HFTB Marketing Blog

taking a breather

I hear this from companies all the time. Usually goes something like this.

“Blogging just isn’t right for our company. We’d like to avoid some of the negativity out there. We like a little more control over our brand image.”

Control. Silly concept, really. Do companies think they have more control over their brand image if they don’t engage their customers on the negative aspects of their products or services? Seems a bit like ostrich syndrome to me… head planted firmly in the sand.

So let’s look at the alternative. Let’s assume the same company that initially rejected blogging (or social media in general for that matter) decided to put themselves out there. They start a blog, publicize it and make an effort to add relevant content over time.

What are the effects on their brand image?

Well, assuming the company has a recognizable brand and they spend the time and effort necessary to build a successful blog, they enter the discussion.

This is the key point. The discussion already exists. The difference is the company is now a participant. And as a participant, the negativity, which existed all along, can 1.) be addressed in the short term, and 2.) be acted upon and remedied in the long term.

Chris Brogan had a great post about his experience visiting Humana corporate headquarters. The post is about Humana’s unique efforts to combat the reactive vs. proactive health insurance model. And although the post is interesting for content alone, one of the comment strings is what really drew my attention – and ties into the above, by the way.

One commenter had less than positive things to say about Humana’s services. And she said it – in no uncertain terms. Now Brogan’s post was unequivocally positive, so the comment came in stark contrast to the rest of the commentary.

Here’s where we come back to the “losing control” topic.

This is a perfect example of a company putting itself out there (even though the post is from Brogan’s blog, the folks at Humana knew what they were doing by inviting Chris to their headquarters – his blog is after all in the top 100). And things were going great until the fourth comment on the piece.

Perfect definition of losing control. Humana can’t simply edit the comment out of the string, and I’d be surprised if Brogan would be receptive to a call from the VP of Marketing asking for its removal. So what to do?

Why not respond?

And that’s exactly what Humana did. Professionally. Quickly. And with a real answer. Wow, an insurance company with a face. Sounds like a differentiator to me.

And I will admit that in the future I am more likely to consider Humana as a result.

So what’s to gain from losing control?

Customers… profits… and enhanced brand image to start.

image by Pedronet

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New Marketing, Social Media blogging, customer relationships, Marketing, New Marketing, new media strategy, Online marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

I attended the Taking Your Brand Online Webinar through BrightTalk this morning. David Meerman Scott, Guy Kawasaki and Chris Brogan were the panelists and all had, as usual, interesting stuff to say.

image by Glenn.Batuyong

Of course there was the ubiquitous evangelism on the benefits of social media… blah, blah, blah.

But the really interesting portion of the webinar for me dealt with the question of whether or not all businesses should blog.

The unanimous answer, interestingly enough, was “no.”

To me, this is great stuff. Social media has a place. But there is always a tendency (or perhaps a law of physics) for the pendulum to swing too far in one direction. And with the rush to embrace social media for businesses, particularly small businesses, the question of whether or not a blog is needed is often not in the conversation. It is simply accepted.

Guy Kawasaki made the point that a home remodeler might not need to spend a portion of his day writing about his latest project when he is more concerned with making payroll in the next 30 days. I agree totally.

That’s not to say that the remodeler might not want to think about other ways to leverage social media (Twitter Search was Kawasaki’s recommendation). But at some point, business strategy needs to play a role in the conversation – hopefully, the starting point. Simply blogging because seemingly everyone else is doing it makes no sense.

So in sum, blogging is not a cure-all for what ails business marketing. It is most definitely a tool that can help – a great deal if done correctly. But tools should be used where they benefit strategic execution. And not simply because everyone else is using them.

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Marketing, New Marketing, Social Media blogging, Marketing, marketing communications, marketing efforts, New Marketing, Online marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

There’s been quite a bit of talk about the DiGiorno Flatbread Pizza product launch/social media campaign lately. DiGiorno, a Kraft brand, decided to deliver their new product to various Tweetups in major cities around the country.

The reaction from the online community has been interesting.

Some are hailing Kraft’s foray into social media as a harbinger of mainstream corporate acceptance of the value of some of the new marketing tools and tactics.

This reaction is a little odd to me.  After all, let’s think about what Kraft has really done.  They’ve found a way to dip a toe into the world of social media without actually taking part.

Trading pizza for influence doesn’t strike me as sound social media marketing strategy.  But perhaps this is only the first step in a larger Twitter presence.  Let’s hope… nowhere to go but up.

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Attended a great webinar put on by Hubspot this week.  Brent Leary, co-founder of CRM Essentials, presented on How to Use Social Media to Attract More Customers.

You can find the video and slides for download here. Check it out!

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New Marketing, SEO, Social Media, Web Design Add new tag, blogging, content, customer relationships, digital marketing, New Marketing, Online marketing, Social Media, social media marketing

In a post last week I noted that many are shifting away from traditional marketing tactics in favor of online or “new” marketing tools in response to the economic downturn.  The thinking is that with less of a marketing spend companies can increase, or at least maintain sales through online channels.

Maybe.  But I would argue that to effectively leverage online efforts, companies must build their presence over time rather than simply shift to digital media tactics as a result of budget cuts today.  This is along the lines of the old “dig your well before you’re thirsty” idea.

Great chart on Sherpa that shows in some detail the apparent shift.  The accompanying article elaborates on the findings.

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