By Colin N. Clarke

When developing marketing communications plans and materials there is always the crucial “approval” phase where the decision is made to proceed. One significant challenge at this point is managing the personal subjectivity that tends creep in. Time and time again, great communications concepts and ideas are tossed aside based on personal choices, at times undermining the potential impact of a tactic helping achieve a communications objective. Audience of One

By Mikaela Krenzen

Director of Flint Interactive, Jen Strickler, pointed to search and social media among the hot topics of 2009 during our recent agency recap. She was absolutely right. Not only have they both evolved immensely over the past few years, but they have become more and more reliant on each other. Search + Social Media

By Josh Lysne
I recently booked a long overdue family vacation. After looking at several options from resorts to villas to cruises, we settled on a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line. Needless to say, my 4 and 6 year olds were bouncing off the walls.

I attended the Direct Marketing Association Email Evolution Conference earlier this month in Miami, FL. Hundreds of fellow email practitioners gathered behind closed doors to discuss the latest eMarketing trends and best practices.

Listening and learning from the brightest minds in email innovation, I took away a few nuggets of knowledge that will help businesses strenthen their email marketing:

Email

Don’t forget the welcome mat. Growing your email list can be difficult and sometimes expensive. So when a prospect/customer signs up for your email distribution, start nurturing the customer relationship right away by sending an immediate welcome email. Why is this so imperative? First impressions are everything. A few reasons why welcome emails are important:

One of my favorite SNL characters is Stuart Smalley. He used to look in the mirror and say, “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” A humorous yet inspirational daily affirmation that reminds us that we are good just the way we are. In the same manner, I confess that I thought marketing was, indeed, beautiful just the way it was—despite its disparate processes and imperfections.Before and After

But the world went and changed. Communication technologies evolved and altered how we consume media. The next thing I knew, the marketing practices I fell in love with back in college had grown unsightly and questionably obsolete. But have no fear, marketers! Our old friend just needs a little nip-tuck, and she’ll be generating leads and building your brand just like the good ol’ days.

A common misconception is that search engine optimization (SEO) techniques within the pages of your website will solve all problems related to poor or less than desirable search engine performance. While accurate page titles and keyword-rich copy are important, there are several off-page SEO techniques that often have a faster and more significant impact on your website rankings.Link-Building SEO

Off-page SEO refers to the strategies you execute outside the pages of your website—all of which are aimed towards link building and increasing site traffic. Here are a few contextual opportunities to generate inbound links for your website:

Traditional evolution of business has lead to segmentation by department for many companies. Marketing, sales, customer service, human resources, finance and fulfillment are some of the most common. But digital communications is creating a virtualization and convergence that is dramatically changing the way businesses operate. Cubicles

How customers engage with companies has changed with the explosion of digital and social networking tools. Customers have wrested power to engage with companies on their own terms and in a fully visible environment. One-to-one conversations have now become open forum, placing greater pressure on companies to be well organized and prompt in response.

Oxford University Press recently named Facebook’s "unfriend" as word of the year. Time named "sexting" number one in its top 10 buzzwords for 2009. I keep my own list of corporate communication words – many that are buzzwords or related to trends. Topping my list for the second year in a row is transparency.

Transparency

Organizations and businesses of all kinds keep talking about the need to be transparent and achieve open, honest communication. Google the phrase "transparency in healthcare," and you’ll get deeply entangled in both sides of the year-long health care reform debate.

But true transparency is a hard concept for some organizations. It's even harder for some management teams to embrace. True transparency goes beyond what the public relations team prepares, or how a spokesperson responds.

Social media has taken corporate (and personal) transparency to a heightened level. No longer is the “authorized spokesperson” representing a company, a product or an issue. Customers and employees are weighing in, telling us all what it’s really like to own a product, experience good or bad service, or work for an organization.

With all of this, the role of the communications professional has widened. Listening – always a critical part of communications – is now the first step. Developing guidelines for social media usage is one way a company can adapt to the issues that come with being a transparent organization.

I predict transparency will still be at the top of my list next year. Are you ready for the opportunities that transparency will deliver? How are you adapting to the challenges?

Chris is a senior PR strategist for AadlandFlint and PR Director for Flint Group.

The appropriate starting point in any social media strategy is to establish a managed listening program where a brand or company can monitor what is being said about them. Blogs, message boards, comments sections and the myriad of social networking tools all hold potential for word of mouth harm (and good).
Listening

In a recent post I discussed the importance of managing misinformation in the digital realm, and I've found a wonderful example of effective "listening" to share.

Every business would like to find more customers. How about more customers just like your most profitable existing customer?

The good news is that these customers are right under your nose. Thanks to a process called performance modeling, you can find them.

There are three basic ways that performance modeling can be done:

1) Do performance modeling yourself.
This can be very time consuming but you will be justly rewarded with the wealth of information you learn in the process.

2) Bring an expert in to do performance modeling for you.

I recently attended the Resource Development Council of Alaska's annual conference in Anchorage. The conference is always a great opportunity to gauge the pulse of Alaska's economy and get a sense for the year ahead. I attended every session over the course of two days and was struck with a recurring theme. When dealing with resource development issues, managing misinformation holds great importance.
Micro-blog screen

At the conference a number of different industries shared their challenges with managing misinformation as they sought to proceed with resource development projects. Examples from tourism, fisheries, mining, oil and gas exploration and timber were all shared. All industries critical to the economic health of the state, and all industries facing challenges in managing misinformation in their development efforts.

Break out the birthday cake, party hats and silly string. Email marketing turns 13 this year. Can you believe it? Gasp, a teenager! While many of us wince at our teen years, they were undoubtedly years of great change, influence, and discovery. Likewise, email adolescence is at a similar maturation crossroad. Improved technology, the introduction of social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and the sophistication of spam filters can make email marketing a daunting gauntlet to navigate.

The American Marketing Association – Alaska recently hosted a presentation by the Anchorage Concert Association (ACA) on its experience in using social media. ACA’s experience proves that social media provides some great opportunities, but comes with some pitfalls to watch out for as well. Here’s how your business can take advantage of social media opportunities, without the dangers of trial and error.

Jump In

We have all read about Facebook surpassing the 300 million registered user mark, or Twitter’s rapid rise to 20 million users. Stats like these are exciting, but they often lead to an irrational jump into these environments without any strategy.
Social Networks

When it comes time to take the jump into the social media world, you need to think about how your audience uses social media before you choose what type of social media tools to use. Forrester has done extensive research into how different demographics engage in social media. They have defined six different profiles for social media use.

If you totally avoided the internet the past few weeks or were sleeping under a rug, you are one of the few who missed Google’s release of Sidewiki. I know, Google releases new features and products on a regular basis, so you don’t really care. But, let me tell you why you and your business should. Google Sidewiki

Google Side-what?

Google Sidewiki is an application that adds a social forum to every website, including yours. Basically, any consumer who downloads Google Toolbar (which contains Sidewiki) will have the opportunity to post comments about your products, services or company, viewable on your site by anyone else who has Sidewiki installed. Scary right?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has become a very important element for attracting traffic to web sites. With Google's domination of the search world, most SEO has been built around the algorithm developed by Google. But with Bing's introduction and the potential for growth, how might this affect SEO as we know it?

One thing is clear: search results from Bing are different than those delivered by Google. See for yourself in a side-by-side comparison. SEO experts are still working to uncover more details of the Bing algorithm. In the meantime, here are some factors that are strongly believed to be of importance when considering SEO and website ranking with Bing:

The world of search is very interesting, especially when a new player enters the game.

Bing home pageIn case you hadn’t noticed, Microsoft recently launched its new search engine tool, Bing . The new search engine has managed to generate significant buzz, due largely in part to its estimated $80 million dollar marketing campaign that swept radio, print, online and TV.

It’s also getting attention for providing relevant search results—something its former incarnation, Windows Live Search, wasn’t able to deliver. Advertised as a decision engine, Bing is supposed to help users wade through the “search results clutter” by offering more relevant results. The engine offers a left-hand search pane that displays related searches and search history. It also lists categories of content, such as news or video, allowing users to quickly make their search results more relevant.

Automation can make all of our lives easier, and it does play a role in social media. HootSuite allows you to enter in tweets and set the time you want them to be sent out. Blogging software can allow you to create blog posts for the entire week and publish them on a schedule. Marketing Automation software allows you to send email based on consumer action.

The level of ‘connectivity’ in Alaska is pretty amazing. WIFI access, web enabled handhelds, digital mobile service and more. I guess I wasn’t surprised when I stumbled upon the most recent census stats for connectivity and found that Alaska is the second most connected state in the U.S. by household (behind New Hampshire only).

A crisis can occur anytime, anywhere, in any organization. How a company responds to such an event can impact its reputation as much—or even more—than the disaster itself.

You can’t run and you can’t hide

In today’s digital age, news—both good and bad—travels faster and further than ever. You have hours, rather than days, to respond to negative publicity and minimize the damage to your company’s reputation. Make plans now so that when disaster strikes later, you’re ready to swing into action immediately.

Tell the truth and tell it first

Engaging with the media and your stakeholders during a crisis is essential. People want information. If you don’t provide it, someone else will, and it may not be accurate. Be accessible and be accurate. Companies such as Ford Motor Co. and PepsiCo are taking engagement even further by tracking social networks to continually gauge consumer sentiment and resolve potential problems before they become full-blown disasters.