Tag Archives: branding

Forums and more Forums

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Communication Forums

Look around your mail or just check your emails and see how many different forums there are. Depending on your industry, you could probably attend one almost every month.

I’m not just speaking about the Internet Forums that exist. That too can be a lot to read, as there are probably hundreds more on the net. I’m referring to the forums that you attend.

Is that a good thing? I think so. But you need to evaluate each type of forum to decide which will offer you the best value…not just for the money, but what you will learn from it.

These are Publicity Forums, Advertising Forums, Hi-Tech Forums, Automotive Forums, Sports Forums, Health Food Forums, Cooking Forums, the list goes on.

The forums I like the most are about publicity, marketing and other related topics like branding.

I noticed a new publicity forum this week. It was recently held (about a week ago) in Pal Alto, CA.

Reading about it, I discovered that two people started this, named Elizabeth Albrycht and Jen McClure. They call it the New Communications Forum.

From what I heard and read, it went from only 90 people the first year (that’s actually a good turnout) to over 190 people this year.

The forum is definitely offering something good as indicated by the turnout.

So again I ask, are forums good? Yes, and the only problem is now deciding which ones to attend. But as most, you can usually find it on the Internet and read the highlights if you can’t attend all the forums you want.

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  • CorporatePR
    Commentary on the theory and practice of organizational communications from Elizabeth Albrycht

Keyword Prices

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Up or Down?

A follow up to yesterday’s blog, I thought it would be of interest to know a little more about keyword prices.

An article in the Research Brief appeared today that listed the top browsers and top categories in the financial industry. It identifies the number of unique audience (visitors, users). This in turn is one of the sources that companies use to gauge the value of key words in an industry. Then the bidding begins.

In another article by the Research Brief dated Feb 2, 2006, it mentions that keyword bidding prices are on the decline.

Hold up, you need to really read the full article. Only segments within an industry might be less costly. They based this report on the fact that more keywords and phrases are being developed by companies and are used in the bidding process, which in turn means more specific choices for customers to type in the search engines.

In all, costs are not really going down, just more choices. More targeted words are being used.

An example shows that in the automotive market, from Oct 2005 to Dec 2005, the average keyword went from $1.30 to $1.52. In contrast, such as a saturated market like Mortgages-Finance went from $3.66 to $3.30 (in that same period).

This further reinforces my point from yesterday. Keywords are good sources to build traffic, but can you really afford it?

I guess it all depends on your outlook, your budget and how aggressive you want to be.

The best way to get positive results is with a mix of keywords (if you are a believer in this media) plus a solid publicity program and a good web marketing campaign. This will build the image and branding you need along with qualified results.

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Publicity Can Be Good or Bad

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Make the right decisions

People tend to think that all publicity is great. Well, let’s think this through.

If you align yourself with as controversial subject, or company, or person, then you too will inherit that image.

Here’s a good example. In today’s paper, Cindy Sheehan was posing with Venezuela’s president while she continued to show her protest against president Bush’s war program.

I’m not here to judge her, only pointing out, like Dan Janal did in his blog this morning, that this association puts a major risk on her being compared to Jane Fonda during the Viet Nam war. Is this the type of pr you want for your company? If not, then re-think who you team up with and who your company associates with.

Let me go another step further.

Building a positive brand takes positive association. Begin to build a branding program with "co-op". This term means to align your company with a tie in that will garner you good pr and with a positive brand recognition.

Examples are when United Airlines decided to serve Starbucks coffee in-flight, it gained a lot of good pr and approval by the passengers. You also see this in automobiles that use branded names for their stereo systems to let consumers know they are a quality auto manufacturer. It’s the co-op and association that elevates your brand, or in Cindy’s case, lowers her position.

Build branding faster and in a positive pace by aligning yourself with companies that already have customer acceptance. Have a plan that includes co-op, but don’t just do this as a one shot deal. Have a plan that might include other co-ops throughout the year. Then one day someone will knock on your company door asking to co-op with you. It’s good PR.

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How To Build A Brand

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Branding can be for any company

Is branding only for the major companies  (Fortune 100) that we all recognize such as Coke, Microsoft, Starbucks, Nike, and others?

No, it is for any size company. But what it takes to create a brand is a solid program design to be enforced by all executives and employees of a company.

It needs to start from the top of the command post, the CEO, or COO and the Presidents of companies.

If you are really serious about creating a branding for your company work with a professional company to guide you in the right direction. Our company, Carson and Company, has been working with major clients to help build and establish their brands. Another blog article  The DNA of Branding lead me to a person that supports my beliefs.

To further illustrate my point about any size company, large or small can establish a branding image, I recommend you read a book by Patrick Hanlon titled: Primal Need. In the book he describes the reasons why people buy the products they do and why we choose such products. he is also the founder and CEO of Thinktopia.

Basically, it all comes to "preference". Mr. Hanlon believes that preference creates sales. I would agree, because if you have a preference of one product over another, the choice you just made was the branding it has established.

Other factors are also important according to Mr. Hanlon. He addresses in his book that primal branding creates a belief system that surrounds your brand; this makes you go beyond functionally, features and benefits. He says it’s like a pattern or a language.

Make branding a priortiy in your business. And don’t be affraid to make sublte changes, it’s how you grow a brand.

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Publicity in all places

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Your Mission Message

I was wondering this afternoon if any companies have taken publicity to another level.

Well I think I found one.

I saw Dan Janals‘ blog that spoke about the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas using publicity at, and what I call, the next level pr.

He mentioned that when he purchased water from the hotel (Wynn’s own brand) it tasted so good that he complimented the worker on its fresh smooth taste. The worker’s reply was "does it make you want to gamble?’

According to Dan, he thought "now that’s a mission statement!" He also realized all of the workers and the different sections of the hotel (registration, restaurant) all gave you the feeling of wanting to be there. That in turn will get people who enjoy the gaming part want to stay longer.

Then as he entered the elevator, he noticed all the buttons had names of the floors, like spa, casino, rather than First Floor, etc. This is another way of re-enforcing their mission statement…which is all connected to their BRANDING.

You will notice more and more that building a brand has become essential in building a successful business.

Make sure you include with your publicity a branding program. It’s the smart way to do business.
 

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How To Make a Better Image

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Know your core strengths

A new client called us to help them create and improve their company’s image. This is a typical call for us. For over 25 years we have been helping clients like this re-position themselves through a branding program.

Our team of strategists and designers are already working on the client’s campaign.

We will begin with a corporate brochure that will include several insert sheets for them to distribute at upcoming trade shows.

The logo is a well recognized image and we prefer to use the existing design. What was missing was a coordinated effort of the parent name with all the other brand names that the company has acquired over the past few years.

At this time I cannot reveal the name of this company, but they are in the food business and have good consumer recognition, it just hasn’t been positioned properly to compete with other industry companies.

As we are developing the plan, the client has immediate needs. That’s why we are working on the collateral materials. We have the "core" program in mind and are using this to work from. All other campaign elements such as pr, marketing and ads, will use the core identity as the common thread to establish the branding and positioning.

Sometimes a company needs to be reminded what their main (core) business is all about. Too often, as companies grow, or aquire others, they loose sight of their main business. This usually causes a decline in sales and reduced market share.

Need help in establishing a branding program? We’re here to help you as we have for dozens of clients for the past 25+ years. Call us, and we’ll show you how to make a better image.

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Publicity at Parties

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Publicity is Everywhere series

To continue with my belief that publicity is everywhere, I was listening to the radio this morning and a talk show host Bill Handel on KFI (in LA), mentioned " helpful tips" at holiday office parties.

Bill discussed how to act, how to be conservative in drinking, and which parties (considering there are more than one at your office) do you attend. This is all PR. Why? Because it is how you act, what you say, and how drunk you get is what your bosses, and supervisors will judge you on.

He went on to explain that most raises for next year, bonuses and promotions are determined at holiday parties. So as you now can see, PR is a major part of YOU when attending office parties.

And you thought PR was only reserved for a company. Think about it for a moment. People make up companies. Yes, they may have a logo, or a catchy tag line, but it is the interaction and communication with the people in a company that really presents a company’s image, branding!

So be on your toes at the next holiday office party, because it could be your only opportunity to "promote" yourself.

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Branding and Publicity

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Both of these words work hand-in-hand. As you begin a publicity campaign, no matter how large or small, it soon will create that image, or branding for your company.

The glue that ties all this together is the marketing. So be careful as to what you say to the media and the sales materials you create, because all of these build that branding image in your company.

More important is your company’s corporate culture. This is a major part of the building blocks that create your branding. From the CFO, to the president to the shipping department, everyone in your company is creating the branding that will be seen by the competition and your customers. It’s important to have a company handbook that clearly identifies your company’s image, the mission statement and philosophy.

This is what you will use to help market your company. It is your road map to a publicity campaign. The branding of who you are will set the path for you. You can always modify your path, but be certain that it will have an impact on your branding as well.

Just like a publicity campaign, your branding image doesn’t happen overnight. It needs to be carefully structured.

If the lesson you learn is that your company’s image is created from within, then you are on the right track.

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