PR

Thanks for bearing with us while we revanp some of our services, including the blog and the website. We are back up and running now with many new features, so look for great new additions to the website and more from the blog.

Today I ran across an article about Brett Farve. It talked about the PR nightmare that has come about because of the recent he said, she said talks from both Farve and the Packers. From both sides I can see the points that they wanted to get across, but I can also see how the whole thing has taken on a life of it's on. When Farve left the negotions yesterday this article reported that there were parents and kids yelling we don't like you anymore. You suck. Why? Because he changed his mind? Maybe he handled coming back and the interviews poorly, but as someone who understands what it means to speak about what you are passionate about, did all of that deserve "You suck!"

So from a Public Relations standpoint, I would say both parties have some serious damage control to do. And what happens to the passionate Packer PR if the rumors turn out to be true and Farve ends up playing for the arch rival Vikings? Talk about a PR nightmare for the Vikings?

If Brett Farve looked at himself as a Business, or at the very least an institution, would he be offering this kind of publicity? And how about the Packers? Are they treating this from a business standpoint? Would the Vikings even want to be a part if they were looking at this from a business standpoint?

One other instersting PR/Advertising mix from the world of sports. I read another recent article on the advertising panic that was going on because Tiger Woods was not going to play in the recent Championship, which meant that viewership would be down considerably and the advertisers were trying to come up with ways to recover those losses.

Now that's power.....

Til next time.

Color of the Year for 2008:PANTONE® 18-3943 BLUE IRIS

Color is a powerful psychological tool used in many applications, including graphic design. We as marketers use color psychology to send a positive or negative message, encourage sales or calm a crowd.

Pantone, Inc., a universal color system used in marketing design has announced Blue Iris, a balanced blue-purple, as the color of the year for 2008. "It combines the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple." According to Pantone, Blue Iris is emotionally anchoring and meditative, with a touch of magic.

Marketing has a new definition

The American Marketing Association has come out with a new definition of marketing. Here is how it is stated. "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

Previously the AMA had defined marketing as "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

That's a lot of great words that basically say we as marketers use all mediums, and lots of trials to help our clients grow. There will never be a one size fits all for marketing, but at least the terminology in the new definition is broader and encompasses more of what we as marketers do.

One of the phrases that really made sense was that marketing has gone from delivering value to having value. That's one of the things I have been saying for a long time. Marketing doesn't deliver value, but rather has value that benefits everyone.

As we explore emerging technologies more and more and find new ways to use them when working with our clients, marketing will continue to evolve. There are so many opportunities to help client grow their businesses. This is such a fun time to be a marketer, because there is no one way anymore, but rather many ways to reach audiences. Personally, I can't wait to see what's next.

Facebook test marketing

Holiday Marketing

Were you the one that was shopping before Christmas? Were you shopping online before Halloween? If you were then their marketing worked! I was ½ done by Halloween, doing 90% of my shopping on the net this year worked for me so that shows you their marketing got ME!

Did you watch for the commercials and start making a list by the ads or do you take a risk on the stores and what they are promising and just show up at the doors of Kohl’s at 4am?

I was one of the crazies out there, I stood in line at 2:30 for the store to open at 4:00am, I ran in like a mad woman and just grabbed things off of the shelves that other people were grabbing, I didn’t even look at what I grabbed until I got in line. Make sure you bring a friend or your husband to be the “line keeper”, if he gets in line almost immediately, then once you’re done with your shopping, you should only have to wait in line for 10 minutes or so.

Waiting in lines on black Friday and trying to get through to the some of the websites on Cyber Monday are the hottest things to do now. Next we’ll all be starting to shop for Christmas in July, you just wait, it WILL happen. And yes, I will probably be shopping in July because I am one of “those” people that the marketing works on.

Consider a Grand Re-opening Event to Generate Positive P.R.

Recently, Beyond Marketing was hired by PostNet in Woodinville to manage a grand re-opening event. We created custom invitations and flyers and worked with the Woodinville Chamber of Commerce to invite local businesses. We created and submitted press releases to the local papers and with the help of PostNet’s new owner, Terry Mead, generated some good word-of-mouth advertising.

But, how do you measure the success of your grand re-opening? Is it the number of people that attend, or should your event’s success be measured by the number of quality connections you make?

For Terry Mead, he feels he generated a buzz and made some valuable, quality connections. He may not know for months the true value of hosting his grand re-opening. However, early reports indicate he achieved success by creating critical awareness within the community. He realized his goal of letting members of the Woodinville community know that his store is under new and improved management—an extremely important message considering the past owners left Terry with some negative perceptions about the store.

For a fairly inexpensive cost, a grand re-opening can be just the shot in the arm you need to get some positive P.R. If you are a new owner of a business, or have remodeled or improved your business, consider hosting a grand re-opening.

Top 5 Customer Service Mistakes

Top 5 Customer Service Mistakes

Knowing how important it is to treat your customers could mean the life and death of your business. If you are aware of common customer service mistakes and avoid them, you may strengthen your position in a competitive market.

1. Untrained staff. If your employees are not trained on how to treat your customers, you may as well count on losing half of your customer base. It doesn’t matter whether you have 2 employees or 50, training every employee is a must in ANY business.

2. Playing the “who’s right” game. It takes 5 times more effort and cost to gain one new customer as it takes to maintain one current customer. If you have to win that one argument then your business will end up being the cost of it.

3. Inaccessibility. Have you ever called to talk to someone about a problem or just to get answers about your account and you have to leave message after message to have someone call you back? It makes the customer feel that they are unimportant and now one really cares about their question or concern. If you want to see repeat business you need to be more accessible to your customers, even for the small things.

4. Unfulfilled promises. If you promise a customer that something would be ready by Thursday, then it should be there by Thursday. When you cannot make this happen, do not make excuses; the only words you need to remember are "We're sorry," backed up by an extra effort to make the customer happy. Offer a discount or a complimentary service then next time they come in.

5. Forgetting the basics. "Please," "thank you," "we're sorry about the inconvenience," and so on are simple phrases that cost nothing, take little effort, and win big points.