by IMC | Mar 23, 2013 | Blog, Branding, Celebrations, Digital Communications, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Online Video, Partnership, Short Form, Tactics
Even though here along the Northeast Corridor the weather for Easter probably will be chilly, those we at Image Marketing Consultants talk with plan to do something special outdoors. Yes, it has been a harsh fall and winter, Sandy followed by Nemo.
Your customers or, if you are a professional services firm, your clients want a fresh start. This is an opportunity for you to resonate with them emotionally by highlighting messaging, providing promotions, and sponsoring special events that assure them that the world is a good place to be and full of joy and opportunity.
The most simple way to do that, of course, is through your decorations. The impact of that could be profound if you invite the community to participate through volunteer work for fundraising or a contest. For example, a bakery in Central Connecticut can donate its window for those in the neighborhood to showcase their renditions of renewal and those enjoying the display can make contributions to the United Way.
More complex is to design promotions which help clients not only save on their fee with you but also improve their business operations. For example, the graphics firm will not only create a logo with a spring discount but also give a complimentary tutorial on the most effective designs for communicating your unique branding.
This season also aligns with your passing on your own good news. Send out a press release on how much your boutique has grown since the recession ended or the 10 new products you have launched. Create a video of a walk-through of your facility, explaining what the equipment does. Then you can place that in your Media Center on your website, Facebook, and as a link on your blog and Twitter account.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation for your marketing, public relations, partnership, special events, and social media needs kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
by IMC | Mar 14, 2013 | Blog, Digital Communications, Marketing Mix, Media Relations, Partnership
Social media is a powerful commercial tool for marketing, advocacy, fundraising, sponsoring special events, and selling. However, too often it doesn’t generate the expected outcomes.
One major reason is that the content, be it the landing page on the website or the text on a video for YouTube, has no call to action. You present your message but you do not follow that with what the audience should do next. That’s why even the most well-done content in social media isn’t converting to results.
That call of action could be to click or pick up the phone for a complimentary consultation. It could be to place an order for gold-plated earrings for which there is free shipping. It could be to scroll through the contact information to find your government representatives and then create your own email to tell them how you feel about a certain piece of legislation. It could be to donate $10 to the victims of a natural disaster.
When you don’t have a clear call to action, you leave your target markets hanging. They have no direction as to what to do next. And you have wasted this opportunity.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you to a complimentary consultation for your marketing, public relations, partnership, special events, and social media needs kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com, 203-404-4868.
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.
Page 2 of 6«123...5...»Last »
Even though here along the Northeast Corridor the weather for Easter probably will be chilly, those we at Image Marketing Consultants talk with plan to do something special outdoors. Yes, it has been a harsh fall and winter, Sandy followed by Nemo.
