (at best).

No wonder. Websites are often designed and created by HTML or PHP experts, not marketing pros. The end result is a site with lots of animation, java-run menus and clickable pages. It may also have a smattering of imbedded SEO code or even an associated blog. Unfortunately however, coding experts rarely have the marketing expertise to ensure the site’s success.

With that in mind, here are some things to consider when developing a website for your B2B business.

1. Home Page: Websites are like a book.

Is This Your Home Page?

If you were looking for a book to read, would you pull one off the shelf and immediately jump in to the middle and start reading? Of course not. You would first look at the cover. Then perhaps you’d glance at the back of the book or the inside jacket to see a picture of the author.

In the same way, a website’s home page must be inviting. Pictures are good – especially of people. Words are ok but white space is better. Most importantly, it must clearly tell the visitor that he has arrived at the right destination.

2. Messaging: Still the real gold of any marketing effort.

Decide who you (your company) are, what value you provide and how you differ from the competition. You may have only seconds to grab a visitor’s attention so be sure your positioning and key messages are concise and clearly visible on the page. Have someone from OUTSIDE your industry proofread the copy on the page. If they don’t get it right away, chances are, there is too much industry jargon being used.

3. Clarity: Bullet points and highlights.

Messages get lost in long worded paragraphs. Whenever possible, make each web page easy to scan. Use bullet points. Highlight important words or concepts. Repeating keywords is not only an SEO strategy – it also helps underscore your messages.

4. SEO: It’s not just inserting keywords.

Marketers have always relied on PR pros to create effective copy. Now that copy must also provide SEO value. Putting these two requirements together – sharp inviting copy AND SEO-rich content – is a real craft, but essential. Nailing this requirement will have a real impact on the effectiveness of the site.

5. Video: An enormously effective sales tool.

There is a reason why imbedded video has become such a hot item in the world of web marketing. It works. It can add a human element to a cold site. It can also serve as the perfect vehicle for quickly explaining complex concepts. Video testimonials from current customers or product users can be invaluable. Best of all, it doesn’t have to be an expensive proposition. In fact, today’s esthetics oftentimes favor sincerity over polish.

6. Conversion: Finally, a way to measure success.

Measuring marketing success has never been easy…until now. By building in to your site smart conversion strategies you not only measure how many people visited your site, but how many of these visitors turned into actual customers. A conversion page on an e-commerce site is easy – it’s the page where they order product. But on a B2B site with no shopping cart, you will have to be a bit more clever. Perhaps you track those that went from a product page to a contact page – or maybe you offer a downloadable document that provides sales lead information.

The bottom line is that a successful website must have more than information. It must be inviting and provide convincing messages in an easy to scan format. It must be enjoyable to visit and easy to measure. And that takes more than proper coding.

The talk show host’s handling of his recent “sex scandal” is truly one for the lesson books. We know that this kind of “news” can wreck careers. We are seeing that it doesn’t have to.

It has now been about a week since the news first hit the press and the story already seems to have shriveled up and all but blown away. How is this possible? A celebrity, a sex scandal and a blackmail! This is the kind of story that the press usually feeds upon for weeks if not months. It’s the kind of story that has ruined the careers of some of the most powerful (presidents, senators, CEOs) and well-loved (actors, musicians) public figures of our times. For Letterman however, it seems to have become little more than a fleeting comedic subject hardly worth a mention. How can this be?

BRENNER’S TOP THREE LIST OF LETTERMAN LESSONS

1. Be the first to tell the news. Letterman didn’t wait for information about his trysts to come out in the press. He was the first to break the news. In fact, he told his story on the same day that the warrant was issued for the alleged blackmailer. This not only allowed Letterman to take control of the message, but it kept him from appearing defensive (and hence, guilty).

How do so many politicians miss this? They certainly have the same high-quality PR council that I’m sure Letterman had. Do they simply – despite all the evidence to the contrary – think they will be the first to squelch this kind of news? Time and time again, we see the negative results of sitting on a story and letting others control the message. When will they learn?

The same goes for companies that have bad news to tell. Be it a sex scandal, a product recall, an impending financial concern or other bad news – it’s vitally important to act fast and, if at all possible, ensure that you (and not the press) are the ones breaking the story.

2. Be honest. Letterman doesn’t deny the accusations. He doesn’t even try to minimize the wrong-doing (can you say, “It wasn’t really sex”?) He is very clear that he had sex with employees.

3. Take control of the message. If you watch the replay of his “confession,” you can’t help but be impressed with the way he took control of the message. Consider the following:

- He chose the setting for telling his story. He could have called a press conference. He chose instead to reveal his story on his show, in front of his biggest supporters – his fans.

- He shifted the story from one about sex with employees to one about blackmail. In fact, it wasn’t until almost 8 minutes into his ten-minute explanation that he even mentioned the fact that it was all about illicit sex. In his telling, it was all about this creepy guy who terrorized him with blackmail.

- He did say early on that the “blackmailer” was going to write about all the “terrible stuff” that he (Letterman) had done throughout his career. In fact, he mentioned “terrible stuff “several times. By the time he got down to specifics regarding sex with employees, it didn’t seem so terrible after all.

- Most importantly, he did a great job of positioning himself as the victim, not the guilty. In his telling of the story, he was able to keep the focus on the “blackmailer” and the trauma that he (David Letterman) had to endure in dealing with this evil-doer. He talks about be terrified that someone may be hiding under his car, he’s riddled with “Lutheran Midwestern guilt,” he has to do things he hates doing (conferencing with his lawyer), he says that this whole thing was “quite scary” and that he was made to fear for himself and his family. He even ends by saying his motivation for sharing this story was simply to protect his friends and family.   

So now, a week later, the story seems to be all but dead. I have yet to see Dave’s picture on the cover of any of the grocery store tabloids or on my computer screen when I pull up Yahoo! News. Is this the end? That may depend upon additional revelations revealed as the case plays out. If the sex wasn’t consensual or if any of the women felt harassed, the story may have additional play – but for now, thanks to a smart communications strategy, Letterman has certainly scored a knock out in the first round.

The "Big Carl" breaking the rules

I LIKE BREAKING the rules. If done right, it can get you valuable attention, make you stand out and even give you a huge competitive edge. It can, of course, also get you into trouble.

With that in mind, I’ve always been drawn to that age-old edict “You must know the rules before you can break them.” I first heard this pearl of wisdom as it relates to music theory. The rule says you must play “X” but you can break the rule and play “Y” instead… if you understand how and why it works.

Famous broken rules (and I will tie this to marketing, I promise):

• That long intro scene in the 1953 Brando movie, The Wild One.” The rule said that a movie director shouldn’t hold a camera in one static position for more than 6 seconds. But in the now famous opening scene, Laslo Benedek focuses the camera on a long stretch of open road for more than a minute. Great tension building. xxxxxxxxxxxxxBuildxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      
• Beat It. The rule said that pop/soul music and heavy metal don’t mix. But when Michael Jackson teamed up with Eddie Van Halen on Beat It, the results were incredible.  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
• The rule was that a second is a second is a second. Albert Einstein declared that a second to someone traveling in a rocket at the speed of light could be a lifetime to someone stationary on the ground. His theory of special relativity changed everything.

Public relations and advertising is steeped in rules. The shelves at Barnes and Nobel are lined with such books as “The Fifty Golden Rules For Guerrilla Marketing,” “The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding” and now, The New Rules of Marketing & PR.” And to be sure, these best sellers are chocked full of great information.

But let’s not forget about the value of breaking the rules as well. I cut my teeth working for a couple of the largest PR agencies in the world and learned the rules from some of the most successful pros in the business. Unfortunately, however, I’ve found that many of these old pros are teaching and abiding by the same rules that governed their strategies twenty years ago. But if you understand the rules, you will know when and how to break them.

In the 1960’s Avis broke the rule that you never position yourself as anything but the marketing leader. The company’s “We’re #2 – We Try Harder” campaign was responsible for tripling their market share from 11% to 33%.

Google breaking the rules

More recently Google broke the branding rule that says company logos are sacred and something to be left alone. By continuing to create new versions of their logo, Google has helped create a fun, friendly persona for a company that others (say…Microsoft or Yahoo perhaps?) would kill for.

Carl’s Jr. just launched a new advertising campaign that breaks the rule governing the use of competitive product comparisons. They make no bones about their “Big Carl” burger is a direct rip off of the Big Mac…and it works.

So it’s disconcerting when experts tell me that I shouldn’t break the rules and that a news release is simply a tool for reporters – sorry, but those are old rules (see previous post), or that marketing video production must be slick and expensive (welcome to the age of YouTube fellas) or that you must keep customer-oriented promotional material out of press documents.

Earlier this year, Brenner Associates created a viral video for a client looking to reach 20-30 year old men. They had previously paid another marketing firm over $20K to create a product video for use on their web site and across the Internet but gut zip in return.

A quick look at the results told me why. Their $20K was well spent on sharp graphics, high quality camera shots and beautiful spokespersons – and they wound up with an advertisement that might have worked twenty years ago but was of no interest to their target audience today.

I promised them I could deliver a more effective video for less than $900. We came up with a creative video that was fun to watch AND reinforced their brand image. We used a hand held camcorder and real people and unscripted dialogue. Posted on their website and on select social network sites, the video has been seen by more than 390,000 potential customers and has been responsible for increasing the company’s web sales by close to 20 percent.

There is another old edict, “Rules were meant to be broken.” And when it comes to public relations and marketing – especially in today’s evolving digital age – strategic rule breaking can be the key to unimaginable success.

Once the exclusive domain of the Human Resources department, recruiting has quickly evolved into a PR/marketing function. Recruitment expert, Jim Durbin recently wrote that successful recruiting today “includes a wide range of disciplines including creative, copy writing, social media, SEO and blogging.” These are precisely the skills one seeks a public relations professional to perform.

Case in point: the medical industry.  

While a large percentage of companies today are cutting back their workforce, segments of the medical industry are desperate to find qualified staff – particularly nurses, doctors, counselors and support staff. According to Career Trends, healthcare and medical jobs continue to account for 1 out of every 4 openings represented by search firms and postings.

So you can imagine that, given the enormous demand for qualified candidates, competition for the few professionals out in the job market is fierce.

I was talking to the head of a healthcare facility about the problems he was facing regarding recruitment and he told me that he was doing everything he and his HR department could think of to find new recruits: posting jobs on all the Internet job boards, going to career fairs, interviewing at local colleges and universities.

I explained that unfortunately, these traditional strategies are simply not enough – particularly when the demand is a lot higher than the supply (of good candidates).  As Code Works CEO, Sara Moss pointed out in a recent article, recruiting techniques have change dramatically over the past few years. Job seekers that once looked for opportunities through job postings now expect the opportunities to find them – wherever they may be on the web or elsewhere. 

BrenMed Communications, a division of Brenner Associates devoted to the medical industry, developed a plan for this medical facility that was strikingly similar to the type of PR plan an agency would use for a consumer product push or even some B2B campaigns. It consists of three components: (1) Making sure they find you, (2) Making sure they like what they find, and (3) Go where they go.

Making sure candidates find you – SEO and beyond.  Public relations has come to own the variety of tactics designed to ensure those who are looking for a company and/or its products, find them. Basic coding strategies (meta tags etc.) is a given, but this is just a start. Website copywriting has reached an entirely new level of sophistication. The words must now be carefully constructed to attract both search engine spiders (a.k.a. web crawlers) and target readers. SEO may also include an ongoing program of creating and disseminating press releases and articles, linking to blogs and commenting on the blogs and forums already being written about your topics.

It’s these type of activities that not only help ensure you show up prominently during a Google search, but that the pages that do appear attract customers with credible information that spurs them to action. Having a link appear that goes to your website is nice. Having a link appear that goes to an article about your product or service is much better. Just as with traditional marketing, PR provides the credibility that advertising (i.e. your own website) simply can’t. 

Making sure they like what they find. Here is where positioning and messaging comes in. This is solid PR, pure and simple.

When it comes to recruiting – particularly in a competitive environment – the employer must differentiate itself from the competition. Why should I (a potential candidate) work for you rather than someone else?

The particular medical company I was talking to was a non-profit organization and therefore wasn’t able to pay nearly as well as competitive employers. They were also small and unknown. They couldn’t offer the best benefit package or career path within the organization. What could they possibly say about themselves that would attract high-caliber candidates?

Using some of the same messaging workshop techniques it uses for all of its clients, BrenMed was able to identify some messages that would attract prime candidates. For one, the organization provided an incredible amount of opportunities to gain important skills. The existing staff included some highly regarded industry pundits with connections throughout the industry. In other words, this facility offered enormous opportunities as a stepping-stone to a highly successful career.

Once positioning and key messages are identified, they should be used at every opportunity throughout all recruitment activities. A jobs-related website could be developed that relies heavily on the messaging. It can also provide information about individual staff members – both their professional and personal lives – and it allows potential candidates to engage in a conversation with these employees. The idea is to create professional relationships early on. Something a simple job posting could never do.

Go where they go.

As Kip Havel, Spherion Recruitment Consulting wrote, recruiters must now go where the candidates are – when they Google, when they socialize online and when they visit their niche destination sites. The plan also called for the creation and maintenance of a Facebook page that engaged candidates with staff members. BrenMed also suggested that similar presence be created on a few industry-related social network sites identified as important to the company’s target group. These sites are designed to allow parties to become familiar with each other – to engage in dialogues and create professional relationships. The value they provide to a recruiter is immeasurable. Would you prefer to take a job from someone you’ve only seen during interviews, or from someone that you feel you already know? Social network sites provide a platform that, if used strategically, can allow candidates to become familiar with the staff, the facilities, the neighborhood, the customers and all other aspects of the job before even having that first face-to-face interview.

The bottom line – recruitment is now a marketing function. It requires the full myriad of skills associated with public relations -from adept writing to message development and relationship building. With the increased acceptance of social networks and other Web 2.0 tools in the professional environment, we will see public relations grow as an integral part of a company’s business strategy.