Development of messaging, the strategic communicators way

Hello class (and others) and welcome once again to my media is on the rise blog. This week I will be discussing the development and placement of messaging, the strategic communicators way. First of all, in order to have a successful and compelling message is having a focused communications plan. A successful strategic message will define and prioritize the audiences. Let your audience know who will receive the messages and focus on the common ground between them. Identify where key audiences are coming from by gathering their information needs so your messages can influence and drive appropriate action. Agree on having a clear and compelling message about the topic. This way you are not confusing the audience that you are trying to target. Connect with your audience by letting them in and letting them know what is important to you. By delivering your messages with confidence they will hit their mark and you can continue to improve your platform and master your delivery. In this weeks TED video, Morgan Spurlock talked about going to all of these different brands and trying to get them to come on board for his film that would focus on brand marketing. He didn't just want their brand in the movie he also wanted them to finance the film. Alot of the brands turned him down because either they didn't understand the concept, didn't know how receptive people were going to be about the film, or didn't want to spend the money. One guy said up front that he thinks that most of the responses would be no. Another pretended to be interested until the camera was turned off. I think it was up to 500 companies that said no because they would have no control of the final product. The point is that Morgan Spurlock remained persistent and eventually was able to get 17 brands to come on board. The film ended up premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and it gained alot of momentum. I bet those companies that said no are wishing they had been apart of the project now.

Transparency

Another thing that Morgan Spurlock mentioned in the video was transparency and I gonna talk about that for a little bit. Well first of all what does transparency mean? Transparency implies openness, communication and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. The thing is people talk about transparency all the time whether it be politicians, CEO's, or the president but when it is actually time to be transparent people become scared. Becoming transparent is unpredictable and people think that being transparent will show something that they don't want to be seen. Transparency should be embraced though. A little honesty can go a long way especially today. People don't like being lied to and things being kept a secret because when it does come out it be alot worse then if you had been upfront from the start.

Repeating messages

  

I see messages get repeated all the time whether it be advertisements online through social media, television, newspapers etc. but what happens over time and what is the attitude toward messages that are repeated over time. When a message is repeated a moderate number of times the attitude change can be favorable. With more exposure such as a certain song in rotation everyday,a movie trailer playing during every commercial break or an advertisement popping up in your Facebook news feed, that gain is lost. With too frequent exposure people become bored or feel their freedom is threatened and react by generating negative thoughts. Attitude change is related to position and frequency of exposure. Having a moderate repetition condition can have a more favorable attitude towards that exposure.

Product Placement

Product placement stands out as a marketing strategy because it is the most direct attempt to derive commercial benefit from the context and environment within which the product is displayed or used. Product displacement is used to accommodate sponsors that refuse to allow their products to be used in non-flattering settings.

 

Today's marketers are looking for alternative approaches to communicate with their target population. I remember back when the Nintendo Wii launched in 2006 and from then until about 2009 they had a campaign called the Wii would like to play campaign. These commercials were so creative in that in had to Nintendo executives driving around going to peoples houses and knocking on their door telling them Wii would like to play. They would then play the Wii console together whether it being Wii sports, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda etc. Everyone instantly understood what the Wii console was about and was a big reason why it ended up being the best selling console of the last console generation (Wii, Xbox360, Playstation 3) The campaign would go on to win the 2008 Effie Award for New Product or Service. That was a great way in my opinion of product placement.

Product placement is not a new promotional tool. As early as the 1800s product placement has occurred. Product placement has a wide range of promotional applications. Researchers have examined the effectiveness of product placement with respect to brand recall and recognition and audience attitudes.

 

Films have been the most frequently studied vehicles for product placement. Furious 7 came out earlier this month and I've seen some people complaining about Corona beer being everywhere in the movie. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is coming out May 1st. It is the sequel to the Marvel's The Avengers that was released in 2012. It is expected to be the biggest movie of the summer and will probably beat the first movie as the third all time highest grossing movie. I can only imagine how much product placement will be in this movie seeing as how the first had alot from Acura. Prominent placements achieve high awareness, but result in negative consumer attitudes and thus low purchase intention whereas the effects of subtle placements are typically opposite which is what I mentioned earlier about not giving consumers so much of your product that you end up hating it. All in all, the right amount of product placement can go along way of your product being a success.  

Leadership and Management, why we need both

Hello class (and everyone else) and welcome back to my blog. This week we read about leadership and management. Today I will be talking about why you can'y have one without the other. First lets go over the basics. What is leadership? What is management?

Leadership is the process of social influence in which a person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. That can mean alot of things. There are those that simply follow someone because that leader has charisma that can't be ignored, or the one that I like is someone that motivates people and organize them to achieve a common goal. Leadership is about having a vision, being enthusiastic about that vision and remaining vigilant because everyone might not see your vision or understand it the way that you do. Martin Luther King had a vision of equality for all races. Other people believed in this vision as well and they followed Martin Luther King and attended marches, boycotted buses etc. A great leader that has qualities above in the picture can try make a difference in the world. There is also price to consider. Since the recession, it has been difficult to get businesses off the ground. Then again when is it ever a good time to start a business. In order to be successful leader and launch a successful business you need a supportive team that believes in you vision. That goes back to what I mentioned before about leaders getting people to understand their vision and follow them. Leaders like Steve Jobs who founded Apple which is now a multinational technology company. I bet his old partner Ronald Wayne wishes he hadn't sold his share of the company for $800.

Looking towards the future and finding the people to manage that dream

Leaders in business are always looking towards the future. To create  a vision for their organization, they focus on the organization's strengths by using tools such as Porter's Five Forces, Core Competence etc. to analyze their current situation. Leaders look to how they can innovate successfully and shape their businesses and their strategies to succeed in future marketplaces. In a way leadership is proactive. You deal with problem solving, looking ahead and not being satisfied with things as they are. 

Management in business is the function that coordinates the efforts of people to accomplish goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. Where is leaders have a vision and work toward making that vision a reality, managers job includes planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling an organization to accomplish the goals. The reason I say that you need both leadership and management is because some leaders don't make decisions when it comes to the management side of things and some managers are not leadership material. They know how to plan, hire staff etc. but lack the charisma or skills to be a true leader. Like a CEO for a company has a board or how the president of the United States has congress, these leaders have "managers" so to speak that they have to go to to get things approved. 

There are some that have difficulty knowing the difference, especially in this new economy. Workers are no longer a part of the machine that works and asks no questions. People look to management to define for them a purpose. In most cases whatever company you work for you will never meet the CEO or the founder of the company so management is who they look to for leadership. With workers being more knowledgeable then in the past they have come to expect their managers to lead with the goal of making specific strengths and knowledge of every individual

Breaking down the difference

Lets really break it down now. Mangers have a position of authority given to them by a company and their subordinates work for them and do as they are told by management. Workers do as they are told because the reward is getting their salary for the day, their paycheck on pay day and that they keep their jobs. Mangers get paid to get things done under tight constraints and pass that pressure on to their subordinates.

Following leaders is a voluntary act. Leaders do not have subordinates. Leaders give up their formal authoritarian control which again is because following the leader is voluntary, you don't have to if you don't want to. Telling people what to do is what managers do but bossing people around does not inspire them to follow you. You have to appeal to people, showing them that your way can lead them to what they have always wanted. Leaders with a strong charisma can get people to even follow you into dangerous situations that they would not normally consider risking.

Closing 

I have found myself at my own job looking at management for leadership. I have an assistant manager, branch manager, and manager above them that I know, the area manager. It's a continuing cycle until you reach the top which would be the Taylor family since I work at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I have never and probably will never meet a member of the Taylor family but I can understand what Jack Taylor (the founder of Enterprise) was trying to do. Alot of people probably thought he was crazy for focusing on the hometown market while his competition was focused on rentals at airports but he had a vision and it worked. He began offering home pickup services which eventually became the slogan "we'll pick you up". He started out with 8 cars and now there are over 1 million cars worldwide. (the acquisition of National and Alamo Rent-A-Car in 2007 had something to do with that) In today's business alot of managers have had to step up to the plate of leading as well. The way my job is setup each Enterprise is its own business with its own budget and decisions being made by our branch manager. You quickly learn how to run a business and be a leader. 

Communication

Hello class and welcome to week 4's blog posting. We are half way through our 9 week term for this class. For those of you that are taking 6699 this term I hope you did well on your comps exam. This week we are discussing communication in terms of internal, external and government communication. We are also discussing leadership. Lets start with a simple question, what is communication? It is the imparting or exchanging of information or news. In regards to media it is the collective communication outlets used to store and deliver information or data. But how do you use it in terms of internal, external and government communication? That is what I will be discussing mostly for today's blog posting.

Internal Communication

The definition is the function responsible for effective communication among participants within an organization. Having a strong internal communications strategy can ease an escalated situation. Take for instance our discussion point this week. We discussed the poisoning of the Toomer's Corner trees at Auburn University and how both Auburn and the University of Alabama needed strong communication strategies to ease the minds of the faculty, students, fans and alumni that they were doing everything in their power to fix the situation and distance themselves from whoever was the cause of the crisis. I've seen crazy things from fans of sports before bur never have I seen something as insane as poisoning trees because your team lost. Maybe one day people will realize that it's just a game. Try again next year lol. Internal communication can also be used in social media especially for larger organizations. By upholding the momentum of employee relationships, (instant messaging, support forums etc.) ultimately you can remain profitable in the company. Most companies today have a clear social media policy because those employees can use social media to further reach out to companies but also the policy is in place so employees know that they are representing a company and that there are limits to what they can post while they work for the company. For instance, I've heard that Nintendo doesn't allow you to post things to your twitter account that isn't Nintendo related or the WWE superstars being able to only post things mostly that relate to WWE in some way and of course no talking about any issues or problems you may be having as that will get you in deep trouble, Dolph Ziggler being a perfect example as a wrestler that is always on the verge of becoming a main even talent only to be brought back down because of something he said in the media about the company. ( He's a two time world heavy weight champion though the first reign lasted an hour and the second about three weeks)

One of the articles we read this week comes from the Wall Street Journal and it talks about a Korean firm building an internal system for workers to communicate. By tweaking twitter the senior executive was able to send out a tweet to find lunch partners but only the employees of the firm received it. They call it BizTweet. I work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car and have for the past 7 years. I hoping with the strategic communication degree I'll finally be able to move on from the company anyway the reason I bring Enterprise is because we have a social media like site that can only be accessed internally. Its called the hub and you are able to search for a befriend follow employees, like comment, post status updates etc. No one at my branch uses it and most people don't even know about it. I myself only use to access the companies discount page. I doubt it will ever take off as most people are friends with each other on Facebook.

 External Communication

While internal communication deals with communication within an organization, external communication is just the opposite, it deals with communication going outside of the company to the general public. Look at the diagram above. It list both oral and written external forms of communication. Say a company is ready to launch an new product, they would hold presentations and also advertise it through the media, press releases, social media etc. The frequency of external communication is less frequent than internal, its coverage is broader and there is a significant distance between the receivers of the communication. I think during the whole Donald Sterling scandal the NBA handled their external communications very effectively making it clear that they did not tolerate that type of behavior nor were they going to stand by Sterling. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver delivered the swiftest, strongest, and harshest penalties probably in the history of U.S. sports by fining Sterling $2.5 million banning him for life from the NBA and the Clippers organization, and asking the owners to agree to his recommendation that would force Sterling to sell the Clippers which is what ended up happening. I also believe that the swift action was the result of learning from the NFL's blunders regarding the Ray Rice situation and them seemingly trying to cover up the incident.

Government Communication

Government communication deals with all activities of public sector institutions and organizations that are aimed at sharing information for the purpose of presenting and explaining government decisions and actions, defending recognized values and helping to maintain social bonds. (man that was a mouthful lol) Government communication deals with government institutions, public sector organizations presenting a very broad range of forms. We have government wide communication which is tasked with explaining decisions, presenting actions and contributing to debate over government's values and objections. Say the government wants to implement a new policy and the general public doesn't understand why and are confused. The government can then (depending on it being local, state, or federal) hold a town hall meeting, press conference, live stream, newspaper article etc. Every form of media should be used because everybody gets their media in different ways. You know I find myself paying more attention to the government's activities now then  I have in the past. I'm interested in seeing what the government is going to do about the police and their willingness to use excessive force when it isn't necessary and suffering no consequences. Well everyone I thank you for reading my blog this week. You know there is five weeks left in this class so come on down next week for the next blog posting. Until then. 

So simple but so complicated, Listening

Hello class and welcome to week three of this class and with a new week comes a new blog. This week we have several readings and videos that we went over such as videos going viral and how to engineer them, public relations and journalism, social media and having a strategy for your organization in this new world of technology driven people and the one that I will be talking about mostly on this blog (and probably the most important) listening and what to do if your skills are lacking.

Take a look at the chart above. Listening accounts for 45% of communicating. More that speaking, reading and writing. If your listening skills are lacking, then your other skills will suffer as well. How can communicate back to someone about some thing they said if you can't listen? Fortunately there is someone that can help. Dr. Kline wrote a book entitled Listening Effectively. In our first communication leadership assignment we were tasked with discussing how communication professionals can use listening skills to help communicate in internal, external and government environments. (This also applies to anyone that lacks in listening skills)

Before you can improve your listening skills you must first come to accept the fallacies about listening. Never assume you have the best listening skills around. I have thought this about myself as well only to discover that I didn't listen as effectively as I could, missing out on critical components during lectures as an undergraduate and having to ask my classmates what I missed. After recognizing the fallacies of listening you can then come to understanding the process.That process comes in three steps receiving, attending and understanding. One thing that I really like and have come to understand from Dr. Kline's book is that listening and hearing are not one in the same. Having excellent hearing does not mean you have great listening skills. To be an effective listener in the communication profession, you must be able to get the important parts of conversation out. You most be able to communicate to each level of the corporate ladder from the CEO to the lowest level employee.

Companies "Listening" to their customers

There has never been a time such as now that customers have such a prominent voice in the direction a company takes. Take a look at the chart above. It states that by 2020, companies using social media to respond to customer inquires will increase to 90% Listening to customers on social media and on their own websites has saved some companies from going out of business.  This embrace of social media has taught brands that listening to what is being said about them online is crucial for guiding decisions about their services, marketing, operations and budget. A perfect example is Gatorade. They opened the Gatorade Mission Control Center in the middle of their marketing department. This allows them to monitor conversations about Gatorade and topics relevant it in real time. In our discussion points this week I mentioned this mentioned the same thing about real time. Being able to monitor and speak on issues that customers may be having in real time has changed the way companies handle their public relations. This also increased their product education by 250 percent and reduced their exit rate from 25 to 9 percent.
Another of my favorite companies, Best Buy has began focusing on its customer reviews. They are now sharing feedback with vendors and are rewarding some customers with special points to use toward future purchases.
Not ever company has success with social media. One of our readings this week is titled, Corporate Facebook pages: when "fans" attack. It talks about an incident that occurred in 2010 when Nestle began to get linked to companies involved in the destruction of forests and peat lands in the southeast Asia. Nestle committed to stop using products that come from rainforest destruction but their response on Facebook was anything but sympathetic. Their moderator gave back sarcastic immature banter about customers comments and deleted customers comments and pictures. This sent people into a frenzy and let the moderator have it. He finally apologized but the damage had already been done. I'm sure their public relations departments was up all night figuring out how to fix that situation.  

Going Viral

First of all, let me start off by saying that sites such as YouTube have come a very long way. I remember when YouTube first got started and people started sharing videos. Who would have known that it would grow into the monster that it is now. I wasn't surprised that Google purchased it. Anyway, what is going viral you ask? Going viral is when a video becomes popular through internet sharing which is why I just named YouTube because it is the biggest video sharing site. I started my YouTube page back in 2008 and a few years ago when it became integrated with Google, I had to sign up an email account. I still have that original page where I have shared hundreds of videos, mostly music and video game related being that was my only interests at the time. One example of finding success from YouTube is Justin Bieber. He posted videos on YouTube and got discovered by Usher. Rumor has it that Ne-Yo actually discovered him first but thought he was too young at the time to get into the music industry.

Conclusion

Listening is so simple but so complicated right? I've caught myself going into my own little world before and have to snap out of it. Everything that I have discussed today goes back to that simple concept. Listening to your audience, listening to your customers, going viral, etc. It all goes back to somebody listening and spreading the message. Things have changed so much even from just a few years ago. One other off topic but kinda on topic thing has to do with the WWE. I don't know who all watches WWE programming but there is a wrestler named Daniel Bryan, who is one of the biggest stars on the roster but was continuously held back in WWE even with his "Yes" chant taking the world by storm. From not being in the royal rumble match last year to being taken out of main even caliber matches the fans had had enough and voiced their opinion every night by chanting Daniel's name during the entire program or during boring matches and segments. The Randy Orton, Batista main event was going to get booed out of the building at Wrestlemania 30. The WWE finally caved,listened to the fans and gave them Daniel Bryan in two matches one against Triple H which he won to get inserted into the main event in a triple threat match which he won to become the champion. So, you see fans, consumers, etc, have more power than ever. Knowing how to satisfy your consumers goes back to one thing, listening. Hope you all enjoyed my lastest blog and look out for more interesting blogs to come.