Persuasive Marketing blog is a collection of inventive thinking, interesting articles and real life experiences shared by our consultants and clients.
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 A lot of companies tend to see only two options for PR around the holidays: holiday story lines and New Year trends. While these may be the perfect recipe for a good holiday PR campaign, it’s time companies think outside the box. As noted in my blog post last year “Tips for Successful Holiday Campaigns”, I do believe the time period between Thanksgiving and the New Year presents an opportunity to leverage the perceived news lull with a year-end or year-beginning storyline. Often editors and bloggers are looking for interesting ideas to fill their “pages” during this holiday down time.
However, as is with every good strategy, over time everyone gravitates to it. So now, the noise around obvious holiday trends is so great, it’s difficult for a company to rise above the crowd. Time for some holiday innovation, how about it?
With the general slow-down in corporate productivity around the holidays, more people are reading news sites, blogs and following social media channels than during busier times of the year. So smart holiday PR campaigning can be a powerful way to get your company noticed. And everyone knows Sales is desperately trying to make their year-end numbers, so give the readers something that will potentially translate to a sale.
Customer case studies, product innovations and discounted products and services are three great alternatives to the holiday trend approach.
#1 – Customer case studies: I can promise you that in your existing customer base there is a hero waiting to rise to the forefront of your PR efforts. Here’s the catch. They don’t have to come from a behemoth company. They just need to have a passion about what they are doing and believe your product is an enabler of their cause. Also, with smaller companies you don’t need to maneuver the dreaded corporate PR watchdogs – many times these spokespeople have an open microphone to speak freely about what they are doing with your product and /or service. Seek them out and then pitch their story. Nothing is more helpful to a customer sale than a great customer testimonial.
#2 – Product Innovation: A lot of companies hold product innovation news until the New Year has rung in. Why not be bold and let potential customers know what your product can do for them now. In the midst of holiday “do’s and don’ts, a strong product announcement is like a breath of fresh air to writers who have been pitched trend stories ad-nauseum. And it certainly won’t hurt your sales team’s efforts.
#3 – Discounted products and services: Let’s face it; we can’t get around this one. Everyone is looking for a bargain during the holidays, so give your customers what they want. With the advent of location-based offers at ridiculous prices, you can’t escape the fact that everyone is expecting at companies will make some incredible offer at some point. Why not during the season of giving? Instead of offering tips, offer a promotion.
Again, I do believe the holidays are great times to announce results of surveys or make predictions about New Year trends – or to consider something a little more catchy or gimmicky as these types of news stunts often seem to fit in better with the sense of sensationalism surrounding the holiday season.
But please, they’ll be enough boxes under trees - don’t let your PR campaigns get stuck in one.
Wishing all of Attain Marketing’s clients, colleagues and friends a safe and truly joyous holiday season!
This week’s Persuasive Marketing blog comes from Pete Bartolik, a freelance writer/editor with whom I enjoyed and valued working with for many years. I think you’ll see why. Pete spent many years as a staff reporter and editor, followed by a virtual lifetime with a PR agency, before hanging out his own shingle. Enjoy!
 Back in 1987, Ray Donovan, previously Secretary of Labor under Ronald Reagan and the first sitting cabinet member to be indicted, was acquitted with other defendants from charges of fraud in construction contracts. Alluding to the flood of negative print and TV news stories that accompanied the original mob-tinged allegations, he was famously quoted saying, “Which office do I go to get my reputation back?”
In today’s hyperactive blog environment, he’d probably feel like he’s falling – perpetually – like Alice down the rabbit hole.
When print still dominated, we’d counsel clients to expect to be misquoted or taken out of context, and develop a thick skin – plus, even when a publication printed a correction, odds are it would be seen by just a fraction of those who had read the original.
Blogs have vastly ramped up the delivery speed of information, and misinformation, and it now persists for all digital eternity. More concerning is that the information can take many twists and turns as it traverses the Net echo chamber.
As a youngster you may have played the party game that goes under a variety of names such as “Whisper” or “Telephone” in which successive players pass along a sentence or phrase. By the time the content reaches the last person and is announced to the group, it inevitably has acquired a much different meaning.
Electronic social networks can take the Whisper game to extreme heights, with the potential for truly harmful reputational damage. You can’t afford to shrug off misinformation because it becomes part of your online “permanent record.”
Extreme alertness is the order of the day. Once a story or comment appears online it can proliferate with rapidity and continually resurface as later bloggers pick up on the original. So the best way to blunt the impact is to communicate quickly and directly with the original author to try and correct the record.
The folks who do the blogging for a living are generally pretty reasonable. Many will quickly update their online posting, sometimes just replacing erroneous information, or at least noting a required correction. The sooner you’re able to do this, the more likely you are to limit parroting of the damaging content.
But, still, work on developing that thick skin. It’s inevitable that even after you’ve got the right information online, somewhere down the line someone is going to resurrect the original damaging content. And their blog will tell two people, and they’ll each tell two people, and so on and so on…
Welcome to the rabbit hole.
This week’s Persuasive Marketing Blog Post features marketing pro, Susan Lowe, who has a rich background in product marketing with companies ranging from start-ups to large enterprise companies. She shares great tips for utilizing online surveys to keep customers happy and loyal to your products.
 As good marketers, we should never forget that our job is to bring products or services to the marketplace (B2B or B2C) that fulfill needs and customers want to buy. Of course, our work doesn’t end once the product or service launches. We must continually assess whether those products or services are actually meeting our customers’ needs and to what level of satisfaction. Adding to the importance of finding out how customers’ assess our product is that their needs may change over time. We don’t want to miss out on a new opportunity – or worse – lose business to a competitor that makes it their practice to know what the customer is thinking.
Today’s online survey tools provide an easy and cost-effective way to find out what customers think about a company, service levels, products, overall satisfaction and to uncover unmet needs. Surveys also provide a method by which to confirm your own beliefs about customers’ perceptions. Once you’ve decided to move forward with an online survey, it is important to set objectives and determine the information you want to obtain from the survey. Helpful tips and guidance are available at most survey tool websites that can then assist you with planning the survey and developing the questions. In addition, you will find it useful to send at least one test survey within your organization before sending the live survey to customers. Running a test allows you to weed out poorly worded questions, measure actual time to complete the survey and provides the opportunity to edit and refine the survey content.
Now you’ve sent the survey and collected the responses from your customers. What’s next? The survey results will have a meaningful and positive impact on your business, only if your company is ready to respond to the feedback and take any necessary actions. The survey information will do your company little good if it is only shown as data points in department presentations. Based on the results, identify problem areas that need to be addressed immediately and those that are longer-term. Develop an immediate and longer-term plan to address areas for improvement.
Next, communicate to your customers your plans for improvement based on their survey feedback. They want to know that you are listening and their time was not wasted. Now you are ready to put together a ‘task’ force that is responsible for executing to the plan and measuring results. This team will hold meetings, review the plan, set goals, agree on tactics and actions, assign ownership, and set timelines to complete.
When and how frequently should you survey customers? Be pro-active not reactive. Find out what your customers think early on during product concept and regularly throughout the lifecycle. It is a continuous process. Make it a part of your best practice to know what your customers think about you and make improvements as needed. If you’re not proactive and fall behind in getting customer feedback, it can cost you loyalty, profits and customers.
Keys to Successful Customer Surveys
- Identify your goals and objectives and determine what information you want to attain from the survey.
- Develop survey questions based on what you want to find out – online tools are available to help you plan the survey and develop the questions.
- Ask your customers early on and throughout your relationship what they think about you.
- Respond timely to customer feedback.
- Develop a plan to address customer responses. Communicate the plan.
- Put a task force together responsible for implementing the plan and measuring improvements.
 OK, ok, it’s true. Yes, you need a social media strategy even if you’re a B2B technology company. Although B2B still lags behind in social media use compared to consumer companies, we’ve reached that point where it can’t be ignored in any segment. The key is to establish a social media plan that supports your company’s core marketing objectives and is inline with overall goals – then you can craft an effective program that incorporates one or many of the available social media tactics that make the most sense for your business.
A good social media strategy will help your company:
- Increase unique traffic to your core website or desired web page
- Convert anonymous traffic to potential customers by promoting premium content to visitors from social media sites
- Create buzz, promote viral groundswell and increase brand recognition for your company
Here are a few of the various programs and tactics to consider as part of your social media mix:
- Blogging – although now very popular and competitive, corporate blogs represent an ideal venue for posting thought leadership views as well as an additional place to post company news, events and other important info
- Microblogging – Clearly Twitter has emerged as the leading microblogging site and it’s worth the effort to build a quality list of followers and use the channel to broadcast company news, events and other industry commentary
- Social Networking – While the verdict is still out on Facebook as to its viability as an effective B2B social media channel, more companies are finding innovative ways to leverage the channel. Meanwhile, LinkedIn remains a favorite for B2B marketers as a way to develop mini-communities and participate in industry discussion and position themselves as thought leaders.
- Social Press – Media 2.0 is all about the online conversation and blogger mentions. A successful social media program will include updating all influential bloggers on a regular basis about all new thought leadership and new products
- Bookmarking/Tagging – it’s now all about content marketing. The more places you can post good content – or have others share your content, the better off you’ll be. Delicious, Digg, Sphinn, Reddit, and Friendfeed are just a few of the more popular bookmarking sites.
- Online Video – we’ve been saying it for years now, we’re in a video revolution and it’s the future of digital marketing. And now, for online video posting, YouTube is not the only game in town with sites like Tom’s ITPro.com, InfoSecIsland.com and ITExpertVoice.com popping up daily.
- Photosharing – Photosharing through sites like photobucket.com represents yet another channel to post content and generate links back to your core site. Encourage employees to share any interesting and relevant photos from industry events with links back to blog and the website.
- Podcasting – here’s a great channel for re-purposing valuable recorded content like webinars, interviews and phone conferences.
- Presentation sharing – the use of Slideshare enables you to post presentations (again, another opportunity for thought leadership and content marketing) with links back to your core site
Bottom line… there’s a robust selection of social media programs to help promote your company on the Internet. The key is a good social media strategy that provides the right mix of programs based on your company’s overall goals and objectives.
Recently Attain Marketing joined forces with AgileValue, a Silicon Valley- based consulting firm focused on helping technology companies launch new companies and products, to provide a full range of start-up marketing services. In this blog post, Susan Knorr, AgileValue Principal with over 20 years of experience in executive sales and marketing management, talks about the value of the interim CMO, an innovative approach to start up marketing that helps young companies, or companies in transition, leverage executive level marketing talent on a consultant basis. As discussed in a previous blog post with financial services pro Charlie O’Rourke, outsourcing marketing is a good way to deal with budget restraints while staying competitive in a sluggish economy. Smart companies know they should not forgo their marketing activities – especially if they plan on establishing healthy longevity in their business, so they see outsourced marketing, like an Interim CMO, as a great way to leverage talent and stay proactive.
 Many high-technology companies start the marketing process too late. They build new products/services based upon a cool idea and technology innovation hoping the buyers will come.
However, all companies need to analyze the market opportunity for new products. Is there a genuine need? How should the new product/service be positioned competitively to win in each potential target market segment? Bottomline, companies must answer three key questions: Will they buy? Will they buy from me? Will they buy from me now?
And they need this assistance before the product/service is developed. In fact, for companies to succeed, a marketing plan is needed while product development plans are still on the drawing board. Sure, it could be the next Facebook, but in reality chances are less than 5% that a new company will succeed. Further, these statistics also apply to new product offerings in existing companies. Many companies typically rely on one bread-and-butter product to generate revenue, but a second “hit” is elusive.
If it makes sense that marketing should occur before (if not in parallel with) product development, why do so many companies wait until the end of the development process to get started? One reason may simply be a belief in the old adage that says “if we build it, people will come”. Really? Still, another common reason is lack of funding to hire the marketing staff required before and during the development process. Funds are spent on engineering resources without a strategy as to how the product will be marketed or sold. Often, the product languishes before becoming profitable.
More than ever, companies striving for success must consider just how costly it is to build a new company, product or service that won’t succeed.
So what can companies do to maximize their success rate when introducing a new product/service? One solution is to outsource the marketing function by employing an interim CMO, a strategy that greatly reduces overhead costs while improving the overall potential for success.
5 Must-Have Start-Up High Tech Marketing Activities
Given limited resources, what are the top activities that should take place and where can companies derive the biggest bang for their buck? Here are 5 essential marketing activities for securing VC funds, launching new companies and introducing new products.
- Market Opportunity Assessment. A basic assessment should include needs analysis, market sizing and detailed profiling of key competitors. This analysis serves as a validation of the product/service offering given the competitive landscape.
- Investor Package Development. Investors are most interested in: What is the market opportunity? What are the funding requirements? How will funds be used? What is the exit strategy? The investor package includes an executive summary, presentation, revenue model, revenue projections, costs, staffing, exit strategy and time frame.
- Sales Distribution Planning. Ideally, a good sales distribution plan brings together sales and marketing. It identifies the target market segments, how to reach those target markets and how to sell to them. Sales distribution can include direct, indirect, channel partner, retail, third-party and online sales. Effective sales distribution plans also identify the relative importance of inbound vs. outbound lead generation.
- Go-to-Market Strategy. Companies need to come out of the gate quickly with new offerings without breaking the bank. This includes creating buzz and generating leads. The strategy may include product launch, PR, events, advertising, search engine optimization, social networking and marketing campaigns. Once again, it is important to determine how leads and revenue will be generated from inbound and/or outbound marketing.
- Market Messaging. This can include product naming, tagline, elevator pitch, product/service descriptors and pitches. It is important to have specific market messaging for each target market. In addition, the messaging must be clear, succinct and compelling. It must communicate what exactly is unique about the product/service and why it is better than competitive offerings. It cannot be bland or indicate a “me too” solution to potential customers.
In conclusion, it’s never too early to start the marketing function for any new company, product or service. An interim CMO can help the process by providing the assistance needed, when it is needed, and at an affordable cost.
For this blog post I’ve asked long time friend and colleague, Robert Lonadier to share his insights on the role of product management and the dynamics of its relationship with marketing. Robert’s career spans the gamut of IT hardware, software, and services with an impressive record of achievement as both a product management and product marketing professional – he currently serves as a Senior Product Manager at EMC.
 The roles of product management and product marketing have evolved considerably in the 20+ years that I have practiced them. Early in my career, product management and product marketing were largely left to their own devices. Thinking that the positions and function were somehow temporary, we were left to pretty much do as we pleased. Product Management’s job was to tell the engineer’s what the build. “Develop the requirements” they would say. But where to look for the source of the inspiration on what customer’s really wanted? “Talk to Sales and Marketing, they are the ones closest to the customer”.
And the textbooks were not much value, either. They either focused on consumer product management; large numbers of customer’s whose preferences were measured in tenths of a percentage of market share. Does anyone remember the Cola Wars? It’s no surprise these techniques did not transfer over well. A few innovative researchers, including Eric von Hippel of the Sloan School of Management, looked at how lead users identify the source of innovation, often in very surprising and unpredictable ways. Product Marketing grew out of the need to support sales. Help make Sales go more smoothly by greasing the skids. Provide “air cover” to Sales. It really took the classic microprocessor battles of the late 1970s (a good read on the subject is “Marketing High Technology” by William Davidow) for Product Marketing to hit its stride
Given how the disciplines evolved, product management and product marketing often have an uneasy relationship. So many functions can easily fall into each other’s bucket. There is even a well-respected product management body of knowledge called “Pragmatic Marketing”. So, it’s no surprise that many practitioners are confused about the proper roles between the two functions. And management is not making this easier by often times lumping the functions together and not properly defining the roles.
Product Management and Marketing’s Guide to Harmonious Co-Existence
So, what is a product manager and product marketer to do? Here are a few suggestions:
- Communicate, communicate, communicate. Reach out to your product marketing/product management counterpart(s). Do not wait for management to step in and suggest this. Seize the initiative.
- Clarify the roles and responsibilities up front. Especially if there is nothing already documented.
- Be flexible. Depending on the skill level and capability of your product management/marketing counterpart, you may need to adjust what your contribution is in order to ensure that there are no gaps.
- Remember you’re both on the same team and the real goal is to help your company reach its sales numbers.
The future of both disciplines is bright as the roles of product management and product marketing are critical to the development and marketing of successful products. Companies that can clearly define and embrace both roles are more likely to see better overall results in bringing sellable products to market.
Content marketing is about creating and distributing informative content that will help to convert prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers. The goal is to gain opt-in permission from relevant target audiences to continually deliver content via email or other social media channels. Ongoing exposure fosters a relationship that provides multiple opportunities for conversion versus the “one-shot” all-or-nothing approach of traditional outbound marketing practices (such as, online ads, tradeshows or cold calling). Ultimately, the success of your content marketing plan hinges upon your ability to deliver content with independent value that builds trust, credibility and authority for your business.
If you don’t have a robust content marketing plan in place, now is the time to get one. Recent changes to the Google algorithm along with announcements that YouTube is entering the content creation game and Gmail’s addition of Smart Labels, which automatically sort out any kind of mass mailings highlight the fact that a sound content marketing plan has shifted from a “nice-to-have” to marketing essential in 2011.
- Google Dings Low-Quality Content Sites Although Google regularly changes its search algorithm with little recognition, the February 2011 change has definitely caught some companies off guard, devastating some websites’ rankings – and thus their traffic. Google made changes to reduce the high rankings of sites with duplicate content and low quality content (i.e., content farms with a low ratio of content to ads) on the search engine result pages. Companies with websites that had learned how to manipulate Google rankings (and were good at it) took a big hit. Google said the update was designed to provide better rankings for high-quality sites, those with “original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, and thoughtful analysis.”
- YouTube Becomes a Creator of Content If the changes to the Google algorithm isn’t enough to convince you that content will rule supreme in 2011 and beyond, then perhaps you will be impressed by the fact that YouTube has allocated $100 million to pay for the development of its own original content. This is no small bet. While the move was surely motivated by a desire to generate more profits from ad dollars, the interesting takeaway for B2B marketers is that online consumption of content is increasing and the playing field is leveling as consumers move away from traditional media outlets to whatever sources provide the best content.
- Gmail Allows Users to Give Email Marketers the Slip Google’s move to allow Gmail users to automatically filter out all bulk mailings (classified as any kind of mass mailing, including newsletters and promotions) emphasizes the fact that consumers are growing tired of the deluge of email. After years of spam and over zealous email marketing programs, consumers are looking for ways to reclaim control of their inboxes. Employing tricks to avoid the spam filters will no longer be sufficient. Moving forward, email marketers are going to have to earn their keep in the inbox or risk automatic exile into the dreaded bulk folder.
2011 Content Marketing Essentials
Search Engine Optimization
If you care about search engine rankings, Google has sent the message loud and clear, you better start paying attention to the quality of your online content. Sites that specialize in quality niche content (original and in-depth information on a focused topic) now rank better than sites with broad content on hundreds of different topics. This provides a great opportunity for B2B marketers. To capitalize on this shift, first consider what keywords define your business, then carefully evaluate every page on your site and get rid of the junk. Low-quality pages will hurt you – no matter what’s on the rest of your site. Next, focus on developing targeted content that is useful (let your keywords be your guide as to what is useful) and well written from top to bottom. If you can’t write great content yourself, hire someone who can.
Web Presence
The corporate website is often a company’s most tangible and visible face to the world. When properly executed, a website can become a powerful marketing tool that not only serves the needs of existing customers, but also provides an opportunity to capture new customers. To support your content marketing strategy (which relies on opt-in permission) your website must effectively engage visitors. Ask yourself the following questions: Are users encouraged to opt-in to marketing programs? Is a clear call-to-action present on every page? Is there sufficient incentive to opt-in? Remember, incentive is driven by the value of the content presented and trust in your ability to continue to deliver value. If possible allow users to select topics of interest and frequency of communications as part of your lead capture process. Finally, bypass bulk mail filters by reminding users to add your distribution email addresses to address books.
Marketing Automation
Once granted permission to engage prospects via email or other social media channels, be sure not to disappoint. Continue to provide relevant and meaningful content on a regular basis. Marketing automation tools help you categorize leads based on interests and actions so that you can continually provide targeted and relevant content. A “one-size fits all” approach can hurt your content marketing efforts and increase opt-out rates. Marketing automation tools offer you a wealth of information on demographics and response rates that should be used to guide your content development and distribution strategy. Pay specific attention to which types of content and topics perform well for each list segment so that you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
Social Media
A solid PR strategy that includes traditional and expanded social media engagement practices can help extend your reach. Remember that the purpose of content marketing is to engage prospects. PR announcements and media coverage can be used to create awareness and start the dialogue, but two-directional social media communications should be used to further develop the relationship. As Lorraine emphasized previously in her “Thought Leadership 101” blog post – to maintain the relationship, you must continually demonstrate understanding of the key issues, challenges, needs and requirements that truly concern your prospects versus spout off about your latest products functions and features. Use your SEO keywords as a guide on which social network conversations to join.
The Bottomline
Times have changed and so must you. Now more than ever, it’s time to re-evaluate your content marketing strategy and make a plan that will ensure favorable results based on solid content and intelligent strategy.
 We’re several years into the era of “Marketing 2.0” and I’m still surprised at the number of B2B technology companies that have not modernized their marketing approach. Just take a look at the websites of so many technology companies, small and large, and it clearly looks like they are stuck in the early 2000’s – or even (gasp)… the 90s.
While I don’t believe in doing trendy things just for the sake of doing trendy things (a.k.a. keeping up with the Jones’), I do believe it’s prudent to take stock of the most current marketing tactics – learn what’s working for companies in the same industries you serve – and implement the most impactful changes.
For decades now, marketers have been focused on traditional “outbound” marketing programs such as television and radio advertising, trade shows, direct mail, online banner displays, pop-up ads, email blasts and the dreaded telemarketing, to name a few.
However with the advent of social media marketing and the social web, a dramatic shift has occurred. Today’s customer no longer wants to be “sold” – instead they prefer to find products and services online on their own or through friendly referrals. This shift is called “inbound marketing” and focuses efforts on web optimization, content marketing, social media optimization and customer referral programs.
Here are some basic tips that should help bring you up to speed on 2011 marketing must-haves and provide a solid foundation for inbound marketing success.
#1 Web Optimization (including SEO)
The corporate website is often a company’s most tangible and visible face to the world. When properly executed, a website can become a powerful marketing tool that not only serves the needs of existing clients, but also provides an opportunity to capture new customers. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making sure your business website is properly categorized in the search engines (especially Google) and comes up high in the search results. Another big ingredient of SEO is link building, or getting other relevant sites to link to yours. Although it has been around for years, SEO is still critical in making your business more findable on the Web. It is a long-term strategy, however, and the results may take time to kick in.
#2 Content Marketing
We’ve said it before but “Content is King”. Content marketing is about creating demand through compelling, highly relevant content. This is includes white papers, strategy guides, blogging, infographics, contributed articles, podcasts, videos, data surveys, news articles — anything that offers value to your target customer and helps differentiate you in the marketplace. This content, especially blog posts, gets picked up by the search engines and can help fuel your social media strategy.
#3 Social Media Optimization
Social media sites and associated spam are growing in volume every day as new-bees jump on the social networking bandwagon in hopes of growing their network and making a splash – or at least being heard. The key to successfully leveraging social media is to define the most appropriate channels and best ways to engage key audiences in the right environments, at the right time, with the right messages. This may include the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn); specialty networks, such as Biznik; local directories, such as MojoPages.com and Kudzu.com; social bookmarking sites; video platforms; article directories and blog and forum comments.
#4 Customer Reference Programs
Word-of-mouth marketing is arguably the most powerful way to market your product or services. As discussed in a previous blog post, customer testimonials can greatly enhance the credibility of a company and result in increased sales, media coverage or add the fire to your viral social media campaigns. When customers talk favorably of your product or service, they send a free, credible and targeted marketing message. Customer endorsements can be used in one or more of the following marketing mediums: media/analyst outreach, collateral, social media and/or inclusion on the website.
It’s 2011 and marketing has changed, even in the world of B2B technology. Your customers have different expectations about how they want to find, buy and validate products. If your marketing tactics haven’t kept with the times, you may be missing out on lucrative sales opportunities. The good news is… it’s not too late to adopt an inbound marketing game plan to extend your marketing reach and win more business.
 Interview with Charlie O’Rourke, Financial Services Leader, former SVP of First Data and currently Chief Technology Strategist with the Fotec Group: “The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing”
Recent industry surveys reveal that more businesses are using outsourced services as a means of cost-cutting and potentially a strategic business productivity tool. In these studies, executives said they believe outsourcing can provide many benefits, including access to a valuable talent pool where a company may lack expertise.
We asked Charlie O’Rourke, one of the financial industry’s most respected and successful veterans, to give his insights around the growing outsourcing trend and provide some tips on how a company can be successful leveraging outsourced services while avoiding potential pitfalls.
Attain Marketing: We’ve seen more companies looking to outsourced services as a way of achieving their business objectives. In your opinion, is this a good trend for businesses and what benefits can they gain by outsourcing?
O’Rourke: Yes, I believe those companies that prepare themselves for outsourcing can benefit immensely as part of an overall business strategy.
First, let me clarify what I mean for our purposes here today. To me “outsourcing” is a practice used by companies of contracting out some of their business functions to an external provider. For the purpose of this discussion, I am referring to outsourcing as the utilization of hired resources inside U.S. borders.
While I agree there are benefits that a business can gain from outsourcing, there are also potentially huge downside risks of incorporating outsourcing without proper evaluation of its practice within a company.
Outsourcing is not something a company should embark upon simply for cost savings, recommendations from others, or without a critical eye toward the potential outcomes and whether outsourcing fits within their overall business strategy.
I realize expense reduction is often a very significant factor. However, other considerations are just as or even more important. A proper corporate outsourcing readiness evaluation would include, among other things, assessment of the company’s strengths and weaknesses, core competencies, culture, traditions, and vision for the future. When a company’s strategies are well defined and aligned with a vision toward the future, they will include how to utilize outside resources to augment and complement business objectives.
If there is no strategy and strict oversight, outsourcing may end up costing your business more in the end. Additionally, it could possibly destroy effectiveness in other areas such as agility, flexibility, customer service quality and competitive advantage.
However, if consistent with its strategic objectives, incorporating outsourcing of appropriate business functions can provide a company with the ability to better focus on its core business and gain competitive advantage at the same time.
Attain Marketing: Should businesses have concerns about outsourcing certain business functions? In other words, are there “best practices” around outsourcing?
O’Rourke: Someone once told me that if everyone is adopting a “best practice” you can bet that it is no longer the best. Now that the “best practice” is well understood, it is a perfect opportunity for consultants to provide textbook solutions and cookbook remedies while extracting nice fees for their services.
Mindlessly following “best practices” because they have been used at a Fortune 500 company, are the newest fad, everyone is adopting them or they are the rage for consultants nowadays, may not be in a company’s best interest. Each strategic and tactical practice needs an evaluation with a critical eye on your company objectives. Specifically, the practice should fit strategically, operationally, and culturally in your company.
It is unwise to “copy” or “clone” another organization’s recipes in terms of strategy, business theory, management tools or technologies. Only when you understand your culture, values, purpose, strengths, and direction should you consider which business functions are eligible for outsourcing.
Each company has unique requirements and needs to evaluate which practices are “best” for its business, culture, and customers.
If I were to give general guidelines for outsourcing, I would say companies should retain their core functions in house and then look to outsourcing those business functions that are noncore. That is the simplest guideline I can give. Although often difficult and time consuming, proceeding without a diligent assessment will guarantee less than optimum results and possibly failure.
Attain Marketing: What are some of the business functions that are best suited for outsourcing?
O’Rourke: Given some of the caveats above, some logical places (unless of course a core competency) to look may include functions in human resources, administration, accounting, marketing, public relations, communications and legal.
There will be many others depending on the company and each business will have to decide on the criticality and impact of outsourcing in a particular area.
Attain Marketing: Being marketers, of course Attain is interested in your thoughts about outsourced marketing and PR services. Are there advantages?
O’Rourke: I believe companies like Attain can definitely enhance a company’s marketing, media relations, and communications capability.
Small companies are obviously going to benefit quite a bit by using companies like Attain because they typically do not have sufficient, or in many cases, any expertise, talent and skills to effectively perform many of the required functions in these areas.
In the case of larger companies, the ability to utilize outside marketing expertise often times yields tremendous advantages.
I believe a company can achieve optimum outsourcing success when it embeds the resourced personnel with their internal employees. They assimilate into the culture and have the same objectives as others in the corporation. They understand the company values, culture, strategies as well as the industry, the business, and the company’s products and services. They serve as an expert member of teams, departments, or divisions of the company.
Attain Marketing: Well said Charlie, and many thanks for the unsolicited plug  .
I’d like to add, potential advantages gained through an outsourced marketing team include access to an expanded list of analyst and media contacts, specialized public relations and marketing tools – as well as expanded services that may be limited or not be available at all within a company.
In addition, an outsourced team of marketing/PR specialists can provide an expanded scope of services in the categories of lead generation, sales support, social marketing, communications and media relations – possibly at the same cost as one or two internal employees who are providing a more limited scope of services defined by their specific role.
Any last thoughts?
O’Rourke: Companies that are too quick to outsource business functions as solely an expense reduction often suffer negative consequences. Lower cost is always alluring but results may be much different than expected. Companies should adopt an outsourcing plan that fits within their overall strategies. This will yield results that are consistent with their direction and that do not negatively affect the company.
Again, I want to emphasize that company culture is very important. Culture is often overlooked in the total equation. The ability of a company to accept outsiders and embed them into the business is crucial. Outsourcing will fit in some cultures but not in others.
I believe outsourced marketing is an area that makes sense, especially when outsourced personnel become an extension of the client’s in-house marketing, public relations, and public relations teams.
Attain Marketing: Many thanks, Charlie, we appreciate your input.
Today we’re seeing many companies turning to outsourcing as a way to deal with budget restraints while staying competitive in a sluggish economy. Smart companies know that they can’t stop their marketing activities – especially if they plan on establishing healthy longevity in their business, so they see outsourced services as a great way to leverage talent and stay proactive.
For this week’s blog post, I’ve asked long time colleague, friend and community expert, Rachel Medanic, to write about the challenges companies face keeping an authentic voice in today’s “always on” world. Rachel has been a marketing pro for over 14 years and currently is a Community Manager for the Cisco Learning Network. For more insights into marketing from someone who always “keeps it real” you can read Rachel’s personal blog.
 Thanks to social media and the power of the searchable web, the era of the authentic voice has arrived and our customers are demanding it publicly using their voices. In his blog post, Keith Ferrazi apologizes and speaks honestly about his overly aggressive marketing campaign to which his customers responded negatively. Their responses all told him he’d failed to use an authentic approach in his communications campaign. The authentic voice is a proactive approach companies can choose as they embrace all the new realities social media is exerting on customer relations and the practice of marketing.
I recall first feeling the need for an “authentic voice” in 2001. After 7 years in technology as a marketer describing customer “solutions” “platforms” and “implementations,” I longed for something more authentic, but I wasn’t sure how to achieve it. In truth, these words (sterile and impersonal as they are) have become a tried and true way of communicating. They have a place and serve a function. But with the turn of the Millennium, the new social mediums such as blogs/micro-blogs, wikis (online communities and collaboration), podcasts and video have quickly expanded the number of channels with which we must engage to reach our target audience. The din of competitive messages and voices is now a roar of billions of voices around the world.
As marketers this more than triples the amount of work we must do and as a result (intentional or not), some of us have let the unthinkable happen: we have allowed these sterile messages and this impersonal tone appear in our company blog posts and in communications with our online communities. We’ve told ourselves that if it doesn’t have a voice or a persona, or that if it is vague and doesn’t tell the customer what is really going on, it must be a safe investment for our brand. Perhaps some of us are ignorant about using social media in business, we have stifling corporate communications policies or we anticipate and fear negative consequences for using a more genuine and human way to communicate.
But what masquerades as safe and sanitized messaging now no longer is as credible with customers because it lacks authenticity. In addition, social media demands interactive communication, participation and upkeep. The fast-paced, highly interactive social media driven world is truly an exciting circumstance for us to thrive in professionally as marketers. We get instant feedback, but along with that comes the need to be able to respond quickly and to accept that we may have failed and will be told so directly by our customers rather than by a bad click through rate. As Lorraine wrote in her blog post, Keeping it Real: Marketing Success Tips for 2011 and Beyond, “…it’s always better to be honest about mistakes…” Mistakes or even just bad marketing choices don’t have to be something we hide.
In 2007, I began working with online communities. What I have learned most from community work is it that honesty (especially where policy and practices that pre-date social media proliferation are concerned) has the ability to earn respect from customers who know businesses are still evolving to align social media practices and expectations into the way they do business. Customers who have embraced and who use social media at the speed it allows for sharing information work quickly, expect a lot and can often effect change faster than businesses can create solutions. In community work we can match them by bringing our real selves and company policies to the table—openly—even if it is just to say, “Please be patient, we are working to revise our policies to your expectations, but this will take some time.” Show your customers that your company is making the effort and keep communicating. For those customers who haven’t embraced social media, they are also still adapting to all the new possibilities it presents.
Keeping up in the social media world is a fast-paced game, but if we invest early on in an authentic voice and honest communication, we will be protected when bad situations arise.
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A lot of companies tend to see only two options for PR around the holidays: holiday story lines and New Year trends. While these may be the perfect recipe for a good holiday PR campaign, it’s time companies think outside the box. As noted in my blog post last year “Tips for Successful Holiday Campaigns”, I do believe the time period between Thanksgiving and the New Year presents an opportunity to leverage the perceived news lull with a year-end or year-beginning storyline. Often editors and bloggers are looking for interesting ideas to fill their “pages” during this holiday down time.
