Drill Bits

We’ve come to love location-based marketing here at Brandware, and the fact that a few of our favorite lunch spots around the office share FourSquare discounts doesn’t hurt, either.

FourSquare may be the most buzzed-about geo-marketing service on the internet right now, but it’s certainly not the only one, and three of the five mentioned below actually have more users. Most utilize a mobile “check in” system like FourSquare’s, which rewards users for registering an arrival at a store, restaurant, or another kind of business. Here are few cool ways that brands are making use of mobile marketing today:

Olay and Booyah

For customized Olay skin care tips, Booyah’s MyTown users need only check into a participating pharmacy.  MyTown serves up a survey that, in the end, produce a specific Olay skin care recommendation for the user.

Booyah CEO Keith Lee noted that the quizzes end by asking if the experience influenced the user about buying a skin cream. “The data shows that purchase intent increases [dramatically],” Lee said. “The experience Olay wanted was to have people walk into a store and actually tell them what skin cream best fits each person.”

Gap Rewards Loopt Check-ins With Discount

Gap uses Loopt to offer a 25 percent discount for users that check in twice at one of the retailer’s locations. Since June 1, as part of a new rewards program called Loopt Star, Gap store patrons can present a digital code to get the discount. While Loopt has 3 million users and is available on most handheld devices, the rewards program is currently only available as an iPhone app.

Sam Altman, CEO of the Mountain View, CA-based Loopt, said that “every Gap in the U.S.” was participating in the campaign. Other brands that have used the rewards program this month include Burger King, Starbucks, and Universal Music Group, Altman said. When addressing marketers using Loopt Star, he added, “We will have a self-service platform soon.”

Starbucks Entices Users with BrightKite

Starbucks already makes use of Loopt and FourSquare, and now they’ve taken a dive into Brightkite as well.  Users can check into their local Starbucks in an attempt to earn the Frappuccino badge, and Brightkite sends out timed offers to entice users to swing by the ‘Bucks to grab mid-morning and mid-afternoon drinks.

More than that, though, Starbucks has also targeted its competitors with the service. Brightkite users (2 million) who check-in at other coffee shops – chains like Dunkin’ Donuts as well as independents – have been receiving Starbucks messages and special offers, said Rob Lawson, CMO for the Burlingame, CA-based Brightkite. Lawson said store visitors that check-in during morning hours have also received timed offers around mid-afternoon from Starbucks. “Day-parts coupled with geo-location targeting, I think, is working well for the brand,” he said.

USA Today Jet-sets Via Gowalla

Gowalla users can enjoy travel tips from USA Today each time they check into a major airport between now and Labor Day.  Participating cities include New York, Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Philadelphia and D.C..

USA Today will provide Gowalla users with 10 places to visit in each city, as well as airline and airport news for the paper’s “Today in the Sky” online section.

Pepsi and Stickybits

Stickybits is a geo-social system that allows users to check into brands and products, rather than physical locations.  Pepsi is the company’s first official partner, and with a quick snapshot of your drink’s barcode, you can see tips and tricks from Pepsi, as well as a comments left by other fans of the product.

The widespread adoption of smartphones has added fuel to location-based marketing’s fire, and big brands have caught on quickly.  We see an untapped opportunity for brand communication here, where consumers and their favorite things engage one another to create better customer service, stronger products and smarter businesses.  The real questions become these:  How long will this trend last, and will it evolve into something beyond coupon-based advertising?

Words are powerful, but they’re even more potent when presented in a visually compelling environment.  Here are some pointers from our favorite design team, Chuck and Suzanne Bates.

First Impressions – Social media users have incredibly short attention spans, and that typically means you’ve got about 3 seconds to make an impression and grab your viewer. Good use of pictures and dynamic images are an effective way to create a positive first impression and capture curiosity.

Page Load Speed – Social media visitors can be pretty impatient; with such a vast number of other pages waiting for their eyeballs, make sure pages load quickly.

Readability – Rather than reading word-for-word, social media users typically scan information quickly. Content that is easy to read, incorporating bulleted lists, short paragraphs, descriptive images, and bold text, works best.

Engage Your Visitor – Make the use of surveys, voting, contests, and subscribe options, prominent and visually appealing to encourage visitors to interact with your site.

Navigation – Effective design should lead the eye and consequently lead visitors to the content of most importance. Strategically placed links, such as those high up on the page, and internal links within the body content, can accomplish this by leading visitors to other parts of your site or older posts.

Branding – Keep your brand in mind when marketing your site through social media channels by making sure your posts and visuals always complement and enhance your brand image. Every post is an opportunity to communicate your brand.

Immortalized by character actor Strother Martin in 1967’s “Cool Hand Luke,” those famous words to prisoner Paul Newman seem to aptly summarize the sentiments of many of my fellow PR veteran colleagues, as we unabashedly judge, or perhaps more fittingly prejudge the newest generation of public relations professionals.

Perhaps we are guilty of having evolved into the judgmental curmudgeons we vowed we’d never become all those years ago, uttering expressions that begin with “In my time…” or “you kids these days…”  Indeed, we all must accept culpability for possessing these admittedly narrow views.  That said, I must insist that they are, in many instances, quite justified.

Public Relations professionals who are cutting their proverbial teeth in this technological era have tools and, consequently, advantages that we didn’t have all those years (decades) ago.  From constantly updated media databases (we currently use Cision here at Brandware, but there are dozens out there) to instant-result research tools and e-mail systems that transmit our client’s news across continents in a matter of seconds, this generation can reach more people in five minutes than we could in five days when we were their age.

Nevertheless, this technology has its drawbacks, and those are readily evident when the subject of “communication” arises.  Thanks to our lack of the aforementioned technological tools available to today’s PR professional, communication “back in the day” always focused on the spoken word, be it in-person discussion or verbal pitching to highly targeted media.  For it was that communication that—if executed properly—helped establish, foster and cultivate the core, mutually trusting  media relationships that generated the brand-building and image-enhancing print and broadcast media coverage that helped clients grow their businesses.

Today, communication seems to have a completely different meaning for the newest flock of aspiring PR professionals.  To most of these 20-somethings, the written words emanating from the keyboards on their new Dell or iPhone have replaced personal touches that my generation used to build our credibility with the media.  Our ability to pitch the right reporter at the right time with the right information not only generated the “right” hits for our clients, it provided journalists with first-hand knowledge of the value that PR professionals bring to the equation. And perhaps more importantly (for us, that is), it set a precedent by proving our value and giving them a reason to take our next call and be more receptive to our next pitch.

All because of that antiquated practice of verbal communication, a tactic that seems to have gone the way of cassette recorders, typewriters and picture-tube televisions.

Indeed, those days have given way to e-mail blast pitches and mass-distribution press release dissemination.  Having spent many years as the internal corporate communications contact at a magazine publishing company, I can convey—first-hand—how displeased editors are when their e-mail in-boxes are flooded with generic pitches and  press releases that have little or no relevance to their area of focus.  The end result has been a widening of the already expansive gap that distances the media from public relations professionals.  It muddies the already murky waters and gives further credence to the media’s perceptions that PR people are impediments to their ability to journalistic processes…unwanted and unnecessary.

As a result, it’s imperative that this faltering relationship be repaired immediately.  Communication is a key to remedying this problem.

So while the newest technological tools allow us to get our work done more expeditiously and certainly bring great potential value to the PR process, it’s critical that we—both grizzled veterans and the newest and brightest—do a better job of proving our value to the media.  Following are a few recommendations for the newest wave of PR pros:

Taking a step back before moving forward

Before jumping into the deep end of the media outreach pool, PR professionals must take time to strategize and ultimately define a handful of key message points to be incorporated into every communication to the media.

Target, target, target

Take the time to highly define which media outlets are ripe for the pitch.  It’s not a numbers game, so pitching the same message to 200 outlets won’t necessarily bring the same brand-building results that you—and more importantly, your client desires.  Instead, focus on the print, broadcast, trade, consumer and social media outlets that really could be interested.

Use your researching resources

What we would have given to have time-saving, instant-results tools like search engines in our day!  These resources are literally at your fingertips.  Use them!  Take the time to see who has been covering the products, technologies or services that you are pitching.  In your subsequent communication, let them know that you’d read their previous coverage—they’ll acknowledge (if not actually appreciate) the fact that you took the time to pitch your square peg for the proverbial square hole.

Pick up the phone!

Even for the most confident and self-assured account executive, the thought of “cold-calling” the media can be daunting.  But if you’ve done your homework, it’s not nearly as worrisome of an experience.  And if your pitch is of interest, ask their permission to e-mail your materials.  Although this may seem patronizing, it’s actually a technique that the media appreciates.

Follow-up…with (gasp!) a call

Given a sufficient amount of time, be sure to follow-up with a call.  Don’t assume that they’ve seen your information, as your e-mail will likely be buried below the hundreds of pitches they’ve received from your competition.   Offer to re-send if necessary, and ask if they’d like to interview your client.

Take copious notes

This often -neglected part of the process accomplishes two very important tasks: It provides your client with a thorough understanding of what the journalist wants to cover, while saving the reporter valuable time.  Executed properly, this task earns much-needed credibility with the media.

Say “thank you”

When you’re successful in generating great media coverage, send a quick note to the journalist thanking them.  As a former member of the media, I know first-hand that acknowledgement for a fair, accurate story comes about as often as a lunar eclipse.  Believe me, they’ll appreciate it.

Effective communication for today’s PR professional ideally melds the latest in technological advances with tried-and-true personal touch.  Ultimately, every generation within our profession can learn from each other.

Strother Martin would have agreed.

- Jeff Perlman

If you’re a small or mid-size company, chances are you watch the big guys conduct their high-visibility marketing campaigns with some envy.   Network television, glossy color ads, big-bucks national sweepstakes, multi-million dollar sponsorships, glitzy publicity campaigns, the list goes on.

How can you compete if you’re not a billion-dollar player?  At a BtoB Magazine (www.btobonline.com) NetMarketing breakfast here in Atlanta last week, I was reminded again that social marketing has become that great equalizer.  Smaller companies get low-cost access to powerful tools and tactics that can put them in the big guys’ league without breaking the bank.

This particular presentation (check out related Tweets at #btobnet) featured digital and social marketing leaders from global powerhouses like IBM to small enterprises like Atlanta’s www.controlscan.com.

Despite the participants’ disparate company sizes and budgets, common approaches prevailed.  Many of these included popular social media tools, like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, video and SEO web content.  The consensus was that content continues to be the undisputed King.  Customer stories and case studies were repeatedly cited as the most valuable piece of content.

I couldn’t agree more.  Intriguing customer success stories have long been a staple for public relations professionals.  When pitching a company, product or service, you can toot your own horn all you want, but nothing beats a well-crafted example of how someone else made money or achieved some other amazing result thanks to your stuff or service.

We research, write and tell customer stories all day long – and you can, too.  Here are a few tips to get started:

• Put on your Jimmy Clark hat. What’s the news hook?  Why should your audience care? Will they learn something? Act like an investigative reporter, not a marketer.  Have your questions ready, and start digging.  Don’t settle for monosyllabic answers – engage your interview subject and mine for data and metrics that prove success.
• Write it right. Craft a great story that others will actually want to read and share.  That means concise, clear writing, supported by plenty of proof points and “aha” moments.  Your readers need to learn something.  And, of course, you’d like them to be motivated to reach for the phone (or their mouse to click-through to your “Contact Us” page).
• Don’t be self-centered. Brandware clients often tell us that they have a hard time getting their customers to agree to case studies.  Well, virtually everyone loves to shine in a peer environment, so frame the story to ensure your customer is positioned as a trend setter, category leader or industry innovator.  What makes their approach better, smarter, faster, cheaper or just plain cooler than anyone else’s?
• Offer up some love.  Counsel your customer how they might use the case study for their own marketing efforts – then offer to help.  Pitch the success story to the customer’s most important trade or vertical media.  And, of course, offer an incentive or other value-added feature to say “thanks.”
• Use multiple channels to spread the story. When a customer agrees to participate, also get buy-in for a 2 – 3 minute video version of the story for posting and sharing online.  Most customers will love to have a well-shot video segment of their success story.  Do yourself and your customer a favor and spring for a professional production team that understands staging and lighting.  This is no time for talking heads, shiny brows or that “deer in the headlights” look.

- Elke Martin

So you’ve managed to convince your boss of the business ‘necessity’ of a tricked-out smart phone, and you’re looking for some solid applications to keep yourself from being a complete liar.  Fortunately, there are some great apps out there, several of which are particularly useful in the agency context.  One important disclaimer: I am a devoted iPhone user and scoff at most of its competitors; so many of these clowns have claimed their new model is the ‘iPhone killer,’ and every time the product’s grand entrance to the marketplace is little more than a sickly thud.  As a result, I am writing this about iPhone apps, with the caveat that Droid may have some comparable features.

Agency life and client support involve many tasks: researching, writing, editing, events and more.  The true business utility of a smart phone lies in the user’s ability to perform the greatest possible number of these duties while away from the office, sometimes while traveling.  Here are a few of my faves and why they make my short list:

Know where you’re going.

Arguably, the most important, mission-critical aspect of being out of the office is being at the right place.  You may also be called upon to navigate between multiple unfamiliar destinations or to locate food, wireless or other resources your first time in a brand new city.  There are plenty of apps which can help you grab directions or locate restaurants, but MotionX GPS Drive is a cheap ($.99), versatile GPS application which locates nearby restaurants, stores, WiFi hot spots, coffee shops, emergency services, and more.  Browse by category, pick a destination, and go – use is intuitive and easy.  In addition to addresses and driving directions, it automatically imports your contacts, so getting directions from la cantina to Grandma’s assisted-living community is a breeze (think of how happy she’ll be to see you!).  If you are trying to put more serious thought into your cuisine, I’d also recommend you download Urbanspoon to search for restaurants of all varieties, check their menus, and get both snapshot and detailed reviews.  Plus, if you have a lousy experience, you can warn future prospective diners by leaving your own scathing appraisal.

AAA members should download the free AAA Discounts application to locate nearby participating businesses and the AAA Roadside app for, well, roadside assistance (and yes, they can track your location).  Many insurance companies also have handy apps for reporting claims and other tasks, such as the GEICO GloveBox.  Inrix TRAFFIC! lets you check on the flow of traffic on your route to the airport, and FlightTrack Pro lets you know whether your flight has been delayed, giving you valuable minutes to scarf down overpriced airport food.  Bon appétit!

Know what you’re talking about.

It’s a 24/7 world so your client responsibilities don’t suddenly cease to exist simply because you’re out of pocket (even the old ‘I’m in the air’ excuse is no longer valid thanks to SkyFi on most flights).  But hey, that’s why you have a smart phone.  Now make sure you also have fast access to on-the-road research.  Many popular research and reference sites, including Wikipedia, Google and Dictionary.com have outstanding apps that present data from the main sites in a quick-loading, optimized format.  If you ever find yourself bewildered by business jargon at sales/marketing meetings, download Dr. Shim’s Dictionary of Sales and Marketing Terms – also a great resource for green team members.

Remember what you’ve experienced.

If you have a job where live human-to-human interactions are still valued (gasp!), you should probably use that camera on your iPhone.  Look beyond the default camera app and consider getting Camera Zoom (which lets you…zoom in) and Camera XL (to effectively capture higher-resolution images).  Thanks to iVideoCamera, the 3G can now capture video, though it’s not stellar.  Speaking of video, we’ve all seen media outlets toot their own horns for providing ‘live, late-breaking’ coverage on everything from celebrity marital infidelities to hotdog-eating championships.  Assuming you are attending or doing something people actually care about – and if it’s client-related, you want to make sure it’s something people care about (remember to bill!) – you can show the world with Ustream Live Broadcaster!  This nifty app lets you broadcast and record live video footage and notify your potential Twitter audience.

For those who frequently use whiteboards for note-taking or brainstorming sessions, look into Whiteboard Capture Pro.  Forget about furiously scribbling or trying to recreate diagrams – this app lets you snap, clean up, and organize digital photos of whiteboards.

If you are the type of person who likes to take notes and create voice memos, you should download QuickVoice2Text, a decent voice-to-text program that lets you quickly email them.  I say ‘decent’ because there is a 30 second limit for converting a voice recording to text, but it’s pretty useful for emailing reminders and recording and automatically transcribing statements.

By the way, if you ever have to shop for company supplies, get RedLaser, which allows you to scan barcodes and compare prices between nearby and online stores.  It really cuts down time spent bargain-hunting, maybe even enough to free up a little time for playing around on your iPhone.

Enjoy your down time.

No doubt you are one of the disciplined few who use their iPhones strictly for business purposes, and never to blackmail coworkers for their lack of composure during Happy Hour, but some folks try to have a little fun on their iPhones.  You can let these people know they should snag the Facebook app.  For those of you who crave the constant contact of Twitter or who are managing multiple accounts, take a look at TweetDeck for iPhone, which is probably the most powerful tool out there (and it’s free).  Pandora Internet radio is awesome – create all sorts of playlists and tell it what songs you like for a rich, targeted musical experience.  ESPN ScoreCenter will keep you up to speed with scores and recaps from a wide array of professional sports (it would be nice if they had an MMA tracker).  There are hundreds of games, from arcade classics like Pac-Man to brain-friendly Sudoku and crossword applications, to more sophisticated offerings like Metal Gear Solid Touch which deliver an exciting gaming experience unique to the iPhone.

There’s an arsenal of other cool applications out there, and many more to come.  Have you come across any other must-haves, or have you had a different experience with any of my personal favorites?  If so, let us know.

- Andrew Saluke

You’re not still doing hard-copy clip books for clients, are you?  We’re well aware that some clients still prefer them, but here’s some ammo for counseling them on alternatives that move the ROI needle in the right direction:

For the past two weeks, I’ve been researching media monitoring services in search of the ‘best’ tool. With a budget and must-haves in hand, I participated in a series of WebExs, email exchanges and conference calls with some very convincing sales reps to find the perfect service for my client.  There are several very reputable technologies available with sophisticated tools and services, especially when it comes to monitoring social media. However, choosing the right service can be tough when all of them have a competitive edge and are prepared to throw in some extras in line with these economic times.

The real differentiator is to evaluate each vendor’s ability to help you translate basic numbers into actual business impact.

With the advancement in technology and the ‘on demand’ marketplace we live in, you’d think measurement would be an easy thing to do, but it’s trickier than it sounds. From my research and experience, I’ve developed a brief list of tips that will help any PR pro identify and implement a media monitoring and ROI measurement plan.

1. Define your goals. Whether it is quantitative or qualitative, determine how your client likes to see results. If it is quantitative, choose a media monitoring, reporting and electronic clipping service.  Finding the right service depends on two things: the amount of media coverage the company receives and the type of reporting the company does internally.  A B2C company usually gets more media coverage, especially if it is a tangible product or service that consumers are engaging in, and a B2B company gets more trade press exposure, so a less expansive media monitoring service is needed.  To gather qualitative data, choose a media monitoring service that offers an analytics package. The service will track the tone and rate the readership of the coverage. Some services even qualify social media exchanges. Ask yourself this question:   “Does my client present a report with impressions per quarter or expect detailed graphs showing spikes in coverage by month?”
2. Be prepared. Have a rough outline of services you’ve already researched and are specifically interested in. For example, is your client receiving mostly online press? Do they need to be ready to build and share a report at any time? There are media monitoring services that only track online, broadcast or print coverage.  Keep in mind that approximately 75% of print coverage ends up online so a need for a print clipping service can be eliminated. For on demand reporting, opt for a service that offers reporting features through a password protected Web site (or online portal). That way you can run a media impressions report or build a comparison chart quickly.
3. Say goodbye to lost and irrelevant media clips. A solid ‘test drive’ of a service is usually the best way to go but ask a media service sales rep to track a less mainstream outlet that is a key target for your client. Keep some of your recent media coverage on hand and see if a service picks them up.  When presenting a test drive, most services show a back log of coverage from the past 90 days.  Check to see if the service picked up your client’s recent media hits. If they locate the coverage, you’re golden; if not, consider another service. Ask about media monitoring search terms and filters. You don’t want a service to pick up articles in German if your client  is interested in only US press. Be as specific as possible as to what you do and don’t need. Most services include five search terms in a basic media monitoring package, which is enough for most companies. Beware that adding more search terms and filters jack up the monthly service cost.
4. Avoid overly fancy media monitoring tools. As is true for most industries, the companies that supply media monitoring services compete for consumers, and are familiar with their competitors’ products and prices.  Sometimes, a hyped-up service is just the same as another (less expensive) service.  Keep your costs low by making  a pros and cons matrix of each service and cross compare it with your must haves list.
5. Check out the fine print. If you go with a print monitoring service, double check the scan per page charge and make sure it is a charge for the overall clip and not a per page charge. This can easily charge up the bill.

- Bonnie Berkes

Given the proliferation of email and sexy new social media tools as today’s preferred marketing vehicles, you might think good, old-fashioned direct mail is extinct. Guess again.

Eighty-five percent of consumers say they continue to open, sort, process and read select pieces from their mail every day, according to a Print Council and DM-News/Piney Bowes 2008 Direct Mail Survey.

Jim Palmer, the Newsletter Guru, recently polled his readers and 75 percent say they have examined their mail more closely in recent months for coupons and special offers that save them money.  A trip to the mail box, it seems, is a welcome consumer diversion from the online data deluge.

Recent economic trends have also begun to chip away at the cost-benefit ratio that has favored interactive over print media.  Over the last two to three years, print costs in most cases have remained flat or even fallen while web designers, HTML programmers and email distribution services have jacked up their prices.  Spam filters and white list legalities have further complicated web-based communication.

Whether you are after new business or want to reconnect with someone who’s stopped patronizing you, direct mail might just be the new old-fashioned way to cut through the online clutter of email, tweets, texts and e-newsletters.

That said, poorly done direct mail won’t make it from the mailbox to the house, let alone drive profits to your business.  If you decide that there’s a place for direct mail in your marketing mix, take these Dos and Don’ts to heart.  And for those of you too young to remember this particular golden oldie technique – well, consider this a primer.
Do: Make your direct mail easy to read and brand your content. Whether you send a postcard or fancy gift box, get to the point quickly and concisely, but make sure that your graphics reflect your brand’s image. Your mailer should have the same look and feel as your website or storefront, all three should look connected – like they came from the same place.

Do: Make an offer or include promotional items. 60 percent of successful direct mail campaigns include a “Buy one, get one free” or substantial percentage discount offer.  If you’re attaching a refrigerator magnet or another small item, make sure that it’s a relevant reminder of when the customer may need your services.  Fridge magnets for a home appliance repair shop, hair barrettes for a salon.

Don’t: Use crazy paper textures and non-standard sizes.  You might think they make you more noticeable, but more likely they skyrocket your costs and add days to delivery time.

Do: Validate your list. Ensure you reach a real recipient by keeping your client list up to date, and if purchasing a list, purchase the most recent list available from reliable sources.

Do: Open dialogue.  You can also use direct mail to update your mailing list or conduct a simple customer survey with a 2-sided postcard and first class postage, and plan to follow up with a telemarketing campaign.  You can reach your audience twice with the same message, while adding a personal touch to your outreach.

Don’t: Use heavy graphics. Make it “glance-able.” Put your key message or special offer front and center and only highlight what’s pertinent to soliciting a response, your telephone number, email and/or web address, or store location.
Do: Get personal. Use a stamp, not a postage meter and customize your mailing to your audience’s needs.  For example, don’t send home repair coupons to renters. Or, mention their recent purchase or visit. The extra attention can bring you dividends.  Make sure to include a postage-paid mailer, too, or you can forget about getting back any responses.

Do: Use your imagination.  Get creative, and plan and produce all elements of your campaign (direct mail, website, in-store event) at the same time. You’ll save a bundle in printing and other logistics costs.

Though it may feel like a hassle when there are so many electronic conveniences available, producing something tangible that your consumers can hold can go a long way toward a customer conversion.  Postcards are a flexible and inexpensive way to stay in touch with current customers and new prospects.

Try to keep it cost-effective.  Place your branding on one side and leave the second side blank.  Then, you can reprint in smaller batches for a multitude of purposes.  Send them out seasonally when your services and products are most relevant to your customers, use them as a ‘thank you’ post-purchase, or announce new services or products, special offers, relaunch your web site, even as a save the date card for a special event.  Whatever the occasion, direct mail done effectively still makes sense and is part of any smart business’ marketing mix.

Yes, we know all the pros and cons of going digital – and, in fact, that’s the right solution for many Brandware clients.  However, as our online channels become as crowded as our mail boxes used to be, the time may be right to consider a marketing trip down memory lane.

- Lisa Aloisio

I’m not sure that I’ve ever really completed any of my New Year’s resolutions, which is why I’m starting this bad boy up before 2010 rolls around.  You see, I love social media.  As in, really, really love it.  I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been called out for spending too much time on Facebook or endlessly tweeting on Twitter, and luckily for me, both of these are now part of my job description.

If you haven’t yet resolved to launch a blog for your business, what are you waiting for? If I had to guess, you’ve probably been busy putting out daily fires and reacting to the incoming, just like the rest of us. Well, even the cobbler ultimately gets around to crafting new shoes, and here at Brandware Public Relations, we’ve finally ramped up our own blog.   Instead of just listening in and commenting on the conversations surrounding our profession, we’re excited to finally lead the discussion every now and then.

So, now that we’re up and running – how about you? Here’s why a blog should be part of your communications program:

1. Blogs can help you sell more stuff. If you’re one of the many people who still question a blog’s value and its ability to help sell products and services, I say, “Just look at Dell.”  In 2008, Dell drove more than $3 million in sales through Twitter alone.  It can be done.

2. Blogs establish your expertise and category leadership.  Your point of view, expressed in a blog, positions your brand as a thought leader for your industry.  This is your chance to tell people that you not only have something to sell, but you have something helpful, important, insightful or challenging to say.

3. Blogs are tangible proof that you care about the customer.  By blogging, you’re sharing your knowledge, discussing ideas, and creating customer assurance that you’ll be there for them when they need you.  Take a look at Mashable.com; it’s a personal favorite of mine for social media news, and it was founded in late 2005.  Fast-forward four years, thousands of posts and even more replies later, and Mashable has more than 2 million fans, and it’s considered the industry’s gold standard for social media information.  Earning that trust is the first and most essential step in building a relationship with consumers, and if you can foster that relationship, they’ll return to you with their business.  Return on business.  That sounds a lot like ROI to me.

4. Blogs are a competitive edge. Hosting a professional blog provides your company with the opportunity to tell customers and prospects exactly what differentiates your product or service from someone else’s.  People are busier than ever before, and online shopping has created the optimal convenience package that consumers need today.  In 2009, online retail sales have seen a growth of 11 percent to $159 billion in the U.S., despite the recession.  Many shoppers won’t even enter your physical establishment (assuming you even have one); they’ll just make the purchase from your digital storefront.  Those who do make the visit are likely to come equipped with better-research through online (though not necessarily well-informed) opinions, and they’ll carry competitive prices with them.    Why not make sure that they read and hear the facts from you, not just from a line of ad copy or someone else’s biased opinion?

5. Blogs rev up SEO. Blogging will drive a higher level of search engine optimization.  What does that mean?  Basically, the more current your website stays with new blog entries and relevant keywords, the higher your website ranks on Google, Bing and Yahoo! search results.  It doesn’t matter how incredible your products and services are if you’re buried on page three; the vast majority  of searches never progress beyond page one.  With a little patience, a little creativity and a little elbow grease, engaging your audience by blogging about what you do and what you know can change that.

So what’s your company’s resolution for 2010?  If you haven’t set one yet, why not consider launching a blog?  Just holler if you need some advice, or even if you’d just like to bounce around a few ideas.  Whether you’re going to be a do-it-yourself blogger or need a few tips on how to expand your entire digital PR and marketing effort, we’re happy to offer up a bit of free advice.  Until then, happy holidays, and have a fantastic end of your 2009.

-Davis Adams

Today, one of our interns interviewed me for a term paper she’s working on.  Most of the questions focused on points of differentiation as well as convergence between media and PR.  We talked a lot about how tools have changed, how user generated content is impacting the business, how the reduction in editorial space and both media and consumer attention spans are changing the game – and how all of this is impacting skill sets for the class of 2010.  Lizzy, who’s getting ready to graduate from UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, is a good interviewer.  She’s also a strategic thinker, a great verbal communicator, a solid writer and a new media whiz.  Even more impressively, she knows how to manage up (which means that all my attempts to skirt deliverables that may impact a deadline she’s committed to are met with gentle but persistent reminders that action is required.)  And that makes her a rare commodity indeed.  Sure, we meet plenty of job candidates who know HTML code and Facebook apps backwards.  Most also bring lots of enthusiasm and they love to chat.  But we find that too many lack some very essential skills that will handicap them in the PR field.  Most troubling is the frequent absence of written and verbal communication skills.  A fair share of these “kids” just can’t seem to craft a compelling sentence.  It’s popular right now to cast generational blame – after all, isn’t the class of 2010 a byproduct of an environment that reduces communications to a click here, a text there?  How can we expect anyone to read verbal and visual cues when their biggest point of social interaction is with a computer screen or a PDA?  As excuses go, good try – but unless your career objective involves a hut and a mountain top, chances are you’ll have to speak with or – horrors! – sit across from a real human being at some point and sell them on an idea.

So, here’s a little dose of tough-love self-help for all you future PR rock stars.  We know there are plenty of brilliant sparks among you – just don’t let these five no-nos derail your quest for a great job.

1. I haz cheezeburgerz isn’t good English. You’re applying for a job where you’re going to communicate for a living (OMG!).  Why is your cover letter rife with typos, missing words and grammatical errors? Why don’t you know the difference between it’s and its? (LOL, #FAIL)
2. Like, really, we thought Valley talk was so Eighties. Hey, you’ve already hijacked our music and fashions so go ahead and use the word “like” once, twice or even more in every sentence during our interview.  And keep talking that way all the way out the door.  Like, later, dude!
3. Turn down the volume! Why is it that you know how to get your point across in a 140-character or less Tweet but it takes paragraphs of run-on sentences to tell us why we should hire you? Thoughts of dazed clients and angry journalists are dancing in our collective heads.
4. TMI. Okay, so you’re charming, quick-witted, play well with others, love this and that, etc.  But really, enough about you, already.  What exactly can you do for us? No experience, you say? No problem.  Why not pick a client we currently represent, do your research and send us a few creative ideas about how you would help get them noticed?
5. Your parents don’t work here. If your folks still fight your battles (ask us about the Mom who called to question a performance evaluation) or otherwise guard you from the evils of the real world, may they soon see the light.  We offer jobs that require attention to detail, accountability, self-motivation, drive and energy.  Don’t leave home without them.

- Elke Martin