Public relations

Social Media is still Media

Posted at March 22, 2010 // Public relations, Strategy / Tactics, Web

Marketers like to talk about social media as a marketing platform. How can we get the message out? How can we control the message? How can we leverage this? Well, here’s the thing. The thing about social media is that it is in fact a media venue. (I heard about the health care reform on social media channels before I caught it on traditional news channels.)

Recently, I learned an equation from Michael Levine’s book, A Branded World: Adventures in Public Relations and the Creation of Superbrands. Branding = marketing + advertising + public relations.

Branding is the all encompassing effort of building a brand. It starts with marketing. Marketing defines the strategy. Marketing defines the 4Ps. Marketing defines the positioning.

Marketing’s plan gets translated into words and visuals through advertising.

Public relations builds on the advertising campaign and turns marketing’s plan into actions. Such actions include gathering media attention.

In that case, social media really falls into the realm of public relations. You build a relationship with bloggers the same way you build a relationship with traditional journalists. You “control” the message the same way – truthfully, honestly, and organically. It’s the same idea as controlling the press. Today, in addition to asking the question “What would the press say?”, we need to also ask “What would the world say?”

The world may be changing, but the basics still hold.

Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Tags : Public relations, Social media, Web

Up In The Air

Posted at December 25, 2009 // Advertising, Promotion, Public relations, Strategy / Tactics

Up In The Air, staring George Clooney, opens nationwide on Christmas. I previewed the movie and enjoyed it. My friends gave it just okay reviews. See for yourself, and give your own ratings.

But, why am I writing about a movie on this blog? Because I thought it was great movie for product placement. Unlike James Bond movies where each product flashes in front of you for mere seconds, the products in this movie were an integral part of the movie. They really sold it. I think it was one of the best movies for product placement since the Italian Job.

What products were featured? American Airline, Hilton, Travelpro, and Hertz. Just to name a few.

Travelpro is a line of luggage. This movie showed again and again how great these luggage moves. They spin. They roll. They go everywhere with ease. All the cool jetsetters use them. Way better than the old clunky suitcases you may have at home (in fact, there is a scene dedicated to this point).

Hertz, it gets you in and out fast. If you’re a Hertz loyal customer, you can get in and out in seconds. No long lines. In fact, they will “move mountains” to get you the car you want.

Hilton hotels have plush soft beds, and comfy little robes and slippers. Hilton hotels offer all the comfort of home and then some, well, at least to a guy that travels for a living. Of course, don’t forget about the Hiltons HHonors program! It’s a great promotion (George Clooney said it, not me). Plus, you get to skip the lines and get the preferred VIP treatment! Loyalty pays.

Talking about Loyalty, let’s talk about the featured star: American Airline. American Airline can take you everywhere! It satisfies even the needs of someone who travels over 340 days and 300,000 miles a year! And once again, loyalty pays. If you’re a loyal customer, you get to use exclusive lounges, be greeted by a custom greeting, and even, if you’re really really really loyal, get your own dedicated customer service phone line. Ahh, I want to join AAdvantage now!

Ahh, product placement… when done well it’s integrated into the story line, while leaving you with a good impression of the brand.

Photo credit: American Airlines, originally uploaded by anneh632.

Up in the Air: George Clooney becomes a frequent flyer (gadling.com)
EXCLUSIVE: The Product Guy “Up in the Air” (tpgblog.com)

Tags : Product placement, Strategy / Tactics

Money vs Time

Posted at October 11, 2009 // Promotion, Public relations, Strategy / Tactics, Web

This week I learned that the more money you have, the less time you have to spend on any particular tasks. You could hire someone to do it for you.

However, if you don’t have the money, you’d have to spend more time.

This is the equation that any marketer must understand. You don’t need to have a lot of money to have a successful campaign. However, the smaller your budget, the harder each dollar must work, the more creative you’d have to be, the more work you’d have to do yourself. The larger the budget, the more crazy stuffs you could try, the more you could have someone else do the work for you.

However, a small budget shouldn’t limit the success of your marketing campaign.

What’s sad is that this formula, that’s so obvious with small businesses, is sometimes forgotten by big companies.

This is the new economy. This is the new reality. This is a new year. This is the new budget. Everyone of us needs to learn to do more with less.

Photo Credit: funny money, originally uploaded by Material Boy.