Intelmarx Learning Center - Brenda's Column
Never underestimate the power of a press release.
I was helping a friend put together a dinner event for a small and cash-strapped business non-profit group. A prominent local businessman was to be the guest speaker and my friend, no slacker in business himself, wanted the dinner to be a success.
As we worked on the preparations, he continually bemoaned the financial lacking of the group in addition to the fact that these dinners are not very well attended.
When I asked him what he was doing about publicity, he told me nothing ... he didn't have money to advertise.
I explained that a press release would cost him nothing but a little time and perhaps postage if it were sent via snail mail. He seemed genuinely impressed by this tidbit of knowledge I offered him; I seemed a little dumbfounded that he hadn't thought of it himself.
I helped him write the release and identify the media who should receive it. The dinner received coverage in all of the local Medias -- newspaper, radio and television and boasted record attendance.
A press release can be used to announce a variety of activities that garners positive attention for your company or organization. Here are some ways that you can launch a successful press campaign.
Develop a press release template for your organization. Having a template will make it easy to write each release; the content will vary, but some information should be consistent and constantly present. Always include the name, phone and/or email for a contact person. The media recipient may have questions and should be able to easily reach out and get the answers. Also, always include a paragraph that gives a synopsis of your organization; this will help reinforce brand awareness.
Decide who should receive your release and create a database or databases of those recipients. This may take some time and personnel to research and pull together, but it's a worthy investment. Start with your local media. Find out who should receive the release (you're more likely to get coverage when the release lands on a real person's desk and not the mail room floor with all of the other mail for occupants) and how the release should be sent …mail, email, or an upload on a Web site. Don’t be afraid to think beyond television, newspaper and radio and reach out to places like your local Chamber of Commerce or college newspapers. As your resources allow, develop a database of national media and use it when you see an opportunity to gain broader attention.
When to send a release? Anything that promotes your organization is worthy of a release. Announce special events, new hires, promotions, job fairs, partnerships, new clients, certifications … the list goes on and on. The content of your release will determine who receives it. A release announcing employee promotions may be suitable only to local media; however, if you are receiving a visit from a prominent politico or celebrity, it may be of interest on a national level. The timing of your release is also important. For planned events, send the release approximately three weeks in advance; releases announcing breaking news should be sent quickly perhaps via fax or email with a follow-up phone call to ensure it was received.
What to send? Decide what you want the end result to be. Do you simply want the content simply announced or do you want to entice the media to come to you and give you further coverage? When possible, be sure to include photographs; eyes are drawn to pictures and will increase readership of your news. If inviting the press to an event, be sure the pertinent data of where and when are clear and include a press pass so admittance to your event is easy and seamless.
What's it worth? Press coverage is worth 2.5 times more than purchased advertising space. Measure the space the media has given your release; determine what it would have cost you had you purchased that space for advertising and multiply that cost by 2.5 to determine its value.
Taking a little time to develop a press release mind-set along with the mechanics of what to send and where to send it will reap positive benefits for your company.
Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing ... no, it's not the promotion of germ warfare, but rather a phrase to describe the dispersal of a marketing message in a manner that's quick and voracious (likened to the fast spreading of a head cold or a computer bug).
We know how quickly email messages can spread. We love to forward emails that have made us laugh, made us cry or made us think. If we send that email to 20 of our contacts and each of those contacts sends it on to 20 of their contacts, in a short time, the email message will reach thousands of in-boxes. Viral marketing employs this same philosophy – get the message out there in a way that it will spread rapidly.
A friend just sent me an email about CareerBuilder's newest marketing campaign called Age-O-Matic (http://www.age-o-matic.com) ... what a hoot. This interactive site takes a tongue-in-cheek view of how work can age a person. It allows me to upload my portrait photo (or that of my best friend or my worst enemy) or pick a pic from their preset options. I answer a series of questions (that would make most human resource professionals faint) and those answers cause my picture to morph with ridiculous humor. I also had the option to add sounds and voices using their specific choices, or adding my own text that is turned in to audio or actually calling a toll-free number to record my sound bite. Best of all, a click of a button allowed me to email the page to my contacts ... who will send it to their contacts ... and so on. It's fun, but it also has the CareerBuilder logo emblazoned on the page and that logo (and attached link to the CareerBuilder home page) is sent with each forwarded message.
This reminds me of another CareerBuilder viral marketing campaign called Monk-e-Mail (http://www.monk-e-mail.com). The site coincided with CareerBuilder's "Working with Monkey's" television campaign. The landing page works similarly to that of Age-O-Matic. Pick a monkey, dress him up, give him a voice, laugh out loud and send on to a friend. It's too much fun to not share so it will weave its way throughout cyber space ... again with the CareerBuilder logo and link to the home page.
MarketingSherpa (http://www.marketingsherpa.com/vas2006/9.html) cites several reasons why the Monk-E-Mail campaign has enjoyed success:
Check out the landing page - everything's included above the fold on just one page
In the first week of monk-e-mail, one email was sent to all CareerBuilder.com employees (approx 1500) and one email was sent to all agency employees (approx 300). There were no marketing dollars spent to promote this campaign.
Because of its wild and creative nature, the campaign was picked up in many different press mediums: blogs, newspapers, TV shows, message boards, etc.
MarketingSherpa stated that between its launch on 25 January 2006 and March 21, 2006, over 14 million Monk-e-Mails have been sent and played. And all of this with zero marketing dollars spent to send traffic.
A successful marketing campaign should be entertaining yet simple. You may also want to consider the Tul Pens Web Page (http://tul.com) that offers a handwriting test with a link on the page to the pens they sell. And be sure to check out Blendtec (http://www.blendtec.com); to help promote its heavy-duty, commercial blender, the company has included a link to YouTube to view a clip called, "Will It Blend?" It's a tad over-the-top, but very entertaining and sure to be forwarded ... spreading the Blendtec message and brand.
A successful viral campaign utilizes great content that is entertaining or fun and makes people want to share it with others, and whether they know it or not, they have become marketers.
Ready. Aim. Mail.
In today's world of competing priorities, it is imperative that your direct mail campaign is concise and targeted. Using one-to-one marketing, a new dynamic in customer relationship management, can help ensure your success.
Your direct mail piece has a small window of opportunity to get noticed during a household's daily mail sort. As the mail is reviewed, it will be categorized into items that need immediate attention, items the recipient wants to read and items that are unnecessary and might be read later or simply tossed.
What can you do to heighten the chance that your correspondence will not be placed in the dreaded FILE 13? Personalization combined with verbiage and graphics that speak directly to your recipient (one-to-one) greatly increases the chances of your letter or brochure being read. Studies show that more than 40 percent of consumers will read messages that are personalized and address their unique needs. This percentage will increase if the message is from a trusted source.
Once you determine who your target audience is, you can use a combination of powerful marketing and design tools in conjunction with specific demographics to create a piece that speaks directly to each recipient.
Imagine a university that wants to attract female students who excel in the sciences and athletics. Considering the amount of college-related material that high school students receive, a direct mail piece has to be unique and inviting. A brochure that is generic (Dear High School Student: We have a variety of majors that may interest you. Check us Out!) will likely get set aside and forgotten. Consider the same campaign with the following words emblazoned on the front of the brochure: Dear Sarah: With your math and science aptitudes, you'd be perfect for our Physician's Assistant Program.
Sarah is now engaged ... she's impressed that the piece calls her by name and further awed that it speaks to her accomplishments in certain courses of study. She may not have ever considered a career in medicine, but the personalization has piqued her interest to read further. The university has also learned that Sarah has lettered in both basketball and softball; when she opens her brochure, among the paragraphs are strategically placed pictures of the University's athletic programs, namely softball and girls basketball.
How do you measure your effectiveness in an immediate fashion? Give Sarah a personalized URL. She can go online and learn more about your school, the various courses of studies for someone with high math and science grades and gather information on your athletic programs. Tied to her PURL™ (Personalized URL) is a mechanism that lets your recruiters know when Sarah has activated her URL; they will receive a notification via email or Blackberry and be able to contact Sarah even while she's still online.
This type of technology is not only perfect for higher education marketing, but is used by nonprofit groups as well as corporations and retail arenas to drive their message to their constituents or client. Decide what your message will be and who will be receptive to that message, gather the targeted data, employ the personalization and send a direct mail piece that will not only be read but also creates valuable interaction (and doesn't end up on the bottom of the bird cage).
Aviophobics and Video Conferencing
Aviophobics rejoice!
I'm not afraid of flying ... it's the crashing, burning and dying that really bothers me.
For this reason, I am thrilled to see video and audio conferencing coming into vogue. Going far beyond a simple conference call, this new technology is revolutionizing the way we conduct business.
You know the drill. Waking up in the middle of the night to drive to the airport to catch an early morning flight to be in another city for a 10 a.m. meeting, all the while hoping and praying there are no delays caused by traffic, weather or mechanical issues. Once your business is done, you'll do the lather-rinse-repeat exercise to get back home ... maybe even in the same day. And, at today's fuel prices (and the ripple effect they've caused), somewhere along the way you've no doubt had to sell a kidney or your first-born to afford the airline ticket.
With the advances in Web conferencing, that same 10 a.m. meeting now offers little disruption to your day or increased anxiety about your safety. Your morning routine of coffee and bagels, answering emails and phone calls, and direction to and from your staff all go on as usual. A little before 10, you simply log onto the meeting site and join the other stakeholders. Sophisticated software allows each participant to be visual ... a virtual conference room table. Presentations with charts and graphs are electronically accessible and easily viewed on screen ... no shuffling of papers, nothing presented out of order. When the meeting is over, you simply resume your daily business without having to rush back to the airport or a hotel. (If you're lucky enough to telecommute, you can attend the meeting in your bedroom slippers.)
Because this type of conferencing is Web-based, there's no need to involve your already over-burdened IT staff; the company you enlist will involve itself as much or as little as you desire. There’s no additional software to download or install.
There are a myriad of options for your Web conferencing needs. When you’re shopping for a company, be sure to review all the attributes. Will you get a report after the meeting that shows the employees who participated and how long they were in attendance? Does the meeting setup allow multiple presenters and control passing? Is there a way for participants to "raise their hands" to answer questions or get attention?
There'd be nothing more counterproductive than spending time and energy creating handouts to be used in your net meeting only to find they are not viable. Ensure that you will be able to view documents in synchronization and determine what types of files can and cannot be uploaded for the meeting.
Will you want to review something at a later date? Can you get an audio file of your meeting on CD, MP3 or another format that suits your needs?
Granted, there are times in business when you have to meet face-to-face, but it's reassuring to know that there are options that allow us to get the job done in a manner that's time-efficient, cost-efficient, user-friendly and all from the comfort of your office.
My College Junior and the Toga Party
My college-junior son recently asked me to order him a calendar from the Internet. Not just any calendar, but one full of beautiful, bikini-clad, Bo Derek-like creatures ... he felt it was just the thing to hang in his off-campus (ahem) mansion.
He must have sensed my feminist blood starting to boil because before I could start a lecture on the exploitation of women or play my I AM WOMAN ringtone, he said, "Mom, it's for a good cause ... the money raised on the calendar sale goes to breast cancer research."
Ok ... I started to soften. It turns out that one of the monthly features (a really pretty girl) is a friend of his and she contacted him through Facebook about the calendar. So it's for a friend and it's for a good cause, and, it was only $20. I relinquished my credit card and we ordered the calendar.
In the days that followed, I really began to think about the marketing involved. Here we have a 16-month calendar so we have 16 girls contacting their friends in their MySpace or Facebook accounts. Like most young people, they probably have scads of connections and will probably contact most or all of them for a great cause like this. If each girl is able to get 20 of her friends to buy a calendar, the collective group has just made $6,400 for breast cancer research with less than minimal effort.
Social networking in a simple, yet effective form.
Non-profit groups can also benefit from social networking with tailored software and software solutions. The National Center for Charitable Statistics reports that there are 1.5 million non-profits in the United States. That's a lot of competition for charitable dollars and a big setup for donor fatigue.
Subscribing to software tools that use best marketing practices and the psychology of doing good, non-profits can truly empower their constituency – their cohesive body bound by shared structures, goals or loyalty. They can empower their constituents to act positively on behalf of the organization; they can attract new members and interact with this body in a way that personalized and encouraging. Non profits now will have the power to customize their networking, their goals and the goals and needs of their constituency.
When non-profit groups are shopping for social networking tools, they should make sure that the package is easy to use and features included that allows non only constituent building, but also online fundraising capabilities, ability to manage content, ways to reach out on a personal level and offer collaboration. These tools should offer a low cost solution without the need to hire IT personnel.
It is estimated that this technology will be a $4.6 billion market by the year 2013. This speaks volumes of the sophistication of Web 2.0 Technology and the benefits therein. And all based on simple networking --- "I'm excited to be part of a great cause and I want to share that with you."
So son, enjoy your calendar. It will be a big hit at the toga party ... all because someone wanted to do good and knew she could count on you to help.
