1) Recommendations: Are essentially ‘transference of trust’. Merriam Webster defines it as, “the act of saying that someone or something is good, and deserves to be chosen.” So once you’ve had a positive experience you are more likely to vouch for that yourself.

With every sensory experience we encounter with a brand, it tallies up towards the overall perception of that brand, and the future likelihood of it being recommended to others.

We’ve all had a first-hand experience with recommendations at different stages of our lives:

• Whether it was in the form of an ex-boss talking to you about an exciting opportunity at his new firm
• Staying away from a restaurant because your partner had a terrible service there
• Going with your friend’s personal experience while choosing a daycare for your child

It’s this interdependency and reliability quotient that comes forth when choosing a product/ service based on the power of a recommendation!

2) Reviews: Consumer awareness is at its all time high. The findings of Local Consumer Review Survey revealed that approximately 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. A Siegel+Gale report shows a direct correlation between higher consumer awareness to 31% greater revenue growth for 10 most-known B2B brands. It all goes to prove that people today like to make educated choices when it comes to investing their money or their resources.

Every comparable B2B or B2C product or service goes through a lens of closer scrutiny and quality check in the form of online reviews. Consumer opinions are highly valued and play a dominant role in influencing future buyers.

As an online shopper myself, I tend to gravitate towards those products that have received a multitude of online reviews versus the ones that do not have any reviews listed. I attribute this to the power of crowdsourcing!

3) Ratings: Ratings reflect a quantifiable benchmark of what’s considered as superior quality compared to the sub par products.

Porter Novelli’s ConsumerStyles report finds that 60% of Millenials and 56% of Gen Xers are more likely to rate items they like than those they don’t like. So getting the product right is the foundation of great ratings.

In our day-to-day lives every decision we take is influenced by how everything is rated and ranked around us:

• Health regulations – Influencing our personal care and household products we use
• Consumer reports safety standards – Key decision making tool for buying your next SUV
• Movie Ratings- Dictates appropriateness of which movie to watch with your kids
• Performance evaluation at work – Determines your bonus package and promotion eligibility for the next quarter

So while we live in a consumerist society where every choice and decision is subliminally influenced by a recommendation, review or rating, its the collective power of customer advocacy that can ultimately make or break your product and its direct impact on your bottom-line!

I’d love to hear what influences your choices and decisions?

Photo by Christopher Dombres

VI: Please share a little about your professional background. How long have you been in PR?
SP: I’ve been in PR for 16 years. Prior to that I was a journalist for 12 years, with time spent in both trade publications and daily newspapers. Journalism was great preparation for PR because I had a great feel for what reporters desire in terms of business news. On the flip side I had a very rigid definition of news based on my journalism experience and I had to learn how to look at increasing the news value of an announcement.

VI: What do you look for in a good PR story? What makes for a compelling story?
SP: First, I consider which publications might be interested in a story. If it’s a story that I think would attract the eye of the Wall Street Journal, that’s the absolute best. If it’s only interesting to a very focused trade publication, that’s a less compelling story based on the limited readership.

The broadest stories are the best. If a story would interest my mom, that’s a very broad topic relevant to many. If it’s something that would be compelling only to a PhD statistician, that’s very limited. However, you have to do both to reach all audiences.

Another consideration is that a business story has to be told in a way that shows the benefit to a reader who might be considering a purchase. In B2B PR, that’s the bottom line: sell more stuff. It’s too easy to fall into telling the story in an inwardly focused way. How much would you care about a news story that describes a company’s strategy for defeating the competition vs. a story that told you how a new product can save you money and make your job easier.

A good story has to have some independent validation. Sure, every company can go on and on about why its products are best, but that’s hardly an independent information source. Isn’t the information more credible if it comes from the lips of another customer or independent observer? The best PR stories always rely on independent validation in some way.

VI: What’s the big deal about coining the right subject line? Why is that so important?
SP: Editors, reporters and bloggers are often flooded with news releases and story pitches. Just as a new release is structured to have the most compelling information in the headline or top of the text, so too must emails have a compelling subject line. They may never be opened otherwise. At the same time it’s important to be brief and factual in the subject line. If you write a subject line that you think might “tease” a reporter in opening the email, you run a big risk of annoying them. Brevity is best—try to capture the essence in a few words.

VI: Is writing a press release a form of storytelling and if so how is it different from other forms?
SP: Yes, writing a press release is a form of storytelling and that seems to be the hot term right now in marketing and PR. But it’s not a chronological narrative where you typically start at the beginning and follow the thread. The story might be how a product creates value for customers, or how one customer used it for competitive advantage. The story might be told with the ending (product value) cited up front and then moving backwards on how they came to that positive result.

VI: How do you think the field of PR is evolving over the years?
SP: The big change, of course, came from the development of email and the Internet. Before then you were dealing with print publications and news releases were spread through wire services and overnight mail. Go back further and it was largely snail mail and press conferences. Print is evaporating, press conferences are much more infrequent and any kind of hard copy news release distribution is virtually extinct. So, the tools have fundamentally changed in the last two decades.

As the methods have changed so have the targets changed for PR professionals. In the print age, PR was only focused on editors and reporters because they were the gatekeepers to spread the word of company news to the broader public. Now the PR audience directly reaches the press and other audiences. Certainly bloggers and other market influencers are now part of the target. And PR also directly reaches the public. Consider the effect of technologies such as search engines. Someone might be interested in a certain topic and use Google alerts or RSS feeds which pull in news releases even if the reader isn’t press. Because of this there is a huge emphasis on search engine optimization of news releases.

VI: Parting words. What advice would you give to upcoming PR professionals?
SP: Constantly improve your writing and learn as much as you can about the business (or non-profit) you are promoting. The writing is critical. Avoid falling into marketing-speak and clichés. For example, I cringe when I hear someone say “game changer” because it is currently so overused.

Try writing things simply. A good example is the word “utilize,” which is just a pompous way of saying “use.” And remember that improving your writing is a career-long process that doesn’t end when you graduate college. You have to have a bit of a thick skin to be in PR but the most important aspect of this is when you receive feedback on your writing.

Feel free to tweet, like and comment if you enjoyed hearing from Steve and learning about what a crucial role content plays in building brand images.

Photo by FindYourSearch

Related post –
Traits of a solid PR professional

We have been progressively evolving as an online generation, a far cry from the Flintstones in the Stone Age! Just looking back at our contemporary historical periods since the past few decades, we have made major strides through the years.

We’ve evolved from the Machine Age dealing with gigantic mass production machinery to the Information Age which has been about digitizing our economy, dispelling volumes of information using technology. This era also brought the onset of computers – a game changer in the way modern society started communicating. The rapid evolution of computers and the web in our daily life meant dissolving boundaries. It meant faster and more real-time communication, international knowledge exchange and learning, exploring and tapping into personalized needs, changing how we do business via e-commerce.

The Information Age gave birth to a digitized world mimicking and surpassing all that transpires through our physical interactions. What we see, hear, learn, who we befriend, share with, communicate and collaborate with have been made available electronically.

You can like, dislike, comment, poke, vote, buy, sell, promote, recommend..and much more digitally! This led to the metamorphosis of our Social Age. An era that has humanized technology focusing on the many forms of societal interactions and amplifying our inherent need to communicate, express, show and tell.

You can now make a new friend on Facebook, date online via Match.com, look for a job on Monster, connect with a business associate on LinkedIn, buy your latest book on Amazon, share your vacation pictures on Flickr, tweet about what you ate for lunch on Twitter, look up your ancestors on Ancestry.com or even publish your life history on Blogger.

The World Wide Web has made us a closely knit modern society leaving behind a huge digital footprint of our lives. So while my generation might still make a trip to the Smithsonian museum to look at the first species of dinosaurs, there’s no telling where the future generations might look to learn about us a species!

Standing on the bridge of Big Dinosaurs to Big Data the future landscape appears infinite! There’s no telling what this new era will bring with it, and the potential implications of Big Data for our future?

 So what archaeological finds do you think your great, great great grandchildren will find, while digging for your information? What’s your prediction?!

Photos by JD Hancock and algogenius

Just like the Matrix our virtual online world is growing in leaps and bounds given the instant access and power to connect with millions with the click of a button. New age gadgets, smart phones and digital apps have enabled us to become digital journalists and evangelists in our own right. But just like Uncle Ben would constantly remind Peter Parker, Spider Man’s alter ego, this is a constant reminder to us too that “with great power comes great responsibility”.

Whether you are in-focus in front of the camera or behind the lens using your smart phones, it’s important to watch how you portray yourself in front of others. With our increasing participation as an invited speaker or as an active audience member we ‘all’ have a role to play particularly while attending corporate events and conferences. Here are some quick and easy dos and don’ts to keep in mind.

Don’t let your Surrogates get larger and overtake you. (I’ve hyperlinked to the movie wiki incase you’re now curious about this movie.) But getting back to the point, keep the decorum and maintain your tweeting etiquette especially while live tweeting at events. Be your own PR proponent and try not to get yourself in the foot-in-the -mouth predicament.

Easy tip – Unlike Vegas, what’s stated on Facebook or LinkedIn travels all over the digital world and back! So keep it professional, friendly and informative.

People do judge a book by its cover – Let’s face it, we live in a multi-tasking era with “time” being a precious commodity than ever before. So why waste time in creating your first impression that would detract away from ‘who you are’ as a person. Make it easy on others and dress appropriately keeping your end goal in mind.

Easy tip – While attending formal events, don’t dress per your mood or climate, dress per the occasion. Leave your guests with a positive lasting impression vs. a haunting impression!

Don’t ever lose track of the limelight – Yes, when it comes to participating at corporate events, you do have a role to play. You are a brand ambassador for your company no matter what your job title states. A lot of factors contribute towards how a company’s brand image is created. Their ‘people’ play one of the largest roles as it has a direct correlation to a good customer experience.

So project yourself in the best possible light, both literally and more importantly figuratively. You never know when you are being watched and by whom, especially when most of the events these days are being livestreamed and posted on YouTube.

Easy tip – Stay away from inside jokes and gossip instead stay cheerful and project a positive image.

Stay mindful of these easy tips and you’d be a superstar at any given event! Can you think of any others to add to this list? Let’s hear from you!

Photo by Hamed Saber

Point I’m trying to make is businesses today are very much at par in being technologically savvy and in-tune with what their competition has to offer, and matching that. What that translates into for customers is a whole array of products that look pretty identical in their features and capabilities. So going back to my original question, how do you think she chose one type of coffee over the other? It was quite simply the brand she preferred.

So what constitutes the brand? I see it as the aura, the vibe, the sentiments attached and basically the essence of your product that emerges which forms to be the differentiator! In traditional marketing, it’s all about getting the 4 P’s in the perfect proportion – Product, Price, Place and Promotion. There is a lot of planning, strategy, research, science and advertising amongst other things that is involved in the making of a company’s brand image.

It’s dealt with strategically, scientifically and purposefully, in a kind of ‘causal relationship’ between the initiators within the company and their external audience. This all happens in a streamlined and structured fashion, feeding the external audience with the finished product in the form of the ‘agreed upon’ image, identity and messaging the company would like its audience to accept as the brand.

While this model still works in several cases, we have been witnessing a rising trend in how brands are being created and perceived lately. Like the advent of spring, social media has infused a new life into how a brand is born and defined today. People are no longer simply accepting this definition of a brand that is presented to them like a perfectly packaged shining trophy that they can only admire, but not touch. They are more interested in getting up close and personal with it even if it means getting your fingerprints all over it.

Brands are no longer produced in a sterile, climate controlled environment.  With the explosion of social media the sheer definition of – ‘what is a brand?’ has evolved and now grown organically.

The users are no longer looking for a picture perfect image because that seems sterile and made-up. For companies it’s about being more vulnerable not necessarily in a negative opportunistic kind of way but appearing more real, approachable and accessible to its audience. The digital age has shifted the paradigm from a funnel type communication, to a much more intertwined and overlapping model. One where each of the factors: be it the opinion of your competitors, support from your partners, the chatter from your user communities, the online product reviews, or the strategic press releases and marketing campaigns, all infuse with one another influencing the brand image today!

Today’s social media has given each of us a voice that collectively determines what morphs into a company’s brand image and identity. Brand has become this multi-faceted and multi-dimensional entity today that has the colors and flavors of numerous stakeholders.

The onus lies on the companies to not fight or defy this flow but to embrace it and cultivate it by truly building an empire targeted towards your customer centric needs and solutions. This is when you stop ‘talking over’ but start truly ‘engaging with’ your audience.  So do you believe you have that green thumb?

This movie reminded me that the success to consumer acceptance, product saleability and ultimate bottom-line lies in finding the pulse of your audience and honing your efforts in that direction.  Now that requires a play of ingredients that need to be added just in the right proportion to make it click. Kung Fu Panda 2 seems to have gotten that recipe right. Packaged optimally in a span of 90 minutes this movie displays a colorful canvas of comedy, adventure and drama all wrapped in one. The animation is visually spectacular with an amazing eye to detail in every character’s emoticons, their colorful attires and even the aura each of the characters bring to the screen with the use of voice-overs and background music.

The PG rated movie eloquently depicts spirituality with central message about ‘finding your inner peace’ tied in with the yin and yang iconism throughout the movie. It has brilliant comic timing tied in with action sequences centered on the protagonist Panda ‘Po’. There is the underlying reflection of the cultural nuances tied in with one’s heritage and ancestry, and a sense of adventure, thrill ride and triumph, by gaining mastery over your weaknesses, in this case by using Kung Fu! All these elements are wonderfully threaded together using the ancient art of story telling and narration creating a mental vacation for the viewers.

As humans, we all connect and relate with each other through our life experiences and the stories we share with one another. This movie (I think) has that cross-generational and cross-cultural appeal that is not just a visual entertainer but also one that has a wonderful moral attached to it. One that reminds us to elevate towards our full potential no matter where we come from, by ultimately finding our inner peace. Who knew a big furry panda, a tigress, a monkey, a crane, a snake and a mantis could possibly teach us that. Its true when they say movie making is truly a magical experience! Let me know what you thought of the movie when you see it!

As part of WIN, I was glad to attend and participate in both of the recent events. The first was a discussion panel made up of our very own SAS stars in February “How Agile is your Career?” A shout out to Jenn Mann, Suzanne Gordon, Adele Sweetwood, Jamie Robbins, and Nelle Schantz for making this an entertaining, engaging and informative panel for us with active audience participation! The one I attended yesterday via webcast was a talk on “How to Perform Like a Rock star & Still Have Time for Lunch” by author Orna Drawas. She used the art of storytelling and shared anecdotes from her own life to engage with the audience and offer secrets of her success in her career thus far.

I, for one, learn and remember better by writing things down, especially inspirational words and hand-me-down wisdoms. Here is a brief recap of what struck me as commonalities from our speakers to the road of success, be it your career or family life.

Being successful is a relative term and more importantly, a state of mind – Each one of us owns a different yard stick to measure our own accomplishments and a path that leads to our happiness. It’s like one of those fuzzy words that Orna spoke about that can be open to interpretation by different people. The goal to ‘being successful’ is not relative to another person’s success or ‘idea of success’ but an internal drive and zest to do better in our daily lives – all the little things that lead to a bigger milestone in our lives. So the trick is to not be afraid to carve your own path and take baby steps to achieve it at your own pace.

Treat your personality like putty – Play with it till you like the shape that emerges. I state this with a caveat that it does not literally mean swaying with the lightest breeze! Fact is there is always room for improvement and creativity, so don’t deprive yourself of what you can become by being closed-minded and rigid. The trick in that lies with truly listening to what others have to say about you and finding creative ways to improve upon that sense of self without feeling attacked or defensive. More importantly, it comes with a quiet sense of inner confidence and faith in yourself that will help you strive higher.

Don’t take yourself too hard or seriously – This was a repeated theme that jumped out to me, as much as it is important to be goal centric, purposeful and conscientious of how we lead our lives, it’s almost necessary that we don’t forget to have fun. The trick is to retain the ability to see the lighter side of things in life. There’s a great deal to learn from who we all were, as kids! Adventurous, unassuming, playful, creative and innocent. I’m sure life will throw us challenges at every turn and corner, winners are those who ‘sharpen their saw’ and the ability to cope with it all and emerge triumphant!

Just my two cents! Would love to hear your perspective on it.

Photo by FindYourSearch

You can extend the same philosophy to your social media presence. Having a digital footprint is a good thing these days, but what about the digital dirt we rake in along the process? How do we clean up that? While it might not be possible to erase back all your wrong moves, now might be a good time to reflect back and give your virtual avatars a detox.

Sharing some of my ideas around that -

Reposition your persona – We as people come with myriad emotions and multifarious facets of ourselves that we tend to portray in our everyday lives. Somewhere down the line, it is possible to lose track of who we are or who we ‘want to be’ under all those faces. If you feel that you have derailed from that original path or have lost your initial luster and essence, then it’s probably not a bad idea to pause and reboot your system. Don’t be afraid to start afresh and refocus your energies on where you need to be. Like one block at a time, rebuild or reposition your online persona and reputation one comment, tweet, discussion thread and post at a time. After a point, the current will supersede the old.

Sharpen your message – Are you focusing on the right things that matter the most to you? Do you still stand by what you believed in when you started out? Or do you think you have drifted away from your core beliefs. Do not ever feel pressurized to dilute down on what you originally came forth to say. In the same token don’t get distracted by all the frills and fancy in your simple messaging. It’s never a bad idea to get back to basics and discard any additional unwanted layers. I’m tempted to quote Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) again with “Don’t sexify, simplify!

Be willing to give before you ask – Don’t always hoard onto ideas or resources as your proprietary domain. Enrich it by sharing it with others and gaining back more through crowdsourcing. The more you give to your online community, the more you get back be it in the form of ideas, solutions, fans, followers or friends!

Trust the WYSIWYG effect – What you sow is what you get! (Yeah I tweaked it slightly.) So make sure you are sowing the right seeds in building your reputation. I believe it begins with not just sharing your views but respecting other people’s viewpoints. You need to give respect to earn respect! Don’t be too hung up on your way. There are many different perspectives to looking at the same thing. So allow yourself to be surprised by keeping an open mind. Today’s social media provides that perfect platform in teaching us omnifarious thinking.

I believe Social Media is like good karma, what goes around comes around in leaps and bounds. So make sure you are attracting what you are sending out to your universe whether it’s with your content, comments, friends, family or just pictures.

With that, I’d like to end this year’s last post by sending out my best wishes and warm regards wishing each one of you a very happy and promising New Year in 2011. I thank you all for your comments encouraging me to keep writing and for keeping our dialogues exciting! Until next year…so long!

Photo by Marquette La

Although they have been around for nearly two decades (since 1994, originating in Japan by Denso Wave to help track vehicle parts), they have become prevalent in the recent years given the widespread usage of smartphones that have inbuilt QR reader capability if used with the right QR reader app.

What makes QR code interesting and relevant is their widespread (potential) usage in our modern lives. You can create a unique QR code and make it do a number of dynamic things for you, based on your needs. Such as, personal-branding, attach it to your resume or business card and connect it to the ‘About me’ or ‘Contact me’ section of your blog. It could also be used to drive profile information and status updates on your social media handles (LI, FB, Twitter).

Imagine the possibilities if your designer clothes could talk for you! Just scan the embedded QR code on the fabric and find out all about the winter collection along with the catalog listing from the Designer’s website! Wondering what the nutrition value is for a bag of kale you bought the other day, while sifting through your cookbook for a new recipe? Just scan the printed QR code on the package and voila!

Looking to buy a house but don’t have the downtime to make all those physical trips, the QR code printed in the newspaper ads or billboards as you are driving by can make your life simpler. Simply scan the code using your smartphone and get a video tour of the house or neighborhood right at your fingertips.  It’s Friday evening, and you are standing outside the movies trying to decide which show to go to? Just scan the poster with the QR code and watch the movie trailer or Director’s cut and pick your show!

While this might sound like a common, mundane lifestyle for the Japanese, the rest of the world is still at different stages of the adoption cycle. It’s not only futuristic in its appeal and applications but can be a huge global step in our efforts to go green and lean worldwide with less paper consumption!

The possibilities are limitless with tremendous interactive opportunities in the world of marketing and advertising. Whether you are an established business or just starting out, QR codes can help bridge the gap between the physical world and the virtual one allowing for a richer customer brand experience irrespective of, whether you are physically present at the store or sitting back at the comforts of your house on you smartphone! …Have I gone Matrix on you yet?!

Have you used QR codes? What has been your experience with it?

Photo by CoCreatr

With the advent of social media, there has been a lot of chatter about its usefulness as well as many raised eyebrows regarding its benefits. A lot of people are still left wondering, how and why social media is even important and relevant to what they do. Most people who are skeptical about joining the bandwagon want to first know what the ROI will be for investing their time in social media. Is it even worth the time or is it better left to the teenyboppers who pride themselves on updating their social status by the minute!?

I believe social media has something to offer everybody; it depends on how and to what extent you use it. It’s not a one-size-fits-all glove, but really depends on what you make of it and how willing you are to venture into it in the first place.

My personal ROI for investing in social media over the past several months has been very apparent. The most apparent return is that it has led me to a contract job opportunity at SAS. Here’s how social media helped me achieve that.

My initial escapades with social media started at a curiosity level, while I experimented with it on a trial and error basis. The truth is, I’m still exploring, as I still do not know or totally understand the full impact of these social media platforms. I started with what made me comfortable: I created a LinkedIn profile and filled out my background and skill sets. I also made it a point to upload a professional photo. I figured people register things better when they associate a visual against any data. I started building connections and strengthened my network online. This took a considerable amount of time, as I’d spend hours trying to research people and companies I admired and wanted to connect with.

I made it a point to customize my LinkedIn invite, which typically included a very short introduction, what I have in common with the contact, and why I would like to connect with them. I think it was this approach that gave me a better response rate in building new connections. I always tried to keep my end goal in mind, in this case it was building a stronger and richer network of people that I could emulate and learn from in my field of interest.

Twitter gave me the opportunity to follow these people, read what they tweeted about and even engage in those conversations with no strings attached! Twitter, like most social sites is merely a tool created for us to use at our own discretion. Garbage in is garbage out! If you wish to have fruitful and productive conversations, the onus lies on you to follow the right people you’d like to have real and interesting conversations with. Tune out the mindless chatter by creating lists of people you’d like to follow and focus on those.

Beware, though: What may have started as a 10-minute activity can easily turn into a couple of hours online spent toggling between a dozen or more tabs open on your monitor. So always keep track of time and make a hard stop using a timer (if need be) so you don’t go overboard with it. Time management is key here. Brief focused bursts of engagement online on a daily basis helps keep your profile active onscreen.

I tried to mix the old with the new methods of networking. While these tech-savvy social platforms helped give me the initial leverage to connect, I followed through with the old-fashioned way of meeting and greeting over coffee or with an informational meeting. This always helped make the interactions more human aside from our virtual connections. I’m grateful for these opportunities that social media platforms created for me allowing me to make new connections, while preserving old ones, and strengthening my online brand presence through each of these platforms.

While your goals may vary ranging from brand awareness, networking, relationship building, or strengthening customer connections, all it takes is an open mindset, adventurous spirit and the willingness to invest a small portion of your day on these sites, and the ROI can be huge in the long run.

What has been your experience using social media, how has it helped you?

Photo by Keith Burtis