Publicizing Truth – Stranger Than Fiction!!!

What I discuss in today’s post may seem insignificant and even repetitive– but it is important. Important because unless we look within and find faults with what we do and how we do, we will never improve. I hope my personal insight helps you find some relevant answers as well……

In the business of perception building – faking is often a given. From revolutionary products that promise to change the world to those who claim to reverse your aging process – we have seen and heard it all.

As consumers, we are wary of such claims but as professionals, we still find it difficult to stay away from making such world changing declarations. 

I guess exaggeration is a given when it comes to marketing, advertising or public relations, but today we all find the distinction between reality and perception getting lost in a web of words and images. 

Have you ever stopped to think, why is it that most PR professionals no matter which stream, nation or community they belong to suffer from this obsessive compulsive disorder? Use of baseless adjectives like – state-of –art, one-of- its- kind, revolutionary, life-changing etc. have become part and parcel of our common vocabulary to describe something as normal and common as a pen drive to a driving car. 

The reason could be many from the clients we work for, to the consumers we cater to or the media web we have created where only the tallest claim manages to draw attention and stand out…..

Whatever the reasons, the need of the hour is to reinvent ourselves into professionals who promote truth, build perceptions that are real and market stuff for what it is really worth. 

It could seem like a tough call, but in truth, it is the best policy to follow in the long run.

To start you can try some of these time tested methods, which might help in changing the way you do Public Relations..

• Be truthful and objective when analyzing your client and his competitors.

 

• Find what’s the unique selling point or the differentiating factor between your client and his competitors and see how best you can use it to market him. It could be anything from his offering, to the quality of his offering, to the market segment he wants to target or his approach. It is for you to find out, and to package it effectively without manipulating.

 

•  Be truthful to your client. He is passionate about his business and can often lose sight of reality, he has hired you to give him your expert advice – so don’t shy away from giving him a reality check and showing him the real value for his product/offering. This also helps in setting the expectations right at the beginning – for both parties.      The client understands his product is not going to replace Google overnight and you will know – it could take a lot more effort to create the buzz  than you were initially made to believe. Trust me, clients value such consultants, because only when you are passionate about something will you fight for its good in the long run.

 

• Be creative. There are many creative ways of saying the same thing without actually faking or promising things that don’t exist or your client’s product cannot deliver.

 

• Be truthful with your analysis and plan. If you know from experience that the client’s offering is not going to get him any regular PR initially – then tell him so – to start with he will have to do some paid PR and focus on other aspects of marketing to get some attention and brand recall, before he can expect some genuine media attention to come his way. It is fine! It does not show less on your capabilities as long as you provide him with good alternatives; in fact, it shows you believe in being honest. Every CEO dreams of giving an interview on BBC or CNN – well the fact is very few make the cut, even if they are backed by the best agency!   We all know marketing is a mix of using paid and non-paid channels – for each the ratio and budget of spends varies depending on what they are trying to market.

 

• Before you go out and talk about your client and his products in the media or to his customers – Study it well. ‘Believe in what you are trying to sell.’ If you don’t believe in the virtues of your client’s offering, there is no way you can convince another person on how great a product it is. In other words, when you are truthful about a product, your passion to drive the product is visible to the world. It is quite similar to what you do when you find this great place downtown – you make sure all your friends check it out too.

The benefits of being truthful in your PR campaigns are many, to start with you will spend less time convincing a journalist or a consumer that your product is really, really revolutionary!!

Journalists, bloggers and consumers all at some point or the other have stated, they are tired of this fad, which fails to die down.

For the change to set in, we as professionals need to realize that we are not miracle makers but mediators of information between a brand and its users. To be true to ourselves, our profession and our clients, all we require is to put forward the truthful information in the best possible manner.

How to use 'intent marketing' – to win a customer!!

Pick on a customer’s ‘intent’

In marketing and public relations, identifying the INTENT of a customer can give a whole new dimension to your campaigns and also bring you success since the campaigns are more informative and focused.

A regular marketing or PR plan focuses on creating mass awareness or creating an intent. While an intent driven marketing and PR plan focuses on reaching out to those who already have the ’intent’ with the exact information they are seeking. 

A successful marketing/PR campaign would be one, that’s a mix of both these techniques. 

Identifying the intent of a person might be a long and tedious process in the offline world but online –there are many techniques which help you know, understand and use the intent of a possible customer to your advantage. 

In a recent study Ruder Finn a public Relations agency, focused on surveying the users’ intent when going online. It found – the seven most important reasons that people go online today in order of priority are- 

1. To learn
2. To have fun
3. To socialize
4. To express themselves
5. To advocate
6. To do business
7. To shop 

Intent Idex

From a marketing point of view, this result broadly sheds light on four things

-  The reason why a person would be reading up about your client or using his product online

- Where possibly you can find your target customers

- The channels you can use to reach out to them with information on your client and

- The approach you should use for each of these segments, because they are here with a certain intent

However, to build a detailed plan around this would require some deeper analysis on an individual client level. Certain processes that can help you understand the intent of a person online with respect to a specific client could be - 

-  The search keywords he used when looking for your product or something similar

- Details given on the source of the link which brought him to your site – for example – if it is after reading some content you posted on an article site, then probably you need to evaluate the content to find out what exactly the visitor was looking for. The content was close to his query which is why he came to your site seeking more information on the same

- Today there are very many tools available online, which help you evaluate the behaviour of a visitor to your site. For eg: Which were the pages where he spent most of his time? Did he watch the webinar or video on your site or download a whitepaper document? These behavioral patterns in most cases indicate the stage of decision making a person is in. It could be the research stage, it could be the price comparison stage or it could be the purchase stage. 

To turn a prospect into a sale it is important to identify at what stage of decision making he is and provide him with the right information, using the right approach. 

Now that you have some idea on what is the intent of your customer how do you incorporate this input to build a successful marketing campaign? 

Here are a few simple steps 

Step 1 

Find out where is your target audience present – where is it that they look for information the most. It could differ from segment to segment – if your target are teens – the kind of sites they visit for information are very different from the kind of sites a boomer would go to seek information. So research the places your target customer haunts and device a plan to share your information there. This process might involve all measures from press releases to creating social network profiles to getting traditional/online media coverage

Step 2 

Based on the intent research done by your team (you can use methods suggested on top), zero in on keywords that imply a stage of decision making. Create a grid 

Researched keyword	Stage of Decision making implied	The kind of information to be shared	The page URL to be linked to on your site	How will you engage the user once on this page
‘The best Blue ray player’	Research stage	Positive reviews for your product	Page where the user can read this information	There could be Q&A to know his exact preference, some video etc.

Step 3 

Now use this grid to plan all your content push activities – ensure you use these researched keywords and phrases and link them to different content pages on your website or other places (review sites, forums) which will provide a prospect with the right information (he is looking for) about your product and help the customer with his decision making process. 

Step 4

Ensure your website is optimized to answer all the queries, a prospective customer may seek information on. Keep him interested in your site by engaging and intriguing him at the onset, with third party endorsements (product reviews, testimonial, news coverage etc.)

Give him the impression that you want him to get unbiased information – you will have a more convinced customer. 

Step 5

Ask the customer to participate – Ask him to leave comments on your product offerings, any feedbacks to improve, his view on the product, ask him if he is seeking any more information, product updates – it all gives a better idea on his intent and also connects him to your brand.  You can use some of this information (if good) to woo other customers.

Follow –up on email (if shared) to nurture the lead.. 

Intent marketing does not require drastic changes in your marketing or PR plan. All it requires is some change in your approach.

If done properly, intent marketing helps you understand your customers and their wants better. It helps you relate to them at an individual level and make a personalized sales pitch in the virtual world.

So go for it, surprise your customer with this psychic phenomenon

Creating Brand Awareness the Google – Oops! The 'Gogola' way

The image in this post is one of the best I have come across in recent times, not for the quality or aesthetics but purely for the messaging and what it implies in terms of marketing and PR.

This is a street vendor from some city in India, who is trying to sell flavored ice sticks which are called ‘Golas’ in Hindi, and what you see in this image is his store or cart. The image stands out for how innovatively the vendor has used the Google homepage branding to market his ‘Golas’. It immediately catches your attention and you actually stop to read what he has to offer and probably even try it since it promises to be hygienic – a rarity when it comes to street side food in India. 

What is more interesting is to watch the kind of awareness Google enjoys as a brand. I say this because if a street vendor in India – who may not be aware of what Internet means or what power this medium enjoys is actually using Google branding to promote his goods.  It establishes Google’s superamacy as one of the most powerful and recognized brands of our times. 

I am sure, there is a more educated and well-informed mind working behind the man in this image, probably a young Entrepreneur who is trying to innovate the way this traditional street side delicacy is sold and marketed.

For Gogola it is mission accomplished – in a very simple and cost-effective way, Gogola has managed to capture eyeballs. Trust me I posted this pic on my facebook profile and many of my friends re-posted it on theirs…

Creating Brand Awareness.....

Is there a learning we can draw from this image when it comes to practicing Marketing and PR?

Below are few I could think of….

 Positioning differently

It pays to be innovative and thinking out of the box when it comes to positioning your brand. You could be part of an industry where you have 100 other competitors offering almost similar products or services, what will make you stand out in the crowd is your brand positioning.

Be creative and whacky, people are used to the simple and the appropriate, sometimes you just have to break the rules to stand out. Don’t take it too far to offend someone but THINK. Spend money on your creatives – ad copies, website, content, brochures etc. they should all follow the same theme and should effectively communicate your offering in a unique way. I am sure, when you thought of starting a business – you believed you had something different to offer – just ensure that difference shows through in the brand image you plan to create.  

 Brand your solution  

Whenever you think of a positioning for your brand, always think of offering a solution to an existing problem in the industry of your domain. Here, by positioning, I just don’t mean your advertisements, but any messaging you share with the outside world should focus on talking about the solution you offer. You could be offering a unique solution, you could be offering a different solution, simple solution, complex solution – it does not matter as long as you offer a solution.

People have enough problems and are most of the time seeking solutions – Google built its brand offering answers to most questions you may have. Gogola is using mineral water for its ‘Golas’ – a solution to the unhygienic and poor quality of water that is usually used in street side eateries across India.

 Tapping the right audience 

Another important aspect of building your brand is in identifying who your target audience is. Here Gogola has made it very clear – its target is the more affluent Indian population, who do not mind shelling more money for this traditional feast as long as its made hygienically, using good quality raw material. In addition, the vendor by using Google in his branding is identifying itself with a generation who is aware of Google, he is very clear about his clientele and has ensured only the target audience walks in for a ‘Gola’.

Hence it is very essential to keep your target audience in mind when planning your messaging and branding to ensure you reach out to only those who matter to your business.

 Riding on another known brand 

In this image the vendor is piggy banking on the popularity of Google. People stop to read his board because they think its Google’s advertisement in an unusual place, but in the end, they will remember Gogola because they are able to relate it to something they already knew and probably using everyday!

While it might appear cheesy to some, I think it makes perfect sense to do it if you can carry it off with élan. I think it’s a huge compliment for Google’s marketing team. Therefore, if you think there is a hot favorite subject, brand, persona, everyone is aware of and is talking about – use it to further your cause. Only ensure you do it in a creative manner and it is something you can relate your offering to (in this case the name was almost similar). However, use your discretion there is a very thin line between drawing inspiration and actual copyright/trademark infringement. If not done tastefully it can create negative implications.

 Using news to be in news 

Taking a cue from the previous point there is one more tactic you can use to get some good PR for your brand. Keep up to date with the happenings around you in your city, state, country or internationally. See how you can relate any of this to your product offering when pitching to journalists and bloggers, or when coming out with a press release. It gives your pitch or release additional news value. The 2008 recession was big news, all journalists were looking for different aspects of this great fall and anyone who raised a problem, or a solution for a recession hit economy got a hearing. There are many such events all round the year, some standard like around festival time, relating to such upcoming events or significant happenings will give you better visibility as you are talking in relation to something that’s already in NEWS!

Of course, if you manage to use any of these learnings for your brand….I am hoping, I will probably get to see some more such intriguing images and find some more food for further thought!