Thou Shalt Hit the Road with Mobile Marketing

I’d like to talk about mobile marketing. Not the telephonic buzz-builder (egad, how I loathe those emetic ringtones and the inanity of text messaging). Rather, I am talking about the use of special vehicles (usually of the 18-wheeler variety) that crisscross the country for PR value. This is an area where PR and marketing overlap, and I am claiming the shared territory for the PR world.

Mobile marketing is not a new concept, per se – the oldest known mobile marketing promotion involved the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, a hot dog-shaped car first introduced in 1936. Variations on the Wienermobile have been presented over the years and it is still on the road. The Kissmobile, a large truck featuring three humongous Hershey’s Kisses, is perhaps the second-best known mobile marketing vehicle. Both the Wienermobile and Kissmobile turn up at scores of special events annually where their respective product lines are being promoted. These can include urban centers, suburban malls, and even college campuses.

What are the core ingredients for a successful mobile marketing campaign? Let’s ask an industry leader to share his brainpower on this subject.

"The first ingredient is a good, solid plan,” says Larry Borden, CEO of The Borden Agency, a Philadelphia company specializing in mobile marketing. “My good friend Confucius once said: Failing to plan is planning to fail. You must identify what it is you want to accomplish, how much you are willing to spend and how many people you want to impact and once you impact them, what you want them to do. Once established its time to put the plan together.”

Many PR professionals (who only know traditional let’s-call-the-press ploys) have no experience here, so a bit of outsourcing might not be a bad idea.

“Although it sounds simple, mobile marketing is quite complex,” continues Borden. “For this reason, we recommend hiring a mobile marketing consultant or an agency to objectively review your plan and offer several solutions that will help you achieve your plan. A good agency will listen to you, offer several solutions, budgets, vehicle designs and program components. They will also be able to show you how their ideas will tie back into your goals and objectives.”

Mobile marketing requires a considerable number of tools, not the least being the vehicle itself. Factor in the costs associated with transportation (including fuel, insurance, personnel), it might seem that mobile marketing is too expensive. Or is it?

“It depends on how creative you can be,” adds Borden. “I’ve seen local printing companies retrofit small trailers so they can take their print shops to their customers, dentist’s outfit UPS-style vans, boutiques take their wares to the state fair and on and on. Yes it can be costly, but so can anything else.”

So what can mobile marketing offer that other traditional PR approaches cannot? “I would not look at mobile marketing as what can ‘it’ offer that traditional ‘PR’ cannot,” diplomatically comments Borden. “Rather, I would look at it as ‘How can mobile marketing help boost my PR initiatives?’ Mobile marketing is the sacred pill that if done properly can ‘boost’ results.”

Borden toots his own mobile marketing horn with a successful case study of his own creation: “For example, Avon does an enormous amount PR and they get good results from it. Their products are consistently in magazines and they occasionally receive television hits. The Avon Let’s Talk Beauty Tour (a mobile marketing tour coordinated by The Borden Agency) is receiving three-to-seven minute in studio segments, in major markets to discuss nothing but Avon. The tour and its components are more unique therefore more compelling then a static press release. It’s an actual event. It’s perceived by the media to be of importance due to the grandeur of the program, the uniqueness of the program and the offerings of the program. In conclusion, a mobile marketing campaign can enhance a PR campaign, break through the clutter of press releases and show perceived value to an editor or producer looking to fill space and time.”

Furthermore, mobile marketing isn’t just for consumer goods. The B2B crowd can have 18 wheels worth of fun, too.

“Business to business marketers can benefit tremendously with mobile marketing,” states Borden. “Not only can it double as a tradeshow exhibit, PR machine, buzz builder and hospitality suite. It can also become a sales generator. For example, our client General Electric built a mobile marketing program to support their sales team across the country. Instead of having potential buyers travel to their offices, they brought their offices to them. At one stop, they parked the vehicle in Wal-Mart’s parking lot. Everyone from the CEO to the VP of Finance came into the vehicle for a sales pitch and they walked away with an order that would make you fall out of your chair. Could you imagine how long it would take to get the entire executive team at Wal-Mart to come to your offices? But take your offices to them and watch the sales come pouring in.”

(Phil Hall is the former president of Open City Communications, a New York PR agency, and former editor of PR News. His latest book "The New PR" will be released later this year from Larstan Publishing.)

Thou Shalt Not Smear the Competition

When I was running my own PR agency, one of my clients (the president of a financial publishing company) came to me with a startling request. It seemed he was bothered by the unexpected success of a smaller competitor and he wanted to start a stealthy PR campaign designed to smear the competitor. In my client’s logic, the negative press generated in this campaign would wreck that competitor’s profits and thus enrich his own bottom line.

Needless to say, I dropped that client like the proverbial hot potato. Yes, I lost some money from the abrupt cutoff in retainer fees – but I would’ve morally bankrupt if I went along with that scheme, and no amount of cash would fill that void.

I subscribe to the notion of using the power of PR for positive purposes. I could never bring myself to use any PR strategy that is intentionally designed to damage someone’s reputation, source of income or occupational standing. I have three key reasons for thinking this way.

One, any attention aimed at the competition (even the negative stuff) is still giving them more attention than they would get on their own. For example, look at the on-going (but rather weak) attempt to get Rosie O’Donnell off “The View” because of allegedly anti-patriotic comments she made about 9/11 and the War in Iraq. Rather than just brush her off as some big-mouthed comic on a silly talk show, her detractors actually provide her with more attention than she and “The View” would normally receive.

Second, smear campaigns inevitably leave behind fingerprints – and those who own the fingerprints usually get smeared up as being troublemakers. Look at Sam Fox, who financed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry’s 2004 race for the White House. Fox was outed almost immediately when that campaign took steam, and the residue of his work was still intact earlier this year when President Bush tried to offer him as the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. The president had to sneak Fox in as a recess appointment in the face of a hostile Congress, who considered Fox as being less than on-the-level. That made both Fox and Bush look corrupt and sleazy – a bad PR move, to be certain.

Third, and most personal, I’ve been on the receiving end of four different smear campaigns – and I can attest from personal experience that they don’t work. I am not identifying any of them (why give attention to the haters?), but I will say that all four attempts failed miserably. In one case, it was a word-of-mouth effort that backfired when the whispering was conducted at a loyal client of mine. The other was a pathetic attempt to defile my Wikipedia profile (kudos to that site’s highly efficient anti-vandalism mechanism). And there was also a letter-writing campaign that was very easily traced to its source (that was due to an article I wrote – the source organization was a bit pissed at my grasp of history).

Needless to say, I came out of those incidents smelling like the proverbial rose. And the haters came out looking like fools.

What is the best way to smear the competition? Play up your client, company or organization with killer, high-profile, positive PR. Smear tactics are for idiots, not PR professionals.

(Phil Hall is the former president of Open City Communications, a New York PR agency, and former editor of PR News. His latest book "The New PR" will be released later this year from Larstan Publishing.)

Thou Shalt Look Thy Best When Facing the Cameras

Everyone in PR knows what media training is, and many professionals do a great job preparing their chief executives or clients for public or media appearances. But there is one aspect of media training that is often overlooked: appearance.

Sometimes this omission is accidental – PR professionals are so tied up with words that they forget imagery. But sometimes it is intentional – after all, do you want to tell the boss he or she looks like a slob?

But don’t think that people (especially reporters) will not pick up on a sloppy appearance. I once represented a grooming expert who, ironically had a dandruff problem. The client was aware of it, but he was nonchalant about his own appearance. Needless to say, a callous reporter for a national news syndicate made catty reference to my client’s flaky problem and it created serious ill-will with the badly insulted client when that reference was printed in newspapers all across North America.

Therefore, it is crucial that any media training focus pay very, very close attention to questions of looking good. I am not an image consultant, so allow me to bring in a guest who knows a thing or two on the subject.

Here are some tips provided by Ellen York, the nationally-recognized consultant and president of the Ellen York Image Institute (visit her online at www.ellenyork.com). This is the advice that York gives to men and women who are going to represent their companies and organizations before the public and the cameras:

• Hairstyle – Men need to have an updated hairstyle, just like women. It may be time to visit a new stylist for a current style and color that will flatter your appearance and create a more professional look.
• Facial Hair – This look can be distracting if you have a face full of hair. Ask your stylist to trim your beard, mustache and side burns to allow people to see who they’re talking to.
• Perfume/Cologne – Everyone wants to smell good, but no one wants to be so overpowering that they offend everyone else. A daily application of deodorant should suffice but if you want to wear perfume, a small dab at the wrists and neck will be enough. You never know – a potential client may be allergic to strong scents and be “repelled” if you wear too much fragrance. Nails – Beautiful, polished nails can be a wonderful complement to a professional look. However, nails that are too long, painted in a bright (or too dark) color, or even those that are natural but unkempt, can be distracting. Men should also pay close attention to their nails and keep them short and clean. Women and men alike can benefit from a manicure. You can’t imagine how many people notice a set of well-kept hands!
• Fingers and hands – Watch yourself for other behaviors, such as a tapping your fingers or pen, biting your nails, playing with your hair or crossing your arms, when you are nervous. These habits can be distracting to a client, which can cause him or her to lose interest in what you’re saying.
• Voice, Part One – Check your voice. Listen to a voicemail message that you’ve recorded. If it’s nasal or too low or too soft, you may want to seek a professional voice coach or someone who can help address the issue.
• Voice, Part Two – Many people talk too fast when they’re anxious or tense. The next time you are in a stressful situation, such as a meeting with a potential client, listen to your own voice. Practice talking slower and fully enunciating the words.
• Teeth – Remember to a smile! People love to see a happy person.

(Phil Hall is the former president of Open City Communications, a New York PR agency, and former editor of PR News. His latest book "The New PR" will be released later this year from Larstan Publishing.)

Thou Shalt Use Thy Brain in Designing Web Sites

Admittedly, not every PR person is a web site design expert. And, of course, not every PR person is expected to deposit his or her two cents into the web site design process.

But for those PR folks who are involved, either directly or through casual consultation, with the web site design process, it helps to have a clue on what works and what doesn’t.

To help point out what differentiates a good web site from a great web site, here is some advice by an expert in web design: Loren W. Lloyd, CEO of Lloyd Computer Services in Oshawa, Ontario. (Yes, I am using a guest expert – hey, it’s the Easter holiday and I want to take some time off, too!) According to my pal Loren, there are six key principles that you need to keep in mind before tackling the HMTL:

• Keep your web site on focus. Know exactly what your customer is seeking – go the extra mile to find out their needs.
• Let your customer stay in control while visiting your site. Don’t invade the customer’s privacy by forcing them to give out personal information in order to gain to your public information.
• Make sure your web site is not full of pop-up windows. This is extremely annoying to the customer.
• Make sure your web site is not slow in loading. No one has time to wait for your web page to fully open (and there are still a lot of people who use dial-up from their home computers).
• Make sure the fonts in your text are easy to read. Really, who wants a web site that causes the customer to reach for a bottle of eye drops?
• Make sure your phone number, e-mail address and mailing address is on your web site. A company without a clearly identifiable address is not one you want to give money to.

I might add one more principle: if you don’t know anything about web design, learn it. In PR, as in life, you can never possess too many skills. And in today’s highly competitive PR environment, having web design skills in your tool kit can help you in any digital communications endeavor that may come around in the near future.

(Phil Hall is the former president of Open City Communications, a New York PR agency, and former editor of PR News. His latest book "The New PR" will be released later this year from Larstan Publishing.)