Justin Rubner

Archive for the ‘marketing strategy’ Category

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What Pink Floyd Can Teach Us About PR

In marketing strategy, public relations, social media on 08/16/2011 at 9:00 am

Maybe it’s the economy. Maybe PR people aren’t good at publicizing the benefits of PR. Either way, the longer I spend in this industry, the more I’m reminded of one of my favorite Pink Floyd-isms:

“If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?”

In this case, the meat represents tactics: A strong message, solid writing, thought leadership, press relations, social media.

The pudding is the reward: More conversions, name recognition, instant credibility, media coverage, brand engagement.

So many companies spend all of their resources on direct product marketing and collateral and expect big returns. These tactics are crucial. If done well, they will help increase name recognition.

But as I often tell clients, PR accomplishes this goal and establishes credibility. Social media, on the other hand, brings brand engagement to the mix. And a strong message? It’s the glue that holds everything together.

If you ignore or even downplay these tactics, how many rewards are you potentially missing?

After all, any company can advertise. But when a company is mentioned in a respected news outlet, it establishes an instant reputation that no ad, press release or whitepaper can. And when a company is doing a good job at social media, it’s  engaging people–exponentially–in a way no story can.

However, if you’re contributing to only part of this list, your marketing efforts will likely suffer. All social media and no PR will not garner nearly as much credibility. All PR and no social delivers little engagement. A strong message with no way to promote it is downright useless. And a strong promotional machine with no message is like yelling in the wind. In Northern Saskatchewan.

In other words, strive for balance.

My recommendations:

  1. Develop a core message that resonates with potential clients.
  2. Develop talking points for media relations.
  3. Use this messaging consistently.
  4. Write well. The other day, I read a case study with a major grammatical error in the lead sentence. Almost as bad, it, like many others, was mind-numbingly dry. There’s no reason for either. Bad grammar or dry writing negatively impacts your image or at the very least causes people to not read your material.
  5. Focus your PR efforts on thought leadership, accomplishments and near-term expansion plans–not your product.
  6. Identify trade publications and opportunities for coverage.
  7. Identify local media outlets, paying close attention to editorial calendars. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’ll be seen as too small by getting local coverage. Unless it’s a story on your company picnic, local coverage–from small capital raises to large expansions–establishes credibility.
  8. Identify national mainstream outlets that cover your industry. Don’t think you absolutely can’t get national coverage. That’s where your focus on thought leadership will help.
  9. Don’t treat social media as a push channel. If you’re not finding ways to engage people, you’re really not using it to your full advantage.
  10. Find ways to promote marketing collateral such as whitepapers through PR and social channels.
  11. Find ways to make your company more than just another brick in the wall.

- Justin Rubner

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Brand Engagement, Career Evangelism: A Look at Plantville and B2B Games

In marketing strategy, public relations on 06/08/2011 at 3:13 pm

Could an online game raise visibility for a global company, be fun to play and help recruit a future generation of engineers?

Siemens Industry thinks so.

Plantville

Plantville is a creative way to raise corporate visibility and spark interest in engineering careers.

The German-based industrial technology giant, which makes everything from electric motors to solar cells, has been operating an online game called Plantville for two months and has plans to expand it in the near future.

The game puts you, the factory manager, in charge of running three plants–Beewell Vitamin Co., Quenchco Bottling Co. and Hopon Train Co.

It’s a bit like FarmVille, the wildly popular game on Facebook and iPhone developed by Zynga. Only instead of earning Experience Points (XP) and growing tomatoes, you’re improving Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and hiring assembly workers.

Tom Varney, head of marketing communications for Siemens Industry, recently sat down with me and talked about Plantville. He said the game already has 12,000 active players, operates in 136 countries, and is in use at 500 universities and schools worldwide. As for metrics, the average user is on the Plantville website for 14 minutes, he says.

Think a whitepaper could engage that many people for that long?

Goals for the game include:

  1. Company awareness. Every product you order as a plant manager–from surveillance systems to conveyor systems–are made by Siemens Industry.
  2. Lead generation. The game provides Siemens Industry with a list of viable prospects.
  3. Internal education. This might come more of a surprise as the above two goals, but given Siemens Industry’s enormous size and product breadth, employees have learned about solutions they previously didn’t know about.
  4. Career evangelism. Getting kids more interested in industrial engineering could be Siemens Industry’s most important goal for Plantville.

After playing the game, I most definitely see this as a tool that could help in the career evangelism role. As you might know, American manufacturers are expecting a critical shortage of engineering talent in the coming years. The fear the nuclear industry has is well documented.

“Kids in high school no longer say ‘I want to work in a factory as an engineer,’” Varney says. “There are stigmas that it’s dirty, sweaty, dangerous or boring. One of our goals is reversing these stigmas. We really do hope we can help inspire the next generation of engineers and factory workers.”

Due to outsourcing and an overall shift in American culture and ethos, this talent shortage is widespread. Fixing the problem starts at college, high school and even sooner.

Companies such as Siemens Industry and Bell Helicopter know this.

“There’s a shortage of math, science and engineering skills, and global competition is only intensifying,” Bell Helicopter CEO John Garrison Jr. recently warned students at Texas Christian University, which was quoted in this story.

Recalling how many horrible exercises I had in school, I can see Plantville being popular with kids. Just recently, Varney was pleasantly surprised to see a large number of users at a South Georgia high school logging in to play the game.

“There’s a real fight for talent and it’s only getting worse,” Varney says. “This is one of many things Siemens can do to raise its profile in the education system.”

Engagement is Better Than ‘Any ROI Calculator’

Many large B2B companies have launched games to promote brand engagement. IBM, GM and Microsoft come to mind right away.

One Forrester analyst has high praise for IBM’s CityOne game. He says games such as these do a lot more than just grab your attention. They explain “where a company’s products and services fit into the machinery of the real world.” He adds that “someone might quibble with the details, but if they’re quibbling, they’re engaged. And if they’re engaged, you’re communicating your value proposition more effectively than any ROI calculator.”

How Do I Get My CEO to OK a Game?

Getting approval for a project like this likely takes some perseverance. But mostly, it’s about data.

Varney credits his CEO and CFO for having the vision to spend money on a year-long development project. He says the data was just too persuasive to pass up. That data showed alarmingly positive trends in social media, mobile apps, B2B games and more.

“We had to get the higher-ups to latch on,” Varney says. “Without hesitation, they saw it as an innovative approach. There are always a lot of proposals, and they could have killed this one, but they had guts and gave us a green light.”

Unlike companies such as Google and many mobile-app developers, Siemens Industry wanted the game to be as slick and bug-free as possible–right away.

Utopia

Remember Utopia?

Plantville is, in fact, slick, bug-free (for me, at least) and enjoyable to play. While it’s certainly similar to FarmVille, naysayers should be reminded of a popular Intellivision game in the 80s called Utopia that had players in charge of their own islands. In the 90s, it was SimCity, only the thing you were in charge of was cities.

Speaking of mobile apps, that is most definitely on the table. Varney says the company is seriously considering adding the game to mobile platforms

I hope Siemens Industry releases Plantville on Android. Nothing against Angry Birds, but a mobile Plantville game would actually teach you something.

-Justin Rubner

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If You’re Crafting a Core Message, Don’t Forget the Cliché Eraser

In business communications, copywriting, marketing strategy on 04/20/2011 at 8:30 am

If you’re crafting a core message, the good news is there are only three tools you need:

A stopwatch, an in-depth thesaurus and a Copycation-style cliché eraser, all of which will help you say more with fewer words.

The bad news? Saying more with fewer words strains brain cells.

Cliche eraser

Meet the Copycation cliché eraser. It despises clichés.

Wait. Shouldn’t it be easier to say what you do and how you’re different in three sentences…as opposed to 30? Fewer words to write, right?

If you’ve brainstormed a tagline or headline, you know that’s not the case. I don’t have an exact formula, but it goes something like this: Writing short is X to the nth degree more difficult than writing long.

When delivering your core message to uninformed prospects, keeping it short is imperative because attention spans are short. At the same time, your short message needs to say big things.

So, what’s a core message? It’s the heart of  all communication efforts. Like homepages. And social-media campaigns. Or sales pitches.

Crafting a core message

Your core message, or elevator pitch, should take about 20 seconds to deliver.

Even elevator pitches, which are the same thing as a core message.

If your website or team can’t succinctly articulate your core message in about 20 seconds–that’s two to four sentences–then you’ve lost your prospect’s attention. Your only hope is a really patient reader. Or a stalled elevator.

For everyone else, here are six attributes that should  be conveyed, more or less, in a core message:

  1. What you do.
  2. Your brand identity or “heart”.
  3. Your primary product(s) or service(s).
  4. Your primary advantages.
  5. Your primary differentiating features.
  6. Your primary market(s) or application(s).

Not only should these attributes be conveyed in just a few sentences, AND pass the 20-Second Rule, a core message should also pass the Single Breath Rule. That is, if you have to take more than one breath while reading a sentence, break it into multiple sentences.

However, before you start the core message process, here are some universal writing tips:

  1. Describe how your product or service helps customers…in addition to mentioning your cool features.
  2. Focus only on what’s deeply important, eliminating all that’s not.
  3. Use tangible, concrete words, deploying the cliché eraser on mush such as “best in class”, “advanced”, “state of the art” or “leading”.
  4. Discover balance between differentiation and isolation, finding ways to set yourself apart without confusing the market.
  5. Convey more ideas in fewer, more powerful words.

With these tips in mind, I recommend creating a message matrix. The steps in creating a matrix can look something like this:

Thesaurus for crafting a core message

A thesaurus comes in handy when crafting a core message.

  1. Write down words that describe your product or service.
  2. Categorize them into primary and secondary advantages and features, knowing full well you’ll have 20 seconds to convey the primary ones.
  3. Eliminate the words that don’t fit into primary or secondary attributes, because too many ideas will muck up your message.
  4. Consolidate, examining where one word can take the place of three. Example: Why say your product is “intuitive”, “easy to use” and “simple” when you can convey those words with any of the above or something like “effortless”? For every redundant word you use, that’s one word that might drown the point you want to make.
  5. Choose the most universal, powerful word as your brand identity. To put it another way, is there one word that encapsulates your differentiation, most or all of your attributes, as well as your tagline? This diamond should be fused with your company or product name on first reference.

With these steps accomplished, your core message will be more powerful, cleaner and shorter. Plus, you’ll strain fewer brain cells–even with the advanced planning.

Best of all, you’ll eliminate a few clichés along the way.

- Justin Rubner

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The Restaurant That Loves a Bad Review

In marketing strategy, public relations on 02/16/2011 at 5:05 pm
Restaurant turns a bad review into good PR

Restaurant turns a bad review into good PR

No business wants to receive a bad review on Yelp.

But one, a popular gastropub in Chicago, Longman & Eagle, turned one into a great positive with this postcard.

You could say the reviewer, who apparently doesn’t know where a question mark goes, got served.

Dealing with bad reviews isn’t easy. Even if they’re nonsensical, like this one. The best way is to actually take reviews to heart and change the biggest thing people are complaining about.

It’s also important to engage reviewers. Often, if you’re honest, and offer to right any wrong they think you made, they’ll come around. Sometimes, they’ll even update a review to make it positive.

What else can you do? Encourage positive reviews with happy customers. In extreme cases, you can also start a content campaign to drown out bad reviews on search engines.

Kudos to this restaurant for coming up with an imaginative, and edgy, alternative solution. As you can see, Facebook fans ate it up.

Don’t know about the bone marrow. But next time I’m in Chicago, I’m game for the wild boar.

Facebook fans for Longman's & Eagle's

A great way to truly engage Facebook fans

- Justin Rubner

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I Love Your Brand…So Why Do You Spam Me?

In marketing strategy on 01/28/2011 at 4:09 pm

I’m an anti pack rat.

Clothes I haven’t worn in two years? I donate them. The VCR I haven’t used since 2001? Threw it away. Paperwork? Love going through my file cabinet and trashing as much as I can. Getting rid of useless stuff makes me happy.

Which brings me to information overload.

I recently went through my Gmail account and unsubscribed to 20 or so marketers. At first, I felt bad….I am a marketer after all. Felt even worse when I got a note that said they were sad to see me go.

But after a few, it felt great. Now, I log into Gmail in the morning…and wow…10 messages instead of 30. It’s freeing.

Information overload

Give us the option to customize the frequency of emails

One marketer I didn’t unsubscribe to at the time was Crate & Barrel, a furniture company.

Love the furniture. Love the brand. Hate the spam.

I did a search in my email today. Crate & Barrel was sending me, on average, a message every 2.15 days. Over the past three days, I’ve received three.

So I went to the bottom of the email to see about reducing  frequency. Only option was to unsubscribe. Which I did.

The moral? Be careful about the frequency of messages. No one needs to see emails from a furniture company every day.

Also, every email should have the option to customize messages.

I don’t want to hear about Crate & Barrel’s new lines. I would, however, like to hear when they’re having a big sale. In addition, consumers should have the option to customize frequency. Once a month is fine. Unfortunately, we often don’t get any customization options.

Don’t mean to single out Crate & Barrel. They make the same mistake many others make.

However, other companies, like Jos. A. Bank, a men’s clothing store, limit their marketing to me. In fact, I shop there every quarter when I get a direct mail (have never received an email from them) advertising a gazillion dress shirts for the price of one. I’m drawn in like a moth to a flame. Can’t help it.

I get something from Jos. A. Bank once a month or so. That means for every three direct-mail pieces the company sends, it receives at least $35 in revenue from me. Not a bad conversion rate, I’d say.

Now, if Jos. A Bank would only apply the same mega sales to dress shoes, they’d get $100 easily from me as quickly as it would take to drive to the nearest store.

-Justin Rubner

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A Messaging Platform Will Make Your Life Easier

In business communications, copywriting, marketing strategy on 01/04/2011 at 9:00 am

What’s one of the most important things to solidify before you re-brand or launch a website?

A messaging platform.

With a messaging platform, you know what you're diving into

A messaging platform is exactly what it sounds like–a foundation that all communications spring from. Crafted well, it can serve as the core document for creating engaging Web copy, pitching investors, communicating with the press, improving search-engine results and writing effective marketing collateral.

Without one, your team is executing marketing communications in (excuse the corporate jargon) silos. And when it comes time for Web content, you’re working…and re-working…and tweaking…copy over and over. Presentations take twice as long because you can’t agree on how to say what it is you actually do. Press releases, meanwhile, become a serious chore because you have no common point of reference.

A messaging platform will help save you from these problems. It’ll make your launch, and on-going marketing endeavors, easier. It’ll also end up giving you better messaging.

The process starts with a discovery session. During the session, you’ll be asked questions about your “secret sauce”, company lore, writing tone, competition and differentiation. From that session, a messaging platform should emerge and look something like this:

Positioning Statement

A positioning statement contains concise language on what you do, the markets you serve, who you’re trying to reach, how you’re different, and what goals you want to accomplish. Positioning statements are short. They’re written in plain, non-advertorial language any businessperson can understand.

Think you have this nailed? Do you offer a product? A service? Both? How do you say that? Do you want to say you’re a startup? Or, convey experience? Are you using the language of your customers? Or, parroting programmers and investors? Should you call your product an XYZ…or a ZYX? Focus on Benefit A…or B?

You have tough decisions to make.

Still think you have this nailed? Get your salesperson, chief marketing officer and chief architect in the same room and ask them to write a basic positioning statement. Nine out of 10 times they’ll have three different answers.

About Us

In most messaging platforms I create for clients, I craft an About Us page that can be used word for word on the website. This is the page readers click on to get basic information about your company.

I write these pages to inform and invoke emotion. You want to get readers to pick up the phone. You also want to explain–quickly–what you do and how you’re different so they don’t get frustrated.

Boilerplate

A boilerplate is the text beneath a press release. It contains the simple language of a positioning statement with a little more creativity. It’s intended for analysts, reporters and customers. It’s much shorter than the About Us page. It should be pithy but straightforward.

This language ought to be agreed on before you start publishing press releases.

Competitive Analysis

It’s always beneficial to have a matrix of your competitors’ taglines and core messaging compared with yours. It often includes your perceived weaknesses and strengths next to your competitors, as well as differentiation strategy.

You should never attempt to write Web copy without studying what your competitors are saying.

Creative Concepts

This section kicks it up a notch by offering some creative thoughts. I usually offer potential taglines, possible website headlines, homepage ideas and more. Some of these should be conservative; others should be a bit “out there” to get creative juices flowing.

Style Guide

This guide ensures that when you communicate, everyone is using the same style, spelling and grammar. For instance, do you log in or login? Should headlines be capitalized or not? What acronyms should you use? How should you handle trademarks?

The simple answer is, it’s often up to you. But you must be consistent. When you use one concept one way on the homepage, and another way on your Benefits page, you won’t look fluid. Some people might not notice this lack of consistency. Many will.

Website Navigation

Never rely solely on your designer for this. Any person contributing to the copy should be intimately involved in this process BEFORE he or she starts writing.

Power Words

This section contains phrases with good SEO strength. These words should be used on the homepage, in headlines, as close as possible to lead sentences, and in the back-end of the site to ensure search-engine effectiveness.

Core Recommendations

They include phrases to use, tone to strike (edgy vs. conservative, etc.), PR strategy, and much more.

A Small Investment Now Pays Big Later

You have two options before you re-brand or launch.

  1. Spend a little time now to have a solid messaging strategy so you can have more time later to run your business.
  2. Or save a little money up front and dive into your new market blind.

As you can tell, I’m bullish on the first option.

- Justin Rubner

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One Political Mailing That Actually Isn’t Offensive or Boring

In marketing strategy, public relations on 09/30/2010 at 4:39 pm

What small business owner hasn't had problems in this economy?

I recently saw this direct mail piece in my mailbox, and something about it made me want to read the entire thing. I’m usually either turned off by attacking or patronizing tones or bored because of mushy rhetoric.

In the mailing, Jill Chambers, a state representative in Georgia, defends against  alleged attacks from her competitor. While I haven’t monitored this particular race, and am not endorsing either candidate, I like Rep. Chambers’ approach.

Apparently, she had a business that recently went out of commission, and like many such transactions, it ended up with lawsuits and tax disputes. Seizing on a potential opportunity to cast her in a negative light, Chambers’ opponent supposedly ran attack ads on the matter.

Many constituents, myself included, often complain about attack ads. But study after study shows the unfortunate and sad practice works in close races. By early September 2010, candidates running for state and federal offices spent $395 million on commercials for the midterm elections, according to CNN and Campaign Media Analysis Group. That compares to $286 million for the 2006 midterms. On the Senate side, 70 percent of the ads were negative!

It’s obvious we pay more attention to attack ads. But sometimes, thankfully, negative campaigns backfire. Maybe, it will here too.

“When she attacks me for the loss of my savings and business,” Chambers says, “she is also attacking every single citizen who is suffering from the national economic downturn.”

Well said…and very true. While it may be a good tactic in a normal economy, going after an opponent’s failed business in 2010 is a bad idea in most circumstances. We can identify with struggling entrepreneurs. We cheer for them. When you attack them for their misfortunes, even if it is their fault, you are attacking all of us.

I like how Chambers defends herself here, without being defensive, and goes on the offense, without being offensive. Inside the mailing, she further explains her business tax issues, which is brilliant, and even gets into her personal life. Strategically,  she stems any attack before it happens.

Some might see this as desperate, Georgia political insiders particularly. I think most voters, however, will see it as brutal honesty, which is sorely lacking in politics.

I’m not saying her entire campaign has been clean; I’ve read some blog posts lamenting the representative’s own harsh tactics…which have worked. This particular ad also works, in a non negative way. It connects. It humanizes.

Negative campaigning will never go away in our lifetimes. I would prefer ads to say why Candidate X is better rather than why Candidate Y is worse. But if you must attack your competition, be careful you aren’t attacking potential constituents (or customers) when you do go down that slippery route.

-Justin Rubner

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It’s Not Just Your Product–Why Engaging Content and Brand Advocacy Are So Important

In marketing strategy, social media on 08/26/2010 at 4:06 pm

People trust the Internet more than they do salespeople

Did you know 83 percent of consumers are “somewhat to much” more confident about purchasing something after conducting online research than they are talking to someone in a so-called brick and mortar store?

That’s according to Lauren Freedman, President of Chicago-based e-Tailing Group, who spoke yesterday at an Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association event on e-commerce.

Freedman presented findings of a recent 2010 e-commerce trends survey her consultancy released.

The 83 percent example clearly shows the need for online content that accurately and easily explains your product’s or service’s value proposition. It also shows the need to create and maintain brand loyalists (and getting positive press in the media).

One trend Freedman mentioned was that product pages are increasingly emerging as a top destination for users. That means these pages must be compelling! Pictures and quick descriptions are no longer acceptable. Consumers are wanting those products to be explained and differentiated. They’re secretly hoping to be convinced.

It’s really simple–investing in content creation helps. If you’re looking to buy a stereo receiver, for example, and one retailer has in-depth content on what makes it so good, and another has just a few technical details, you’re going to be more attracted to the first retailer.

Another trend Freedman mentioned was the importance of user-generated reviews. With numerous review sites around, and especially Facebook and Twitter, reviews from customers can have a make or break impact. According to her company’s research, 72 percent of retailers say user-generated reviews have the biggest impact on buyer behavior than any other factor!

Here’s a quick quiz:

You’re looking to purchase a product or service. You’ve narrowed it down to three companies:

  1. Company A has 40 reviews, 35 of which are positive, and an active Facebook following with frequent company posts and user comments.
  2. Company B has one review, which is positive, and no Facebook following.
  3. Company C has 40 reviews, only five of which are positive, and a Facebook account that hasn’t been updated in four months.

Which are you going to choose, presuming the products and prices are somewhat similar?

Company A, I’d hope.

Company C clearly has issues–88 percent of customers had bad things to say and the company appears to not be very interested in connecting with them because of the lame Facebook page. Company B has only one real fan out there–yes, a 100 percent success rate–but what does that say about the company’s brand engagement? Company A, on the other hand, seems to care about connecting and 88 percent of customers rewarded it with positive reviews.

It’s clear from these examples that in a user-generated world, ignoring problems won’t only go away.

I recently heard of  a great company with a bad problem. It had more than 100 reviews on various sites such as Kudzu–almost all of which were blisteringly negative. But hardly no one was complaining about the product or customer service. They were instead complaining about overly aggressive sales tactics. Seems to me that of all things, sales tactics and after-the-sales-call tactics can be altered somewhat in a world where anyone can stew you alive in a blog, message thread or review site.

Overwhelmingly bad reviews are not going to bode well for long-term success. The company may have the best product in the world. But if prospects don’t know that, they will likely make their minds up with reviews.

Of course with social media, you are not in control–the user is–so there’s only so much you can do. But that does not mean you can’t help drive those users to become brand advocates.

Why not engage customers and prospects on Facebook and encourage them to write reviews if they’re happy? Why not offer unhappy customers the chance to write their complaints first in private to the company itself–instead of on Kudzu or Facebook, where the whole world can see? Why not engage unhappy reviewers online where you can help solve their problems? This goes a long way toward quelling future bad posts.

Another tactic to improve online reputation is keeping fresh content continually going to lower bad hits on Google.

And last, but not least, why not listen to these online complaints and adjust the things you can adjust?

Oh, and if you are interested in learning more about e-commerce trends, including mobile, I suggest you check out the e-Tailing Group survey here.

Until next time,

-Justin Rubner

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Is Video Worth It?

In business communications, marketing strategy on 08/13/2010 at 4:19 pm

You betchya…at least according to panelists at a recent BusinessWire event geared at promoting videos in press releases, e-mail campaigns  and websites.

The problem with any content–online, print, marketing, editorial or otherwise–is getting people to actually read (or watch) everything. Countless studies have determined that many people who do open documents such as press releases read only the headline and lead sentence. That is why the first few sentences are such crucial real estate, as I delve into in this previous post.

That is also why video is increasingly being used to accompany text communications to better engage potential customers.

Video can make your message more believable

According to some of the research presented at the event–I didn’t see all the sources of those stats–a video attached in a press release yields fives times as many clicks as a release with just text. Putting video in e-mails also yields more clicks, according to the presentations.

As for Web traffic, Jay Durgan, head of business development at MEDIAmobz, a video production solution company, said publishing videos on your site in short “digestible” chunks helps immensely. Stats he presented indicate 25 percent of video views occur within the first four days, and 50 percent within 14 days.

So… fresh content–video or text–is needed on a continual basis to get them coming back!

I took away two main tips:

  1. Don’t be a directorial dictator. Leave that to Hollywood. And Washington. If you try to control every word, you will never get the video produced. In other words, define and craft the message, but let there be some looseness in the production.
  2. Keep it short. No more than a minute and a half. No one’s attention span is that long anymore. In addition, any video designed to last longer will take too many takes because it’s too difficult to remember messaging / lines.

There are several reasons video is becoming more popular.

  1. It’s more affordable due to the wonders of digital technology. True, but it’s not exactly cheap either, unless you’re shooting it yourself on a Flip cam. (BusinessWire, a premium newswire, charges $395 for the first video, according to a packet handed out. That is in addition to its circuit fee.) But, video is now an attainable element for any company now.
  2. It creates authenticity and engages the user. I agree. When you see a CEO talking on a video–hopefully a short and engaging video–it connects you in a way words never could.
  3. It simplifies complexity. Also agree…but it needs to be in concert with your other messaging. A random video from Left Field that doesn’t tie into company messaging doesn’t seem to accomplish much.

In a future post, I plan on discussing writing for video–how it’s different and how to do it. And yes, there is a big difference.

I’ll leave on one thought. If these stats are true, and I do believe they are, then one reason behind the incredible click rates is that video is still not mainstream…so the freshness factor plays into it. Once videos start appearing in every company’s press releases, homepages and e-mails, and I hope it isn’t overdone, I see these click rates dropping immensely.

-Justin Rubner

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Bad Business Cliches and Why it’s Time to Decommission ‘Content is King’

In business communications, copywriting, marketing strategy on 07/23/2010 at 5:34 pm

Readers of Copycation know I hate acronyms. Almost as bad are clichés. The two go together like…peas and carrots.

Since everybody uses clichés, companies think they must use them in their marketing endeavors too. Problem is, since the words are so overused, they’re not effective at messaging your point.

Clichés are useless in business communications unless your business is selling t-shirts

A cliché, perhaps powerful once, gets watered down into a puddle of mushy gruel that for some reason everyone eats. It’s a vicious circle of gruel eating. Before you know it, every company is selling “best of breed” services to address the 800-pound gorilla: value-added synergistic seamless integration.

What?

I recently found this great list, “The Encyclopedia of Business Cliches.” Thankfully, more lists like this exist. But is anyone listening?

Take “content is king.”

It’s a phrase close to my heart, given the business I’m in. But, it’s so overused not enough people pay attention to it.

According to Wikipedia, the phrase, now a cliché, implies that organizations will likely “fail through lack of appealing content, regardless of other design factors.”

In other words, so many organizations, including agencies, spend so much time on design that the content part becomes a last-minute thing. So many organizations now have incredibly-designed websites and collateral and little of consequence to fill them. Sure, they may have a blog. But are they actually using it to say interesting things?

Both good design and engaging content are needed. It’s a “win-win” solution.  Good content will “leverage” a “paradigm shift” at your organization.

See how easy–and useless–mindless business clichés are?

Today, I came across this great content is king post from Larry Melnick on Atlanta Marketer’s Forum. In the post, he told how one agency got business due to dynamic content, including a blog. Apparently, the customer had been following the agency’s intelligent musings for a year and a half and was persuaded, in part, by those musings.

I’m here to tell you engaging static content as well as frequent news releases, blogs, case studies, reports, news and social media postings not only get your name out but also lead to business–that’s real ROI.

I’m a bit tired of content is king. I’m going to think of another phrase to replace it–because it’s clearly being said…but not heard. If you have any alternatives, please chime in.

-Justin Rubner

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