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.
What do Coca-Cola, Apple, FedEx, Target, Amazon and Southwest Airlines all have in common (besides being incredibly successful companies)? According to Entrepreneur magazine, they are examples of the top 10 most trusted brands in America.
In its April 2012 cover story, Secrets of the 10 Most-Trusted Brands, Entrepreneur partnered with The Values Institute, a Virginia-based think tank, to examine why some brands rise above others. After surveying 1,000 Entrepreneur subscribers and the general public to rate particular American brands on the basis of five values that instill trust—ability, concern, connection, consistency and sincerity—results indicate today’s most trustworthy brands have fostered emotional relationships with consumer through “experiences that trigger a visceral response.” How did these firms develop that sense of trustworthiness over others?
Here at Communiqué PR, we think this article is a great reminder of how to build a trusted brand within the scope of PR. We examined the five key values used to measure the trustworthiness of brands and developed recommendations on how to incorporate these values into strategies and messaging:
Ability: Your company’s ability to provide a reliable product or service can make your name recognizable and trustworthy. FedEx received the strongest ratings in ability for “specifically being able to achieve what it promises and for efficiency of its operations.” Although shipping and handling is a crowded market, the firm utilized its knowledge of category norms and competitor tactics to redirect an agenda specifically catered to their company mission statement, “Whatever It Takes.” FedEx’s dependable performance has lived up to this promise and fostered a strong corporate identity. Think about how your messaging positions your company as a market leader and differentiates your brand from the competition.
Concern: How are you considering your customers’ needs? When a corporation applies its core capabilities to advance customer service, while simultaneously contributing to business results, it has a competitive advantage. For instance, Amazon.com is in a league of its own for creating a superior online shopping experience. Customers can have user profiles, tracking not only their purchases, but also their tastes and preferences. Although the multiplicity of products may seem overbearing, Amazon helps shoppers make decisions through user reviews, ratings, customer favorites and suggested purchases. Consumers like to be taken care of, and merchandise catered directly to customer desire offers both emotional and functional value. Consider how your company shows concern for customer needs and be sure to showcase these qualities in your PR activities.
Connection: If customers feel a connection with a brand, they are more likely to spread their positive feelings through word of mouth or testimonials. How are you sharing customer success stories? In every PR endeavor, including observable success stories boosts brand credibility. Consumers are more likely to trust a brand when they understand how your products and services solve a broader business problem for a company similar to their own. Whether in a news story, physical store location, or your company website, include a section to highlight case studies or positive quotes from happy customers. The customer voice is a powerful third-party force for generating future sales.
Consistency: Maintain a steady drumbeat of PR activity. This means not only a consistent brand message and identity, but also announcing achievements with products or services on a relatively regular schedule. Sustaining buzz-worthy product launches, upgrades or awards increases the perceived dependability of your offerings. Brad VanAuken, chief brand strategist for The Blake Project consultancy, states, “Once you have developed a unique and compelling value proposition for your brand, repeat it again and again.”
Sincerity: Preserving transparency with customers helps build brand confidence. Make sure to not only be open and honest about your product, but helpful as well. Apple stores do a great job of bridging the gap between technology and human sentiment through their on-site specialists, Genius Bar “Geniuses,” who provide hands-on technical support, and complimentary one-on-one workshops about products. The empathetic staff strives to show clients the Apple brand philosophy and innovation rather than sell you. In PR, sincerity is essential, especially during a crisis situation. If a problem or bug with a product is discovered, address the issue directly and then be sure to explain how you will solve the problem. Remember, consumers are humans too and appreciate an honest, personal touch.
Keeping these values of trust in mind while developing PR strategy can help ensure your PR strategies are building a sense of trustworthiness around your brand. What values have you found helpful in building your brand’s PR strategies?
Here at Communiqué PR, we believe strongly in the value of testimonials. Client or customer testimonials are an excellent way to validate a product or solution. Not only do they offer credibility for your service, but they provide real life examples of how a technology works. A well written testimonial shows potential customers how a technology may fit their needs.
So how do you go about garnering testimonials that will resonate with potential customers?
1. Identify customers who can provide a compelling story. A good testimonial tells an engaging story. Go through your client list and determine who is using your technology in a new and different way, garnering interesting results, achieving significant savings, or gaining an excellent ROI. These are the types of clients that will give compelling, unique stories that can both drive coverage and engage a potential market. If you want tips on how to reach out to these customers, check out “Four Steps to Getting Customer Testimonials” at Flying Solo.
2. Find customers who showcase your technology’s use. If you want to break into a new industry, it is helpful to have a case study that shows how your technology is being used in that field. As Chris Garrett recommended in ”5 Tips for Knockout Testimonials”, use testimonials that fit with the point you are trying to get across.
3. Develop a questionnaire or set of interview questions that will draw out a storyline. Questions need to prompt a storyline, so make sure that they are open ended, not yes or no questions. Why questions are especially helpful. Keep the questions relevant to the industry, but try and draw out a story. Ask what their original problem was, why they chose your technology as a solution, and what they have been able to accomplish with your solution.
4. Determine what type of testimonial you would like to build. At Communiqué, we have secured a variety of testimonials, including videos and written case studies. Oftentimes, people like to simply use short quotes from satisfied customers. Video testimonials, like the following prepared for our client, Attachmate, can be fun and engaging. Case studies tell a more in depth story; quotes may be easier to get ahold of because they are less time consuming for your customer.
5. Transform an interview into a story. For an example of this, check the Bookrenter case study Communique completed for Opscode. Use a narrative style to explain what the customer’s context was, why they needed a solution, how they decided to use your service, their experience deploying the service, and their results. Incorporate direct quotes where they fit, and include unique points of the story. Refrain from exaggerating or straying away from the actual details of the story.
Most of the tips in this post come directly from the staff at Communique PR; if you are looking for additional information on testimonials, try this very helpful blog post at 21CenturySales. When thinking about how to build your company’s website and add to your current PR strategy, remember the power of testimonials. Whether they are quotes, videos, or written case studies, Communiqué PR has found testimonials extremely valuable in showing how our clients’ solutions are useful in a variety of situations. Testimonials allow you to show how your clients’ services are useful, in a format that is relatable and engaging.
It’s no secret that sometimes the key to landing a job, a story, an interview or a client can be because you know somebody. But this should not be looked at negatively; fostering good relationships with media and in the business world is a smart and strategic move.
In communications, building relationships is essential. It’s not only building the relationship that is important, but maintaining that relationship as well. This can be through email, phone calls, coffee or dinner, even social media– it is important to stay active in a person’s life.
Act on Networking Relationships
From an early age, my father encouraged me to stay in touch with past employers or internship coordinators. At the time, I didn’t see the value of this “networking.” In my mind, the relationship had ended and I assumed that my previous contacts had far better things to do than to meet for coffee with a teenager. However, there have been points in my career where it has been nice to reach out to my former mentors for a word of advice. It wasn’t until I launched into actual adulthood that I realized the true value of these relationships.
Networking can help bring new ideas to the table or connect with other industry experts who might be able to spread the word about your work or products. These third-party perspectives can make a big difference when it comes to solving business problems or overcoming other hurdles in your career.
Let Your Work Speak for Itself
At Communiqué PR, we often receive client referrals from previous clients or through relationships that we have built. By creating strong relationships with the clients we serve and driving work that meets the client’s business objectives, our clients have been happy to spread the word about the work we do.
Whether it is helping clients launch a product, land product reviews, establish a network of analysts or increase thought leadership, we give 110 percent to every project we do to ensure we are truly adding value to our clients’ business. In the end, happy clients are our greatest asset in growing our business.
Be Smart About Media Relations
In addition, building relationships with reporters can prove to be just as valuable. By crafting smart pitches and reaching out to reporters in a thoughtful and respectful way, we’ve established strong relationships with reporters everywhere from the Puget Sound Business Journal to the New York Times.
Keep in mind that a relationship with a reporter doesn’t mean guaranteed coverage. What it does mean is that a reporter will be more likely to read our emails. It also means that we are more likely to elicit some sort of response, either accepting the pitch or declining it and explaining why the story isn’t a good fit for the reporter at that time. That feedback is helpful and informs our PR strategies and tactics moving forward.
For additional tips on networking and building good relationships, read these previous posts from our blog:
Many situations occur in business repetitively and we often build processes around those activities. For instance, when hiring new employees, many companies and managers have an onboarding process they routinely follow. Similarly, when preparing for a new business meeting, we at Communiqué PR have outlined a process which we typically follow.
The book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg, explains how habits get formed. MIT researchers discovered three core components to habit formation. First there is a cue. When you receive the cue, you act, which is referred to as the routine. Following the routine there comes a reward.
For example, a stressful day might trigger you to put on your running shoes and jog your favorite route, or you might pour a glass of wine and call a friend to chat. The stressful day would be the cue, and how you respond is your routine, which over time often becomes a habit. The run or wine will bring you relief from your feelings of stress.
The book offers a powerful reminder of how both positive and negative habits impact business as well as one’s personal life. In addition, the author shares interesting insight about the halo effect of habits, meaning once you make a change in one area of your business or life there is a spill-over effect and other changes begin to happen.
In chapter four of his book, Duhigg explains how focusing on one keystone habit – improving worker safety, in Duhigg’s example – allowed the manufacturing company Alcoa to reap a plethora of benefits. By improving safety, the company reduced the number of injuries and deaths of employees. This alone was a huge and rewarding emotional and financial benefit. Beyond that, the folks at Alcoa also changed their corporate culture, streamlined communication, and improved the manufacturing processes. Collectively, all of these improvements made the company more successful and significantly increased its profits.
This example got me thinking about processes in our company. While much of the work we do for individual clients is unique, many times the way that we approach it often becomes routine. By continuously working to improve our approach and processes around basic activities, I am confident we will improve our efficiency and effectiveness.
If you are struggling with an issue or challenge that seems to come up repeatedly, I highly encourage you to read this book and think about your routine, what triggers it, and what underlying needs you are addressing for yourself or your business.
Driving awareness, word of mouth and downloads for new mobile phone apps is no small endeavor. The number of mobile app innovations have exploded since Apple’s release of the iPhone, as evidenced by the more than 500,000 apps ready to be downloaded at Apple’s online App Store.
This infiltration of mobile phone apps had the team at Communiqué PR considering the different ways to generate editorial coverage and drive word of mouth for a new app in today’s competitive media landscape. What PR efforts will be most effective in encouraging people to download and use an app over others? How do you get journalists to pay attention to any app when they are being bombarded with requests to write about a host of other products and services?
At Communique PR, we believe there are five essential best practices surrounding successful PR for mobile apps:
1.Remember – differentiation is critical: According to the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), “There was a time when having an app was a press-worthy development.” Today, unless the app presents a revolutionary idea, attention should be focused on a unique aspect of an existing category.
Ask yourself some deep-thinking questions: How can you demonstrate that your application is truly different? What features or benefits does your app have that competitors don’t have?
It will be an uphill battle to market your app if you are only making incremental improvements or if you are entering a crowded category. For instance, consider the health and nutrition tracker apps. Today, there are dozens of apps such as Weight Watchers Mobile, Nutrisystem and MyFitnessPal for tracking weight, calories, exercise and more. To be successful in raising awareness and driving downloads for a new mobile weight-management application, it is vital to show how it is significantly better or different than apps already on the market.
2. Make your app newsworthy: A variety of elements determine the newsworthiness of an announcement. As we point out in an earlier blog post titled, Is Your News Really Newsworthy?, the number of people affected by a story heightens its significance.
Additionally, think about who your target audience is and ask yourself who would care about your app. This is the number one question editors and journalists ask themselves. Think through how your product will resonate with others and whether it’ll be relevant in the fast paced news world.
3. Consider marketing platforms: Marketing platform solutions such as Flurry’s AppCircle program, TapJoy and W3i integrate their clients’ apps with large user networks. Their databases focus on keeping your app ahead of competitors and in the hands of users, helping your app become profitable and popular. TapJoy claims it has more than 200 million mobile customers and W3i asserts they have successfully connected nearly 700,000,000 apps to users.
According to CNET news, breaking into the top 25 lists can dramatically increase downloads and purchases. Consider leveraging one of these platforms to reap such benefits.
4. Define metrics: Generating press associated with an app is incomplete without data. The MMA’s A Brand Marketer’s Guide to the Mobile Web and Mobile Apps claims, “Measurement should reflect the strategy of the mobile initiative goals.” Before releasing an app, establish desired performance metrics. Two possible ways to track progress are engagement and usage.
For any app on the market, a primary form of measuring engagement is the number of downloads. However, be sure to define projected usage time and desired activity. One download for example, does not confirm if a customer is using the application. Tools such as Google Analytics, Flurry and Adobe SiteCatalyst can tag usage and measure activity. A successful marketer must understand whether customers are continuing to engage with the app.
5. Anticipate the costs: Be prepared to adequately fund your program. Driving meaningful media results for an app entering an already saturated market often can be both time consuming and expensive. Financially speaking, ensure the ends will justify the means.
When strategizing marketing for a mobile app, think about these tips.
One of our favorite projects to work on for clients here at Communiqué PR is landing byline articles. Byline articles elevate thought leadership by highlighting content experts, and they also help our clients put themselves in a reporter’s shoes.
Over the past few months, Communiqué PR has helped our clients garner coverage through byline articles. John Scumniotales, CEO and president at Verdiem, had a great guest post in GeekWire last month about workplace culture. In March, Sam Morris, a product marketing manager with Attachmate, was published in the Data Center Journal regarding managed file transfer.
However, landing byline opportunities isn’t as easy as you might think. Below are a few things to keep in mind when considering a guest post or byline article.
- Not all publications are open to bylines. We know that reporters are being stretched thin, but that doesn’t mean they all want guest writers providing content for their publications. It is important to research a publication before pitching a byline idea, which will save you wasted time and rejections from publications that aren’t open to guest posts. Also, just because a publication does accept byline articles doesn’t mean you are entitled to post there. Your pitch will be under an editor’s scrutiny and if you don’t have a strong angle, your article might be rejected.
- Content experts need to be the authors. You shouldn’t rely on ghost writing when it comes to byline articles. While the PR team can help gather content and a framework, in order to be authentic and honest, the content experts need to ultimately feel that the end result is their own work. If you are working on a byline article, make sure the end result reveals your own personal style and voice. The article should contain your own thoughts in your own words, even if you’ve had some help putting the pieces of the story together.
- Articles need to look beyond your own brand. Most publications won’t run articles that have a vendor bias – that’s something more appropriate for an advertorial. A byline should be product neutral and not promote a specific product or service. Rather, byline articles should offer an expert’s perspective on an industry trend or provide a new perspective on an old business problem.
- Consider your audience. Remember that different publications have different audiences, so you will need to tailor your material for each. For example, a business audience that reads the Wall Street Journal likely won’t be interested in the technical details of how a software solution works – they will want to know the overall benefits and how it will impact a company’s bottom line. That said, an InfoWorld reader will likely be interested in the opposite. Make sure you know who your readers will be and what information will be most helpful for them.
For additional tips, read this blog post we published back in 2008: https://communique.innovisionwebsites.com/?p=106. It provides some additional ideas and tips on how to make your byline shine.