‎”All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous, unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience.”

-henry miller

What does that mean? That most growth happens by stepping out of the ordinary. Understanding that by doing everything the same, change will never happen. Revenue trends won’t shift.

Consumers these days move at the speed of light. If they are the PR girl, they have a BlackBerry in one hand,  handbag and laptop bag slung over one shoulder while power walking in 4 inch heels. This mental image is one I thrive on – it showcases that those in PR do whatever it takes to keep the brands they represent abreast of information, research and understanding. (I promise I’ve never seen Justin with any of these things, except the BB. And he power walks faster than I do.)

One of our VPs (Kara Hendon) said something in an email that resonated with me, “Shifts do not equal death.” She’s exactly right. It’s why education at the foundation is important – it’s scary to jump. It’s scary to shift. It’s scary to think of something new, and then present it to a client. In a true partnership, they will trust the agency enough to listen to the idea. The agency just has to make sure they know the jump isn’t scary.

How does an agency get a brand to embrace the shift?

Understand Specific Client Communication

I observe our Senior Leadership Team on a quite regular basis. It might be intuitive, or years of practice, or just knowing how to read people. However, the SLT has the knack to add small, personal touches to meetings, e-mail communication and general correspondence. By creating a partnership with the brands we work with, they know that Brand A prefers weekly phone updates; that Brand B likes to have tea instead of coffee at meetings; and that Brand C prefers key takeaways at the top of every document. It’s understanding client communication.

Why is this important? Everyone wants to feel valued. By being observant, you understand their environment. This creates a trust factor. If they are trusting their agency with their entire brand, you better be able to trust yourself enough to understand their tendencies and where they are coming from. It’s general business tactics that come with years of experience.

Be There At The Start

Education is key. On the B2C side, many deal with brands that have a sales-oriented mindset in a market-oriented world. Honestly? They should. The bottom line is to drive business, retain customers and see an increase in revenue. The differentiator, though, is how they adapt to the market and how consumers wish to be communicated and advertised to. The successful B2C brand will instinctly understand that by building trust with the consumer, they create a domino effect of: a.) the consumer verbally or digitally talking about the brand; b.) Consumer retention, even if a better competitor product exists; and c.) positive association with the brand.

I always tell brands to, “own their industry, not the product.” Why? Consumers tend to go with a product that will get the job done with outstanding customer support, rather than the bells and whistles with no support. Why? If a consumer can’t figure out the bells and whistles, it’s not worth the investment.

Understand That It Takes Time

Imagine that you’re at the edge of a cliff, contemplating whether to jump or not. You’re jumping into the unknown. This is something that brands feel on a daily basis. Exercise patience. Just because you understand it, doesn’t always mean that the client will. Many scoff at 101 books and presentations, but the value in them is to refresh and show where many brands still are. That knowledge will help to fine tune presentations and speak at a level that the brand understands – not what you as the agency understand. At the end of the day, it is their brand, their decisions. The education counsel offered is just that, an offer. It’s up to them to decide what to do with it.

Welcome to today. What are you going to do with it?

How do you explain the shift to brands?

My co-worker Teresa Basich recently vlogged about the new direction she wants to take, what her blog means and how she hasn’t disappeared.

A new direction. Change is scary. It always has been.  This blog was initially my outlet into the world of PR, communications and brand building. I had no other way to express my thoughts or emotions. Now, I work for an amazing company where I’ll be able to niche-specific talk about agencies and their role in social, brand-building and strategy on Radian6’s blog. I am able to talk B2B specific in an u30 voice for MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

I started #u30pro with Dave (almost a year ago! )in hopes that we could really tackle issues facing the u30 workforce – while also taping into other professionals outside that age group. That community is a drive that I can’t capture in one sentence, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.

In essence? I have lots of outlets, but it’s pretty reflective of my work experience as well. I’ve interned for movie studios. I worked for the most intelligent association in the world, literally. I’ve worked in both small and large agencies.

I’ve just never been able to pinpoint what this blog means to me. And honestly, it’s meant a lot. When I won “Best Up and Coming” in the 2009 PR Blog Awards, I just wanted to continue on the path I set forth.

I’m ready to rock the change. I will be working soon with Andrew Norcross on a blog design that I hope reflects my new direction. New challenges. And a renewed hope in my blog writing on this type of level.

Image Credit: rlmiceli

In social media strategy sessions, we tend to focus on a few key groups:

• Brand Amabassadors
• Their Networks – Crowdsourcing and the Domino Effect
• Target Market
• Employees

Take a brad such as Apple: they have built a brand based off consumer mentality and loyalty - not revolving around their products. Forget the hard sell – they focus exclusively on their brand ambassadors. John Sculley was quoted in 1997 as to saying, “People talk about technology, but Apple was a marketing company. It was the marketing company of the decade.” Their brand ambassadors ARE the domino effect – they make the employees passionate about the product, and their networks see it when they talk about it without prompting.

Repeat after me: The Apple social model is not an instant solution or band-aid approach. If you don’t have passion for the brand you work for? It won’t fly. Strategy approach must be cultivated specifically for the brands you represent and their reputation.

Do agencies sometimes forget a group that need more attention when it comes to planning social strategy for brands? Perhaps it falls under “their networks” but sometimes these people aren’t socially inclined. It’s that second tier buyer decision. Companies such as Zappos, Southwest and Apple (which recently passed Microsoft as the largest tech company with only 6-10 percent of the market) are able to get away with the “brand ambassador only” mentality. It’s what they were built on. A brand that revolves directly around one guy (look at Apple stats after Steve Jobs left // before he was brought back.)

You only have to read Tony Hsieh’s book to know it’s exactly on point.

The second tier buyer decision can be a spouse, significant other, trusted friend or family member. My dad will be the first to admit that my mom handles balancing the checkbook and paying bills. She makes budgets (don’t I wish that had rubbed off on me.) She also tells my dad when he can’t buy something, even though he’s the one bringing home all the bacon.

Stereotypical Example: A Texan wife probably has a husband with a gun. It is also typical she hates it. So instead of manly ads focused on the primary buyer, why not focus on something that would make the wife feel better? “Protecting the house” mentality would a.) make her feel protected b.) playing into the male ego of being the superhero.

So what do you think? Is it a market we should focus on, at least on specific basis? Should it have a seat at the strategy table? (9 times out of 10, I bet it’s the wife calling your customer service line.)

Photo Credit: la.curbed.com

Social Media is very similar to old-school advertising concepts. No, we don’t need to all order an Old-Fashioned and start modeling ourselves after Don Draper. The thing that many can’t seem to grasp is that social media has been around for years, but has evolved. It’s an enhancement tool that you use as another platform for your overall marketing communications strategy.

Face it: Advertising has a seat at the social media strategy table. I’m not saying multiple people are executing – that’s for the social person designated to that brand. They also lead the strategy table. The concepts that advertising has built itself on – and now thrives on – are imperative to make your social strategy work.

Direct-response marketing

Direct-response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is specific and quantifiable. This was widely used with the popularity of infomercials that still occurs. The infomercial promotional method was focused on crafting the perception of product quality. Guess what? We do the same thing in social with brands.

For C-Suite and corporate brands, one must have quantitative results. You interact on a daily basis with those supporters and naysayers of your brand. See, direct-response. Now, splitting it into hard and soft metrics in a way that will make sense to both a.) your agency/corporation and b.) C-Suite is the next step – but you have to understand measurement first.

Sidenote: I’m curious to see how Open Graph and the lead-generation model of Twitter can play into this.

Location-based media

Traditional advertising was also based on the location of the ad and what would draw a person to it. This could include billboards, transit ads and sandwich boards. New versions of location-based media have shifted to video monitors, taxi tops and aerial banners.

Now, we have Foursquare, Gowalla, Whirrl and other geolocation services on the scene. You now even have Microsoft Tag, which allows a company to set up “tags” (mobile barcodes) in a venue for people to swipe with their smartphones. The argument is there that the location-placed media concept is right in line with social. It’s why agencies have to work closely with an interactive media department on their social media efforts. We have special mayor discounts on Foursquare, ways to leave different prizes on Gowalla, etc.

Freebies

Sorry, all. Your freebies, giveaways and promotions are nothing new. They have been around for longer than anything else. Newspaper advertisements toted about ‘Buy 1, Get 1 Free” or “Buy This, Get This As Well” type model. Society as a whole loves free stuff. We live on coupons, sales and the drive to have everything we want for less.We just have new platforms and creative ways to ADVERTISE it. With every brand I’ve worked with, we pull in the advertising department in charge of pushing the message out. Brand positioning should be the same across the board with these two sectors.

The shift is there. It’s up to us to take methods we know have worked and apply them to a new realm. We are creatures of habit, so let’s make it new again.

Do you agree? Disagree? What would you add?

Photo credit: Series and TV.com

Honor. Trust. Loyalty. Hard Work. All of that adds up to building awesome brands, no matter if your role is more traditional or heavy on the digital/new media.

Those are words we strive for on a daily basis when it comes to our field: honor of waking up daily and being entrusted with brands; trust from our employer that we are being enabled to execute; loyalty on both sides of employer/employee; hard work to land a client in a publication, build up ambassadors and increase awareness.

The thing is? You can’t do everything on your own. Your foundation should be a mix of your ideals, principles and work tactics mixed with those “in your corner.” Few are self-disciplined enough to push themselves toward goals without any social contact. Social contact in the professional sense is similar to the personal sense – it really is just as easy as taking a person to coffee/drinks and building a relationship before asking for something for your own gain.

So who do you need in your proverbial corner?

Mentors

No brainer, right? However, many tend to struggle in this arena because they never know who to ask, what qualifies as a mentor and who they should seek out. Your criteria is unique, and you might be approached by a person rather than the reverse. Leverage in-person events and social outlets to seek out those with similar interests and those who demeanor, interactions and business mantra are who you want to be. The thing is, many who enjoy mentoring are always watching, always learning, always engaging – and when they monitor someone with mass potential, it’s exciting. Position yourself as your brand, not an industry one.

Same age, have done just as much as you

Our society is a competitive nature, and it’s what the business world is built on. One of the easiest ways to benchmark success is against yourself and against others in the same situation. I have chats with good friends such as Carla Blumenthal and Katie Morse about both personal and professional. The same age levels the playing field, but also pushes one to strive to be even better in the career realm. Ideals that come from those you trust more than others impact a bit more.

On the flip side of this coin, there are those that have done a lot and will push you to be better – because you want to be better than them. Is it healthy? Not always, but it can show you what’s possible and push you past your imaginary boundaries. Believing in yourself is half the battle.

Industry Leaders

Your industry leaders (and the circle of those you respect) is probably different than mine. One should look for specialists, not generalists in the grand scheme. Think about the topics that intrigue you and what you want to touch in your life. For me, it’s PR, B2B v. B2C, cause marketing, analytics, social strategy. community building and SEO. Many could argue that they fit into 2-3 of those categories. The PR person is also in B2B, but their knowledge of cause marketing is a force to be reckoned with. You can be in a general role with a speciality.

Your Generalist

Look, we all like to believe we are unique. However, there are going to be people in your circle that act the same way, approach situations similarly and have literally been in your shoes. Embrace it. Fields tend to attract similar mindsets in the thought that we all have at least one quality that is the same as another. I can’t count the number of times I have been in a situation, called my mentor Beth Harte and she gave sound advice knowing my exact thought process.

She uses her stories of experience to push me to step back, relax and realize it’ll be ok. She also understands the best way to approach situations with my type of personality.

Would you add anyone else?