by IMC | Mar 10, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Credibility, Digital Communications, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Mission Statement, Partnership, Tactics
“Passion.” That’s exactly what a growing number of young women and men have for animals.
Therefore, as THE NEW YORK TIMES reports, they work very hard to prepare for veterinary school, which is difficult to get into. Those who are admitted take on six-figure student loan debt. At the end of three years not many are the lucky ones to be hired for the few jobs out there. And, most of those few jobs hardly pay enough to justify the loan debt.
Professional tragedies like that one as well as those happening among the passionate in journalism and law schools have more and more people considering what “passion” means. Could it simply denote love of something and that’s about all? Passion doesn’t necessarily translate into professional career success.
More importantly, what does “passion” indicate about the professional? Would you dare have your wedding dress produced by someone who ad reads “Passionate About Your Special Day” or the one whose ad reads “Produced 200 wedding dresses for Brides Whose Testimonials Are Framed In Our Shop?”
In short, what message are you sending when you use the term “passion?” Not a clear one. Therefore, businesses and nonprofits might rethink leveraging “passion” in marketing communications and public relations. In addition to not really meaning much as a message about your product or service, it is overused.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you for a complimentary consultation on your marketing, public relations, partnership, special events, and social media needs kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Mar 7, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Credibility, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Partnership, Tactics
Technology has made The Sharing Economy Possible. For example, smartphones facilitate finding out about a room to rent for two nights in an apartment in Stamford, Connecticut. However, at its core and where businesses can profit and nonprofits can enhance their brandnames and fundraising, The Sharing Economy is a mindset.
In its cover story on The Sharing Economy, THE ECONOMIST (subscription required) hammers that this way of conducting transactions gives access to just about everything to just about everyone. On a commercial level, Zipcar brought that maintream in college towns. Students had access to cars to run errands or take day trips without the resources or responsibility of owning a car. More recently Airbnb gives tourists access to great lodging at a much cheaper rate than traditional hotels do.
How can you leverage the sharing mindset to generate better outcomes for your enterprise or nonprofit? Here are three tips:
Collaborate. You have down cold how students get admitted to elite educational institutions. The neighbor’s public relations firm has the resources to prepare the application materials and coach the interview process. Put that together and you both can be more successful, without having to “own” any additional lines of business. The additional payoff is the partnership can expand the brand identities of both.
Be more opportunistic than strategic. You might not have planned to lease the back of your hair salon to the psychic whose space flooded. But you do. Soon enough you’re passing on customers to each other. The local paper covers this match. Eventually, you both need more square footage.
Parachute in and help. Networks often are built on the pooling of different assets. At the top of the list are information, skills, and contacts. The new solo lawyer can’t attract clients. You tutor her on how to market, re-do her website for organic search (SEO), and bring in your friend who was busted for a DUI as her first case. As her practice flourishes, she refers business to you and others on your network.
How much you can gain and give through The Sharing Economy depends on how much of a shift you can make from the status quo to out of the box ways of approaching individual and organizational success.
Kate Sirignano invites you to a complimentary consultation for your “Sharing Economy” inititiaves, partnerships, marketing, public relations, special events, and social media. Please contact kate@imagemarkingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Mar 3, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Credibility, Digital Communications, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Mission Statement, Partnership, Tactics
“How could we have ‘bet the ranch’ on a marketing campaign we didn’t test enough?”
That kind of regret is typical of businesspeople who find that they have made a major mistake. They are shocked that it happened. Their confidence has taken a hit. And they want some bulletproof guidance on how they can avoid such errors in the future.
The reality is that businesses always made mistakes, sometimes big ones like when Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke” and Ford manufacturerd the Edsel. What is different now is that businesses have less of a margin for error so the resources that mistake consumed are highly visible on the balance sheet. Also, competition is more fierce, eager to take advantage of a stumble. In addition, there is the fear of not being able to bounce back.
Because of the severe consequences of mistakes for businesses, hands-on managment experts such as Reid Hoffman, cofounder of social network for professionals LinkedIn, recommend placing small bets, not investing too much in any one initiative. In his new book “The Start-up of You,” Hoffman confirms the uncertainty of the marketplace of the 21st century. There are more unknowns than knowns out there. Businesses, at best, are handed lots of pieces of the puzzle. It will take time, a lot of false starts, and a lot of course correction to put the pieces together. Therefore, it is downright reckless to assume that any one venture will pan out.
Smart businesspeople, shows Hoffman, currently test out their hunches in launching a new company, determining pricing, configuring marketing approaches, and training the sales force in relatively small steps. Frequently, they simultaneously have several of those small initiatives, for example in marketing, going at once. They will select the ones which work and toss the rest. The expense can be peanuts.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation for your marketing, public relations, partnerships, special events, and social media needs kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Feb 19, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Celebrity Power, Credibility, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Partnership
There is the old saying in media: If it bleeds, it becomes the lede.
Media have always highlighted the ugly underbelly of a society. With such brutal competition in that 24/7 space, no one should be shocked that the shocking dominates even more. What might have been a simple embarrassment to an organization several years ago now could be framed as a front-page scandal. So, yes, expect that the media will grab hold and run with when a person in or associated with your organization “gets into trouble.”
That might be a key executive who is arrested for driving with intoxicants. Your celebrity spokesperson is accused of domestic violence. The head of the partnership you put together has been charged with embezzlement. Here are tips from Image Marketing Consultants on how to manage these incidents.
Realize that this happens all the time. Being under the media spotlight has become the “new normal.” Because it happens all the time, you must have a crisis management and communications plan which provides details about what to do and what not to do. This must contain input from legal counsel. America is the land of lawsuits.
Don’t be premature. Before the organization does or says anything the facts must be in and must be double-checked. Was the celebrity spokesperson actually arrested or were the authorities merely called to the house? Once the facts are verified, then you proceed cautiously in developing your position, releasing information, and then providing ongoing updates.
Filter all release of information through one contact. There are many constituencies to provide information to. They range from employees and investors to media and local authorities. Those communications must be approved and released through one central contact. That keeps your response consistent and avoids worsening the situation by rumors. It also protects you legally if there are to be lawsuits. Legal action can keep the alleged incident on the front page for years.
Apologize or provide appropriate verbal gestures. Standard communications procedure is to provide an “I’m sorry” if one is at fault in any way or has created a situation in which there has been a misunderstanding.
However, that is not the only communications ritual that has become part of good public relations. For example, if someone has died and, even though the organization is not liable, offer a sincere expression of sadness. Empathy is mandated. Organizations are supposed to act human. In the court of public opinion, organizations are now “people.”
Get on with business. Scandals are disruptive because they can distract organizations from doing what they should be doing, be that selling pizza or delivering social services. After you take care of what you should be taking care of during this crisis, move the organization back on task. Remember leadership and good management are often noticed during crisis. Although the situation is stressful, how it’s handled can enhance the brand, convert to added revenues and funds raised, and provide boosts to careers.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation on crisis communications, public relations, marketing, partnerships, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Feb 16, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Credibility, Media Relations, Tactics
Economists from JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley forecast that GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth will “rebound” this first quarter of 2013. However, that doesn’t mean that organizations will not continue to lay off employees, that is conduct a Reduction-in-Force (RIF).
RIFs have become the “new normal” and not only for cost efficiency. As your products/services, market conditions, and technology keep changing so might manpower needs. For example, you are closing down your physical office and becoming an ecommerce business. Here are tips how to manage that RIF to protect your brand, prevent customer/client flight, and maintain positive community relations.
Tell the story of why this is necessary for the business. The deep economic downturn has conditioned all constituencies to accept layoffs as a restructuring must. Explain in detail how the changes will strengthen the business. If you predict eventual growth which can create jobs in the future, say that.
Identify the right mediums at the right time to tell this story to employees, vendors, customers/clients, investors, community leaders, and regulatory agencies. For employees,for example, in-person conversations are the best approach. If you are a public company, all material information must be released to all investors at the same time.
Make effort to place employees within or outside the organization. There may be jobs within your organization employees can fill or you may be able to contract with them for just-in-time assignments. On the night a Connecticut political leader lost the election, in his televised concession speech he appealed to employers to hire his staff. That positioned him as a selfless hero. It can enhance your brand.
Keep constituencies up-to-date about your progress. Layoffs are tricky business because they can send the signal that the organization is in distress. That’s exactly why you must disclose in detail in a timely manner the results coming from the new approaches. For example, what technology have you been able to purchase with the funds freed up from manpower expenses?
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation on your communications, marketing, partnerships, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Feb 12, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Credibility, Tactics
Your product or service has received wonderful reviews. Your marketing people have gotten you in front of prospects. But, you’re not closing those sales. Image Marketing Consultants identifies what tends to go wrong and how you can prevent lost sales. Here are five of those situations.
Not treating sales as separate process. Selling is where you are interacting directly with the prospect. It is not marketing. It is not product or service design. The focus and skills are very different. That’s why organizations which have the resources establish a sales force. They are the front lines who are not attached to all that has led up to the sales call. If you can’t afford a sales unit, then clear your head of all the other things which you usually think about in the business and devote your full attention to getting that sale. Nothing else matters.
Not pulling out all stops identifying prospect’s needs. Most needs are not obvious, perhaps not even to the prospect. That’s why the most important part of the sales process is to gently ask questions. The prospect may enter your retail operation with the intent of buying one suit for a board presentation. However, what she really needs is a wardrobe makeover in order to appear more trim and youthful. The salesperson who invests the time in finding that out winds up with a homerun that day and long term customer relationship.
Not doing a trial close. The purpose of a trial close is to get a feel for how the process is going. You gently check if the prospect feels good about the product or service, the price, and other terms and conditions. Then you ask for the sale. When the prospect balks or simply doesn’t buy, then that’s an opportunity to reframe what you’re offering. Some salespeople then ask, “What will it take to get this sale?” or “What’s keeping you from buying?”
Not leading prospect to point of purchase. Most prospects need the nudge to go through that final door in the purchasing continuum. That means, you have to, in some way, move them along. Some salespeople do that by asking if they prefer the leaf or the shell pattern. Others assume the sale by recommending add-ons such as a smartphone carrying case. The bottom line on this is to be alert to where the prospect is and, if stuck at point of indecision, have tactics to move the sale to completion.
Not giving the exit signal. Research shows that salespeople who respect their time generate not only more sales but also more revenue per sale. If prospects remain trapped in indecision, then salespeople have to signal that they are ready to exit. Frequently that in itself puts the prospect on a buying track. When heading toward the exit sign, let the prospect know that the door is always open, although not necessarily with those terms and conditions. Sometimes the prospect will realize those terms and conditions are great and buy right then.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation on your sales, marketing, public relations, partnerships, special events, and social media kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868
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“Passion.” That’s exactly what a growing number of young women and men have for animals.
