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Archive for the ‘Integrated Marketing’ Category

Lesson 115 It’s About Relationships

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Leadership, Lessons Learned on May 31, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This week I found myself discussing with a colleague the significance of calling on important people in areas of interest just to get to know them.  Sometimes you get a new special insight. Other times you will pick up important information about new developments.  And often this contact will lead to others that can be helpful later on.  We readily agreed that making the effort to get out and get to know key people never turns out to be a waste of time. And before you know it you have a network with which today’s new media will allow you to stay in touch.

Many years ago fundraisers demonstrated for me the power of third-party contacts.  It’s a matter of everyday practice for them to realize that they might not be the best person to call on a given donor for a particular gift.  Rather, a third-party that knows you both very well is likely to make a more effective ask. And so you equip your third-party with talking points and a proposal to make the call with you, or in some cases for you. 

This is not rocket science, but I have found this approach often can also work for news reporters, foundation heads, government officials, legislators, business leaders, and virtually anyone from whom you might one day need help. 

It’s a great tactic for advancing the brand as well.  It’s even possible to ask many of these people a few basic research questions to take back their feedback, or to ask for word-of-mouth support for a special project, event or your entire institution.

These networks can also often lead to productive partnerships.  A great partnership is one where just the association brings you and your organization instant expanded visibility and prestige.  Nothing is more effective than the right  third-party partner. But also, nothing is worse than the wrong partner… one that no one ever heard of or is a rung or two down on the brand reputation scale.

The truth is… it’s all about relationships. The more key people you get to know the more effective you can be in everything you undertake. It’s just as simple as that.

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Lesson 114 IMC is for All Organizations

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning on May 25, 2012| Leave a Comment »

My primary contribution to higher education and the nonprofit world has been to adapt core concepts of integrated marketing to be used as planning tools to strengthen the effectiveness of strategic communicators.  And so I frequently get asked: “Do these ideas apply to just any organization, including businesses?”  And my answer clearly is always, “Yes.”

But as a matter of clarity let me first point out that I still find people defining marketing as selling. It is not. To understand my formula you must see marketing as a way of thinking. And I also find people in the field defining the term “integrated marketing” differently than do I. So there seems to be no uniform definition. 

What follows, then, is my hard “lessons learned” fundamental formula, the core concepts that I think define IMC as a way of thinking. And the formula applies to all organizations, sometimes with transformational results:

1. The very first principle of IMC: Simultaneously consider product, price, distribution methods, and communication tactics, as a fundamental way of thinking about communication strategy. A weak product that is priced and/or distributed poorly cannot be communicated effectively. This  is equally true in the nonprofit, commercial, and public service sectors.

2. Treat the corporate brand as your most important product.  Brand attraction is what establishes trust and builds confidence  in the integrity of your entire enterprise.  It incorporates assumptions about core values and reliability.

3. Also concentrate on sub-brand clarification for the key product/program and service divisions of the organization. Sub-brands should position divisions appropriately to their function, but also advance the overall brand identity.  This requires a relentless passion about carefully crafted and compelling words, as well as creative and consistent design.

4. An essential ingredient is a firm belief in the power of group dynamics. Only “bad” meetings are a waste of time.  Task forces and small groups should be used to mobilize the troops, getting key people on the same page inspired to help tell the story inside and out.  Action teams composed of the best available writers, designers, and strategic thinkers should  be used to implement key reputation defining initiatives.

5. Select multi-platform media tactics based on individual audience and target market preferences.  Then launch these tactics simultaneously to converge intensively on each target.   This is the only way to break through the confusing information clutter of today’s digital media world.

6. Always prefer interactive media. Feedback and response over time is the only way to achieve any level of understanding. Comprehensive surveys can mislead.  But today’s interactive communication is a form of market research that keeps everyone current about what works and what doesn’t.

In the final analysis, integrated marketing brings a broader way of thinking and planning to the profession of strategic communication. Simply put, incorporating this “value-added” subject matter better qualifies strategic communication professionals to function more impressively as a member of the top executive team.

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Lesson 105 Achieving Media Literacy

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Media Literacy on March 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

When television became the dominant medium it changed everything.  It changed how we arranged our furniture. It changed how families interacted, how politics are conducted, how religious denominations communicated, and even how we think and what we know.  Now the “new media” revolution is changing everything again!

Today there is no way to tell facts from fiction. And it’s all too easy to select only the channels or websites or blogs that reinforce our preconceived biases. Whatever’s easy and satisfying. There is so much information out there that it’s easy to become helplessly confused.  What is really going on in Afghanistan anyway?  I get news reports everyday and I still don’t know! 

I need to be my own editor but I don’t know what that means, or how. And what’s more, no one has yet shown me the need… convincingly.  Well, the need is now, and it’s getting serious! 

We are becoming a polarized society, and it’s too easy to fall into the trap of feeding our own narrow beliefs.  Solving real problems requires knowing and respecting all sides of all issues.  It requires being able to represent our cause, but then when the time comes to cooperate  in taking steps to move the society forward. The concept of “compromise now and eventually win the day” has been lost.

Early in my academic career I launched an initiative called “The Media Project,” which sought to show the public just how television was changing everything.  I spoke to teacher in-service conferences urging them to add units of study on media literacy in their humanities and social studies courses.  I spoke to parent-teacher organizations urging them to teach intelligent uses of television at home. Turn it on, but also turn it off! I asked school systems to consider adding whole courses on the topic.  All of this was aimed to simply get people to understand the power of media, and how to manage its use in their own lives.

Since then my life moved off in the direction of helping organizations make themselves better understood.  This route required accepting the realities of how media revolutions change everything, and then figuring out how to cut through all this information clutter with a unified message. It’s not easy. And only partial success is ever possible, and even that takes intensive interactive communication over time.

When I put my academic hat back on today I find myself once again thinking we still need a nationwide media literacy eduction program. In fact, we need it more than ever. We need it in our public and private schools, as a part of the core curricula in universities, and maybe even offered and promoted by the media itself.

Only a better educated public can make democracy work. And it is becoming more and more clear to me every day that understanding how media influences and changes everything should be a vital part of  everyone’s education.  And it’s not just the programming content, it’s the constant use of the technology itself that changes how everything works around it.

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Lesson 103 To Name Change or Not?

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned, Planning on March 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »

It is not unusual for volunteers on the board of an organization to suggest that it might be time to change its name or identity.  They can often  think that the name is too long or that it does not say what the organization does clearly enough. Or, it might be that they just don’t like it. To the inexperienced, it seems like changing a name is a relatively simple and easy decision to make. A new and upbeat name will certainly bring new life to an old institution. Experience teaches, however, that it is probably the last action that should be considered.

There are many reasons not to change a name: First of all it is much like starting a whole new organization from scratch.  A new name has no identity until it is developed over time. It therefore is very expensive to do.  It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of staff time, and requires enormous amounts of communication and advertising to get the word out to everyone. All the history of your institution goes out the window with your name, and now you face what amounts to a new start-up.

Another reason is that all donors and supporters relate to the old name and know what it stands for well enough to be engaged. Many of them are tied to its traditions, operational style, mission, and vision. With a name change they can now feel disenfranchised and uncertain about the future. Foundations, government agencies, and even some individuals that support mostly established and proven organizations  may now feel that this one has become insecure and unstable. It certainly is now communicating that it is no longer comfortable with its long-established identity.

This is not to say that many organizations would not benefit from an uplift.  But rather than a name change, consider abbreviating it.  For example, will it work to use the letters in large type as the main name, and retain the traditional name under it in smaller type?  For some organizations its letters can become it’s name. Or, if possible, just shorten the name. Edit some of the words, but keep most of it.   

Another approach might be to slightly update the logo and brand design.  Changing these too dramatically, however, can have the same negative “start over” repercussion of a name change.  And many old timers might not like it. But a slight update in design can take the familiar and give it a bit of a contemporary or forward-looking twist. Small adjustments can indeed signal a new day and establish a new spirit for most organizations, especially when accompanied with exciting and newly inspired leadership.

Usually, if you do a pro and con discussion exercise with your group you will list more cons than pros. But sometimes a new start with a new name might be the best answer. It’s very rare, but it could happen when an organization has been allowed to fail too long, or when a consolidation requires that a new name be found.

In general, however, changing the name is the last thing you should consider. Simply put, it will usually end up meaning that you, your colleagues, and your volunteers, will be starting up a whole new organization.

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Lesson 102 Employee Emails

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned on March 2, 2012| 1 Comment »

How many times have I slaved over every word of a sensitive email blast to staff that announced a new salary scheme, or a benefits package, or revised budget priorities for the coming year? With all my effort to be totally fair and absolutely clear certainly everyone will understand the content, all questions will be answered, and the institution’s commitment to transparency will be fully realized… and appreciated! Right?

This is what I actually thought early in my career. So when a colleague this week complained to me that a very important carefully worded email produced complaining phone calls and negative responses, I recalled an extremely hard lesson learned about management communication.  

Plainly put, people won’t read these memos from administration, and even if they do, they won’t read them carefully. And they certainly won’t absorb them with an open mind.  Most will skim them, at best. And yes, as we have noted many times in other posts, they will comprehend mostly only what they want! 

After receiving memos like this many employees will even continue to deny knowing things they now know. They won’t accept knowing them because they did not actually hear them in person  from their manager. For many people, important transactions like this are  “not real” unless delivered in person. For them change producing information rings hollow and lacks credibility without eye-to-eye contact.

And what’s even more disappointing  is that for some, being able to say “they never told me,” or “that memo was totally confusing,”  becomes a license to reactivate their continuing complaints. And this, of course, is how old rumors gain steam. Now, a well-intended email, one that sought to clarify the situation, has actually backfired.

If an announcement is important, experience teaches that you must meet with your staff to inform them, and they in turn must meet with theirs. And these meetings must take place on down the line. You must rehearse the facts of the message, and furnish a fact sheet for immediate and later reference.  A narrative or “white paper” that requires reading and comprehension will not work. These meetings must embrace and insist on feedback, response, and discussion. 

No doubt an interactive process such as this will produce better results than emails alone.  But even so, some misunderstanding will always continue and must be dealt with over time. Effective communication is an ongoing process. Success only happens with repetition, dialogue, and time.

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Lesson 100 Communication Always Fails

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned on February 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

This was a recent topic of discussion in my graduate seminar on integrated marketing communication (IMC). There were a lot of opinions, many of them formed from hard lessons learned in real situations. It certainly is very easy to conclude from experience, and from all the communication research and theory I have encountered over the years, that it’s virtually impossible for communication to ever be effective!

A careful study of the communication process will reveal that meanings are always in the minds of the people with whom we are communicating.  When I say the word “dog” I am only making a noise, or writing a series of letters.  The meaning for that word is whatever is in the mind of the receiver for that noise or collection of letters.  Dog lovers will have one impression, and cat lovers will very likely have another! There is also noise in the channel itself, which is likely to interrupt and confuse part of the message. And what’s more, when the message is a collection of words many analysts point out that most receivers only retain about 50% of the message… and which 50% they retain is determined by what each one wants to hear!

This is how rumors start:  Let’s say the receiver hears half the message, the half he or she wants to hear. When the message is retold, some of what is remembered is left out, and other ideas and examples from this new communicator’s experiences are added.  When this process is repeated several times, the message changes completely.  And this is not the result of anyone’s malice, but rather it is the inescapable result of the normal communication process.

For professional communicators there is the added complication of an already cluttered environment. It’s a media message environment so saturated that more information runs the risk of only contributing more clutter, resulting in more confusion. In other words, in today’s world more information is not necessarily better. This is not good news for professional communicators.

So is there any hope at all for successful communication? It seems to me there is some hope, but only if several basic conditions are met:

1. The message is very simple…say 4 or 5 key points, with compelling examples to aid recollection.

2. The receivers attention is gained before the message is sent.

3. The message is sent using several communication tactics simultaneously to cut through the media clutter and coverage on each individual audience segment with added intensity.

4. Interactive tactics with feedback and response features are included in the mix.

Communication success requires repetition. When an advertisement is beginning to sound old to you, it very likely is just starting to work.  When a branding theme sounds repetitive to you, it is just now getting through.  Strategic communicators need to think “dialogue”  when planning every important communication initiative. Send, get feedback, send again, and again.  Otherwise, at least 50% of your message will be lost… and you will have no idea which 50%!

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Lesson 95 Reactive or Proactive?

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Internal Politics, Leadership, Lessons Learned, Planning on January 13, 2012| Leave a Comment »

As I prepare to once again teach a graduate seminar in integrated marketing communication I am reminded of my ongoing challenge to make sure that these advanced students go out into our profession fully prepared to be “proactive” professionals.

In the past, many of my graduate students come to my seminars from jobs where they are assumed to be reactive tactics experts. Managers come to them when they want to get out a press release, or need a new brochure, or want to produce a video, or promote a special event. New communication  practitioners find themselves in the role of taking orders for products.They constantly hear: “Here is what I want, when can I have it.”

My challenge always is to show my students the potential for being able to counsel managers, and eventually senior executives, about new and powerful possibilities. Indeed, experienced thinkers in our profession have the power through strategic communication tools and integrated marketing processes to literally transform organizations with their planning advice. I must show them how this works, but then also teach them the political skills essential for getting themselves in a position to function on this higher level.

The implementation steps are really simple: (1) Clarify the organization’s competitive advantage, usually referred to as “big idea” or unique brand identity. (2) Use ongoing group processes to get a critical mass of internal managers and staff “on the same page” with regard to this positioning messaging. (3) Use multi-platform communication tactics simultaneously, and select them based on researched media preference of each target market. (4) Influence management presentations by preparing talking points and offering speechwriting services. (5) And focus on high visibility initiatives, based on immediate opportunities, and implemented using carefully formed action teams.

With this understanding of the power of the profession mastered, the challenge now becomes how to use political savvy and strategies to get into a position of being able to use what we know. This involves having a “teaching plan” in mind  to help others understand our potential. It also involves imagining how to accomplish this “teaching” one step at a time– in one-on-one interviews, in regular meetings, and in other groups we can form for this purpose. And finally, it involves understanding the simple basics of grassroots politics, and how they apply to organizations.

This last topic, internal politics, is what we never seem to teach in typical academic programs, or even in professional development seminars. But, I have now come to think that it is actually the most imporant topic I can bring to these students.

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Lesson 91 Dealing with Internal Complaints

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Internal Politics, Lessons Learned on December 15, 2011| Leave a Comment »

No doubt about it, someone inside organizations is always complaining. In fact, at times it can seem like everyone has problems they want to complain about.  And once in a while it can even feel like the whole place is coming apart.

Our tendency as managers is often to try our best to address each problem directly. One-by-one we analyze the substance of the complaint, and then contact the concerned person. We review a range of possible solutions, and  propose a plan to resolve the matter. But many times problems seem to keep coming. It’s almost as if the more focused we become on solving problems the more negative the overall work climate feels. We expect that by solving problems we will make people happy, and instead it merely appears to reinforce an overall perception of an organization or office in trouble.

After years of working in and with organizations, I have come to see that when a perceived sense of forward movement slows down, complainers tend to come out of the woodwork.  It’s almost like when people are no longer excited about their future, they begin looking around inside and easily find new things to be upset about.

But, when a vision is clearly articulated, and executives and opinion leaders are “walking-the-talk” about new directions and achievements, morale generally becomes more positive, and many problems just tend to fade away. Certainly some don’t go away completely, and the more serious ones will need to be addressed. But the perception that “we are making great things happen again” will almost always render many internal problems insignificant, and sometimes even irrelevant.

So when complaints appear to be overwhelming, and the organization gets bogged down in gripes, you should consider re-energizing  your vision, ramping up bold communication initiatives, and getting your leadership out there again telling your story with renewed passion. By doing this you just might find that many of your internal complainers will magically fade right back into the woodwork!

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Lesson 88 “Walking the Talk”

Posted in Branding, Integrated Marketing, Lessons Learned on November 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In corporate management we often use the phrase, “walk the talk.”  This week I found myself explaining its power as a strategic communication tool to a group of university students in a public relations class.

I was invited to the class as a guest to explain the field of “public affairs” in general, but more specifically to talk about why a university might want a presence in Washington, and TCU’s goals for my work there.

When I first went to Washington my focus was to assess whether I could find additional  federal support for some of our research and other projects, as well as to get us more involved in influencing the issues and regulations that were shaping our future.  I explained that just as I arrived there the legislature froze all earmarks, which were the main  source of federal project funding. Grants also became harder to get, and the passing of the new Higher Education Act resulted in more regulations than ever before…more than 24 categories of them to be exact! 

And so early on it became clear that additional federal funding would have to await another day, and that my primary focus would be to bring my institution to the table with the other leaders of our industry to address the big issues facing us. In other words, I must get my chancellor elected to the boards of the president’s associations, and then work hand-in-hand myself with their staffs.

The real point of all this for the class, however, was that I quickly learned that you can only ever be seen as a leader in your industry when you are “at the table” with the others who are leading it.  You can send out all the materials in the world you want to tell your story, but your institution’s stature and recognition will have a ceiling until you show up in person and get involved.

The key lesson, then, for the students was to recognize the shere power of personal out-front leadership as a tool to build brand identity and institutional reputation.  Whenever you try to build your brand primarily with a media campaign, admittedly your visibility goes up.  But when the campaign ends, it also tends to come down. Media driven reputation building is an up and down proposition. But when the president and other key leaders all understand brand messaging, and repeatedly walk-the-talk, magic can happen. Institutional stature gradually grows, and what’s more, it tends to have permanence.

There is no doubt in my mind that even in this new social media world, a world that requires simultaneous multi-platform communication initiatives to cut through mass media clutter, the only way to institutional prominence is for its leaders to be on the same message page, and to constantly be out front walking the talk.  Then, and only then, do people say: “Look at what they are doing out there, that place is really taking off!” 

A strong and dynamic organizational “image” is not achieved though dramatic campus pictures. Rather it’s the public perception that the professionals and executives leading the institution know exactly what they are doing, and know precisely how to explain it!

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Lesson 85 It’s all teaching!

Posted in Integrated Marketing, Internal Politics, Lessons Learned on November 4, 2011| 1 Comment »

This week I have been thinking about the advanced seminar in strategic integrated marketing communication (often referred to as IMC) I will be teaching in the spring.  Enrolled will be graduate students and a few advanced seniors, and the question on my mind has been:  “What is it that they most need from me now?”

All of them will have taken the basic introductory subjects, learned fundamental research methods, mastered all the essential new and social media tactics, and even will have taken some advanced directed study courses. So, after much reflection about the lessons I learned over the years, I found myself beginning the course description: “We will first address internal politics, and the other barriers often confronted (and rarely anticipated) in organizations while trying to do our work.” 

I went on to list other topics such as critical thinking, strategy, leadership, planning, and problem-solving. But, I also found myself once again concluding that these students will have to be prepared to teach people in any organization they work in about what they do, any why it can be so very powerful.

The basic challenge for these advanced students will be to clearly understand themselves how it all works, to be able to explain it, and then to inspire others to do great things.  It’s a matter of living this subject matter, teaching it,  practicing it, and then adjusting what is done next from what was just learned.

Managing a staff later on will turn out to be much the same kind of challenge.  At first I felt self-conscious when I came into a staff meeting sounding like a teacher.  But now I know that “learner” and “teacher” are other words for manager. And so, from day one, I strongly believe that everyone in our profession must continue to learn, and be prepared to teach.

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