What Advertising can learn from the Public Relations Industry.
Advertising is primarily a form of communicating to an audience to get them to take an action, or change their behavior. PR is pretty much the same, but the two use different tactics. What should stand out is the PR function of internal communication. When given the choice on whom to hire for employee communication, PR firms win hands down. This is because as a general rule, there are no “Internal Advertising” agencies.
So if both advertising professionals and PR professionals are communications specialists, then whey is there no advertising function for internal communication? Mostly, because when given the choice, the tactics used by PR professionals work better for internal communication than those of the ad professionals.
Can you imagine running ads for your employees to inform them of your companies’ strategic plans, direction, values and goals? It wouldn’t work. Imagine what the company newsletter would look like without news, and just full of ads?
So what does this all mean? Marketing communications aimed to the external audience (customers) is not so different from those for the internal audience (employees). Your employees have an interest in the success of the company. They need information. There is a group of your target market that shares a pretty close interest in your company, or product / service category. These are the influencers.
Influencers are the group of people that help shape the trends and opinions of the buying market. They influence because they are considered experts in a subject. To have that expertise they need information…just like your employees. The difference is really in the amount of interest a person has in your product / service category to determine whether they are an influencer or not.
This post is not intended to prove that PR is better for marketing communications that advertising is. The point here is that there are many tools in the toolbox available to accomplish each marketing need. If you need to reach the influencers of the market, traditional media and advertising becomes a supportive tactic, not a purchase pusher. Your advertising is a good way to help the general market talk to your influencers by offering a common frame of reference. Your influencers need more information but they like to get it a different way. They want to talk to you sometimes, and have their questions answered. Advertising and even traditional PR is a one-way affair, from you (the company) to them (the customer).
Treat your influencers like you treat your best employees. Don’t sell them. Inform them. Give your influencers a way to talk to you and get information, this way they will have a lot to say to the rest of your market.
It isn’t hard to see why employees, PR professionals, enlightened marketers and customers love social media. It may not be “the” tactic to ensure all your marketing communication efforts are golden, but no one tactic is. It can be a very powerful tool, though.
Tagged and Bagged. 5 things about Reid Givens you might not know.
Bryan Person has tagged me for the 5 things meme. The 5 things meme is where you are supposed to write 5 things that people may not know about you, and give you the ability to “tag” someone else so they have to do the same. To see more 5 things click here.
1. The few. The proud. The Eagle Scouts.
Yes I am an eagle scout. In case you didn’t know, that is the highest rank a youth can achieve in the Boy Scouts of America. I am proud of this achievement, but I have mixed feeling about telling the world. For every 1 person who finds out and thinks its neat, there are at least 9 others who love to give me grief for it. My wife is one of the 9. She can’t resist making a comment whenever I am tying something down in the back of our truck… oh well. The secret is out.
2. Fridged Froggy
For most of my youth I was a competitive swimmer. I have books and books of winning ribbons from swim meets that sit in a box in my garage. My best event was the 100-meter butterfly. Most swimmers I have met think the butterfly was the hardest stroke to do. I’m not sure if that is true or not, but that opinion is why I took it on and trained for it. I can say this, however, I can’t do the butterfly anymore…. It’s too hard.
I later became a lifeguard at the local Boy Scout Camp. While there, they had a 5:00am mile swim. It lasted a week at a time and I of course participated. At 5:00am the water was pretty cold, so they gave the event the name “Fridged Froggy”.
I also take credit for saving Ramon Garcia’s life by helping him to get to shore at a lake we were swimming in.
3. Play that funky music white boy.
I am a drummer. I’ve been playing the drums ever since I was about 7. For about 3 years I had the privilege of being a professional musician during my years in Tampa Florida. The highlight of my music career was opening for the Dave Mathews Band at the Ice Palace. If I can find our CD, I’ll put it on the podsafe music network.
4. Square and Compass
I am a master mason. No, masons are not devil worshipers. No, masons are not secretly conspiring to control the world (although if we we’re, would I tell you?) The Freemasons are a group that is founded on brotherly love and charity. The premise is to take good men and make them better by passing on hundreds (or arguably thousands) of years of collective knowledge. There are so many misconceptions about the masons I cannot even attempt to dispel them all here. If you have a question, there’s a lot of ways to get a hold of me.
5. It’s all about the texture.
I am a texture eater. That basically means I judge what foods I like by the texture it has just as much as the flavor. This led me to eat a very restricted diet for many years (beef). Then I married a woman who eats everything. After a few years my pallet grew. I then learned the wonders of cooking. To quote (approximately) one of my heroes, Robert Rodriguez, “You’ll have to eat for the rest of your life, you might as well learn to cook.” I love to make Chinese and Italian food, and sometimes, it comes out pretty good. While I have come along away, and make a pretty mean peanut noodle, my wife still hasn’t been able to get me to eat seafood (fish, crab, lobster and shrimp all have a very similar texture…and I don’t like it).
Here’s who I’m tagging: Ramon Garcia, Brian Warren, Mark Bixby, Kevin Silver, Kelly Patrick Robinson. You’re turn guys.
Technorati Tags: five things meme, Ramon Garcia, Brian Warren, Mark Bixby, Kevin Silver, Kelly Patrick Robinson
ROI 7 - The What Difference Does It Make Episode
- Running time: 29:41:39
- 1:01 - Audio Comment From Bryan Person about Hispanic marketing
- 4:43 - Differentiation
- 9:15 - Don’t say “Our Employees are the Difference” - What Difference
- 13:49 - What are good and bad differentiation angles
- 17:22 - Services - Start with expertise and grow
- 19:21 - Is your business set up for your chosen difference
- 22:13 - Holiday Giving - Make it easy for you customers to do business with you
-Audio Comment line +1 206-222-4ROI(4764) - Comment email - comments {at} alrmarketing {dot} com
ROI - Barcamp ABQ 3 - Vincent
The third installment from Barcamp Albuquerque.
Vincent Thome talks about CMS (content Managment Systems).
- Running Time - 1:04:19
- 00:01 - Meeting with Vincent at his office in Albuquerque
- 22:25 - Whats the best CMS for your project
Buy one, get a friend free!!
After watching a small business owner create relationships, I thought to myself why can’t larger companies be as open to create a customer relationship with their own audience.
This establishment was probably 40′ X 20′, or close to that, with mostly canned goods, sodas, groceries, and a beef counter. They also sell CD’s, hats, jerseys, and just about any type on candy that comes in a wrap. I was next in line to the last person cheking out of the coounter in this very small business. The clerk made the usual small talk with the person he was tending to while three of us waited patiently. Then I heard the clerk tell the customer: ”it has been a while since I’ve seen you here, I thought you forgot about us, friends miss each other you know.” The customer answered with a smile and said: “I had to leave for a couple of months for work…” That’s when I realized how this business owner had survived for so long in a place with only two other super markets, and one of them beaing Walmart.
When my turn to check out came, the clerk greeted me, charged for a gallon of milk, and said: “Thanks for your visit friend, don’t wait until you run out of milk to pay me a visit, we sell food here, but friendship is free.” I smiled and said thank you.
Many small business out there don’t realize that the relationship they create is growing their customers loyalty and creating a strong brand.
The $40 Dyson
Most people have heard of the Dyson Vacuum cleaner. It’s the vacuum that doesn’t lose suction, and it looks pretty cool too, as vacuums go. Most people also know that a Dyson can sell for around $400 and up. So who would sell a Dyson for $50? Kirby.
Kirby is a very high priced “Home Cleaning System”. It’s a vacuum with a million attachments including a paint sprayer. Kirby is sold only by door-to-door sales people. We had a demonstration in our home this week. At the end of the pitch, which was quite amazing, we were told that if we trade in our current vacuum, they would give us a credit toward the purchase price of the Kirby machine. I asked about how the Kirby compared to the Dyson, and the sales rep told me “The Dyson is just another plastic, poor quality vacuum. I have one in the van someone else traded in, I’ll sell it to you for $50.” My friend was sitting on the couch in my home office waiting to meet with me and jumped up and said “I’ve got $40 bucks on me, will you take that?” Being true to his brand, the sales man said “I don’t have any faith in the Dyson, but I’ll just throw it out if I don’t get rid of it, so sure.” How is that for a statement of loyalty to the product?
ROI - Barcamp ABQ 2 - Brian
The second installment from Barcamp Albuquerque.
Brian Warren talks about layout tricks and tips using sifr, css, and more.
- Running Time - 22:53
- 00:01 - Brain joins us on Skype from Colorado
- 8:32 - Web design without compromise
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