Archive for May, 2012

Oops! Mistakes That Matter – But How Much?

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

We all make mistakes, but those of us in communication roles are likely to be more subject to those mistakes being spotted than those in other professions. Usually, the mistakes are embarrassing, but inconsequential. We’re not, typically, dealing with issues of life and death after all.

But sometimes even seemingly small mistakes can have big consequences. Yesterday, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign received some probably unwanted attention for misspelling America in its new iPhone app – “A Better Amercia.” Oops. Ugh… (more…)

Leveraging Social Media for Non-marketing Applications

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

When we think of social media we tend to think of its use as a marketing tool whether we’re talking Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Pinterest, etc., etc., etc. And, using social media as part of your marketing efforts often makes sense (depending, of course, on your objectives and your audience). But social media can provide benefits beyond marketing. For example: (more…)

Taking Social Offline – The Best of Both Worlds

Friday, May 25th, 2012

I monitor a number of LinkedIn groups (admittedly more of a “lurker” than a participant at this point…) and recently came across what I thought was an interesting application of networking that leveraged an online community to create an offline community. It remains to be seen how effective this effort will be, but (more…)

Facebook Ads – Does GM Know Something Others Don’t?

Monday, May 21st, 2012

As Facebook prepared to launch a much-anticipated public offering, GM announced that it was discontinuing its use of Facebook ads. If you haven’t heard about this already, you haven’t been paying attention! Now, I’m guessing GM is (more…)

Can You Brand Yourself? The Short Answer – No.

Friday, May 18th, 2012

This question was posed on LinkedIn recently, and the majority of responses were predictable. Most people said “yes.” Simple enough question–easy answer. But, let’s think about it a bit. I took a slightly different approach to the question. “Yes” would be a valid answer to a question like: “Can individuals have a brand identity?,” I think. But, the answer to the question of whether individuals can brand themselves is a bit more complex and is the same answer I would give organizations interested in establishing strong brands. The short answer is: “No, we do not brand ourselves.” Brands are created (more…)

Multi-Image Brands

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Typically when experts talk about brand strategy they focus on the creation of a single image or personality for the brand–creating a clear, compelling message for the market. And that approach seems to make logical sense. But, not all big brands follow that logic and I’ve often found this to be intriguing. Take Budweiser, for instance. For many years Budweiser has been a stalwart presence among SuperBowl advertisers with a variety of ads that incorporate (more…)

Is The News Release Dead? Not Necessarily.

Thursday, May 10th, 2012

Numerous online discussions these days raise questions about the continued effectiveness of the traditional “press release” – or as it is more accurately termed *news* or *media* release (since these communications aren’t intended only for the “press”). The discussions are interesting and raise a number of relevant points about how communicating with the media has changed with the advent of online tools and the proliferation of email vs. traditional “snail mail.” It’s fair to say that the number of traditional print releases *mailed* to news outlets has diminished significantly over the past several years. However, (more…)

Spread the Word – You’ll Get Exceptional Customer Service at Road Ranger!

Monday, May 7th, 2012

On a recent shopping excursion with my friend Mary she told me about a phenomenal service experience she recently had while on a trip with her mother. They had stopped at McDonald’s and Mary, who prefers Coke products, found that Coke was temporarily unavailable. So, she decided to walk across the parking lot to a nearby gas station – Road Ranger.

She got her Diet Coke and then found that there were long lines at the counter so  (more…)

Why Communication Fails

Friday, May 4th, 2012

“They just don’t get it!”

“How many times have we told them this?”

“Why don’t they understand?”

These are common phrases in the world of business, whether applied to employee communication, marketing communication or customer communication. But there is something fundamentally wrong with each of these statements which contributes immensely to our failed communication efforts.

(more…)