By Leo Valiquette
Well here we are, heading into this brave new world of doom and gloom that is 2009. While countless others have expounded on the year that was and the year that will be with reviews, predictions and every top-10 list imaginable, I thought I would start the new year by repeating the most basic consideration that should guide our efforts for the next 12 months — content is king.
Mass layoffs in the media business across North America made headlines throughout 2008, from major television networks to the most weighty names in the daily newspaper business. I came across an interesting post over the holidays at the Fusion PR Forum which reflects on the apparent inability of big newspapers to understand they are in the information business, rather than the print business, and adapt accordingly.
Horizontal media outlets are going through the kind of pruning that over the past decade already hit many of the trade and industry titles that are typically the focus of our efforts here at inmedia. Resources are tight on all fronts, emphasizing the need to bring to the media compelling stories that clearly demonstrate why a particular company, and its product or service, merits coverage instead of any number of others.
“Why should I cover this?” asked one gruff journalist when I rang him up with my best pitch on behalf of a client before Christmas. A valid question to be sure and one for which I had a ready answer. But articulating the benefits of my client’s offering, its uniqueness in the market, only served to keep him on the phone. Securing a story opportunity depended on coming back with a strong reference customer willing and able to discuss the value and ROI of the client’s offering.
Before Christmas I executed a launch exercise for another client. In the process of speaking with what we had determined were the Tier One media targets for this new client, one theme quickly emerged, the value of being able to offer up reference customers to validate the technology and demonstrate uptake in the market. Most media outlets didn’t care to hear the company praise itself. They wanted the real-world perspective of customers that saw the value of opening up their wallets for the product.
Media want a good story, not a sales pitch better suited as advertising copy. Beyond being able to offer up references who can speak for your product or service, the principle also applies to how one deals with the media when they have agreed to an interview.
Eric Bergman of Bergman & Associates reinforced the point last week on Bulldog Reporter’s Daily Dog that reporters don’t want to be spoon fed key marketing messages that have been crafted ahead of time. They’re in the business of asking the questions that provide them and their readers with insight and understanding. Corporate messaging may serve one well in the context of a news release, but it hardly fosters a positive relationship with the media if it is regularly used to avoid direct answers to direct questions. Check out Eric’s example of the used-car salesman and you’ll get the point.
By inmedia
In case you missed them, here’s a roundup of our posts from December.
(Francis’s note: December was, clearly, a thin month for our blog. We pledge to be more faithful with our posts in this new year. In the meantime, belated best wishes for the holidays and to all our readers, we wish you a peaceful and prosperous 2009. Thank you for reading our blog.)
Francis
Dec. 1: A Christmas gift for Lesotho
Dec. 18: Attention software company CEOs: Boost your PR investment to survive downturn
Leo
Dec. 4: The best laid plans …
Dec. 8: Plain talk and hard numbers about PR
Dec. 12: Naughty or nice a matter of circumstance
Danny
Dec. 31: Embargos: What’s all the fuss about?
By Francis Moran
Okay, I’m sure that headline reads like a naked sales pitch for our services here at inmedia Public Relations. And while it most certainly self-serves that function, it’s actually one of 18 tips on sales and marketing to help you recession-proof your software company published last week on softwareCEO.com. (I’m indebted to my good friend Jason Flick for bringing this article to my attention.)
We have consistently advocated that companies that maintain — or even increase — their market presence during a downturn emerge from the downturn stronger than their competitors and in a position to springboard into the new opportunities that the eventual recovery will bring. So it’s no surprise to us to hear other sales and marketing professionals echo that sentiment.
The softwareCEO.com piece, the second in a series that also includes 18 tips on finance and operations, is full of terrific advice. Within the piece on boosting your PR investment, it cites software marketing expert Judy Schramm of JMR Consulting and three low-cost ways in which your PR presence can be boosted. (We’ve been doing all three for some time now.)
I also liked the sales tips it outlined and I wasn’t surprised to see they came from Steve Kraner of Sandler Sales Institute. We’ve worked in the past with Sandler’s Ottawa-based sales-training guru, Terry Ledden who advocates that rather than trying to compete with other salespeople on price or feature set, you differentiate yourself from the outset by employing a highly consultative approach that helps you develop a thorough understanding of the prospect’s pain and the willingness the prospect has to address that pain.
I don’t know how many times over the past few months I’ve heard seasoned technology entrepreneurs say that downturns represent an opportunity, not a setback. The tough operating conditions wash the marginal players out of your way, force you to focus on where you create real value, and both reduce the cost and increase the impact of raising your voice in your marketplace.
Update: My Google Reader just fed me a post from the excellent Out of the Fog Marketing blog drawing attention to a Knowledge@Wharton article in Forbes titled, “Don’t skimp on ad budgets.”
By Leo Valiquette
A trade show has “a carbon foot print that would leave David Suzuki twitching and reaching for his heart medication.”
That memorable line came Thursday afternoon from George McTaggart, VP of marketing at local cyber-security firm Third Brigade. He and Mark Emond, business unit executive, North American field marketing, at business intelligence software maker Cognos, now part of IBM, squared off at OCRI’s Zone5ive marketing event yesterday in a friendly tit-for-tat over the merits of using eight marketing activities and tools for lead generation.
At one point, Mark shot back at one of George’s tirades with the comment, “Pinocchio, your nose is touching the back wall.”
It’s safe to say this was the most entertaining OCRI event I have ever attended, and not only because moderator Kelly Kubrick, owner of Online Authority, also threatened to upstage the debaters with her own presentation skills. The content from all was crisp, informative and candid, regardless of whether one agreed with the viewpoint on offer.
George and Mark each had 90 seconds to make the case for or against each of the eight tactics, with the audience voting on who emerged the winner. The eight were trade shows, white-paper syndication, direct marketing (by either e-mail or snail mail), webinars and seminars, search-engine marketing, a website, telemarketing and social media.
Both men argued their points well, labeling each of the eight as either “naughty” or “nice” in keeping with the spirit of the season. However, once the dust had settled, all had earned a “nice” endorsement from the audience, with the exception of white-paper syndication. “Who has time to read what too often comes across as a blatant sales pitch?” appeared to be the point that earned the one “naughty” nod from the audience.
In retrospect, however, the overwhelming “nice” result shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The tactics under scrutiny in this debate are only individual tools in a complete marketing toolbox. It’s a matter of choosing the right tool for the job, which begins with an understanding of what that job is. What works in one context may not work in another. It all depends on the company, its product, its market and how one particular marketing activity can reinforce or complement another. A social-media channel, for example, may be an excellent means of lead generation for a company targeting a specific age group or market vertical, and be a dismal failure for another.
What’s important is that the effort, in whatever form, is:
1. Current and relevant to an organization’s business-development objectives and has been identified, through market research, as an effective way to reach a desired category of customer.
2. Focused and targeted, again at a desired category of customer or specific market vertical.
3. Revisited, evaluated and revised. Which, of course, requires that some kind of metrics or analytics are in place from the get go to confirm whether the effort is generating the desired impacts and outcomes.
4. Expendable. If it’s not working, scrap it and try something else.
