Posts Tagged ‘Coles Marketing’

What is Google+? Sure, you’ve heard about it. You’ve read articles about it. But do you really understand it yet? I sure don’t. That’s why I really enjoyed reading this post from Mary C. Long and Melanie Trudeau at Jaffe PR.

According to Long and Trudeau, stop thinking of Google+ as just another social networking platform – it’s not. It’s the largest, most trafficked online search option out there, which now offers a powerful self-promotion platform that could potentially knock the socks off of your SEO strategy – assuming you have one (if you don’t, now would be a good time to start!).

They offer three key points to keep in mind:

• Google+ is connected to your Google profile.
• Your Google profile allows you to +1 items around the Web.
• Your +1s can be displayed on Google+.

Okay, now see if you understand the following from Long and Trudeau:

“Each +1 you make is a vote for that content, visible to others online and rumored to affect page rank. And even if it doesn’t affect page rank, it’s powerful word of mouth and free PR for that content. Each time you +1 a colleague’s blog post or the latest biz-dev piece from Mashable, it’s recorded for posterity. And when folks connected to you happen upon that page, they’ll see ‘Jane Public along with 25 others +1’d this link.’ Awesome. Great reciprocal PR potential there, right? You +1 me, I +1 you – as long as we’re both posting killer content (which we are, of course) we both benefit. Yay for +1!

“But here’s where it gets sticky: You can +1 content publicly (where others can see what you have +1’d) or privately (where you ‘anonymously’ +1 content). You can’t +1 some items publicly and some privately – it’s all or nothing. So, in addition to your colleague’s blog posts and that piece from Mashable, folks connected to you will also see that you +1’d that pithy blog your friend posted on his personal website where he’s hilariously telling someone off (they’ll probably also note your strongly-worded comment supporting his post). They’ll also see all those Grateful Dead videos you +1’d on YouTube, and that cute little lacy piece you recently purchased from Victoria’s Secret and just love, love, love. And they’ll start to get a better sense of who you are . . . personally. Oh no.

“So you’ll just delete your Google profile right now, avoid +1s, avoid Google+ and avoid this potential PR crisis, right? Not if you call yourself a PR professional, you won’t. You can’t. Your clients will be facing the same scenario and advising them to ‘set everything to private’ will only result in limiting their impact online – not to mention cause headaches for you down the line if/when they want to use this functionality (and they will). Now is not the time to stick your head in the sand and wish it all away. You need to be ready to proactively advise your clients and your employees on best practices. Figuring out how to use +1s and Google+ to your advantage is key.”

So, here’s what you need to do:

• Create a separate and distinct Gmail address and corresponding Google profile, and train yourself to use it only for professional purposes.
• Use this new profile to set up your Google+ account.
• If you don’t already have one, create a social media policy for your firm and your clients’ firms now.
• Provide social media training for all employees. They’re on social networks whether or not you approve – and they may be viewed as unofficial brand ambassadors. Make sure they are clear about online expectations – better safe than sorry.
• Explore Google+ now so that you’re familiar with the platform and it’s distinct features (circles, hangouts and sparks), and when they release the business page functionality, which is coming soon, you’ll be ahead of the curve.

Learn the platform now or play catch-up later.

Have you ever sent an email you didn’t mean to send? Have you ever written an email with no intention of sending it and then actually doing so? Have you ever accidentally sent an email to the wrong person? If you are a fan of The Office — do you remember the episode Michael returns from his Jamaican vacation with Jan and accidentally sends a racy photograph to the entire shipping warehouse? [If not, it's the "Back from Vacation" episode in Season 3. A highlight of that episode can be seen here. ]

Megan Casserly penned an article, 5 Emails That Could Cost You Your Job, and it in she notes email makes up the majority of our daily communication — especially in business. According to the Pew Research Center, the majority of employed adults (62%) use the Internet or email in the workplace. And yet social cues and etiquette are often overlooked.

Casserly quotes Cherie Kerr, the founder of EvecuProv, saying, “People do or say things via email that they would never do in person. They’d never upstage a higher up in a meeting, but in email there’s this disconnected feeling of not having to look anyone in the eye that emboldens people to act in competitive or even arrogant ways.”

Check out these serious email faux pas:

The Crime: When you’re having an email exchange with a coworker, and s/he escalates the conflict by sneakily cc’ing a higher-up.
Author Marsha Egan says it’s about respect: “What happened here is that she didn’t respect her coworker enough to give her the heads up about letting the boss in on the email.” Kerr agrees wholeheartedly. “If she’s going to cc anyone, she should be upfront about it because it might come back to bite her.”

The Crime: Preemptive auto-responses a la “Thank you for your email. I get an overwhelming amount of email, but I care about each one of them! I will respond as soon as it’s convenient.”
Kerr and Egan both recognize this as a no-no. “An auto response all the time can be seen as officious and arrogant even though the good intention is there,” says Egan. The offender may be thinking they are being polite in warning you that their response may be slow, but it comes across as condescending.

The Crime: The instant follow up
You want to make sure a coworker or client has received and read your email — calling or emailing seems like the logical way to find out. Right? Wrong, again. “Oh, the Double-Checking Billy,” sighs Egan. “They send an email and 10 minutes later call to make sure you’ve got it.” She describes this as entrapment, or a “gotcha” move. “And gotcha is not effective in business. It’s akin to sending a direct mail and calling to follow up.” The etiquette, she says, is to call prior to sending the email. “Let them know what you’ll be sending them and when.” Not only are they more likely to respond, she says, but more likely to read it in the first place.

Bottom line, Cutrone and Egan concur, is respect. And the golden rule. Stop and think about how you’d react if you were on the receiving end of your email. Would you be pleased? Motivated? Or would you feel affronted and wronged? If the latter, check yourself. For no matter how distanced or protected from the dreaded face-to-face interaction email can make us feel, there’s one certain design flaw that can make arrogant, selfish or even nefarious behavior come back to haunt you. It’s all in writing.

5 Email Habits That Send the Wrong Message:

Abusive Subject Line Behavior
Intention: By typing the word “URGENT,” “ACTION ITEM” or “READ ME” in the subject line, she is hoping to stress the actionable items of her email. Her message is clear. Perception: Her subject line implies that she presumes her message is more important than any other correspondence you might have received. The perception is that she is over-confident and thinks very little of your time.

Answering The Wrong Question
Intention: When a colleague on a group email answers questions that are under your purview before you have a chance to. He’s saving his colleague the hassle of answering — hey, he knows the answer too! Perception: It’s the online version of shouting out the answer without raising your hand. His colleague might think that he is undermining their authority or worse — out to get their job.

Copyediting a Coworker
Intention: He wants to ensure that the higher ups see a clean, well-spoken document. By editing his coworker’s email and resending it, he ensures that the grammatically correct email is higher in the supervisor’s inbox. Perception: Public shaming of a colleague is never going to get him anywhere. Both the colleague and the supervisor are made aware of this one-upsmanship. And neither of them like it.

CC’ing Up
Intention: When you’re having an email exchange with a co-worker, and s/he escalates the conflict by sneakily CCing a higher-up. She’s resolving the issue efficiently by letting a higher-up in on the conflict. Perception: She’s sneaky, conniving and out to make them look bad. Even more nefarious: the BCC.

Instant Follow Up
Intention: He wants to make sure you’ve received and read his email — calling or emailing right away seems like the logical way to find out. Perception: Give me a break! If you expect an instant response to a query, the more efficient route is to pick up the phone. Following up shortly after sending an email makes you seem impatient and self-righteous.

Next time, make sure you read, read, read your email — and look before you hit the send button!

Still don’t think video is an essential part of the world of PR and marketing? Check out these statistics:

• More than 50% of all Internet bandwidth is used for video.
• Two billion videos are watched on YouTube every day.
• Thirty-three percent of mobile data is watching online videos.
• More video content is uploaded to YouTube in a 60-day period than the three major U.S. television networks created in 60 years.

And as public relations departments continue to take on more social media responsibilities, the creation and distribution of videos will become even more important. In his article, 10 reasons PR pros should use video, David Murdico discusses 10 key ways that video is being used by PR professionals to help brands, businesses,organizations and individuals tell their stories.

1. Pitches and press releases. Videos make pitches and press releases infinitely more interesting and engaging. Video gives journalists, bloggers and publications more content to share with their visitors.

2. Building trust and credibility with targeted groups. Video builds trust. Instead of reading a text quote from a company spokesperson, viewers are able to actually see that spokesperson speaking.

3. Raising brand awareness. Videos that offer something of value—such as cash, prizes or 15 minutes of fame — can spread like crazy and highlight a product’s involvement in a contest or promotion, raising awareness of the product and, by extension, the brand.

4. Product launches. Viral videos and branded entertainment are high-profile ways to announce new products or refresh old ones. Video gives PR teams a visual, entertaining and engaging tool around which to center campaigns.

5. Crisis management, shifting public opinion, corporate and CEO reputation management. In 2009, when two Domino’s Pizza employees made a video of themselves sticking cheese in their noses and messing around with customers’ sandwiches, the company was quick to respond with a video apology from Domino’s USA President, Patrick Doyle. Videos help reach large audiences and supply talking points for the media — both social and mainstream — to propel the video messages further.

6. Content development. Company newsletters, blogs, speeches and annual reports are being sprinkled with videos. PR teams don’t need to produce a viral video hit for every newsletter, but they can encourage key employees to create video content at events and parties.

7. Social media marketing. If social media is UPS, video is the package. If social media is the rocket launcher, video is the rocket. Video can be branded as heavily or as lightly as the creative and messaging dictate, and the larger story can be shared and developed via social media. Having a PR message go viral across Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other video sites and social outlets creates a new story that can then be pitched to, or organically picked up by, mainstream media outlets — enabling the message to reach TV, radio and print audiences as well.

8. Social and environmental responsibility. For brands, businesses and organizations, being socially and environmentally responsible can be a key way of differentiating themselves from their competitors. Video can bring the faces of individuals and positive actions of these companies to the forefront and help move brands closer to new and existing fans and customers.

9. Events. Although a single live event reaches only the people attending, social video enables PR teams to share the event with everyone. This increases the exposure of the event and of the brand, product, organization or personality.

10. Political campaigns. Politics is about persuading people to trust a candidate, motivating them to convince others that they should trust the candidate and getting everyone to vote for that candidate. Politicians are often recorded publicly for videos that can take on lives of their own — but funny, emotional or serious original video content can be produced and launched in order to manage the direction and spread of both positive and negative conversation.

It’s time to pick up your video camera, press record — and start exploring the possibilities!

Ok, as PR professionals, we all at one point or another have pitched an idea, story or concept to a member of the media. But as Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, points out in her blog post, the next time you pitch a journalist, remember that what you DON’T say is just as important as what you DO say.

According to Stewart, Mickie Kennedy of eReleases.com explains why journalists hate hearing these three phrases (and, I bet you’ve used one of them … right?):

1. “Never seen anything like this.”
2. “When can we expect this to go up?”
3. “I know this isn’t your area, but…”

Haven’t used these, huh? Well, how about these? (Complete with possible media remarks, per Stewart.):

4. “Can you send me 10 copies of the article as soon as it’s printed?”
[No, I can’t. I’m not a clerk. I’m a reporter. And I’m too busy. If you want copies, buy them yourself by calling our circulation department.]
5. “Can you let me know as soon as the article is printed?”
[Nope, can’t do that either, for the reasons mentioned above. Either hire someone to pay attention to the paper, or do it yourself.]
6. “If I give you a good tip and you write the story, can you promise me you’ll give it good play?”
[No. Reporters don’t decide where stories appear in newspapers or magazines. That’s an editor’s job.]
7. “Can you please not use my name?”
[Why didn’t you tell me that 20 minutes ago when we started the interview? Technically, since you were talking to me on the record, I have every right to use your name. But you’re such a pain in the neck, and you’ll probably raise such a stink after the story is printed along with your name, that I’d rather just not use your comments. Instead, I’ll simply make a mental note never to talk to you again. In other words, I’m blacklisting you.]

So, take heed! Don’t make the mistake of turning off the media before turning them on to your pitch!

Every now and then I see something that really “entertains” me. Sometimes it’s the little things that I just happen to witness, other times it’s the more standard movie, TV show, book, concert, joke, friend, etc. It’s rare that a TV show impresses me …mostly because they can’t like a good film because of the huge difference in budgets.

I enjoy Vince Gilligan’s “Breaking Bad” on AMC. Vince worked on dozens of “X-Files” episodes and has since created, written, directed and produced all the episodes of “Breaking Bad,” which is in it’s 4th season on AMC.

The show is funny and dark at the same time – usually hard to pull off.

Click on the thumbnail to watch a karaoke video of one of the sub-characters on the show. The karaoke video surfaced during a homicide investigation – yes, Gale was murdered.

Watch the video – caution you may find the video: funny, werid, disturbing, puzzling, etc. Just remember it’s part of really “entertaining” TV.

It’s all about the story.

Here at Coles Marketing Communications, our clients are all great! We consider ourselves partners in their business and want to be involved in every aspect to help them achieve their goals.

After meeting with a couple potential clients this week, an artcile posted on the Council of Public Relations Firms’ blog on how to be a great client seemed appropriate. Ron Culp, the author, includes the following five tips from Jon Harris, SVP of Global Communications at Sara Lee:  

1. Direction is key. The best clients are the ones who are able to effectively communicate their goals and objectives.

2. Don’t wait until it is too late. The sooner you bring in your partners into the process, the better they can shine.

3. Be realistic about measurement and timing. Every strong relationship is built on candor and honesty.  Make sure that you provide your partner with enough information about expectations and measurement.  And be sure to listen to their counsel.

4. Listen to the advice given. Wayne Callaway, former CEO of PepsiCo had a great line that I have used often in my career.  “God gave you two ears and one mouth and they should be used in that proportion.”

5. Know your strengths and opportunities of improvement. Make sure to listen to the advice given.

Click here to read the entire article.

Kevin Kennedy Associates, an expert consulting service located in Indianapolis, unveiled the firm’s new campaign ad at the Indianapolis Bar Foundation Golf Tournament at the Hillcrest Country Club. According to Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs Tanya Stohler, who attended the tournament, “Our Experts Got An Early Start,” showcases the Kevin Kennedy Associates’ (KKA) highly qualified scientific and technical experts who have the depth of experience attorneys need in the courtroom or in researching a case.

“Expertise is about more than diplomas, credentials and pedigrees,” said Chief Executive Officer Sharon Kennedy who leads the Indianapolis-based global consulting firm. “It’s about people. It’s about their integrity, their knowledge, and their experience.”

Consultants at KKA are leaders in their industries and disciplines. This valuable combination of knowledge and experience makes them more effective as expert witnesses and enables them to address real-world challenges in process development, failure analysis, forensic investigation, patent infringement, and manufacturing.

“We understand that attorneys prefer to work with experts whom they know or are known to their colleagues. Because we share that preference, we don’t just blindly forward resumes. Our approach is to carefully select the right expert from our proprietary 600-plus network to best match the needs of our clients. Kevin Kennedy put his name and reputation on his business, so we ensure that our experts meet his standards for integrity, quality and excellence for our clients – in advance,” CEO Kennedy added.

Indianapolis-based Coles Marketing Communications was selected to develop the new campaign. Business owner and President Barbara Coles leads a team of professionals who provide expertise in public relations, creative, word of mouth and videography for clients who come from a diverse array of industries from real estate to technology to legal.

We recently designed a billboard for our client, Eastgate Chrysler, and it just went up! Check it out …

Summer is great time to cookout with friends, family and colleagues. Yeah, I said it… colleagues. From time to time, during the summer, the staff at Coles Marketing enjoys cookouts by the lake at the Precedent Office Park. We invite clients, family members and friends.  Today was one of those days.

A former boss once told me, “if you’re not having fun at work, you’re just not having fun.” Does it make sense? I am not sure.  But it sure does make for a good excuse to have a cookout at work.

Take a look at some of the photos below.

 

One common question among friends, colleagues and potential clients is "what do you do?" You would think it's an easy answer, and in some cases it is. For instance, "I am a plumber" or "I am an electrician" are pretty self explanatory.  But, what about "I am in marketing" or "I am in marketing communications"?  It's sometimes hard to boil our type of business down to one or two sentences. In 1985, Coles Marketing started out as a public relations firm.  As growth occurred and client requests changed, we adapted and grew. Along the way, we added media buying services and a creative department. Recently, I ran across a term that will give you a better understanding of how our business has changed in recent years.

A definition of content marketing is below from Wikipedia.

"Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty."

Wikipedia continues with the following information.

"Many content marketers choose to create new information and share it via any and all media. Content marketing products frequently take the form of custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers, webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables, interactive online, email, events."

So while we maintain our roots as a traditional public relations and advertising firm, gaining credibility and reach for our clients.  We also realize the importance of maintaining and/or retaining brand loyalty. At Coles Marketing, we continue to stay on top of the latest marketing trends and adapt and grow with our clients. And in this ever adapting world, we don't mind adding a couple more sentences to our "what we do" explanation.