Insights for Leaders Navigating
Visibility, Credibility, and Growth.
From media strategy to reputation management, we explore the trends shaping public perception and share the approaches that drive measurable results for growing brands.
There have been many articles written about Zappos branding strategy and brand promise. The company has a reputation of repeat business and customer loyalty due to word of mouth about its fantastic customer service. Just take a look at this 2010 article, “Branding Through Customer Service, From Delivering Happiness: A Path to Passion, Profits and Purpose,” by Tony Hsieh.
In this piece, Hsieh, Zappos CEO, explains Zappos’ philosophy as well as how that philosophy has shaped its policies around shipping costs, marketing and buzz building, and measuring the lifetime value of customers. For instance, Zappos’ policy of offering free shipping both ways to customers in the U.S. is rooted in the belief that customers’ experience should be easy and risk-free. In fact, they want it to be as easy and risk-free as possible.
It is one thing to read an article about claims a company makes about customer service and it is another to experience the service firsthand. I have recently had one of those exceptional Zappos experiences. Since this experience truly demonstrates how Zappos employees live its brand and are empowered to do what is right for the brand, I feel compelled to share it.
A couple of weeks ago my sister and I were going through my mother’s belongings. It has been an emotional process because she passed away from complications from a brain tumor in April. During our last day of going through her closet, we came across a pair of beautiful Born Beryl boots that we had ordered from Zappos. I had purchased the boots for my Mom in December on her credit card, but she had never even taken them out of their box.
Unaware of Zappos generous 365-day return policy, I called to see if I could send back the boots and have her money refunded. I also was uncertain how the refund would work as we had closed her credit card. The people with Zappos were fantastic. They explained the process and encouraged me to make the return, but they did not just stop there.
Zappos customer service reps took the situation one-step further. A couple of days later, I received an email from my father. He had arrived home to a beautiful bouquet of flowers with a note from Tamika T & The Zappos.com Family.
I can tell you that we (my father, sister and I) very much appreciated this gesture. It absolutely created a positive emotional association with the brand, and our likelihood of ordering from the company will go up. Not only that, but we have told many people about this experience as well as tweeted and blogged about it.
More companies would be smart to follow Zappos lead when it comes to branding – and I would add buzz building – via customer service.
In today’s highly competitive tech industry, it’s just not enough to have a great idea or a winning design concept – one needs to have the resources to turn that spark of creativity into a thriving company. Established entrepreneurs understand the need to weigh the costs and benefits associated with adopting different financial strategies like bootstrapping to keep overhead costs down versus taking on investment funding from angels or venture capital (VC) firms. While there are advantages and trade-offs to both models, generally speaking, companies with a larger working capital may have more options and resources at their disposal to invest in product development, attracting top talent, and making a larger PR splash.
We at Communiqué have extensive experience working with clients of all shapes and sizes, from Facebook Engineering in Seattle, Alaska Airlines, Seattle Children’s Hospital and Smartsheet to companies carving out entirely new markets like Spaceflight and AnswerDash. For our portfolio of clients who work with VC firms, building strong relationships with the communications contact within these firms is of paramount importance to help align PR strategies, compare media notes and collaborate on what has worked traditionally to help get the word out.
Throughout my years as a communications professional, journalist and marketing executive, I’ve had the pleasure of working with prominent VC’s from Manhattan to Sand Hill Road including Warburg Pincus, Mayfield, Madrona, Cascadia Capital, Ignition, Emergence Capital, Canaan Partners, Storm Ventures and many more. My experiences have never been short of spectacular since these firms typically go the extra mile to help mentor emerging companies and navigate them toward maturation and successful exit.
Recently Communiqué had a representative from one of Seattle’s most prominent VC firms Madrona Venture Group into our office for a brown bag lunch and general discussion about how the investment process works and the best ways for us as an agency to partner with them on behalf of their portfolio companies. PR agencies and VC firms have common goals – both desire to promote their clients through driving just the right media attention that highlights value proposition, customers and differentiation that can, in turn, positively influence perception and company valuation.
VC should also be thought of as trusted advisors and in some cases, as clients themselves since they often have a vested interest in the ongoing success of their portfolio companies as shareholders of the companies they represent. The communications contacts within VC firms often have a great collection of stories, advice and personal relationships with journalists that they can help leverage across their companies. In short, they want companies to succeed so there’s a clear incentive for PR professionals, VCs, agencies and internal communications teams to collaborate and help build a company’s brand.
As an entrepreneur, be sure to help foster and encourage these relationships since it allows your company to tap into the years of collective experiences. After all, this approach furthers our philosophy as a leading tech PR agency in Seattle – that together we can achieve great things on behalf of our clients through demonstrating industry knowledge, having the right connections and implementing PR strategies that truly make an impact.
It’s that time of the year again—last week, the Associated Press (AP) released the 2014 edition of its AP Stylebook, better known to many as the journalist’s bible. If you work at all with media, you’re undoubtedly well aware of the book’s unique style and grammar rules. As PR pros, we likewise abide by the book to maintain consistency and make things easier for the journalists with whom we work.
Now, I’ve personally always been a fan of following proper grammar, style and spelling (or at least trying). They’re a reflection of our use of language and the roadmap for how we express ourselves. Abiding by a style guide in particular makes sure we’re consistent and not misunderstood—critically important in a field like PR, where successful communications makes up the very core.
However, this year, the AP seems to be easing up on some of its most notorious rules. All hell broke loose in March, for example, when the AP announced it would now accept the use of “over” in place of “more than.” Many journalists took to Twitter to express their frustrations. Others applauded the AP’s loosening up on what some see as overly strict or archaic rules. In any case, the change sparked an interesting debate around the fluidity of language—how much should we sacrifice “proper” grammar and style for the sake of modernity and ease of use?
Whatever side of the fence you’re on, this year’s stylebook updates are a reflection of our evolving culture and the trends that are sweeping society. In addition to the aforementioned rule change, the latest guide features a slew of new and updated sections, entries and terms in areas like culture, religion, food and social media, revealing the themes that matter most and are on people’s minds today. PR pros, take note—some of the most significant updates to the 2014 stylebook include:
- A comprehensive religion section with 208 new or updated entries from a variety of religions, including terms like megachurch, Zionism and Advent, as well as a detailed description of Easter
- New and updated diet, drink and food entries such as mixologist (i.e., “cocktail crafter”), Buffalo wings, aioli, Chobani (for the American Greek yogurt) and vegan vs. vegetarian
- Social media terms like Emoji, Snapchat, selfie and bitcoin
- Pop culture and politics entries including the addition of actress Lupita Nyong’o, comedian Louis C.K., songstress Sara Bareilles, “Frozen” star Idina Menzel and various notable politicians
- New science and medical terms such as HPV, MERS, in vitro fertilization and polar vortex
- Sports updates and figures including NFL draft picks Johnny Manziel and Jadeveon Clowney, as well as the recognition of football as the preferred international term for soccer
Other notable updates include terms like LGBT and (sic) as well as the AP’s controversial revision to the use of state names in stories. For a complete list of updated entries, be sure to pick up a copy of the updated AP Stylebook.
For more on why AP Style matters, check out our blog post, “Understanding AP Style and Its Importance.”
Looking back on my first six months in the PR industry, one of the most important skills I’ve learned is how to manage everything on my plate. Working at a PR agency requires exceptional time management and precise organization to stay on top of every client’s needs, and it only took dropping the ball on a project once for me to realize I needed a better strategy.
I turned to the master of organizational productivity, David Allen, to help get myself organized. His book “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” offers applicable advice about how to manage everything on your to-do list and is definitely worth a read if you’re a young professional or simply seeking a more organized life.
Following are the tips from David that I found most helpful and how I applied them to PR.
Categorize your work into phases
At the heart of David’s productivity system is a flow chart for categorizing mental work. When a new task arises he recommends asking yourself a series of questions to determine the appropriate next step. I’ve found it very helpful for managing my mental workload.
Get everything out of your head
Our brains are designed for fast decision-making, not storage. Trying to mentally track too many things at once is a major source of stress and you’ll inevitably forget something. Find a system that works for you to track every little task you need to get done. The key is creating a system that is always at your fingertips so you’ll check it constantly throughout the day.
For some, putting pen to paper every morning is the best way to track their to-do list. Personally, I think PR has too many moving parts, deadlines and follow-ups to simply use a hand-written to-do list. For example, if I need to follow up with a reporter a week from now, I don’t want to continue writing “Follow up with Tom on June 2” on my list every day, but if I let it fall off the list I might forget.
Instead I use an app called Wunderlist. It allows me to quickly add action items to my list and then sort them by due date. That way the things I need to do first are always at the top. If my list becomes too long I can narrow the view so I only see my daily tasks. I can also set reminders for certain tasks and make a task repeat on a regular basis. To top it all off, it’s accessible on my smartphone and desktop so my list is always on hand.
If Wunderlist isn’t your style there are plenty of other productivity apps out there. Forbes published a list of the best to-do list apps for 2014 that provides some fantastic alternatives.
Break down projects into tasks
Many projects are too big to accomplish in one sitting and including giant, looming projects on your to-do list will become incredibly overwhelming. For example, if your client has a big announcement coming up, writing “plan funding announcement” on your to-do list won’t be helpful, it will be overwhelming. It’s more effective to treat it as a project and break it into smaller tasks like “develop a timeline,” “identify media targets,” “draft a press release.”
Employ the two-minute rule
If a task will take less than two minutes, do it now! It’s much more efficient to simply get it done so you don’t have to think about it. Adding a multitude of small tasks to your to-do list will increase your stress and make it appear as though you have more work than you actually have. If you need to send a quick email to a client, just do it.
Developing a system to manage your workload takes time and experimentation. What other tricks have you found to be helpful for managing productivity in PR?
As a marketing major, I am constantly learning about the new ways that companies are attracting consumer attention and proving their brand’s value over the competitors. The ads and promotions that people commonly associate with marketing are those for consumer products. However, marketing is equally important for those companies seeking to create value for their business customers.
I recently read an article online at Ad Age titled, Do Your Business Customers Love Your Brand? This article broke down the steps of creating a brand platform with which your clients can align. This can be done by creating “brand movement,” which is “seeing where the brand is today and planning where it needs to be moved relative to the competition, to a position that takes the target rationally and emotionally closer to the brand, and of course moves the needle on business.” The following breaks down the steps to successfully implementing brand movement for your business.
Step one is the discovery phase. Here, a company needs to evaluate their product or service to more thoroughly understand how their customers interact with their product. Positioning yourself correctly in your product or service market is vital for customer retention and brand loyalty. Creating the correct positioning can seem like a daunting task, but can be divided into a few easy questions.
The article suggests asking five questions. First, what are the company goals? This includes an analysis of your current position in the market, what value and purpose your product or service serves, strengths and weaknesses of your company, and internal and external views of your brand.
The second question is how do your customers perceive your brand? This requires your company to define your customers and take a deeper look into the purchase decision process. What qualities do your customers expect from your product or service? Figuring out what customers expect and what they value will help you to create a better product and create brand loyalty.
The third question is how do consumers perceive your brand? At first glance this question looks to be the same as the previous, but this question requires analyzing how consumers in general view your product. In today’s internet-focused world, every message has the potential to be seen and or shared by everyone.
The fourth question requires analyzing your position in comparison to your competitors. It is important to understand your competitor’s offerings and why it might be tempting for customers to chose the competition over your product. Understand your weaknesses so you are never caught off guard by an attack from your competitors.
The final question is centered on the culture in which your brand operates. What dominant characteristics are present? Different age perspectives or varying regional cultures will change how your product will be marketed.
After asking the previous questions, your company can now move your brand with a new and improved platform. This second step involves creating a vision, mission, and position. The vision should articulate what the brand believes, whereas the mission should outline what the brand actually does through its products and or services to its customers. Your brand’s position is “the territory that [your] brand will unequivocally own – the immovable stake in the ground.” It is of the upmost importance that your product or service has some benefit over the competition, firmly planting your “stake in the ground.”
The final step in this marketing makeover is brand consistency. Now that your brand has laid out its vision, mission, and position, make sure it is consistent across all mediums. This includes events, promotions and advertisements, and all communications. The brand platform should be used as a tool in future decisions to ensure that it is in line with the company strategy and best interest of the customer.
Utilize your resources. Your employees are some of your best assets and can be a tool for promoting your brand as well. Create consistency by giving employees the tools they need, such as brand books and style guides.
Remembering the importance of creating value for customers, even when your brand is not in the consumer products market, is vital for survival in today’s customer-focused world. Using marketing to create the perfect brand platform will allow your company to position itself in way to not only retain current clients, but win new customers as well.
One of our clients recently asked us to come up with ideas to create visibility for C-level executives who are interested in building their personal brands in conjunction with building the corporate brand. It was a fun assignment and we outlined several strategies for helping them. One of these focused on regularly contributing content on LinkedIn. Below we have summarized some of the ways to do this on the popular social networking site for professionals.
Be a LinkedIn Influencer
According to its website, “LinkedIn Influencer is a designation given to approximately 500 professionals who have been invited to publish on LinkedIn. As leaders in their industries, geographies and seniorities, they talk about broad topics of interest such as leadership, management, hiring and firing, disruption, how to succeed, and more.”
Today LinkedIn Influencers include high-profile figures such as Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Arianna Huffington, and Guy Kawasaki.
Becoming an influencer is not an easy task, because you cannot apply for this status. LinkedIn staff invite people to be influencers. To increase your chances that LinkedIn will select you, we recommend appealing to the editorial staff with LinkedIn, being high profile, and having a breadth of content that will be relevant and interesting to LinkedIn’s members.
It is also important to know that LinkedIn may package Influencer content and market that content, as it deems appropriate.
LinkedIn also states, “The roster of Influencers changes throughout the year. We regularly evaluate existing Influencers to include only the most engaged, prolific and thoughtful contributors and to ensure that their expertise matches up with our members’ interests.”
Contribute Long-Form Content
If you don’t think you are likely to be invited to be an influencer, the good news is that there are other opportunities to contribute. LinkedIn will soon invite all its members to share information via a long-form post. Look for this invite via your LinkedIn homepage. If you do not want to wait for the invite, you can also apply for access here. (I have done this and am waiting to hear back from LinkedIn.)
According to an article in Bloomberg, “The company also added 30 new content channels – such as one focused on residential real estate – in the last week, drawing from more than 1 million publishers.” Personally, I have found it difficult to discover these channels on LinkedIn and am hoping they make it easier to find and subscribe to them.
Before you get started with publishing long-form content, please keep in mind:
- Your original content will become part of your professional profile.
- Long-form content will appear on the “Posts” section of your LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn will share this information with your connections and followers.
- Members not in your network will be able to follow you from your long-form post to receive updates when you publish next.
- Your long-form post is searchable both on and off LinkedIn.
For more information about long-form posts, please check out these guidelines.
Share an Update
If publishing long-form content does not appeal to you, you still can post thoughts, articles or other information from your LinkedIn homepage and several other places on the LinkedIn platform. For those who are too busy to create the long-form content, this can be a very effective way to stay top of mind and connect with other professionals. Specifically, you can create this information via updates from your homepage, via group discussions, from partner news sites such as the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, and from LinkedIn Pulse.
So what is Pulse?
LinkedIn Pulse is a special “news” section on LinkedIn with a corresponding award-winning news-reader app that makes it easy to consume news on mobile phones and tablets. Content found on LinkedIn Pulse includes Influencer posts, member posts, publications, and SlideShare decks.
To get your content featured in the Pulse app, you will need to fill out a Pulse Publisher Feed Onboarding Form. To do this, visit http://www.pulse.me/publishers. I have done this, but have not yet heard back from LinkedIn. As a next step, I will likely reach out via email to [email protected] to check on the status of our application.
Finally, you should know that if you share a link on LinkedIn and choose to make it visible to “Public” or “Public + Twitter,” your picture could appear on Pulse.
Undoubtedly, the LinkedIn platform will continue to evolve, but for now, the information in this blog post hopefully will serve as a starting point for people wanting a brief tutorial on the publishing options available with LinkedIn.