Special Event: Live-Blog It
Your special event involves planning, expense, and usually agita. The mainstream media probably will cover it. An employee is doing a video of the high points and will edit them so that your organization can post the best on your website and on YouTube. One thing you might not have thought of is this: Live-blogging.
In essence, someone who’s adept at blogging uses your or his/her blog platform to chronicle and comment on the activities. That’s live-blogging.
At Apple’s new product announcements, the major media send their bloggers to catch every fact and nuance of what is being unveiled. The bloggers might also interview the Apple leadership as well as those in the audience. They could also interview other bloggers at the event. Those posts, which could number 5, 10, 20, or 30, reach readers around the world (blogs are global) in real time. Afterward the bloggers might follow that up with a more formal article on the roll-out. The two reinforce each other and bloggers usually put links to their posts in the article.
On top of all the rest you are concerned about for your special event, doing live-blogging may seem too much. Actually it isn’t. Bloggers love to blog. They especially love doing it about an event which is being covered in real time. Each post contains one small aspect of the story, one interview, one observation. There could be photos. There could be video clips attached.
What are the benefits of live-blogging for your organization? Here are just a handful:
Creates Excitement. From the corner of their eyes participants spot the blogger. This enhances the specialness of the event. They will ask you to email them all the links. Of course, they want to see them.
Involves Audience. Interviewing attendees makes the event interactive. Those interviewed probably will send the links along to their own networks. They might post them on their own digital sites. They might send them to media. All that provides a multiplier effect for the exposure the special event receives.
Provides Links. The 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 posts leave you with links you can bundle and provide on your digital sites, send to media, package as marketing material for prospects, and analyze for insight on what to do the same or differently on your next special event.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations of live-blogging as well as Social Media, Special Events, Advertising, Public Relations, and Parterning 203-404-4868, mgenova981@aol.com. Influence: Should you attack?
Sure, every personal brand and organization wants to increase its influence. That makes it easier to sell products and services, fundraise, and get on the radar of the powers that be.
One way of gaining and increasing influence, it appears from scanning the news headlines, is to attack. Today, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg faults both presidential candidates for not having the right position on gun control. Iconic singer Elton John classifies Madonna as over.
Yes, those negatives got those players attention, at least today. However, that’s a risky game since, longer term, the well is poisoned. Also, those less experienced in communications might not be able to manage the controversy.
A shrewder strategy is to create the “white space” between the negative and too simplistic positives to add something of value. For example, instead of getting attention by being critical of Madonna, develop an opinion-editorial for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL or, locally here in New England, the HARTFORD COURANT, on the struggle of the aging entertainer. In that piece, point out how Betty White and Clint Eastwood have managed to endure.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations on Marketing, Partnering, Advertising, Public Relations, Social Media, and Special Events, 203-404-4868, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Online Attacks – Turn Lemon into Lemonade
Name one organization which hasn’t been slammed, perhaps unfairly, online. A web presence opens you to negative postings, anonymous and bylined, by the media, consumers, reviewers (professional and amateur), and those who simply enjoy stirring up trouble. That goes with the territory. So, be prepared to handle “flaming,” either by one party or an organized posse. Like controversy in general, if this is managed well, it could be turned to your advantage.
Here are the 6 rules of the road:
* Don’t panic. This is now a predictable event in operating an organization. To avoid panic, have in-place policies and procedures for not only damage control but transforming the incidents into opportunities to highlight your values, products, services, and causes. After all, the spotlight is on you. Use it.
A key constituency is your own employees, board members, vendors, community, and customer base. All these groups must be kept in the loop. That should be part of your crisis communications plan.
* Analyze if the criticism has validity. If so, apologize online. What begins online has to be handled online. If useful, you can extend that to offline as with press releases, interviews with mainstream media broadcast and print, and hosting special events such as town meetings. A sincere apology can enhance consumer relations. In a recent survey, Arnold Worldwide found that only 39% of organizations respond to consumer beefs. When Facebook apologized to members for documented breaches of privacy, the issue lost its heat.
If the criticism is inaccurate, provide the facts. This is a crisis. As in all crisis communications, get as many verified facts out there as soon as they are available. Start online, and then decide if adding offline would be useful. If the postings are bylined, contact those individuals and organizations directly, with the facts. Ask their cooperation in making public this correction. Be nice. Don’t threaten lawsuits. Those who do and actually pursue them wind up giving the story legs and accumulating six and seven figures in legal costs, even before the situation nears settlement or a trial.
* Have third parties lined up for support. Their postings on the web not only create positive publicity for you. They help drive down on search engines the negative material.
* Flood the plane with your own digital matter. If they are formatted for search engine optimization (SEO) and contain compelling information and insights, they could gain prime placement on search engines and links from influential sources. Do this right and you will enhance your professional network, both in digital communications and for strategic partnerships.
* Stay positive. As in all professional life and in our personal activities, it’s not what happens to us but how we handle it. The classic examples of that are the media ups and downs of the candidates at all levels in Campaign 2012. The most adept at managing good and bad coverage are likely to be elected next November. Running for office has evolved into the game of impression management.
A crisis usually has a beginning, middle, and an end. At each phrase be strategic about what messages are useful and will resonate at the time. Once on the web, always on the web. In a sense, you are being handed the gift of overseeing a publicity campaign that has built-in audiences. Yes, you are turning a lemon into lemonade.
* Attend to housekeeping. What should you be changing inhouse to reduce the odds that this kind of crisis will happen in the future?
* Move on. When this blows over, reconfigure your communications to be fresh and focused on the now. Organizations which get stuck in the crisis, which ironically should have already passed, invite reputational torture, ridicule, and informal boycotts.
A master in moving on has been Hillary Clinton. Incidentally now U.S. Secretary of State Clinton learned well from her mediocre digital communications during her unsuccessful presidential run. They were vilified. In all mediums – digital, print, video, audio, and on-her-feet – she handles herself better as a result of that stumble.
Meme for Digital Times: Everything on the web, positive or negative, presents a positioning and packaging opportunity.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, invites you for a complimentary consultation for you social media, marketing, advertising (including media buys), public relations, and special events 203-404-4868, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Mindy Meyer’s Pink Campaign – 3 Lessons in Marketing
A gimmick. A stunt. It will ruin her career as a lawyer. That’s what some are saying about Mindy Meyer’s “pink” campaign as a conservative candidate for the New York state Senate. Here is her pink website http://mindymeyer4senate.com/?tw_p=twt
The critics may be right. However, Image Marketing Consultants recommends you not not miss the marketing lessons embedded here. Out of nowhere, this 22-year-old New York law student is getting national media attention, including from the influential POLITICO http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78871.html With statements like “The Senate’s not just a bunch of old people” – Meyer can become the under-30 Sarah Palin – the voice of a new generation of conservatives.
The lessons? Here are 3:
- Positioning and packaging are everything. Most leaders, causes, products, and services are essentially similar. The best marketing communications win the day.
- Take smart risks. At her age, Meyer has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
- Look, talk, walk youthful. That has nothing to do with age. No one thinks of Hillary Clinton as old.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations in marketing, public relations, media buys, social media, and special events 203-404-4868, Kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Holmes, Paterno, Mayer – Power of Symbols
Media, hungry for readers, frame the big stories in terms of symbolism. For James Holmes, it was the need for gun control. For Joe Paterno, the neglect of duty. And for Marissa Meyer, women’s choices. Reporters and editors know that we human beings experience the world through symbols.
Your customers are no different. They see your products and services in terms of symbols. That’s why all your marketing, public relations, social media, and special events have to be built around a symbol. Job number-one is creating the right symbol and reinforcing it.
Examples:
Ø Your restaurant broadcasts the message that the cuisine, ambiance and service restore the soul.
Ø Your women’s discount store represents no-mistake professional attire at affordable prices.
Ø Your landscaping shop stands for taking pride in one’s property.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations on your marketing, public relations, media buying, social media, and special events 203-404-4868, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com
Social Media: Conversions, Not Likes, Matter
Social media is confusing. “Kate,” clients ask me over and over again, “my Facebook fan page and blogging are bringing in sales. However, there aren’t many “likes” on the content. Should I be worried?”
If your business is B2C, that is targeted at consumers, all that matters is converting the content of your social media into sales. Therefore, if the right prospects see your posts and respond to them by opening their pocketbook, you are hitting homeruns. Likes, comments, retweets indicate popularity. Remember the most popular kids in high school? Most of them are no where today.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultations on social media, marketing, media buying, public relations, and special events 203-404-4868, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Consumer Shift – 3 Tips from Image Marketing Consultants
Retailers have to market differently to consumers as well as do more of what is working. THE ECONOMIST reports that the U.S. economy is shifting from a consumer to an export one http://www.economist.com/node/21558591. The Federal Reserve attributes much of this to consumers paying off debt. They are spending less.
Image Marketing Consultants has these 3 tips:
- Listen to the marketplace through special events and social media. Consumers will tell you what should stay the same and what else they want.
- Experiment with some price points. Often lowering those on popular items will make consumers feel safe shopping with you.
- Entertain. That could be as simple as background music or as exotic as having drama students putting on skits in your store.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, welcomes your questions on marketing in a shifting economy Kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Contrarian Marketing – 3 Tips from Image Marketing Consultants
“Contrarians,” as they are called, get attention because they think out of the box. For example, on Wall Street, when everyone is buying Apple stock, contrarian analysts recommend selling or going short. Investors are all ears. Here are 3 tips from Image Marketing Consultants on how you can leverage contrarian marketing for your business here in the Northeast Corridor, especially New England.
§ Upside Down Piggybacks. The trend is healthy everything. You feature sinful or indulgent products and services. Example: 430-calorie double-frosted cupcakes to eat instead of going to the gym.
§ Unconventional Slogans/Taglines. When businesses gush about their excellent customer service, position yours as built on DIY or Do It Yourself. Example: “Because we’re lazy, you serve yourself – and save lots of $.’
§ Humor. Being funny involves risk but it’s a grabber because most businesses present themselves as serious. Post on YouTube videos of your products talking back to customers. Example: The tomato says it wants to be part of a salad, not a sauce.
Kate Sirignano, founder of Image Marketing Consultants, provides complimentary consultants on marketing, public relations, media buying, social media, and special events, 203-404-4868, Kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com.
Branding: What Chris Christie Is Teaching Us
Branding is the unique space your product or service owns in the minds and hearts of your customers. It’s the foundation for everything you will do in marketing. So, yes, do it right the first time. That is take the time to create the right identity. While you’re doing that, here is what you might learn from one of the strongest current political brands. That’s Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey.
The latest Quinnipiac poll found that 54 percent of voters in his state approve of his performance. That means that he has been able to gain and keep the majority on his side. Yet, at the same time he has been able to develop a brand identity that sets him apart from all the other political leaders on the radar screen.
In terms of your own branding, here are the takeaway lessons:
- Your brand can’t be all things to all people. It simply has to align with the constituencies or demographics which count. If Christie tried to appeal to everyone, his identity would be too diluted to stand out.
- Your brand must be out there. Christie is constantly engaged in some public function and seems to make it his business to promote those.
- Your brand becomes stronger by managing criticism and controversy. Each public relations battle Christie manages, his brand becomes more embedded in the global consciousness.
Please contact Kate Sirignano, 203-404-4868, kate@imagemarketingconsultants.com for a complimentary review of your branding.
Easy DIY projects for your 4th of July party!
Preparing for a 4th of July party this week? Check out some of our favorite DIY projects that will surely spice up any star-spangled event!
These white chocolate covered strawberries dipped in blue sprinkles make for a patriotic and refreshing treat. (Kate made these for a BBQ last weekend- they were a hit!)
How great are these red, white and blue mason jar luminaries? Jar + hodge podge + tissue paper + candle = gorgeous outdoor 4th of July decoration.
Paper flowers add a whimsical touch to any event, and may be one of the easiest things to make! (I’m thinking of making some for my own BBQ on Saturday.)
At IMC, we can’t deny that we love a good signature cocktail…WITH a clever name…surely you remember our Christmas party! Consider hollowing out a watermelon and filling it with a punch or homemade sangria.
There are so many ways to get creative when the holidays roll around! However you end up spending your 4th of July, be sure that you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones- that’s the best part of any party.
Have a Happy & Safe 4th- God Bless the USA!