By Mike Mulvihill

 While Super Bowl fanfare dominated last week’s news, the Interior Department announced the conclusion of a study that sets the stage for the equivalent of a Bowl Championship Series for offshore wind development.

The environmental study found there would be “no significant environmental and socioeconomic impacts” from offshore development. This brings the department a step closer to actually selling leases for waters off Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey. Right now, not a single turbine spins off these shores.

In addition to moving a step closer to selling leases, the study also moves project development onto a faster track. According to the Offshore Wind Development Coalition, the study finding could reduce the permitting time for offshore wind farms by as much as two years by alleviating the need for studies and government review required by an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the study territory.

There will still be plenty of environmental impact studies required for any specific offshore wind project. But alleviating two years of time and money just to propose a project will encourage many more companies to move forward with bidding on leases that may actually become projects rather than financial albatrosses.

The Interior Department needs to get things moving if it wants to further the Obama administration’s energy strategy to deploy 10 gigawatts of offshore wind generating capacity by 2020 and 54 gigawatts by 2030 (targets that include both state and federal waters off both coasts, the Gulf of Mexico and other regions). Fifty-four gigawatts would be enough to power more than 15 million average homes, according to the Energy Department – or equivalent to the output of 81 average sized coal power plants.

The Giants taking the Super Bowl is worth a parade today. But for generations of Americans, this mundane study may be worthy of a much bigger celebration.

Three Must-Attend Sessions for Advanced Digital Marketers

By Priya Ramesh (@newpr)

I don’t know about you but I am really, really excited about DC’s first ever Social Media Week starting next Mon, Feb 13th. It’s about time the DC, Virginia, Maryland tri-state area joined the global  during Social Media Week activities. Social Media Week offers a series of interconnected activities and conversations around the world on emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries. In just under three years, Social Media Week has expanded to 21 cities, including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Istanbul, London, Paris, Rome, Milan, Glasgow, Berlin, Moscow, Beirut and Hong Kong. Starting in 2012, SMW is adding Tokyo, Singapore, DC and Miami.

Check out the complete schedule for the DC Social Media Week here. This will be a week-long celebration of all things digital and technology with workshops, expert panels and networking opportunities. If you spend a chunk of your life in marketing, communications, social media, make use of this fantastic opportunity to meet peers and learn what some of our DC area companies are doing in the digital space. Hats off to Peter Corbett , CEO, iStrategy Labs and his uber smart team for producing Social Media Week DC. Peter is a household name in the DC technology scene and was recognized as Great Washington DC Board of Trade’s “One To Watch” for being “A rising entrepreneur who has a bright and sustainable future in Greater Washington. You won’t be disappointed with Peter behind the event.

As CRT/tanaka’s social media lead, I have been speaking at several industry events and also try to attend at least ONE solid conference a year to stay ahead of the digital curve. But I am sure you will probably relate to me feeling a little “conferenced out” (thanks Shashi Bellamkonda, advisory board member, Social Media Week-DC for coining that phrase). So when the Social Media Week DC email arrived in my inbox I had the same feeling of, “here we go again, another one of those events where agencies and vendors line up panel discussions with catchy titles and pretty much say the same thing you heard last year at a different conference.” So with a little bit of that cynicism, I did land on the Social Media Week’s schedule page and was pleasantly surprised to see actual case studies of reputable organizations in the DC region. Here’s my top three sessions that I would encourage you to attend if you are hard pressed on time and if you are already through the social media basics and advancing to the next level.

1. Unleash the Hidden Power of the Social Customer and Grow Your Business
Location: Ketchum
Monday, February 13 at 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

Session description: Customers are more empowered than ever – and more vocal. Social media is driving a change in customer behaviors; do you know how to harness it? This talk will help you create winning strategies that leverage social media to grow your business, and that of your clients, through current customers and brand loyalists. Drawing from her book The Hidden Power of Your Customers, Becky Carroll will discuss the mindset of the social customer and share specific strategies to unleash the potential that is hidden within them. For more information and registration: http://smwdc12beckycarroll.eventbrite.com/

I have personally heard Becky Carroll speak at Blog World on the topic of Social CRM. She has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in this area so if you are especially a B2B or are looking for enterprise-wide social media integration to boost customer service and customer success programs, this is a MUST attend.

2. The Value of a Like: Measuring and Reporting on the ROI of Social Media
Location: Holiday Inn Battleview – Manassas, VA
Wednesday, February 15 at 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Session description: What’s the value of a “like” or a Twitter follower? What does adding 10,000 more fans really mean to your business’s bottom line? In this session we’ll help attendees identify which metrics make the most sense for measuring, analyzing and reporting on the ROI of their social media efforts. More details on this session at http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=1176. I am glad to see this session cover the following basics in social media metrics and measurement:
• Identifying your objectives for using social media
• Defining the metrics and KPIs for success
• Free and paid tools to get you started with monitoring/measuring
• How to calculate the value of earned media and reach
• Using Google Analytics and Facebook Insights for analysis
• Creating simple dashboard spreadsheets in Excel for reporting KPIs/ROI

I have been pretty vocal about the fact that the social media honeymoon phase is over and it is not just enough to launch your brand on social channels, we got to start answering the critical ROI questions. So if you are beyond the honeymoon phase, the above session should provide you a good understanding of how to go about defining ROI for your social efforts.

3. Another Social Network? How to Combat Social Media Fatigue in Your Business
Location: APCO Worldwide
Friday, February 17 at 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Session description: As more and more social networks are introduced or evolve to mimic other platforms, will social interaction around new social tools and networks continue to rise or will consumer engagement level off? Social media experts from APCO Worldwide, SBNation.com and GetBetterHealth.com will help you:

• Uncover the realities of social media fatigue
• Identify the sectors in which social media fatigue is occurring and discuss how to avoid contributing to 
  social media fatigue in your business efforts.
• Gain best practices to combat social media fatigue and discover implementable tactics for using it to
  your competitive business advantage. Details at http://socialmediaweek.org/event/?event_id=2208

If you are a marketing, PR, communications professional living in the DC area, there is no reason for you to not be involved with Social Media Week. The best learning happens when you get out of your office and meet real people doing real social media work. You can also stay connected to the week’s activities virtually by following @SMWWDC and the hashtag #smwwdc.

Also stay tuned to the CRT/tanaka Buzz Bin next week to hear from us on specific case studies and thoughts from digital experts.

Have fun and let’s keep it real with social media!

With the explosion of the smartphone and the tablet market, a shift known as the second screen is quickly taking over how people consume media.  This phenomenon of the second screen essentially means that while people are watching television in the comfort of their living room, they are simultaneously accessing the web on their laptops, tablets, or smartphones.

According to the Nielsen Company, in figures they released in October 2011, approximately 40% of viewers use mobile devices while watching television. A majority of the activity currently involves time during commercial breaks checking email or sports scores, looking up actor/actress information, or interacting on social networking sites. While this activity would seem disruptive to traditional marketing models, the Nielsen report also discovered that over 1 in 10 of these users checked product information and coupon deals on their devices.

Instead of trying to compete with the second screen, major media companies are seeking to weave the two screens together into a cohesive social television experience. The screens for every major award show and news show are plastered with twitter hash tags to attract live tweets from viewers.  MTV’s 2011 VMA show attracted a record-breaking 5.6 million hits from social media on the day it aired August 28, 2011. With the revelation of Beyoncé’s baby bump during the show, @twitterglobalpr revealed that twitter received a record bump of 8,868 tweets per second. Culling instant feedback like award buzz allows media companies to adjust their content and social strategies according to what attracts enthusiastic attention.

Beyond shaping content strategies from twitter streams and facebook comments, the second screen poses an entirely new platform for marketing and connecting viewers to products. Traditional ad spots are becoming less and less significant.  As Game Day for Super Bowl XLVI approaches this Sunday, major companies have been pre-releasing promotions and commercials. Honda has released “Matthew’s Day Off” a tribute to the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Not to be outdone, Volkwagen has released “Dog Strikes Back” an extension of their 2011 commercial featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader.

But, in the rapidly-changing online world, pre-releasing commercials to just the second screen is already très passé.  The interaction of the second screen and first screen together is the future, and major companies and advertisers recognize this shift.

For Game Day, Google is customizing their search resources into a microsite where users will be able to search for recipes,  an entire game day site complete with recipes, pre-game trivia, and essential mobile information like the scores once the kickoff happens.

Other companies have also created sites to engage users via the second screen on game day.  Coca-Cola has created a facebook app that features a polar-bear game-watching party.  Pizza delivery chain Papa John’s is promoting their site where users can register for the Papa John’s reward program and pick whether the coin toss for the Super Bowl is heads or tails. If a user’s prediction matches the coin toss on Game Day, she will receive a free pizza courtesy Papa John’s. General Motors has created a Chevrolet mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fans to interact and possibly win promotions. Fans who registered before January 27 received unique license numbers that give them the opportunity to win one of the cars featured in the Chevrolet XLVI commercials based upon matching a fan’s license number to the license plate of one of the cars.

Even though uncertainty about the future platforms of media and advertising persists, capitalizing on the second screen is a considerable opportunity for advertisers. With a well-thought-out strategy and matching execution plan, a coordinated campaign can unite competing media platforms like television and smartphones. With the added benefit of instant feedback and accurate metrics, the efforts can precisely engage target audiences. The viewers can instantly access timely promotions on their second screen devices, improving response rate to the ads.

by Mike Mulvihill

 As the presidential election season ramps into a full-tilt boogie, energy will be a topic perking toward the top of the national discussion. While the GOP candidates beat up on one another, the incumbent come this November is beating the energy drum.

 While perusing Facebook, I was greeted by an online banner ad for Obama’s campaign touting the current administration’s progress:

• In 2010 domestic crude oil production reached its highest level since 2003.
• In 2010 natural gas production reached its highest level in more than 30 years.
• The U.S. has become a net exporter of fuels for the first time since 1949.
• A five-year offshore leasing plan will make more than 75 percent of undiscovered oil and gas resources off our shores available for development.
• Electricity generation from wind and solar increased nearly 71 and 40.3 percent between 2008 and 2010, respectively.
• The Obama administration issued a conditional loan guarantee for the construction of the first nuclear power plant to be built in the United States in decades, providing enough clean energy for 1.4 million people.

While it is certainly arguable how much of a role the current administration played in much of these accomplishments, I do have to credit Obama’s stated approach, as recently affirmed in his State of the Union address, “This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American energy.”

 Oddly enough, Virginia’s Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, in his State of the Commonwealth address on January 11, invoked the same “all of the above” energy strategy. (So this approach has a hope of being one of the few bi-partisan initiatives in the country right now.)

 What does an “all of the above approach” include? Coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewable/alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and biomass all fall under this umbrella. While he didn’t say much about coal in his SOTU address, Obama reiterated support for offshore natural gas and shale natural gas exploration, and included a call to arms to not concede the clean-energy race to China.

 While I have blogged about the impact of China’s nationalistic, government funded/protected approach to green energy development, elsewhere in the world business continues to boom in the global clean energy sector: Reuters reported that deals in the solar, wind, and energy efficiency industries netted a record $53.5 billion last year – up 40 percent from 2010.

 The “all of the above” strategy was also reinforced by last week’s Energy Information Administration Annual Energy Outlook for 2012. EIA projects that between now and 2035 natural gas production and natural gas powered electric generation will increase to 27 percent of electric generation from 24 percent. Meanwhile, coal is projected to continue to be our primary source of electric power at 39 percent, but this figure is well below the 49 percent seen as recently as 2007. The balance will be absorbed by additional green power production from wind, solar and other renewable sources. As a result, carbon dioxide levels are projected to remain below 2005 levels through 2035.

 All in all, the body of information would indicate that we are making progress in “turning the QE” of national power and energy consumption to reduce coal dependency, reduce foreign oil dependency, increase use of renewables and hold or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All in all, I would categorize the “all of the above” approach and the progress being made as pretty encouraging news. Now if we can just get a new tax code put in place.

 Photo: pokerfanatics.net

Last Monday, I attended marketing communications and social media conference, What’s Next DC hosted by Green Buzz Agency. The conference attracted public relations and social media enthusiasts alike, offering plentiful speaker sessions and opportunities for networking with peers.

Intended to ignite a social spark, much of the conference tied into strategic planning for 2012. As said by keynote speaker Major George Hood, chief communications officer for Salvation Army, “A river without banks becomes a swamp.” In the spirit of building the most strategic and sturdy of banks, here are my three key takeaways.

Humor = Humanization

Corporate comedian Tim Washer (@timwasher) shared this key to social video success. Contrary to popular belief, there is room for a little humor when it comes to marketing to B2B brands. In order to engage on the social web, a brand must keep in mind the fundamental reasons why social video works. As humans, we’re compelled to share content that is entertaining and relatable, so layer a laugh or two into an otherwise mundane promotional video. Here’s Cisco’s take on humanization through humor.

Click here to view the embedded video.

*Tip from Washer: Test your video concept at different stages of production. What’s funny to you may not be quite so entertaining to someone else.

Facebook Wants to Be Invisible

Well, relatively invisible – throughout the user experience, that is. The social network thrives namely because of the personalization of the user experience. Content strategist Amy Thibodeau (@amythibodeau) shared that Facebook is well aware of this delicate balance. Becoming too visible to users would detract from the experience for which the interface was built.

*To all of you proponents for the introduction of a “dislike” button, you might as well give it a rest. According to Thibodeau, “It’s not going to happen.” This would make negativity far too easy, something Facebook does its best to discourage. 

User-Generated Content is King

At least in the case of extreme fandom empire Dunkin’ Donuts. Public relations and social media manager, Jessica Gioglio (@savvybostonian) admitted that while “America runs on Dunkin’,” Dunkin’ social media is run by the fans. Rather than a continuous stream of branded content via its social channels, she attempts to provide these fans with the tools with which to express their passion. With more than 5.6 million likes on Facebook and high-level engagement to prove it, this strategy works.

*Disclaimer: I am by no means a Patriots fan, in fact, I’m am and forever will be an avid supporter of the Big Blue. One fun fact Gioglio shared with us at the conference is that Dunkin’ sponsors both teams in the Super Bowl this year. Guess they’ve chosen sides…

I congratulate Green Buzz Agency on a successful conference, and the numerous speakers and moderators on thought-provoking discussion. The case studies, tips and tricks that were shared are sure to assist all who attended in mapping out what’s next for 2012.

This week was a hot week for celebrity (and food) news, but it got especially hot in the kitchen as the world was shocked by Paula Dean’s admission that she has Type 2 Diabetes, after three years of, as she put it, “holding it close to the chest.” The Paula Deen, “Hey ya’ll,” “let’s add a stick of butter,” empire was on the verge of succumbing to its own demise. Okay, that’s a little dramatic, but nonetheless, what happens when your brand falls victim to the very thing it’s known for? In this case, it’s Southern cooking and charm versus the very real obesity epidemic (and other related illnesses) plaguing this country.

While Mrs. Deen contributed her onset of Type 2 Diabetes to genetics, age, ethnicity and stress, she emphasized that her diagnosis “isn’t a death sentence,” but it very well could be.

The truth of the matter is that 25.8 million children and adults in the U.S. (8.3 percent of the total population) have diabetes. Seven million still go undiagnosed. Complications from Type 2 diabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease and kidney failure, neuropathy and amputation. More importantly, in 2007, diabetes was listed as the underlying cause of 71,382 death certificates and was listed as the contributing factor on an additional 160,022 death certificates.

Although she is working with a pharmaceutical company and introducing a new program for diabetics, “Diabetes in a New Light,” it made me realize – at some point in a brand personality’s career, they’re faced with the decision of staying true to who/what they are or abandoning their identity to continue to be relevant in the marketplace. In Paula Deen’s case, that’s overtly going against the government’s campaign(s) to a healthier America and continuing to push hearty meals with a “Southern flare”.

So, as a brand, how do you decide what to do? Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as pie, but here are some things you should consider.
Where do you want to be in five years?

What is the long-term effect?
Are you going to put yourself in a position where your business can’t survive? A prime example is Hostess. Deemed as one of America’s favorite snack food brands, the company recently filed for bankruptcy. As Americans moved to eating wheat and whole grain, the company held fast to their iconic white Wonder Bread and cream-filled Twinkies, getting into the whole grain/healthy snack game way too late. Is your company staying relevant and competitive in such a fast-paced, “what’s new, hot and healthy,” environment?

Are you being dishonest with yourself?
Honesty and credibility are probably a brand’s most precious assets. Ask yourself, “Would I invite my brand into my home for dinner?” Ethics is all about what you do behind closed doors. Now more than ever, people not just want but demand honesty and transparency. It’s their expectation. In Paula Deen’s Today Show interview with Al Roker, she insisted, “I’ve always encouraged moderation…I’ve always eaten in moderation…Honey, I’m your cook, not your doctor.” Really, Paula? If that’s the case, should her recipes read with a disclaimer? “Eat in moderation, or may increase risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and death.” What if Tylenol would have said, “We’re a pharmaceutical company, not a quality control company”? On the flip side, what if BP would have said, “We’re not just an oil company, we are a partner in making sure the oil industry’s practices are safe and environmentally friendly.” Either way, companies, organizations and celebrities (yes, even celebrities) don’t endure the test of time unless they are true to who they are and take responsibility for the greater good of mankind.

The media might not be so easy on you.
Paula Deen oozes Southern charm, so it wasn’t hard to believe that Al Roker only pitched softballs. You, on the other hand, might not be so lucky. Why go into crisis mode if you don’t have to?

As a Southerner, I grew up with the infamous soul food Sundays, so I understand Paula’s unique position. Does she continue with business as usual, or does she make this as an opportunity to reinvent herself? My guess is the former. Change is risky and scary; furthermore, if it ain’t broke, why fix it, right? I’m sure you’ve heard that before…

[This post was originally published on Jan 17th, 2011 and ranked one of the top posts at @crttanaka Buzz Bin. It is only fitting that we remind ourselves today of the great leadership that Sir Martin Luther King Jr. exhibited in the fight for civil rights and try to rise above mediocrity and dogma in our daily lives].

Today we won’t talk about social media, PR or marketing but instead I would like to dedicate this post to one of the greatest visionary leaders the world has ever seen, Martin Luther King Jr. At 33, Martin Luther King was leading the civil rights movement, at 34 he stirred the nation with his “I have a dream” speech and at 35 he was recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize. We could spend our entire lives discussing Martin Luther King’s leadership traits but if we were to highlight some of his key qualities that you, me, everyone can imbibe in our daily lives, let’s start with these:

Be a transformer not just a task master: There are leaders who make good task masters, get the job done and believe in exercising control over their team (Authoritarian). There are those that see the big picture and believe in overall growth of the team and themselves (Evolutionary). The ones that take a hands-off approach to managing and would rather delegate everything to the team and not be held accountable are what we call Background leaders. Martin Luther King was a TRANSFORMATIONAL leader, a visionary that dares to question the status-quo and takes the risk to venture into un-chartered territories. There is a big difference between leaders/managers that strive to make things better and constantly question the norm to attain higher goals versus those that are happy repeating the daily grind. Which one are you?

Be a visionary and dare to follow that vision: At a time when African Americans had to sit on designated seats on the bus, King dreamt of an America that would rise above color and creed. I am sure he faced the wrath of countless naysayers who thought that was Utopian and would never ever happen and look where we are today? The ability to DREAM and follow that VISION is a powerful attribute and history shows that some of the great leaders were even greater visionaries. If King didn’t dream of equal civic rights, we wouldn’t be living in a society where cultural differences are celebrated; if Steve Jobs were to listen to us and only build computers, we wouldn’t have revolutionary innovation like the iPhone. As marketers, PR, social media experts, everything involved in the business of BIG IDEAS, we must try to be visionaries and if we can’t then at the least encourage that thought process.

Be an effective communicator to build a movement: To this day when I listen to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, I am filled with a sense of emotion that inspires me to “Stop complaining and Do something productive.” That’s the power of effective communication. Understand not all of us can be great public speakers but we can definitely work on message delivery. Do you remember that manager that had all the fancy degrees in Marketing but failed miserably in getting his team to dream big and achieve higher results? Yes we all have had one of those in our career but then I also remember the ones that were so good at persuading us to go that extra mile. King’s oratorical skills surely served as an ignition to build the Civil Rights movement. We as leaders within our organization can learn from that to be persuasive communicators that bring in a sense of excitement to projects versus a dull outlook.

Be inspired and inspire to pursue new directions: One of my favorite Martin Luther King quotes is, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” In order to move forward no matter what the situation, one needs a perennial source of inspiration and a good leader is who has the ability to be inspired and also inspire his/her followers. I remember someone saying this to me a while back, “An inspirational leader is someone who asks you to go to hell and you actually look forward to the trip.” Inspiration is the fuel that re-starts the engine when the going gets tough. Do you feel enthused and inspired to go to work every day? Does your team feel energized and motivated to do more around you? If yes, then you are an inspirational leader.

Be willing to walk the talk: Martin Luther King travelled over six millions miles and gave over 2,500 speeches to fight for civil rights. That’s called literally walking the talk. The vision, the great speech, the inspiration would all fall flat if at the end of the day, as a leader you can’t walk the talk. Big dreams, big innovation, big campaigns and big ideas also rely on big execution. The willingness and ability to wear the execution hat and get your hands dirty is a great validation that my leader can walk the talk. I hope as we all advance in our careers and do more of what we call strategic work, we also retain the ability to execute on tactics. Your team respects you that much more when you can demonstrate the walk followed by the talk.

If “leadership” and Martin Luther King are two of your favorite topics, you might enjoy this playlist from TedTalks http://blog.ted.com/2011/01/16/martin-luther-king-jr-as-leader-a-tedtalks-playlist/.

What is one leadership characteristic you consider most useful?

Image courtesy: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/

In last week’s post, Making the Most of Email Marketing, I talked about some of the basics of email marketing and why it should be consideration for a brand. From that post, there are two main things to remember on why email marketing works.

• Email is Data driven: Knowing who opened your email, when they opened it and what they clicked on is all recorded. Data like this can allow for accurate targeting/retargeting and can further interactions between recipients and the brand.
• Email marketing has a strong ROI: The Direct Marketing Association puts email marketing’s ROI for 2011 at $40.56 for every $1 invested. Only organic SEO scored better.

If the need for an email marketing campaign has been identified,  it’s time to get people to subscribe to your email list. The core to any new or existing email campaign are your recipients. Continually getting people to subscribe, or “opt-in” to your email list is key. Here are a handful of ideas that can help increase opt-in/subscription rates for your email campaign.

1. Simplify the sign up form: Depending on what email distribution service is getting used, the opt-in process should be really simple. Most likely a name and email address, or just an email address is required. A form that asks for phone numbers, place of business, addresses and pet’s names will appear very daunting. Even if those fields aren’t required, the physical appearance of them will deter email sign ups.
2. Get the details later: If you do really want to know what your recipient’s pet’s names are, follow up with them later. Once they are signed up a survey can be sent out that gathers more demographics around your recipients. But don’t do this immediately after they sign up, give it some time.
3. Location: A email opt-in form should be on every page of your website, like this: http://searchenginewatch.com/ Not only on your website but email signatures and Facebook pages can contain the form or links to the sign up form.
4. Why sign up/ Incentivize the sign up: Be clear on what the recipient will be getting. Is it email only offers? Industry insights and information? Sign up for our email and receive?
5. Make sure the email has value to it: If the email doesn’t really offer anything or has poor content people will unsubscribe.
6. Frequency of emails: Daily, weekly, monthly? Recipients want to know how often they will be getting your email. Not knowing your delivery schedule a daily email can be viewed as spam if they weren’t aware of this when they signed up.
7. Stick to the schedule: Try to be as consistent as possible with your email delivery. A weekly email that goes to monthly then back to weekly will not be well received.
8. In the email: Make sure that the email sent out has an easy way to forward it. If the recipient of the forwarded message likes what they see, provide an easy way for them to opt-in to the list.
9. Tradeshows: Have a way for users sign up at a tradeshow, a personal interaction can lend itself to a sign up. I know when I was at SES New York last year, vendors could just scan your conference pass and you’d automatically be enrolled in their email list.
10. Opt-in by default: On any order form or contest entry form have the email opt-in box checked by default.

By Rosalie Morton (@rosaliemo)

A love of bourbon simply runs in my family. I forever will fondly remember my very southern grandmother, Kitty, sipping her Jim Beam Manhattan on rocks.  This appreciation was passed straight down to me, and what can I say? I’m a trendsetter. Bourbon and whiskey sales are booming.

Okay, so it’s not me. But seriously, what is it? Is it the sexy Don Draper and his Canadian Club? Does the recession have us embracing those prohibition days, especially with HBO’s Boardwalk Empire intriguing audiences? Or is it simply for the love of our country, despite these hard times? After all, in 1964, Congress declared bourbon “a distinctive product of the United States.”

In the past, those wanting to ride the whiskey wave might have taken one sip and decided its distinctive taste was not for them… But we have a very interesting case on our hands, and I believe it’s the perfect storm. Don Draper made bourbon cool, and distilleries have a solution for those who can’t stomach the real deal—flavored whiskeys.

Guess what? It’s working. Sales of flavored whiskey have risen 136% this year over last (Nielsen).

According to a recent New York Times piece, although traditional bourbon sales still skew 80-20 male to female, with the recent release of flavored bourbon, gone are the days of attracting solely stereotypical older white males. Distilleries have found that African-Americans, Hispanics and women are enjoying their new creations. In fact, Red Stag, the black cherry bourbon from Jim Beam, skews 50-50 male/female and a bit younger in age than traditional Jim Beam.

Distilleries are being very smart about how they market these flavored whiskey wunderkinds.

Take Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey. Website? Not so much: http://www.jackdaniels.com/jackhoney/

But the Facebook page? Try 502,136 fans, for the win: http://www.facebook.com/jackdanielshoney. And, these fans are engaged. Last week’s simple, tongue-in-cheek status update: “The night is yours. Don’t screw it up.” 868 likes. I’m in PR, and I’m envious.

Jim Beam’s Red Stag isn’t one to be shown up. The team at Red Stag made a smart move, sponsoring Kid Rock’s Born Free Tour. Women love him. Men like him too. He attracts the right age. He mixes country and rock and roll. Good call, Jim Beam, good call.

So is the bourbon trend here to stay? Ask everyone in line at my favorite whiskey bar in LA, Seven Grand, or whispering their password to enter the super secretive speakeasy, The Bourbon and Branch in San Francisco.

My money says this is only the beginning. What do you think?

Photo credits: Mad Men (MadMenDVD.org)  and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey.

For more on bourbon trends and news, I’d suggest taking a peek at the bourbon blog

Last year at the PRSA International Conference in Orlando, I loudly voiced my rant against AVEs during Shonali Burke’s session on “A Field Guide to Measuring the Business of PR.” Katie Paine, PR industry’s reputable measurement guru who has been tirelessly fighting against the AVEs, also was present in the room. If you haven’t been following Katie’s efforts to change the PR industry’s perception of AVEs, read her blog here. I wish we started a signature campaign to “STOP AVEs” right then, but it’s not too late. Several people in the room came up to me and agreed that we, as PR pros, should take a stand against AVEs and translate our stand into real action. So I want to ask my fellow PR strategists, HOW MANY OF YOU ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY KILL AVEs ONCE AND FOR ALL?

Just to refresh our memories, here’s a definition of AVE from the Institute of Public Relations Commission on PR Measurement and Evaluation:

“The calculation of space or time used for earned media (publicity or news content) by comparing it to the cost of that same space or time if purchased as advertising.” You should be cringing right now if you still use AVEs to show off your PR efforts. I have been in PR for the past nine plus years, and thanks to my foundation in technology and B2B, I could never get away with showing millions of impressions to my CEO as a measure of our PR activities. I relied on new customer acquisitions, increase in positive references from existing customers, new leads generated via corporate blog and websites as standards of measurement versus spending ungodly amount of time calculating AVEs from media placements. We did media relations to boost awareness and that’s it.

The main reason we keep churning out metrics reports month after month with crazy numbers that have absolutely no value or impact on key business goals, is because our clients ask for it. When are we going to start counseling our clients to revisit how they measure PR and social media efforts and move beyond AVEs? The more we spruce up our metrics reports with the fancy AVE numbers that mean nothing to a brand’s success, the less we are taken seriously by the C-Suite. The Institute of Public Relations presents a good case for why AVEs are misleading and rightly summarizes the conceptual problem of AVEs:

“Calculating AVEs is not a problem in itself—its problems stem from what it is called and how it is used. Calling it an “advertising equivalency” strongly suggests that a news story of a particular size has equal impact to an advertisement of the same size in that publication. At this time, the Commission knows of no factual basis for this assumption. That is, there has been no research to confirm whether this is true.”

So you ask how should I measure media relations activities without AVEs?

The next time you get ready to pitch the New York Times or Mashable, make sure you think beyond the millions of eye balls a.k.a. impressions and ask yourself the following questions:

• How does that help increase traffic to your website or blog?
• How many people expressed an interest in your company after reading that story?
• What was the bottom line impact of that news story on your company’s reputation? Did it generate positive mentions online?
• Did you see an increase in sales following that story?
• Did your existing customers increase their business with you following the positive news coverage?

If you answered “no” to all of the above questions, maybe you should revisit your PR strategy. Media relations is NOT a viable tactic for all brands, rather focus your efforts on CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT. No media coverage is bigger and more valuable than a customer openly stating how happy he/she is after using your product. In my experience, I have seen increase in sales (more so) when PR efforts were more “customer-centric” than “media-centric.”

The #1 complaint against the PR industry is that our efforts don’t amount to bottom line results. Well, if we continue to tread down the dubious path of AVEs, we will only be distancing ourselves from being included at the boardroom level. Start questioning yourself and whomever it is that asks to see AVEs more than executing on campaigns that positively affect business goals.

If you feel strongly against the use of AVEs, express your opinion by leaving a comment here. Who knows, your support might help the PR profession to be taken more seriously than it is now.

Read more on why AVEs are defacing the PR measurement standards:

The Institute for Public Relations : http://www.instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2003_AVE1.pdf

Shonali Burke, noted PR industry thought leader and highly regarded for her principles on Metrics & Measurement: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PR_industry_must_consign_AVE_to_the_graveyard_7825.aspx

Chuck Hemann, VP of Digital Analytics, Edelman: http://chuckhemann.com/aves-are-a-scourge-on-public-relations-can-i

None other than Katie Paine herself on her blog The Measurement Standard: http://kdpaine.blogs.com/themeasurementstandard/aves/