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Mar 30 2012

The Final Four: Crisis Management Lessons Learned from March Madness

March 30, 2012 – 2:19 pm

MARCH-MADNESS

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Of all the sporting events I watch, March Madness has got to be my favorite. I love that every school in the tournament – big and small – has a shot at greatness, at least for “one shining moment.”

I’m a sucker for a good Cinderella story. And I almost always root for the underdog.

As I prepare to watch Kentucky take on Louisville, and Kansas take on Ohio State tomorrow, it reminds me just how much teams have to endure – in such a short period of time – to make it to the Final Four and ultimately to win a national championship. It’s like being in crisis mode.

Which got me thinking, are there crisis management lessons to be learned from March Madness?

I submit to you, my Final Four of crisis management.

  1. Prepare for the Opposition. All great coaches know that in order to beat your opponent, you must prepare for your opponent. The same holds true in crisis management. Organizations must identify all the crises they could face and prepare for them accordingly. Unfortunately, far too many organizations neglect their crisis planning in favor of other things. While it can take years to build a reputation, it only takes a few minutes to destroy one. You should never be caught unprepared during a crisis.
  2. Quickness Counts. In basketball, quickness counts. It also counts in crisis management. The first 48 hours of any crisis are the most important. The reason many companies fail to manage a crisis properly is because they don’t react quickly, especially with communications. If you don’t communicate quickly during a crisis, a communications void will be created. If you don’t fill it, someone else will. But the information they share may be inaccurate or incomplete. It’s better to say something quickly during a crisis than to say nothing at all. It may be tempting to delay communicating during a crisis by saying “no comment” or just staying silent. All that does is make it easier for the media and the public to assume the worst.
  3. Shoot From the Outside. It goes without saying that the three-point shot has revolutionized college basketball. Former Tulane coach Perry Clarks said that the three-point shot has allowed the mid-majors to better compete with the big guys in college basketball, because players who shoot from the outside can often offset the size and athleticism of their bigger opponents. In crisis communications, shooting from the outside means seeking an outsider’s perspective. Internal politics tend to take over during a crisis. Good leaders anticipate internal politics and counter that by bringing in someone from the outside who can look at the issues without bias. The outsider’s role is not to call the shots but to provide counsel and give an organization a perspective that few company insiders can offer.
  4. Prepare for the Comeback. A basketball team may be down at the half, and things may look bleak. But there’s always a second half … and an opportunity for the comeback. In business, smart leaders understand that in the midst of crisis, there are always opportunities. Don’t be afraid to seize the moment. Yes, there are risks involved. But the greater the risks, the greater the rewards.

For the record, I’m predicting Louisville to upset Kentucky on Saturday to face Kansas in the Finals. I told you I root for the underdog.

Note: Special thanks to Brian Ellis, CRT/tanaka executive vice president and leader of our crisis consultancy, for helping with this blog post. Read more crisis tips from Brian on the CRT/tanaka website.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jeff Wilson | Posted in PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Google Kills Organic SEO

March 30, 2012 – 11:48 am

By Jason Poulos (@TheSaganaki)

If you have/own/manage/support a website or blog I’m sure you’ve cracked open Google analytics at least once to see how many visitors your site has received. Some of us might spend more time in the analytics world but at a base level Google Analytics provides some basic solid metrics (visits, page views, time on site, bounce rate) that any website owner or blogger should be interested in.

As you dig deeper into the data world of Google Analytics curiousity might approach you. For instance, you might want to know how those 15,000 visitors last month reached your site via search engines. Visiting the “traffic sources” section in Google Analytics provides you data on what search engines are used, traffic from Adwords and what keywords are queried to reach your site.

All sound great, right? Google Analytics has all the data and tracking you ever needed?  However, a couple of months ago Google started blocking some of the most valuable data that could have been provided to you in analytics. If a user is signed into Google and uses Google to search, the terms they used to reach your site will not be reported in Google Analytics. From Google:

“When a signed in user visits your site from an organic Google search, Google Analytics will no longer report the query terms that the user searched on to reach your site.” Full Google Post

Knowing the terms  that  are used to reach your site is extremely valuable data. If you are curious or doing any sort of organic optimization, this data is gold. Keywords are the core of SEO and dictate your whole optimization and monitoring strategy. This is huge, with search terms blocked, you are now blind to the queries that are getting used to reach your website. How can we optimize and monitor a website blindly?

Google claims that this was implemented to help protect their users privacy. However, paid search is treated differently, traffic and reporting via Adwords will not be affected by this change. So, privacy is only important for organic searches and not paid searches? Interesting… you do have to pay to play right?

ga_not_providedGoogle also anticipated that this change would impact 10% or less of searches. Wrong! Just take a look at a couple of the sites we manage, those numbers are in the 15% -27% range! In looking at site one, for 27% of our search traffic, we don’t know what terms are getting used to reach our site. Take a look at the others too, in 3 out of 4 examples our highest ranking keyword is “not provided.” Awesome!

This is a game changer, as more people sign up with Google and stay logged in while searching, keywords will continue to get blocked in your analytics. It seems really odd that a search engine who relies so heavily on keyword usage and relevance for rankings would want to block this data from us. Google provides keyword research tools and resources to help out website owners. It appears that Google wants to help us make our sites more efficient by the use of keywords. Blocking keywords in analytics inhibits this initiative and will prevent your site from being truly “Google friendly.”

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jason Poulos | Posted in Search Marketing | Tagged , , , , | Comments (5)
Mar 29 2012

IACP Ready to Take Bite Out of the Big Apple

March 29, 2012 – 2:00 pm

clip_image002The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) will converge on New York City for its annual conference this weekend. The “Fashion of Food” is this year’s theme, looking at food beyond just sustenance. Truly it can be appreciated on many levels for its flavor, aesthetics, texture and even the story behind how it arrived on our plate. So for a city used to Fashion Week, consider this Food Week.  

Of everything in our lives, food is essential. We cannot live without it, and for too many, they cannot get enough of it. As I attend conferences like these, I feel fortunate to be able to celebrate the abundant, delicious food from throughout the world. CRT/tanaka client Consorzio del Prosciutto di Parma will be at three events sampling hams cured for times ranging from 24 to 30 months. We are excited to be there among the influential and passionate food professionals that are part of IACP. I want to dub them all “Passionistas” despite what my spell check says.

clip_image004I’m actually working double duty this year, as a speaker on a Saturday morning panel on mobile marketing, and on behalf of our client. We’ll be serving Prosciutto di Parma during three events throughout the conference, and I’m personally looking forward to speaking with attendees about the importance of “locale” as much as “local.” We were never meant to grow everything we need in our backyard, and with today’s interconnected world we can enjoy foods from around the globe. Some travel better than others, and it is important to remember the importance of terroir and artisanal craftsmanship that develops over centuries.

If you don’t get to see us at the Sunday afternoon expo, I hope you are participating in Chefs Move to Schools that day. We will be offering a tasting comparison of ages and textures. A boneless leg aged 24 month sliced on a hand-crank Berkel along with a 30 month aged leg sliced by hand off the bone. Offered with a variety of flavor pairings, it may change the way you look at prosciutto.

If you don’t have too much fun at the opening reception Friday evening, I hope you will join me for Mobile Marketing From the Kitchen to the Smartphone Saturday morning at 9AM. I will be joining Jodi Craft of Web.com and Kyle Agha, owner of New Town Bistro for a discussion on mobile technology and its impact on marketing.

A friend of mine has analogized the IACP awards being like the “Golden Globes” to James Beard’s “Oscars.” While they do come out before, only a few categories overlap, and I don’t think they are any better precursor to the Beard Awards that the Globes are for the Oscars. The New York Times Center will host the Gala Monday night, with a personal favorite of mine, Cleaver Co., catering the evening. Look for more Prosciutto di Parma that evening as you see the best in the food industry be acknowledged. A special shout out to our client, the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, for being a finalist in the Marketing Excellence Awards. Good luck!

I’m looking forward to seeing all my friends at this year’s IACP conference and meeting others that share my passion for great food. Please follow me on twitter @NYCubsFan and our client @ParmaHam_USA this weekend and follow #IACPnyc to attend virtually if you can’t join us in The Big Apple.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jason Stemm | Posted in Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Unwritten Rules of PR Writing

March 29, 2012 – 10:28 am

by April Sciacchitano (@aprilcs)

Unlike reporters and copy writers, PR pros are writing chameleons. We write scathing op-eds, deftly-woven media messages, cheeky blog posts, inspiring speeches, informative scripts and 140-character sonnets. AP Stylebook in hand, we make our way through new and strange platforms. But in our journey, does our tone vary appropriately? 

We follow the rules wherever we write, but the intangibles – tone, cadence, tension – are employed through intuition. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t be learned.  Here are three unwritten guides to writing:

Tension headaches.
Business writing requires that you build a case. However, spoiler alerts are a good thing. If you’re not hitting your reader with a clarifying headline, take a moment to tell them where you’re taking them. A 2011 study showed that people listening to stories enjoyed them more when they knew the ending. The researcher says knowing what will happen “may allow readers to organize developments in the story, anticipate the implications of events, and resolve ambiguities that occur in the course of reading.”  

That’s not to say tension in writing is always a bad thing. Create tension by knowing the rules and breaking them strategically.  Unlike the hard and fast rules of commas and semicolons, the em dash is more flexible, usually used to include a series within a phrase or indicate an abrupt change. It’s a great way to call your reader’s attention to what follows without the drama of italics, bolding or underlining. While, true, not everyone is a fan, you can use the em dash to your benefit if you use it sparingly. 

Fighting for a good clause.
Your introductory clause is a great way to frame a statement. These lead-ins give context, but be careful of overloading a clause with information. If you have a new idea, don’t hide it in a clause. Instead, give it its own space, so your reader understands its importance.  

Short clauses can also be relief when you’re writing about a weighty topic. “In fact,” like “in addition” and “as a result,” are visual breaths. Your reader recognizes the transition, and is better prepared for what follows next.

Speech-writing 101.
You probably know the trick – read aloud and you’ll catch copy that’s awkward or too dense. But what about when it’s meant to be read aloud?  In this case, a strong cadence, parallel structure and even silence are your tools. If you’re speechwriting for someone else, be generous with commas. They may not be grammatically accurate, but help a speaker to know when to pause. 

Anecdotes and analogies are also great tools for speeches. Because speeches often deal with the conceptual or leverage energy and emotion, these are tools that ground a speech in reality. It’s why in an election year, you hear a lot about the parents, farmers and plumbers politicians meet on the road. Use anecdotes and analogies only when they make sense – it’s easy to stretch them beyond their usefulness for the sake of content.

So next time you look something up in the AP Stylebook, take another second to think about the rhythm and style of your writing.  In PR, it’s easy to become such a chameleon for your clients that your point of view is neutralized.  These are a few tools to help you reclaim it.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By April Sciacchitano | Posted in PR Industry Trends | Comments (5)
Mar 27 2012

Millenials & Moscato: Marketing a shift in palate

March 27, 2012 – 9:58 pm

By Caroline Helper (@forgetburgundy)

Image via www.radhadesh.com

Image via www.radhadesh.com

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Although there are always other factors at play, this, I truly believe, is the force that drives trends more than anything else. You can see it in fashion, you can see it in food, and you can see it in wine.

My parents, for example, are Baby Boomers, and their wine preferences would give them away even if they never told you how old they were. My dad loves big, rich, smooth wines – give him a California Cabernet and he’ll give you a big wine-stained smile. My mom prefers Kendall Jackson Chardonnay – affectionately referred to as KJ in my house – a wine that is big, buttery, rich, and redolent of oak and vanilla.

My parents became wine drinkers during the golden age of Robert Parker, whose preference for big bold California wines has defined a style that is still extremely popular with wine drinkers around the world. The Robert Parker effect has been so vast and so penetrating across the wine world that even while winemakers everywhere strive to emulate the style that launched 100 points, the beginnings of a backlash have already stirred.

As the next generation (sorry Gen-Xers, but we are 80-million strong to your 51-million), in terms of sheer size, power, and influence, we Millenials are already making a significant impact on the wine industry. Oh, and there are still 20 million of us who have yet to turn 21.

Images via Casella Wines of Australia and Gallo

Images via Casella Wines of Australia and Gallo

For a glimpse into just what kind of power we Millenials yield in the marketplace, take a look at what we’ve done to Moscato. Moscato used to be a relatively obscure grape known mostly for producing the slightly fizzy sweet wine, Moscato d’Asti. Recently, however, big industrial wine producers like Barefoot Cellars and Yellow Tail have started producing versions that are a runaway success. A recent Nielsen survey showed that Moscato sales grew 78 percent in 2011, driven almost entirely by wine drinkers between the ages of 21 and 30. It was also recently reported that plantings of Moscato grapes in the U.S. are expected to increase by 136 percent by 2015. Reports on the Moscato craze point to the wine’s ubiquity in hip-hop culture, its generally low price point, and its accessible flavor profile (it’s sweet, low in alcohol, and it tastes like peaches). Wine industry pundits are even starting to call Moscato “the next White Zinfandel.”

I bring up Moscato because it is a great example of the impact that Millenials can have on the wine industry and also because it points to a shift in palate that, I believe, is about due and not inconsequential.

I believe that we are in for a major shift away from the big, bold, high-alcohol California-style wines beloved by the Baby Boomers – our parents. I think there are a number of reasons for this, and our preference for Moscato is just the first indication of the impending shift towards lighter, fresher, and more food-friendly wines. Below are some important reasons (but not the only one) that I’d like to think this:

  • The explosion of foodie culture: As food only becomes increasingly important (and cool – chefs are the new rockstars) to Millenials, I believe that wine will reclaim its rightful place at the table – as an essential part of the meal. That means the wine that’s on the table has got to more food-friendly. Those big bold wines that hold a special place in our parents’ hearts and cellars? They may be delicious, but they’re not very food-friendly.  Food-friendly wines tend to be higher in acid and tannin and lower in alcohol (see: Moscato). Also, while our parents have stuck up their noses at sweetness in wines, we Millenials, raised on soda and fattened on high-fructose corn syrup, have shown that we have no problem imbibing our sweet fix (see: Moscato). Sweetness, by the way, does not inherently reduce a wine’s food-friendliness depending on what it’s paired with – it’s a fantastic accompaniment to spicy food and particularly Asian flavors.
  • The internet: In the face of that great global connector, the internet, it’s hard to argue that we are not a more internationally influenced audience than any previous generation. We are aware of the rest of the world because we are connected to it in a way that is totally unprecedented. The effect is that we are more curious, more worldly, and more concerned about our place and our impact on that world. This factor, I would argue, means that all of the hubbaloo surrounding the Natural, Organic, and Biodynamic wines is not going to die down anytime soon. Especially with Natural and Biodynamic wines, the wine making process tends towards wines that fall neatly in the food-friendly camp – they are leaner, fresher, and speak more to varietal purity and that elusive concept of terroir. Looking out at the rest of the world, especially toward Europe, Millenials will also come face-to-face, again, with the idea of wine as part of a meal.
Image via Hello Vino

Image via Hello Vino

There is some data to support the claim that we are already seeing a slight shift, or the beginning of one. Hello Vino is a company that has a mobile app that doles out wine recommendations based on consumer taste preferences, meal pairings, gifts for occasions, or region. The company released a wine consumer survey last year (March of 2011) that showed the ways that taste/varietal preferences are shifting and that most recommendations (47 percent) were generated based on suggestions for pairing wines with a meal.

Like what I’ve got to say? Maybe want to read more? Head over to my wine blog, Forget Burgundy, for more of my personal musings on wine!

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Caroline Helper | Posted in Digital Marketing, The Booze Bin, Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

Mascot Transgressions–Not

March 27, 2012 – 7:00 am

M&M mascots

by Mike Mulvihill

 

I recently talked with a really interesting business concept that offers potential customers a corollary benefit – it gives organizations an opportunity to forge relationships directly with their brand thereby circumventing the conduit of sponsorships and celebrity spokespeople.

Don’t get me wrong, I love celebrity spokespeople. We often use them to add relevance and newsworthiness to our client’s business. But celebs can also put the very products and brands they represent at potential risk. Who could have foreseen Tiger Woods’ transgressions and even organizational faux pas, such as Susan B. Komen’s Planned Parenthood fiasco?

No wonder that old time mascots are making a comeback. From throwback revivals such as Charlie the Tuna and Alka-Seltzers Speedy to modern icons such as the Geico gecko, as Ad Age reported on Monday, animated spokespeople don’t have affairs, drive recklessly, get arrested or make inappropriate statements – well you get the idea.

And, they make great social media figures. A virtual life on the web was tailor-made for virtual brand ambassadors such as mascots. For brands, animated ambassadors feature control and messaging that just can’t be banked on with human ambassador counterparts.

As Ad Age points out, mascots don’t come cheap – but then again, neither does damage control.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Mike Mulvihill | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Mar 26 2012

Key Insights from Altimeter’s Digital Influence Report

March 26, 2012 – 1:40 pm

By Priya Ramesh (@newpr)

Digital Influence

Last week Altimeter’s principal analyst, Brian Solis released the Digital Influence Report to help us understand the tenets of digital influence marketing; how to identify individuals with a social capital to increase word-of-mouth for your brand and ultimately measure their impact or “digital influence” on your maketing efforts. I highly recommend you download the free report (see below) especially to understand the strengths and limitations of 14 digital influence software vendors like Klout, PeerIndex, Radian6, Traackr and the like. CRT/tanaka uses Radian6 as its agency standard of measurement and we keep our eyes on new social media measurement apps to evaluate what’s best for our clients who have varying needs in terms of digital metrics and measurement. So this report from Brian Solis definitely helped affirm some of our hesitations to use certain software applications that claim to measure “influence” and strengthened our  understanding of how to best leverage some others. I have tried to summarize what I think are some of the key learning points from a digital measurement perspective.

What is Digital Influence?

With the advent of social media, “who” says “what” online could have a positive or negative ompact on your brand sentiment. As explained in the Altimeter report, “When combined with the effects of social media, what people say in social networks can reach far beyond the extent of traditional marketing. Depending on the number and caliber of an individual’s connections in social networks, their reputation, and what’s shared, what they say about a company can go viral. The resulting word of mouth and activity will cause an effect, change behavior, and influence the actions of others.”

In short, “the ability to cause effect, change behavior and drive measurable outcomes” is called Digital Influence. 

Social Capital Predicts Influence:   So how do we go about identifying “influentials?” Influentials are folks who have a strong voice on a particular topic and/or have a good following online. As defined by Brian Solis, “influentials are individuals who possess the capacity to influence based on a variety of factors such as substantial or concentrated following in social networks, notable stature or authority within a community, and the size or loyalty of an audience.” The social capital of these individuals is a “direct resut of significant investments of intellectual capital, goodwill and goold old fashioned networking.” One thing to note is while brands die to get a simple re-tweet from Justin Beiber and Guy Kawasaki as they are clearly ”influentials” based on their following, it is critical to also identify “influentials” who may not boast millions of followers on Twitter but command a huge social capital in a given topic or space.  

3 pillarsThree pillars of Influence:

Pillar 1 — Reach: Relationships form the union of the social graph and define how finformation can travel across the social graph and communities at large. Reach is a measure of popularity, affinity, and potential impact.

Popularity: The state of being liked, admired, or supported by many people.
Proximity: The location of an individual is taken into consideration where effect is necessary within a particular setting or environment.
Goodwill: Investing goodwill into one’s community increases appreciation and the probability for collaboration and action.

Pillar 2 — Relevance: Topical relevance is the glue of the interest graph and the communities of focus. Individuals aligned through subject matter create a series of linked relationships that send information along communities of focus.

Authority: As an individual invests in the subject of topical relevance, they naturally earn a level of authority on the subject matter. Authority levels also prompt respect, which is a reward for expertise or specialty.
Trust: Difficult to measure, trust is the source of most meaningful relationships. It’s also a word that’s difficult to describe. We all know what it is. Here, trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truthfulness, ability, or strength of someone.
Affinity: A natural liking or sympathy for someone or something. Connected consumers establish affinity within their communities, and it buoys their position.

Pillar 3 — Resonance: The culmination of reach and relevance serve as the foundafor “the score.” Here, resonance is the measurement of the duration, rate, and level of interactivity around content, a topic, or conversations. High resonance ensures that more people will see each post or update. In theory, this number determines the reach of activity and how long it can stay alive in the social streams of online consumers.

Frequency: The rate a social object, topic, or person materializes in social streams.  Typically, frequency is tethered to a given theme, conversational thread, or media related to a particular campaign.
Period: The length or portion of time it remains visible after the initial appearance.
Amplitude: The level of engagement within a network.

Don’t just rely completely on Klout Scores and the like to identify Influentials:  While the Altimeter des a good job of comparing some of the popular measurement software providersbased on key features like score, reach, topical relevance, resonance, list development, campaign management and engagement metrics (similar to Gartner’s magic quadrant format), the key takeaway from Brian Solis there is, “As connected consumers “live in public,” their activities are captured and measured. These actions, reactions, and the relationships that expand and contract as a result, contribute to the state of an individual’s social capital in each social network. Don’t just rely on a score or a report; see for yourself what makes someone valuable to his or her community.”

Digital Influence Metrics: Key metrics on digital influence as outlined in the Altimeter report include:

  • Brand Lift/Awareness — Benchmark where the company is today in social networks, and set goals and KPIs to improve brand awareness and reach.
  • Brand Resonance — How often is your business discussed in the social web today? Define how resonance will keep your business top of mind and to what extent can be driven through influence programs.
  • Reach Through Advocacy and WOM — Existing advocacy and WOM initiatives can be designed to influence customer behavior and decisions.
  • Sales/Referrals — Through special offers and promotions or exclusive incentives for engagement, brands can drive leads, sales, and referrals.
  • Sentiment/Shift — Negative or indifferent perception can be shaped toward positive or favorable views.
  • Thought Leadership/Authority — Tapping into the communities of expert individuals can help your brand tap its social capital to contribute to the stature within the community you hope to earn.
  • Demand — Invest in demand creation through exclusive programs and intentional outcomes.
  • Trends — Changing behavior is possible once you understand what it is today, how you see it evolving, and identifying the right people and value to help you get there.
  • Audience — Investing in the size of your community and its quality is a function of design and purpose, and its value grows through strategic alignment and engagement.

My word of caution to brand marketers is while you rely on software applications like Klout, Traackr and Radian6 to identify inluentials and yes this might be a starting point to your influential campaign, it might be helpful to also use a manual check to ensure you are targeting the right influentials for the right topic. According to Klout, Rick Santorum is an influential on “diapers” but thank God I know enough about him to not pitch him for a new diaper line coming out next month. http://mashable.com/2012/03/22/rick-santorum-klout-bomb/.

 To dowload the complete report visit slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/Altimeter/the-rise-of-digital-influence.”  

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)
Mar 22 2012

Feeling Slimed by Food Labeling?

March 22, 2012 – 2:56 pm

clip_image002

By now you have probably heard of “finely textured beef” or at least its more popular name, “pink slime,” which has been in our ground beef for years, and recently brought to public attention. In fact, unless you have only consumed organic ground beef, you have probably ingested it. J.M. Hirsch did a great job describing where it comes from and how it tastes compared to “unadulterated” beef in his story yesterday. Many large grocery retailers are quick to announce that they will no longer sell ground beef containing this filler. This will be challenging given that ABC News also reported that 70% of ground beef at supermarkets currently contains pink slime.

The challenge for shoppers now, is that there is almost no way to know from the packaging if this filler is in the beef you are buying. Because it is made from scraps of other cuts of beef, USDA does not require separate labeling. Starting this fall, schools will have the knowledge and choice of whether to serve ground beef with or without scraps treated with ammonium hydroxide. Some school districts are already announcing their plans to eliminate it from school lunches and fast-food restaurants are also making the move.

clip_image004While the debate on whether or not it is safe continues, there is another debate on the transparency of our food labeling and regulation needed to protect consumers, or at least inform them. Sometimes what you don’t know won’t hurt you, but it may gross you out. For me it was when my older sister pulling back the curtain on Oz and telling me about her part time job at McDonald’s. Being a pre-teen at the time, it really wasn’t until Super Size Me that I gave up fast food, with the exception of the occasional road trip pit stop.

This debate is not new. We have seen some labeling transparency slowly added, like Country of Origin Labeling on seafood, meat and produce. In other instances, like with the term “All-Natural,” only minimal definition from USDA has allowed for some products to make all-natural claims despite having artificial hormones or being genetically modified. GMO labeling is also very loose. Connecticut is trying to establish its own requirements for GMO foods, but many feel that the federal government should be setting standards nationally. Like this latest controversy, the government and industry tell us its safe, and it very well may be, but for many it is a matter of freedom of choice.

It has been over 100 years since Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed dubious practices by the meat packing industry leading to the Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act. As consumers become increasingly aware of how their food is raised and where it comes from, they will demand more transparency. Retailers with nothing to hide are happy to offer details about the food they sell. For those who continue to count on an uneducated or uninterested customer, they may be looking ahead to a sticky situation.

Photo Credit: 2RadicalDudez and imdb.com

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jason Stemm | Posted in Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Thought leadership is key to hospital social media success

March 22, 2012 – 7:00 am

By Jenn Riggle

skeleton keys

Unless organizations have a thought leadership platform, their social media and media relations efforts are destined to fall on deaf ears.

Shel Israel’s recent Forbes article explored the topic of thought leadership and got me thinking. While not a new concept, thought leadership is important because it helps define why others should care about what you have to say. Israel defines thought leadership as “someone who looks to the future and sets a course for it that others will follow…[they] look at existing best practices then come up with better practices.”

One important way to create thought leadership is through content marketing or brand journalism, which is basically publishing educational material to help promote your organization and its services. Content marketing has long been a mainstay of B2B public relations, in the forms of developing case studies, bylined articles, white papers, fast-tip videos, webinars, etc., but it’s clear that it has real relevance to the healthcare industry as well. By publishing their own content, hospitals have an opportunity to educate people about health issues, new medical procedures, position their physicians as clinical experts and ultimately, help create preference.

stethoscope and keyboardA great example of a health system that promotes thought leadership is Virtua, a health system in Marlton, New Jersey. The system created its own broadcasting network and develops videos that focus on news, health treatments and wellness. By publishing their own news, they’re creating thought leadership while promoting its clinicians. Three weeks after the launch, they attracted more than 5,000 viewers to the network site. These videos were then shared via the health system’s social media networks.

Another classic platform to express thought leadership is through a corporate blog. Blogs can give executives and clinicians a platform to discuss the latest healthcare news, post videos about new procedures and talk to the patients about satisfaction and latest medical advancements. Research even shows that 89 percent of journalists source stories from blogs. However, many hospitals do not have a corporate blog. According to Ed Bennett’s blog, Found in Cache, there are 1,229 hospitals engaged in social media, but only 149 have a corporate blog. This means that hospitals are engaging in social media without the benefit of providing original content that will help position them as healthcare leaders.

Hospitals can engage in content marketing, even if they don’t have a corporate blog or broadcasting network – it’s just more difficult. However, hospitals can still establish thought leadership by strategic use of traditional media stories, bylined articles in trade publications, infographics, webinars, videos, eNewsletters and SlideShare. The key, though, is to drive people back to their website – and their blog – rather than other people’s websites.

With the many business and clinical experts on its staff, hospitals have the opportunity to promote industry leaders from within the organization. By creating a thought leadership platform and leveraging a content marketing strategy, they can give their social media efforts a real boost.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)
Mar 21 2012

3 PR Tips from Beer Infographics

March 21, 2012 – 8:00 am

THE BOOZE BIN

By Rosalie Morton (@rosaliemo)

Infographics are one of last year’s biggest PR trends. Have some dull survey data? Create an infographic and, to quote Emeril, “BAM!” you have something interesting! Infographics are super handy to pitch to media, pitch to blogs, share on your own social properties, share with customers… the list goes on.

Combine alcohol and infographics, and you can really have some fun. So, without further ado, here are three infographics featuring beer, and a few tips you can learn from them.

Tip 1: Brand Awareness through Timeliness

Super Bowl Beer by SaveonBrew.com

Timeliness is such an important factor for a successful pitch. Tie your brand to a relevant holiday, and the odds of the media and your customers noticing your product increase drastically.

SaveonBrew.com is a website that aggregates the lowest advertised beer prices (imports, crafts and mass domestics). You can enter your zip code or address, and the site shows you where to find affordable, delicious beer.

When do people look for beer? On the biggest game day of the year, the Super Bowl. So, to raise awareness of the site during the Super Bowl, the company created this gem of an infographic with hilarious stats including “7 million people will ‘call in sick’ on Monday after the game.”

 

Tip 2:  Become a Resource by Creating a “How To”

How to Make Beer by OCWeekly.com

When it comes to hobbies, like, say, home brewing beer… there is a lot of research involved.  You can’t just put some barley, hops and whey in a jar, and hope for the best.

One way to make research and “how to” articles more digestible is through an infographic. So, if you’re trying to establish yourself as a resource or a thought leader, an infographic can be an excellent tool.

OCWeekly did an awesome job giving readers the skinny with this informative, but really cool infographic on home brewing:

 

Tip 3: Hometown Pride – The Local Angle

Beer: Canada’s Drink of Summer by Molson and Coors

The local angle is a PR pro’s best friend.  There is nothing that a local publication loves more than a success story from right around the corner… and with bigger brands, this can translate to the national scale. This infographic by Molson tugs at the local heart-strings, painting a vivid picture of Canada steeped in the tradition of beer. Who knew that beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Canada in terms of both volume and dollar value? Now, thanks to Coors, Molson and this fantastic infographic, you and I both do.

 

What are some of your favorite infographics? Share below!

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Rosalie Morton | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends, The Booze Bin | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)