There is no doubt that social media has made the world a smaller place.  By now most of us have incorporated Facebook, YouTube and Twitter into the fabric of our daily lives and changed the way we communicate with others.   However, no event has demonstrated the extraordinary power of social media quite like the recent earthquake in Haiti.  Suddenly Twitter is no longer just a fun way of socializing, but has become a critical tool in saving countless lives in the aftermath of the disaster.   As we speak, thousands of people are tweeting about Haiti, spreading the word, building support and disseminating important and timely information to those who need it around the world.  There are currently about 100 tweets a minute being posted about Haiti, and it is estimated that there have been more than 150,000 tweets about the Red Cross, helping to raise over $20 million for the charity’s Haiti relief effort.

Although social media has been used as a platform in emergency situations in the past, it has never had this much success in actually making a difference where it matters most.  Relief organizations seem to be harnessing Twitter more effectively than before, applying it in conjunction with other mediums to boost fundraising and spread awareness far and wide in a very short time.  Volunteers working in the disaster zone are using Twitter to share information with each other and coordinate their relief efforts to ensure that they are responding in the most effective way possible. 

Traditional media outlets are also using Twitter to disseminate news quickly and easily.  Early this morning a Toronto Star reporter tweeted in the middle of a 6.1 aftershock that she felt a tremor but had run outside and was safe.  As news of the second earthquake broke, Twitter temporarily crashed due to the high volume of tweets trying to get through.  News programmes were actually reading tweets from Haiti live on-air to give viewers the latest information about the aftershock.  Phone lines in Haiti are down and even text messages are taking up to 2 days to get through, therefore social media is stepping in where telecommunication is failing. 

Although people are still relying on traditional media to get their information about Haiti, they are using Twitter to react to the situation, share their feelings, and seek solace with people in the Internet community.  For the first time after a natural disaster of this magnitude, Twitter is allowing followers to witness events as they unfold through the eyes of those who are in the centre of the action.  Not only can people share in the pain of Haitians as they struggle to come to terms with what has happened, but they can also share joy in the wonderful stories of hope and survival that are emerging from the rubble. 

Some aid workers argue that immediacy is not the same as impact, and they worry that technology is actually having a negative effect on the Haiti relief effort by distracting people from the magnitude of the disaster.  Charities are concerned that social media users will have forgotten about Haiti in a few days and will turn their attention to another fad topic, when it may take years before Haitians fully recover from the disaster. 

While this may or may not be true, the point is that Twitter has started the conversation about Haiti and people are talking about it more than ever before.  Social media has allowed people to connect over this disaster on a global scale, and it has revolutionized the way we can help those who need it the most.  Imagine the possibilities if Twitter had existed during 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.  Twitter is saving lives in Haiti because it is giving people a medium to come together and show how much they care.  While the earthquake is a terrible tragedy, it may make people finally sit up and take notice of this impoverished country and force the world to take steps to make a difference in Haiti, not just now, but in the years to come. 

Does every company have a brand? Does every company need a brand? What do you think of when you hear the name of a company? Does it conjure up positive feelings or negative ones? What is a brand? What makes a good brand? How do I get a good brand name when I don’t have the resources of a Tim Hortons or Bell? Let us explore a few of these areas to demystify the world of branding.

Firstly, let’s define a brand. Brand is what people think about when they hear your name – it is the perception of your company in the market. Brand is more than a logo, it is more than a tag line, it is more than a well crafted advertising campaign. A brand is what you stand for and it is how you are perceived in the marketplace. You do not really own your brand. You own the logos, the copyright etc... Your brand is what the market thinks of you based on your brand and related activities. It is ultimately how you are perceived.

Does every company need a brand? Every company is a brand whether you are an auto body shop or a Twenty-Million dollar enterprise. You may never have focused on your brand; you may have spent your time on building a solid reliable business with excellent service and great clients. But now you have to grow. What do you do to get to the world outside your immediate customer base? How do you differentiate your offering? Of course you need great strategies and solid tactical approach to executing on those objectives, but how do you facilitate that effort? This is where your brand becomes extremely valuable. Still not convinced? Think about these three questions:

1. Did you ever lose an account where you had the better value proposition?

Maybe you were beaten by a better brand?

2. Do your sales executives tell you “no one knows who we are”?

Maybe they spend a lot of time on ineffective prospecting.

3. You rarely get leads “because the prospect has heard of you”.

The brand can sell for you when you have an integrated approach to building your brand.

Brand can shorten the sales cycle because your credibility is established early which saves time during the prospecting phase. Your sales people can actually increase their productivity with an investment in your brand. In our view “the Brand” or your brand is affected positively or negatively at every “touch point” you have with your prospects, suppliers, customers, potential recruits – every point you reach outside of your organization. In other words, everything you communicate with the marketplace impacts on your brand. 

We believe that in order to “Live your Brand” you need to have an Integrated Thinking approach to your brand strategy. It does not start and stop with Marketing. It involves every employee, supplier, partner (and so on…) with whom your business comes into contact. It can be as simple as ensuring your receptionist 

communicates your core messages accurately and passionately.

So what are some of the branding items you should consider?

1. Make sure your Key Messages are simple and accurately describe what you do.

2. These messages need to be embedded in all your marketing collateral, advertising copy, web site etc..

3. The messages need to be communicated internally so that all staff has a comfort level with what makes you unique. If you don’t know what that is look harder, your clients buy from you for a reason, find out what that is.

4. If you plan to get some media exposure you need to have your spokespeople trained on the basics of Media Relations and interview strategies.

5. Your spokespeople also need to be trained in effective speaking to ensure that they enhance your company brand when public speaking in front of your prospects and clients.

6. Your sales team needs to internalize these messages without improvisation. Your feet on the street communicate with hundreds if not thousands of prospects in a given year; they need to be on message. 

These are just a few simple steps every company can do to begin to build their brand. There are of course many others that would likely require the use of PR agencies, but in fact that investment can have a great long term ROI. Generally, the cost of PR can be close to the salary of one mid level employee annually. Clearly, branding is tough to measure as PR is tough to measure, but we always know when we get good PR because our clients and prospects tell us so.

Branding makes the company relevant. When you are known, it facilitates all other sales and related activities.

Everyone that “touches” your organization in any way must come away with a good positive feeling. This enhances the essence of your brand. 

“Live your Brand every day, after all – it is who you are…”

Starting your PR Plan

When is the right time to start a PR Plan?

The answer is NOW. It doesn't matter if you are "Joe's Bike Shop" or a multi-national conglomerate - almost every business has a story to tell. It is never too early to start a PR Plan. 

If you realize that there are things you don't know about your industry - take the time to learn. Also, once you embark on a PR Plan, make sure you read the newspaper every day. Don't forget about your industry trade magazines as well. 

Many daily newspapers and trade publications have clipping services available that allow you to view the news headlines and stories that only you are interested in. You can sign up on-line for this service at the publication's web site, as it is important to stay informed. You can also set up search criteria in "Google News". This is a great way to stay on top of news coverage in your industry as well as what news coverage your competitors are enjoying. 

Who do I target with my PR Plan?

First, decide who makes up your target audience. This would include your customers, investors (if you have any) and usually your local community. Now, find out what publications they read and what radio and television stations they prefer. If your target demographic is the stay-at-home mom between the ages of 29-45, you may want to target lifestyle magazines, fashion magazines, parenting magazines, home and lifestyle shows, the Oprah show and parenting sections of the local and national newspaper. The list could be more extensive depending on what you are selling. 

If you are in a particular industry, such as technology, you would want to target technology publications that write about your product or service, technology sections of the local and national newspapers, major magazines about technology and the various technology reporters for the news programming and specialty shows (Tech TV).

You would also want to target trade shows, either for display or speaking opportunities, as well as conferences if you can present an interesting topic that is relevant to the conference. Local Boards of Trade/Commerce are also good places to approach.

Where do I start?

For some reason, there's a misconception that the way to get publicity is to write a catchy press/media release and then send it out to thousands of editors. 

Under this perception, the more editors you get on your list, the higher your probability of success. 

While this may occasionally be true, in most cases, PR is not about scattering your message to anyone and everyone; it's about carefully seeding your pitches to the right people, the people who control the media you most want exposure in, with specialty pitches designed just for them. In other words, it's all about relationships.

In sales, there are many strategies that stress the idea of collaborating with the customer. Since PR is arguably a sales process (selling the media on covering your story instead of someone else's), PR success rates increase considerably with your ability to collaborate with your customer - in this case, the editors, journalists, and producers who control access to the media audience you are trying to reach.

These gatekeepers are more likely to choose to cover your story if you develop a relationship with them and work to understand their needs. This means knowing their editorial deadlines or production schedules, being highly responsive, getting interviews with the right people and providing the right information at the right time.

How do I start a PR Program?

Begin by outlining the steps you need to take to get the media interested in what you are doing. 

Put together a calendar and plot the times of year that your business has the best chance of finding its way into the news (story lines). For example, the start of the holiday season in November/December is a great time to be featured in industry news stories about on-line shopping. The close of a financial year is a good time to pitch a story about "Tax Tips" or "How to Claim Expenses". 

Decide what type of newsworthy angles you could add in to get the journalists' attention. In short, create a document of "Top Stories" and plan the timing for distribution.

Think about how you can make it easier for journalists to contact you and how they can have easier access to what your company has done in the past to generate exposure. Almost every major company has a media room section on their web site. Build your own media room, complete with a media release section in chronological order and post the name, full street address, phone numbers, and e-mail address of your company. 

You will find that making this information easily available to the media is a huge benefit when you send out future media releases since it gives them a resource to do a little bit of research before they contact you. 

Become the voice of your company, and have reporters come to you for your analysis and interpretation of trends within the marketplace. It is easier than you think it is. Most media professionals are overworked and on a deadline. You can be a go-to expert just by being available and providing relevant comments and opinions.

Once you implement this strategy, you are likely to find your name mentioned on various web sites and in magazines that you hadn't even thought to target with company news. Sure, there are times when your media releases get less exposure than you'd like, but that's the nature of the business. More than anything else, you will learn to be flexible if you are going to stay ahead of the game. It may mean having to adjust your strategy in a year, or even after six months, to make it more effective. 

Trade shows are a wonderful opportunity to enhance your brand. Every chance you get to be in front of your target audience and/or the media is a great opportunity. 

Trade shows help level the playing field for smaller firms - even small companies can usually afford attractive displays. With creative marketing and booth design, small businesses can actually appear as substantial as larger corporations. 

Most companies choose trade shows as a marketing vehicle for a number of reasons including generating sales leads, enhancing your image and visibility, reaching a specific audience, establishing a presence in the marketplace, improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your marketing efforts, personally meeting your customers, competitors, and suppliers and prospecting for new customers.

It is a wonderful way to introduce new products and services, demonstrate your product in ways not possible with other marketing channels, recruiting distributors or dealers and educating your target audience. Trade shows also offer an opportunity to share your expert status by taking advantage of speaking opportunities. 

If prospects or suppliers feel good about interactions with your staff – they will tell others - creating a buzz about your company. Usually, your sales and/or technical staff will man your booth and meet prospects. Delegate someone to manage the lead tracking system. Your sales and technical team need to focus on the visitors to the booth. 

An executive should be in attendance, just in case media opportunities arise. Often, the media visit the booth and want a quick word with a representative of the company. You do not want an untrained employee speaking to the media – it can be a disaster. Booth staff should know what to say if media want information and should offer to contact the person best qualified to answer questions. 

Since trade shows generally take place at a single location, are usually one to three days only and bring together thousands of exhibitors and potential customers, they are a very powerful marketing medium that is, if you target geographies appropriately. Pick your shows by location, if it is an international show; evaluate the value of “being seen” as opposed to “making sales”. 

Invite attending media to your booth in advance. Work with the show organizers to see what branding opportunities exist. Get your company name listed in the pre-show promotion, sponsor a breakfast, lunch, break or after-hours event. Consider sponsoring the media room, or pay for and brand give-away bags. 

Look for innovative and economical ways to get your name out there. Leverage your supplier/partners who often spend significant resources in marketing and PR. If you participate in their booth or let them in yours, you will get a PR boost from the association with a strong brand. 

You are representing your company and brand, so your professional image is critical at a show. Look interested - captivate your prospects…make an impression!

Here’s how - have a good breakfast; you will need the energy and make sure your clothing is pressed and clean and your shoes are shined. Make sure to have a good night’s rest. Trade shows can be a great party time. The after-hours events are great networking opportunities, but don’t over do it – you will pay for it the next day! A tired, hung-over booth representative is not good PR! 

Don’t pounce on visitors as they approach the booth, instead smile and engage them. Spend a bit of money, thought and effort on your booth. If your budget doesn’t allow for a booth this year, attend anyways so that you can check out the competition and get some great ideas for your booth next year.