Proactive Strategic Planning

by Kerry Martin

Our partner Kim’s reflections on the New Year and personal and professional goals remind me of how some clients like to craft their strategic marketing plans for the full year.

But what’s strategic about having a fixed plan in a year of constant change? I’m sure everyone has been affected by the changes in 2009, so why can’t that pristinely labeled and laminated document have a few red lines of its own?

We have counseled clients who were working off of the same Five-Year ‘Strategic Plan’ since 2006. Needless to say, those expectations had to be reevaluated.

For this New Year, make the resolution to be proactive with how your marketing plan or overall business model is assessed; don’t wait for 12 months to start over.

If the budget projections start to look leaner than anticipated, preemptively adjust your tactics to find more efficient ways to accomplish your long-term objectives. A fixed dollar amount attached to a year-long communications campaign can sometimes lead to the entire program being slashed altogether if no other alternatives are suggested. As we at Curley & Pynn like to say it, “Bring the client solutions, not problems.”

Part of being a PR professional is knowing that some of the best laid plans shouldn’t be made in stone.

Don’t Lie to Me

by Roger Pynn

When is special not special?

If you’re Verizon, it may be any day.

At least that’s the impression I get each day when I see the same sign outside a Verizon store near our home that says five free phones for your family … “today only.” That same sign has been there for a week.

Verizon is a big, sophisticated company, and I realize this little neighborhood store is likely a licensed reseller, but you’d think somewhere in the franchise manual there would be an explanation that consumers are savvy.

Note to merchant: don’t lie to me.

A Decade through the Eyes of Advertisers

by Elizabeth Buccianti

Have a few spare minutes to surf the Web?  I’d suggest checking out Adweek’s list of the best commercials this decade.  It’s an interesting list ranging from lighthearted and downright silly all the way to indicators of major shifts in cultural thinking. 

The overall winner, titled “Grrr” is Honda’s way of bidding adieu to the diesel engine as we know it, but the ad also signifies the advent of the green/sustainable movement.  Debuting in 2004, the ad appeared a good two years before the premier of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” a film that created a great deal of buzz and discussion for sustainable and green ways of living.  Today, green advertising is in full force, with many ad campaigns focusing on environmentally friendly concepts.

Other ads that made us think this decade were Dove’s “Evolution,” chronicling the progression from ordinary girl to the current perception of beautiful using the magic of makeup, lighting and Photoshop.  And who could forget Volkswagen’s “Like” with a surprise crash ending?

The above ads were not just successful in execution, but created social discourse that extended far beyond a 30 second network spot, something any advertiser strives to achieve.

Let’s not forget the ads that made us laugh.  My personal favorite is the Bud Light “Swear Jar” and I can’t tell you how many times the Smirnoff “Tea Partay” was forwarded to my e-mail inbox – another indicator of highly successful advertising. 

The best part?  The best Super Bowl advertising gets a category of its own.  So take a few minutes to review this past decade through the eyes of advertisers.

Watching Consumer Behavior

by Dionne Aiken

A couple of weeks ago, I attended WordCamp Orlando with a roster of amazing speakers from publishers to developers.  Two guest speakers, Dan Maccarone with Hard Candy Shell & Andrew Zipern with Rocket Fuel, talked about why online products succeed.  To illustrate their key points they compared the success of Facebook to that of its rival MySpace.

Facebook’s success, they asserted, is due to its simplicity and usability, stripping away all the extra stuff and making it easier to connect with friends.  But behind it all, the social aspect and technical considerations are complex.  There are new features added regularly to improve the user experience.  They listen and respond to user behavior.

As Christmas quickly approaches, I think about all the wrapping paper flying off the shelves.  Who knew that wrapping paper would become such a phenomenon when the Hall Brothers ran out of tissue paper?  Gifts were once wrapped in tissue paper until the holiday season of 1917 rolled around and the Hall Brothers’ store sold out of tissue paper.  They began selling decorative envelope lining at 10 cents a sheet which sold quickly.  Realizing this success, the following year they sold the same liners as wrapping paper at 3 sheets for 25 cents.  The rest is history.

The Hall Brothers did what Facebook and many other successful companies are doing and that is responding to consumer behavior.  Our clients and consumers will tell us everything we need to know, but are we listening?  If not we may be missing out.

Top Down Support

by Roger Pynn

Counseling a manufacturing company on a difficult marketing issue recently, I came across a reminder of how important it is for managers to support the people who work in their organizations and it reminded me of an old AT&T custom. We represented “the old AT&T” for many years and I was always fond of the way executives referred to their relationships with subordinates. A high-level executive was referred to by his or her title, “who supports a team of 60 …”

That’s a nice reminder of how important the people who work for you are.

We were working with the manufacturing company because it had a thorny issue with a marketing partner. We got to the bottom of it all when we learned that the plant executive we were counseling hadn’t caused the issue … but instead it was forced on him when his boss made a bad decision and ordered him to do something stupid – then complained about the “uncooperative” partner.

That’s kind of like throwing a torch into a gas station, handing the guy at the pump an extinguisher and complaining how hot it is.

Like a good trooper, this plant manager owned the problem, sought help, took counsel and solved the problem. It would have been a lot easier to solve if his boss “supported” him, called the partner and apologized.

A Comparison of Quality Through the Generations

by Ashley Pinder
As we reach the end of 2009, I’d like to leave you with a thought comparing music and the media: two industries that continue to change the way their products are distributed to the consumer.

Imagine the difference between the experiences of …

… listening to a downloaded MP3 version of a new song compared with what you could hear when it is played on a vinyl record player.

and

… learning about a breaking world news story reported in a typo-ridden brief on a newspaper’s homepage compared with reading the headline and full exposé from a fresh-off-the-press paper being pitched by a newsboy on the street corner.

You may be able to get things earlier and faster these days – but maybe the sound quality just isn’t as good.

As a reminder to all marketers in 2010, let’s focus on content, accuracy and delivering nothing but a quality product.

Open the Books?

by Kim Taylor

I’ve been reflecting a bit lately and starting to define goals for 2010, both personal and professional, and I stumbled upon this blog post from a familiar source—written by a favorite contributor to my trusty companion, Inc. magazine.

In his post, Jack Stack talks about the often-controversial idea of opening the company’s books to all employees … a process he says can change the way a company operates and the way employees think about their work.

As controller of our company’s books, I’m intrigued. And, I happen to agree. I also feel that having been on both sides of the equation—employee and now partner—I have unique insight into what it’s really like to have ‘skin in the game.’

Would seeing the comings and goings of your company’s revenue and expense stream motivate you to improve? Discourage you from tossing that third plastic cup into the trash? Encourage you to innovate? Or, would it validate existing perceptions you had about ‘working for the man’? Maybe it’s all of the above, or perhaps dependent on the faith you have in your employer.

What do you think?

Dear Santa …

by Dan Ward

Dear Santa:

             In addition to a Zhu Zhu pet, I have a small list of things that could really help me out this year.  It’s not just for me, you see, but really for anyone trying to run a small business. 

            The North Pole Daily Bugle has undoubtedly run a story or two about corporate big wigs that will be getting coal in their stockings this year.  I hope you see that while the papers dwell on those who are naughty, many more of us have tried to be nice, even when the going got increasingly tough.

            So here’s my list.  Thanks for anything you can do.  Love to Mrs. Claus.

 1.  Sugar plums for those who keep communicating … it’s only natural that with the economy in tatters, many business owners feel the need to cut back everywhere, including marketing and communications.  But the consumers who purchase their goods and services still expect to hear from them; if they don’t, they’ll be more than happy to move on to a competitor who IS communicating. 

 Santa, can you please remind folks that the economy will rebound, and when it does, those who have communicated often and honestly with their customers and community are those that will see their cash registers ring?

2.  A “green” Christmas for those who focus on the long-term … this is a wish for all of us, from consumers to business leaders to government officials.  This recession has made us all worry about today’s paycheck, tomorrow’s sales and next week’s campaign rally. 

Santa, please let us not forget our shared responsibility to look over the horizon, so that our kids, our customers and our constituents will have a brighter future without the worries that we face today.

3.  Hugs for those who remember the original “social media” … yes, it’s important that we help our clients manage their social networks, and utilize the latest tools to reach customers through posts, tweets and apps. 

But Santa, can you help us remind businesses that no matter what technological advances we see in the next year, nothing can replace the power of “old school” communication?  Meeting with your community leaders and holding actual conversations with customers … that’s still powerful stuff.

Thank you, Santa.  I’m wishing you and yours a Happy Christmas and a very good night.

Cruise Ship Economy

by Roger Pynn

The economic recovery strikes me much like a cruise ship. Unlike the speedboat everyone would like to see, this thing can’t make nimble turns … but smart pilots should begin now to anticipate what it will take to capture the attention of potential passengers.

Even in this age of instant gratification, consumers are dreamers. They tear out articles about dream trips, visit Web sites that provide reviews of the tech gadgets they salivate over and file away brochures and other collateral for everything from the floor plans of home builders to specs on that new hybrid SUV they fancy.

Savvy marketers have two critical responsibilities right now:

1. Listening … people are talking more about what they wish they could do. They are looking toward a future where they can spend again … maybe not writing the check, but there is aspiration rather than desperation in the air.
2. Preparing … lack of inventory or ready-to-roll marketing plans, messages and materials are surefire roadblocks to capitalizing on the turnaround as it happens. Smart investments now will pay off rapidly at far lower cost than rush jobs that start after the fact.

Ask any public relations, marketing or advertising firm and they’ll tell you there are more new business inquiries and Requests For Proposals popping up today than they’ve seen in years. At the same time, the fear of commitment from those prospects rivals a roomful of dedicated bachelors.

And just as those bachelors will bemoan losing the best gal, reluctant marketers will wish they had been prepared for the resurgence of their market.

While that doesn’t suggest spending with abandon, if you start hearing chatter about your product it is time to move into gear.

Crunch Time

by Roger Pynn

Having worked on deadlines all my career, the adrenaline rush of a pending “drop deadline” has always been a fact of life … but I’d forgotten what it can be like to juggle multiple deadlines to create fresh new programs, managing ongoing work to boot. It really cranks your creative engine.

This week ends having worked with great professional associates to produce not one, not two, not three but four complex programs that demanded the best of our creative skills and strategic thinking, and as I sit back and breathe a sigh of relief I was reminded of my favorite video.

done

I used to watch this guy on “The Ed Sullivan Show” as a young boy and nowadays when people ask what we do, I just tell them to watch this … we are the world’s greatest jugglers.

Great work, team!