By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Fast Company, Econsultancy, MarketingWeek, TechVibes, and Business 2 Community.
How to properly define ‘great leader’ — and act like one
We don’t think of leadership as some set of fuzzy, intangible character qualities that some people are born with and others are not. We think of leadership as the performance of behaviours. The skill of performing these behaviours can be learned and developed by anybody. Some people do not develop these skills and therefore do not perform leader behaviours with much competence. Others develop some skill and become pretty good leaders. Others develop considerable skill and become great leaders. Author Geoff Smart defines “great leader” and explains what they do to achieve great results.
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By Leo Valiquette
Customer service, and the lack thereof, is a recurring topic on this blog, and for good reason. As public relations and marketing consultants, we appreciate the profound impact that a poor experience with your brand can have on a customer’s willingness to come again or refer your products and services to others. We may not be customer service experts, but we are active consumers who regularly engage with the front-line staff of numerous brands. And it’s what happens on the front lines that matters most.
Francis said it best in a past post, Kudos for empowered customer service:
“My consistent points are that the cost of acquiring customers is almost always far higher than the cost of keeping them, that effective customer service is the only sustainable competitive differentiator, and that most customer-service operations fail by forcing their agents to be powerless automatons more interested in getting the customer off the line than actually servicing them.”
If your customers do not feel well-served on the front line, your marketing messaging, no matter how well-crafted, will not save you. Your brand reputation is built, not by words, but by the actions of your team at every point of contact, from the reception desk to order fulfilment and after-sales support. The purpose of the words crafted by the marketing team is to evangelize the great service you provide. As marketing consultants we can’t create something from nothing and in the age of social media, what smacks of hypocrisy can come under harsh, and very public, criticism quite fast.
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By Caroline Kealey
There’s no question that social media is the darling of communications tactics at the moment, and with good reason. Social media gives communicators a direct, immediate and highly targeted way of engaging with our audiences. It’s a profound and permanent game changer.
The thing I find fascinating about social media is that getting in the game is simple. Log-in and you’re off to the races. While the ease of entry is one of the advantages of social media and a great equalizer among communicators, it also has some very real risks that are worth highlighting.
The first is that social media often leads to a sort of tactical tunnel vision on the part of both communicators and organizational leaders. It tends to produce a “shoot first, aim later” mentality that’s more about doing something, anything, with social media rather than focusing on a target outcome.
Ten years ago communicators complained that all they heard was “I need a brochure,” combined with an expectation that the task would be completed even if the request lacked strategic context, purpose or outcome. What worries me is that social media now seems to be the brochure of the 21st century, with “get me a blog” the new order of the day.
That’s why the sound principles and practices of strategic communications are particularly important when embarking on social media initiatives. Here are some insights to guide your communications tactical planning:
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By Alexandra Reid
We are bringing you our roundup a little earlier than usual this month because we will be celebrating Canada Day early next week when this post would otherwise be published.
We covered a lot of ground this month on our blog, from RIM to training your boss, tribal marketing to productivity tips. We even launched content marketing as a new service offering.
In case you missed any of our posts, here’s a handy roundup:
June 6: Getting the marketing right at an event product launch by Francis Moran and Alexandra Reid
June 14: Putting Ottawa’s puzzle together by Leo Valiquette
June 18: Balancing investment, Minimum Viable Product, and time to market by Peter Hanschke
June 20: Training your new boss by Francis Moran and Leo Valiquette
And on a related note…
In addition to our series, our associates and guest bloggers were also busy writing on a great range of topics. Here are our other posts from June, as ranked by the enthusiasm of our readers:
June 4: Why RIM could and should bounce back: Mobile needs to innovate by Jesse Rodgers
June 5: Levering the power of teamwork to drive a successful content marketing program by Alexandra Reid
June 11: The evolution of branding and advertising by Rob Woyzbun
June 26: Ottawa entrepreneur Scott Annan comments on the relaunch of Mercury Grove by Alexandra Reid
June 12: Content marketing tips: SEO implications for rebroadcast articles by Alexandra Reid
June 7: We launch new content marketing service offering by Alexandra Reid
June 19: 10 questions B2B companies should ask before selecting a content marketing service provider by Alexandra Reid
June 27: 7 ways to stay sane and productive by Leo Valiquette
June 21: PR people really are dead and mindless sheep by Francis Moran
June 8: Is it spring time for venture capital in Canada? by Francis Moran
June 13: Product marketing vs. brand marketing: Separate your product or separate your users? by Ken Rosen
June 25: Tribal marketing for ‘Generation Me’ by Bob Bailly
June 28: Why is there a lighthouse on your brochure? by Francis Moran
June 22: Social Media Breakfast Ottawa: Digital measurement and consumer understanding by Alexandra Reid
Image: Michel Z Binden
By Alexandra Reid
As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are MarketingSherpa, MarketingProfs, Business2Community, Entrepreneur Stories, PC Advisor, and Wired.
Content marketing: 21 ideas for planning, creating, and leveraging content from your webinars
Webinars can help your content marketing and audience-building efforts. They are great tools to use in the complex sales cycle, including nurturing and generating leads. In a recent webinar with ReadyTalk, MECLABS’ presenters Todd Lebo and Daniel Burstein shared 21 ideas with the audience to plan, create and leverage webinars, including segmentation, repurposing content and multichannel marketing.
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As a regular feature, we provide our readers with a roundup of the best articles we have read in the past week. On the podium this week are Fast Company, Econsultancy, MarketingWeek, TechVibes, and Business 2 Community.
