PR, Branding and positioning to take on goliath
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Practical, actionable tips to execute PR, branding and positioning in unison to grow your startup or small business. Focused on teams with limited resources. Given at Hubspot's INBOUND 2016 in Boston.
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PR, Branding and positioning to take on goliath
- 1. #INBOUND16 Make your business larger than life Christine Perkett @missusP @seedepthinc PR, BRANDING AND POSITIONING TO TAKE ON GOLIATH
- 2. #INBOUND16 1. The Importance of Branding 2. Today’s PR: Opportunities and Challenges 3. Today’s Best Tools For Startup Marketing Budgets 4. Case Studies 5. Framework for Self Sustaining (Almost) PR 6. Additional Resources AGENDA
- 3. #INBOUND16 1 THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
- 4. #INBOUND16 Account for 54% of all U.S. sales Provide 55% of all jobs Provide 66% of all net new jobs since the 1970s U.S. Census Bureau 28 million
- 5. #INBOUND16
- 6. #INBOUND16 HOW MUCH DOES BRANDING MATTER? A lot, especially when you’re the little guy!
- 7. #INBOUND16 “Your brand is your voice in the marketplace, and it is your proposition for disruption.” - Amy Cosper, Entrepreneur
- 8. #INBOUND16 1. Establishes Credibility 2. Creates Trust and Loyalty 3. Improves Recognition 4. Generates Interest 5. Builds Value 6. Is More Than a Logo! Branding isn’t just what you tell people, but what they believe based on the signals your brand sends. A Strong Brand
- 9. #INBOUND16 A Great Brand Story: • Taps into your target audiences’ emotions • Ties your values to your brand promise • Conveys the overall brand experience • Is powerful: relevant, memorable, consistent • Builds a strong and loyal customer base
- 10. #INBOUND16
- 11. #INBOUND16 Story Ties Into Promise #BrandPromiseBrandStory @missusP
- 12. #INBOUND16 Getting to Brand Position • Vision - should define a company’s ongoing purpose and overarching goal. It should be bold and aggressive – it may even feel unreachable. • Mission - defines the practical goals of the company and clearly defines what a company does. It should answer three questions: – What is it that we do? – How do we do it? – For whom are we doing it? • Elevator Pitch - should be a high level description of a brand that is persistently used by employees when asked what the company does
- 13. #INBOUND16 Getting to Brand Position • Positioning Statement - a specific, focused statement that competitively positions a brand vs real or perceived competitors. • Tagline - The tagline is a catchy descriptor that’s memorable and brief; often dramatic for effect. • Core Messages – Leadership Position – Unique Value Proposition – Competitive Differentiators
- 14. #INBOUND16 Getting to Brand Position • Proof Points – Proof Points are stats or stories that can back up a brand’s claims. They can be snippets of results for customers, credibility builders such as awards or speaking gigs, etc. They are the “proof” that our approach delivers stronger results, that our agency has experienced and respected executives, and more. • SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats – Real and perceived • Key Audience ID – Determine the key audiences for your brand and define key messages for each
- 15. #INBOUND16 1. Memorable 2. Consistent 3. Clear 4. Responsive “A brand is what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service or organization – whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.” – Tronvig Group Best Practices
- 17. #INBOUND16 “PUBLICITY IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. A GOOD PR STORY IS INFINITELY MORE EFFECTIVE THAN A FRONTPAGE AD.” - Sir Richard Branson
- 19. #INBOUND16
- 20. #INBOUND16
- 22. #INBOUND16 BUT IT DOES TAKE INVESTMENT Money People Interesting Stories Time
- 23. #INBOUND16 1. Business Goals 2. SMART plan 3. Tools & Resources 4. Management 5. Measurement
- 25. #INBOUND16 “Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but about the stories you tell.” - Seth Godin #storiesyoutell @missusP
- 26. #INBOUND16 1. Topical, timely 2. Emotional 3. Controversial, surprising or entertaining 4. Relevant 5. New 6. Informative 7. Resourceful/helpful A Good PR Story
- 27. #INBOUND16 Get Out Of Your Own Head
- 28. #INBOUND16 1. Social media – Where’s your audience? – Chats; hangouts 2. Blogging – Key terms – Guests 3. Media outreach – Comments – Bylines If You Can Only Pick Three…
- 29. #INBOUND16 1. Focus 2. Don’t panic 3. KISS 4. Read 5. Invest in relationships 6. Humanize your approach 7. Get writing 8. Be realistic 9. Cross-channel investment Elements to Success
- 30. #INBOUND16 3 BEST TOOLS FOR SMBS
- 31. #INBOUND16 1. Money 2. Time 3. Creativity 4. Tools Overload SMB Challenges Source: Chiefmartech.com 2016 Marketing Technology Landscape
- 32. #INBOUND16 1. PR Executive – $$ variable 2. PR Consultant – $1000-5000 per month 3. PR Agency – $5000-$10,000+ per month 4. DIY – Resource-dependent PR Options
- 33. #INBOUND16 1. News – Make sure it’s meaningful 2. Stories – Topical, timely, unique, relevant 3. Facts/Figures – Data-centric world 4. Proof points – Customers, other 5. Make it easy The Right Mix
- 34. #INBOUND16 Best Tools on a Budget
- 35. #INBOUND16 4 CASE STUDY DU JOUR
- 36. #INBOUND16 CHALLENGER BRANDS Must fight their way to market leadership!
- 37. #INBOUND16 “…ran his campaign sensing the feeling of dispossession and anxiety among millions of voters.” “reads the waves of resentment and rides them to a popular victory.” - The New Yorker
- 39. #INBOUND16 A GOOD PR FRAMEWORK Is almost self sustaining!
- 40. #INBOUND16 1. Visual, Unique Content 1. Make it more visible through title, descriptions, tags 2. Piggy back on user-generated content; include their voices • Increases amount of content and further engages your audience 2. News & Social Calendar 1. Not just yours: ”Hallmark,” industry 2. Include assignments 3. Empower Advocates; Assign Ownership 1. Executives 2. Customers 3. Partners 4. Employees 5. Fans PR Framework – Key Elements
- 41. #INBOUND16 1. Business Goals 2. PR Assessment, Audit 3. PR Plan: no more than six months at a time 1. Include Goals, Strategies, Objectives 2. Budget and Tools 3. Timetable: editorial and social media calendar 4. Team and Assignments 4. Measurement and Analytics – What’s working? What isn’t? – Measure what matters PR Framework - Non Negotiables
Notes de l'éditeur
- According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 28 million small businesses in the country – and while they may be small, they have a big impact – accounting for (read slide). https://www.sba.gov/managing-business/running-business/energy-efficiency/sustainable-business-practices/small-business-trends This doesn’t even account for the startups that are in the landscape!
- If you own or work for a small business, marketing can be a challenge. How do you stand out when budgets are small and resources are so focused? It can be especially difficult when you’re the startup or smaller player in a sea of larger organizations with big budgets. The first thing you’ve got to do is establish a consistent, noteworthy and memorable brand.
- Branding goes well beyond a cool logo and fun company name. Branding is your voice in the marketplace, as Amy Cosper of Entrepreneur has said, and is your proposition for disruption. What do you want people to know about you? Why are you memorable? Brand is crucial for establishing your presence in the market. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243371
- Professional look/feel build credibility which inspires trust Recognition goes beyond the logo; word association is important, too. Makes selling easier; people buy from those they know and like – a good brand puts forth that promise Leads to name and visual awareness
- Your brand’s story is the underlying story that drives everything your brand does, says, sells, promises, elicits The best brands are built on great stories. So what makes a good story? It depends. First and foremost, you need a story that appeals to your audience’s emotion.
- What is a brand’s promise? It’s a single promise you tell or imply across all communications – the unique value that is delivered. Coca Cola’s promise is happiness. Apple’s is innovation, Luis Vuitton is luxury and importance, Tom’s is to improve people’s lives in different ways.
- Vision should be focused on a company’s inherent future potential. A good example is PepsiCo: to improve all aspects of the world in which we operate – creating a better tomorrow than today.” Very lofty but gives employees a guiding light of what the company is striving to do. Mission is more practical. For example, Warby Parker’s is “buying glasses should be easy and fun; leave you happy and good looking, with money in your pocket.” Uber’s is “Provide a crowd-sourced solution to the issue of over-priced, hard-to-find taxis, and revolutionize the unwiedly and monopolized taxi industry.” The Elevator Pitch is an even more straight forward description of what you do, and should be clear enough that you could explain it to someone in the length of time it takes to ride an elevator. Using Uber again as an example, they state they “connect passengers with either drivers of vehicles for hire or ride-sharing services in several cities around the world.” Pretty clear!
- A positioning statement is important from a competitive standpoint – you want to make it clear why you’re better and different. During this exercise, you should take into account both real and perceived competitors – that is, you might not think they’re competitors but if they can compete for your customer’s dollars, they should be considered. Taglines are used on websites, logos and even email signatures. They should be short and snappy. Using Uber again as an example, their tagline is “Get there – your day belongs to you.” They give you your whole day back – that’s a dramatic but effective statement that clearly delivers their value proposition as well. Speaking of value proposition, it should be clear and unique. You’ll want to create three core messages that you or your spokespersons always share when talking about your brand: why you’re a leader, what unique value you deliver and why you’re different or better than competitors.
- And finally, to cement your brand position, you’ll need proof points. Too many brands don’t spend enough time unearthing these. They can be found through conversations with customers, analysis of data, execution of a survey, or even alignment with industry statistics. They support and prove your claims. It’s not enough to stand on your soapbox and say how great you are – you need proof. (Unless of course, you’re running for President of the U.S.) Two other important exercises in getting to brand position are a SWOT analysis and Audience ID. For both, it’s crucial to be brutally honest and dig deep ideally, bring in an outsider to run this exercise – it can help to keep your team from drinking too much of the company’s Kool Aid. The point is to identify any and all places of vulnerability, so you can position your brand as strongly as possible.
- Remember that brand is your company’s personality – so it should be memorable and clear and most importantly, consistent. Are you a serious brand? Funny? Romantic? Be sure your marketing content and PR campaigns support and show that personality. If your brand isn’t one whose voice aligns with using slang, GIFs or memes, don’t use them. Before you create any content, think about whether it fits your core brand identity and overall strategy. Today, responsive branding – that creating unique and on demand engagements - is a very effective strategy in our always-on, ever-connected world. A great example of this is fro Oreo - during a power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans during the 2013 Superbowl, Oreo’s ad group, the Martin Agency, immediately sent out a tweet of an image of the cookie enveloped in darkness with the caption, “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” It was re-tweeted more than 15,000 times. Responsive branding is very effective and doesn’t have to be costly – although keeping your eye on what’s happening and quickly reacting with creative content can be time consuming, so you’ll need to be sure that you have a dedicated resource to execute such branding.
- If you’re in a smaller business or a startup, choosing where to spend your money can be tough. You want to do what works. So is PR effective? Sir Richard Branson thinks so, and so do I.
- First things first, let’s be clear that PR isn’t dead. It’s changed – a lot – but despite the rumors, social media has not killed it. If anything, good PR is more important – and easier to do – than ever.
- Let’s start with defining what is PR, anyway? As I mentioned, it has changed a lot, especially over the last 10 years, as social media gave every company a new way to engage directly with influencers, media and customers.
- With social and digital work, the role of PR now spans many different areas. These can include the ever-popular media relations, as well as awards, speaking and events programs, news releases, customer communications and promotion (such as writing case studies), social media management, digital production (including video, website development), content creation, ghost writing, media training and more. It also now includes data analytics. Recent article, don’t forget importance of media relations: http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2016/10/21/its-5pm-cmos-do-you-know-what-your-pr-team-is-doing/#71b7ec6a7f1b
- At the end of the day, PR is the part of marketing that promotes your brand. But to do it well, you’ve got to relate to your target audience, and show them you understand their wants and needs. A good PR executive understands how to relate to your audience – whether it’s a journalist, analyst, customer or prospect. Great PR involves taking the time to engage, not just push out promotional materials. Nobody wants to listen to – or take recommendations from – someone they can’t relate to. Just think of PR as a relationship, and you’ll be off to a good start.
- It’s not rocket science, but it does take investment: a decent budget, a smart team (even if it’s just one person you’ve dedicated to the effort), and creative storytelling. Great PR also takes time. You’ve got to plan on an ongoing investment.
- So where do you start? Always, always start outside of marketing – with your business goals. What are you trying to accomplish? Work backwards from there to build a PR strategy. Plan SMART - create specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound goals. Your plan should include and outline what tools you’ll use – will social media be a part of your effort? What about visual content? And, plan out how you will manage the effort – will you do it yourself? Will you hire an employee or an agency? Maybe a PR consultant is a good place to start. And finally, make sure you include measurement to determine how your investment is paying off. Pay attention to what’s having the greatest impact so you can repeat what’s working and pivot from what isn’t.
- There are a few crucial elements to a successful PR strategy but ultimately, the ability to tell good stories is key. Not everything your business does is interesting, so step outside of your own head sometimes and think about what interests you from other companies. Determine who the key players will be in your campaign. Which executives will be spokespersons? Are they media trained? Do they do well in interviews? If not, I highly recommend finding a qualified media trainer and investing in a session. Every company thinks that they’re special, but you have to truly put work into identifying your differentiators. What’s special about your business? Why are you better and different than the competition? What’s your ongoing story – are you the innovative company like Apple, the customer-service obsessed brand, or do you own the majority of the market? No matter your size, you have to find a special angle, a sweet spot that is the narrative of your ongoing story. Timing is also crucial for an effective campaign. If you’re releasing news, for example, plan carefully – look at the rest of your industry and note other things that you’ll be competing with, such as conferences or competitor’s events.
- People remember how you make them feel. People love brands that make them feel good. So your stories should start from that consideration – how do you want your audience to feel? Taken care of? Nostalgic? Excited? Empowered? All of your stories – whether in your ads, social content, press releases or media pitches – should support this underlying feeling. A great example Budweiser – they want you to feel you belong, whether it’s a puppy leading a horse back home, or a bunch of friends hanging out, their content always has that underlying note.
- What makes a good PR story can vary… but it usually has one or more of these elements. In addition, if you’re pitching your story to a journalist, it has to be relevant to what they write and for whom they write. Be sure you do your homework and understand the kind of stories they are looking for, then shape your pitch to that.
- Who’s the story for? Why will they care? It’s not about direct promotion any more. You have to relate to people about topics they care about first. Blatant promotion on your products or services no longer works. If you create content (media articles, blogs, social content, etc.) about topics I care about – and you are a resource to me – I am going to be more likely to recognize your brand and listen to you when you have something to say – including about yourself.
- So if you have limited resources and you can only pick a handful of things to do, here’s what I suggest. READ SLIDE Social media is by and far the best thing that’s happened to marketing in a long time. It offers inexpensive ways to reach a mass audience (if done correctly), expand your audience beyond what was once regionally-captive, and become an influencer in ways that weren’t before possible. But – don’t count out traditional media relations. Although there are many that espouse its demise, it still remains a very influential form of PR. Third party endorsements are possible with both of these – you can inspire customer advocates and engagement via social media, and media still carries weight, even if they just write about – but not blatantly endorse – your company. Writing about it is an endorsement enough to say they thought it was worth taking a look at, and filling column inches (or blog pages).
- PR can be intimidating but if you really want it to work, you’ll dedicate the resources to it
- So if you’re a small business or a startup you probably face these challenges. I’ve been there – I’ve started and run a small business and I’m in the midst of a startup. I know what it’s like to have to be more ”creative” with your money and time, including trying to navigate the never-ending sea of recommended tools and vendor pitches. Here’s just a brief look at the martech landscape from Chiefmartech.com’s 2016 Marketing Technology Landscape. How do you navigate your needs – and find the time to figure out the best fit for your needs? And once you do, how do you find the time to educate agencies or vendors, provide feedback for creative content creation, and ensure successful execution? It’s not easy.
- But you do have options for help. You could hire someone inhouse or as a consultant, hire an agency, or do it yourself. Each have costs – not just money, but time. You have to decide how important your time is vs. your dollars.
- No matter what you choose, make sure you have a good mix of what really matters. News should be relevant to your audience. Stories can be timely and topical and uphold you as a thought leader. Facts and figures always make your stories more credible and interesting. Proof points are essential – whether a customer backing you up, growth percentages, or otherwise, proof points are the pillars to your story It’s not just enough to say, “but we’re awesome!.” And make it easy for your audience to learn about you and consume your content – make it so obvious where you are, how to reach you, what you do. I can’t tell you how many PR agency sites I come across that don’t’ actually say what they do on the homepage. They use language that’s familiar to them – not to their audience. You must speak language your audience understands. If you want to announce news – in the old days we called that a press release – make sure it’s meaningful for its intended audience. Sometimes news is important to customers and prospects, but not the media. If that’s the case, consider “announcing” something without a press release – do a video blog from the Owner/CEO or share via your newsletter. Too many small companies – especially in B2B/tech – think that issuing a press release and paying for it to cross the wire – makes them more “credible.” I don’t have enough time in this presentation to dive into it – but press releases across the wire are meant for the media. So, if you’re doing that, make sure you have a press release that’s interesting enough for the media, and that you’re targeting the rigth media. (As a small business, you’re better off sending directly and personally to a few key journalists). . If you need a press release to prove value to a Board or customers, post it on your website and blog for prosperity's’ sake, and save the $500-$1500 fee.
- As a small business and startup owner, I’ve tried a lot of tools. There are some amazing things out there – like Hubspot, which I assume most you have used or tried, since you’re here. But when you’re watching the bottom line closely, sometimes you need some additional options that can enhance your campaigns without adding additional budget. Luckily, there are a variety of free or inexpensive tools out there. Some of my favored include READ SLIDE In addition to social media tools, you’ll want to also invest in publishing and monitoring tools such as Buffer or Hootsuite, where you can pre-post social updates across a variety of channels. This is very effective for maintaining intelligent time management. In addition to these media approaches, also sign up and use HARO, a free service that sends emails several times a day with reporter’s queries for resources on stories they are writing. Profnet also offers a similar service.
- A challenger brand is a company or product brand in an industry that is not the category leader. I’m assuming that’s a lot of you, and that’s why you’re here. Being a successful challenger encompasses a mind-set and a number of behaviors. It means being able to clearly articulate exactly who you are and what you stand for, with confidence that this comes from your purpose and values, not what market norms dictate.
- While not necessarily a small business, Donald Trump is a very timely example of a challenger brand. His PR / political campaign ran on enciting people’s emotions – he played on fears and played to the emotion of anger and resentment. Challenger brands don’t play to the norm, they don’t follow the rules. They demand customer’s attention – and I think we can all agree that Donald Trump’s campaign certainly did that. Being a challenger isn’t necessarily about being small; it’s about being bold enough to be different, and single-minded about what you want to achieve.
- And finally, a good PR framework is almost self sustaining – but you’ve got to put thought into it.
- There are several key elements for a simple but effective PR framework. Always include visual content. Be sure to create a news and social media calendar – not just your own, but paying attention to the time of year, popular events or industry happenings. Be clear on who should do what. And finally, create and empower brand advocates – these can be your employees, customers, partners or even just fans. Give them the tools to share your brand’s voice and message across social media. Create sharable content, provide social media guidelines, appoint employee advocacy leaders who engage others and set an example.
- In your PR plan, these are ”must haves” – understand your business goals, start with a PR audit- what have you done, what’s been effective to-date? Create a new plan and benchmark against that assessment. Be clear with your goals, strategies and objectives, so everyone knows what you’re trying to accomplish and how. I recommend planning no more than six months at a time, because things change so quickly these days. Identify the budget and tools you’ll use, a timetable and clear ownership assignments. And finally, don’t forget to measure! Explain editorial and social calendars. Where to find? No more than 6 months in this day and age of rapidly moving Don’t measure “possibilities”
- When I say “measure” it’s really important to clarify that you should “measure What Matters. Nobody wants to throw money out the window, so make sure you have measurement strategies in place to analyze the success of your programs and investments. Don’t measure “possibilities” like Circulation or Impressions. Measurement today is getting more and more sophisticated. For example, Google Analytics is your friend. Use it. It can seem daunting, so find a specialist or a PR Analytics vendor that integrates with it and can bring the insights into a more PR-friendly dashboard. If you have a PR agency, ensure they are delivering reports on outcomes that affect the business,’ bottom line, not just reporting on output of what they’ve done. (examples; called 10 reporters today, drafted 5 awards submissions) If they haven’t secured a single media hit or driven a single referral to your site in three months, there’s an issue. Six months, you should move on. If they thought they could do these things, it shouldn’t take them longer than this timeframe. Maybe they don’t understand your business, or don’t’ understand your audience. Either way, you’re wasting money Determine your goals ahead of time, benchmark where you are and measure against your ability to reach those goals. There’s a ton of new PR Tech vendors and other resources out there that can help you but you can also create your own formulas and dashboards with enough training – and time.
- And finally, there are a lot of resources out there, Hubspot being a great one. Here are few other of my favorites.