Freeze: they get nervous and freeze in their fear, stuttering, stammering.

Melt: they sloooowwwly drip through very long-winded sentences and explanation.

So, if the media called you about your business today, would you be ready?  What do you think media training is?  Some believe they can just stand in front of a mirror and practice what they want to say.  But the basic problem with do-it-yourself rehearsal (while effective in some ways), it doesn’t give you genuine feedback. Why? Because it’s YOU in the moment!  Of course you’re perfect, right?  Ya, okay, whatever you say….

The reality is rehearsing in the mirror is just really smoke and mirrors – okay, to the point: standing in front of a mirror is really just you creating a bunch of ‘smoke’. And what happens to smoke?  It dissipates over time.  Everything you say in the mirror will disappear from your memory fast – trust me on this.

Real media training with a real ‘interviewer’, using a real camera to really record you, allows you to benefit from objective feedback.  Yes, it’s still wonderful ‘you’ captured on video.   But now you can see you outside of you.  By recording a Q&A situation, you can replay those bad answers, boring intonations, and meaningless acronyms and see the “real” you.   More importantly, you can listen and observe yourself independently of the ‘recording’ moment and quickly see where you’ve deviated from a message, where you droned on needlessly, and where you bored the hell out of the viewer.

Most importantly, media training helps you prepare and ignites the process of telling your story clearly and consistently.  Media training also prepares you for potentially tough questions, it helps you understand how to relate to the media, how to paint a picture, how to convey a message in bite-sized chunks, how to control your voice and body language, and so much more.   It is a process, but an effective one.  If you don’t believe me, ask someone you know who has taken media training in the past.  Almost everyone will say it was a smart investment.

Sure you can DIY. But are you capable of walking a mile in shoes of the media at the end of the day?  You might think you’re AWESOME.  But an objective third party (and an objective camera) can make all the difference in truthful feedback and ultimately your preparedness.

Sadly we ran out of time… our topic could have consumed a whole day I’m sure. I know I’m hungry to do more!

Small-to-medium-sized businesses all over the world are struggling with how to integrate all the new tools into their marketing strategies:  Where to begin? How to reach their audience in effective ways? How to keep the audience?  The focus of our discussion a few days ago was really about the fact that businesses have to look at marketing from a cross-media perspective.  One stream of marketing is typically ineffective.  There are multiple customer touchpoints and each needs careful consideration in an overall strategy.

We also recognized (as we all should) that many SMB’s are stretched for resources (financial and human) and it’s tough to “do it all”.  But those who can’t afford to outsource their marketing strategy and tactics, can still do many activities themselves.  Marketing isn’t only for companies with money… there are many ways to build awareness on a shoestring.  It just requires dedication and effort – and more importantly an understanding of your audience/customer, what they want and what they expect.

I’m reminded of an infomercial with a very memorable slogan.  I’m not suggesting you go to this site, but here’s the link if you want to…. LOL!  Remember the Ronco Rotisserie?  Remember his slogan, “set it and forget it”?  This a classic marketing mistake.  We’ve seen it many times:

“…okay, I’ve distributed the flyers, I bought a week’s worth of radio advertising, and I bought one newspaper ad  and I have a Facebook Fan page.   There… done…”

A business that does this may see a blip in sales and activities, but often owners end up disappointed because nothing super-sustainable comes out of it.  Worse, owners then begin to blame the medium. Marketing is never finished… NEVER.  And here’s the usual response when their efforts don’t meet the expectations:

“…well newspaper and radio sure doesn’t work! And I only have two fans on my Facebook page…”

Back up here…

Yes, this scenario is somewhat of a “multi-touchpoint” approach.  But really?  Seriously? What, in that approach, is sustainable?  NUTHIN!

What was the message? What was the call to action?  Did you give them a reason to come back? Did you give them a reason to stay?  How are you building loyalty?  How are you telling your story?  Did you give the customer a voice? Did you leverage the medium in the right way?  Did you think about “what’s next”?  Chances are…. Not likely.

The adage is true – “out of sight, out of mind”.  One off’s DON’T work…. Ever!  And if they do, congratulations, you’re a phenomenon (or you’re Susan Boyle, from Britain’s Got Talent)!

Marketing, regardless of the tactics you choose (PR, Social Media, Email, Web site, Video, etc.), requires constant care and feeding.   It requires hitting the audience through multiple touchpoints – not once, but constantly.  It requires an iterative approach – review, review, review.  It requires flexibility.  It requires vigilance.

There… done! not really… but for this post… I’m done!

Clearing Muddy Waters in Marketing, Communications And Social Media

This panel brings together many of Ottawa’s leading experts, who will speak about practical approaches to marketing and communications in the age of changing traditional media, the shifting landscape of new media and the muddy waters of social media. The panel will discuss how business owners and manager should map marketing communications strategies to business objectives, choose the right “tools” to hit the right audience/customer, and look beyond the “band wagon” mistakes that many businesses are making. In addition, the panel will bring valuable insights about traditional media relations and how it’s changed, why video is one of the fastest growing areas in marketing and what integrated marketing and social media really mean for SMBs.

The esteemed panel includes:

Jim Donnelly, Editor, Ottawa Business Journal @jim_donnelly

I’ve been editor of the Ottawa Business Journal, Ottawa Technology magazine, Ottawa HR, Meeting In the Capital magazine and the Book of Lists since early 2008, and have been with Transcontinental Media since 2005. Previously, I was features editor of Ottawa At Home magazine, entertainment editor at the Ottawa City Journal, and sports reporter and editor of the Orleans Star. Before my time at Transcontinental, I performed stints at publications such as Ottawa Magazine, the Toronto Sun and Frank Magazine – all while finding the time to live abroad in the U.K., Ireland and India – during and following my time at graduate journalism school at Carleton University. I graduated in 2004. Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ont. and having attended both Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and Carleton, I now live in Ottawa. I’m passionate about the local business and technology communities, travel, literature, great music and ice hockey, in no particular order.

Karen McNaughton, Founder, The Marketing Hub @karenmcnaughton

Karen is the founder of The Marketing Hub. She has worked for more than 15 years in technology marketing, working for Fortune 500, mid-sized and startup companies. Her experience in the private and public sectors has provided the opportunity to harness evolving marketing trends and tools to deliver successful programs. Karen oversees the marketing strategy and direction for Marketing Hub clients, delivering an understanding of new technologies and how web 2.0 can help them to connect with their customers. Karen holds a B.A. Honors, Communications, from Acadia University, and a diploma in Information Technology from ITI. Established in 2009, Marketing Hub delivers holistic programs for B2B and B2C clients, while ensuring consistency of messaging via online and offline marketing channels.

Kneale Mann, Founder, YouIntegrate @knealemann

During his 26 year media and marketing career, Kneale is a 14-time Canadian Music Award recipient. He has launched two major market radio stations, produced events, consulted radio and television projects, overseen advertising campaigns, written published newspaper and online columns and facilitated research initiatives. Mann currently consults on both private and public sector business and marketing strategy and as an active social media contributor writes a top rated marketing and media blog “One Mann’s Opinion” which is rated in the top 1% in the world according to Technorati. Specialties include: Media and Marketing Strategy, Project Management, Social Media Engagement, Strategic Planning, Marketing Research

Arash Mahin, CEO, vdoLife @vdolife

Arash is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of vdoLife, an Ottawa based digital media company specializing in online video solutions. Arash has the lead the effort to promote video as a viable alternative to traditional online media, enabling online advertisers, communicators and content distributors to personalize their web presence and increase their customer conversion and retention rates.  Arash is a 10 year veteran in the digital film industry and was one of the pioneers of the interactive video overlay concept. Prior to co-founding vdoLife, Arash was the CTO for Ottawa’s largest digital green screen studio, specializing in motion picture post production, rich media applications for businesses and interactive video web solutions. He holds a Computer Engineering Degree from Carleton University.

The worry comes from business owners hearing about a fad or a craze and how it has helped other businesses become ‘world famous’.  It’s easy to get lulled into believing that if you employ the same tools as a similar business you will have the same success.  Well it might (underline “might”) be possible.  But just because you get the same tools as the other guy, doesn’t mean you can build a great house!

Adding further to this worry is that there are truly a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing (or snakeoil salespeople) offering to help businesses set up a Blog or grab a million followers on Twitter.  These one-tool or two-tool salespeople scare me!!!  Why?  Because they aren’t necessarily selling you something you need.  Are you sure you need it?  Have you really looked into it?

Keep in mind that Blogs and Twitter accounts are merely  two tools in the communications toolkit.  So I ask: Can you safely and securely build a house with two tools?  If you can, you can probably walk on water too!

Before you buy any ‘tool-only’ services from any vendor… please please please… ask yourself these questions:

1)      Do these communications tools map to my business objectives?

2)      Do my customers/audience read Blogs?

3)      Are a million Twitter followers going to be QUALITY followers/leads/prospects?

4)      Does my audience reside primarily on Facebook?

5)      Can I contribute regularly to YouTube with compelling video?

6)      Do I have the ability to continually use the tools or will they collect dust in the toolbox?

Don’t misunderstand.  I’m not discouraging anyone from using the tools.  And you can DIY all you like if you’re confident in how and why to use them.  But most importantly, there are three things to keep in mind:  The tools work great if:

1)       you know how to use them,

2)       you have an end in mind, and

3)      you’re prepared to use them as required.

What I AM discouraging is employing tools just for the sake of it.  Employing one or two social media tools (and doing nothing else) and expecting huge and immediate results is borderline crazy.  Imagine, in a city of a million people, buying one (and only one) newspaper ad to announce a furniture sale and only 30 people show up.  Even though the subscription base of the newspaper may be 150,000 not every person read the paper that day.  And those who did may not have even seen the ad because they didn’t read every page! And even then, those who did either read about it and forgot it or had something better to do that day.

Communications means hitting an audience (the right audience) through multiple touchpoints.  A good vendor will look at the big picture with you.  They will map a plan to your business objectives… not what is currently popular.  Yes, Twitter is a very useful tool, if you’re prepared to USE it.  A Blog can help your credibility and search engine (SEO) rankings.  But don’t forget about your audience.  Who are they? Where are they?  They are multifaceted and they are found in multiple places… don’t forget that when you’re thinking about how to reach customers with the tools.   All of this takes time – just like building a house.  But more importantly don’t forget it when the wolves show up at the door.

Direct relationships have always been important when it comes to working with Traditional Media, but with all the information overload these poor people experience every day, whipping a press release over a wire and expecting big results (especially if you don’t have a pre-existing relationship with the Media) is wasted, money, effort and brain cells.   Press releases still matter, when it’s really NEWS.  Media are not only seeking content, they are seeking CONTEXT.  He said so himself, “I’d rather deal with someone I know, with a dependable story (content) with a cool angle (context) than trying to rifle through press releases, which almost always amount to nothing new or interesting.”  I was pleased to hear from the horse’s mouth, the same thing I’ve been saying for a long time… if you have a good story, pick up the phone.   But issuing a random press release with no background, no lead up, no nothing, is tantamount to hopping on a busy highway, and depending at what point you get on,  either you get  into an accident or you avoid one.  It’s serendipitous, especially with smaller unknown companies.

Is he going to do the story?  Yes he is!

His point was classic.  It’s all about the direct relationship.  It’s not about spamming these people.  You don’t like to be spammed with useless information.  You want what you want when you want it.  And so does the media.

I once met with a company that had a natural desire to “put out a press release” upon the completion of a new product.  I asked them if they had let the media know ahead of time that they were even embarking on such efforts.  The answer was “no”…

There was a story to be told; it just wasn’t ‘breaking news’.  So we talked it through and decided the best plan was to target the media they really cared about, and who “MIGHT” care about the story.  And bing! bang! boom! – 24 hours later – we secured an article contribution in a magazine that fit their target audience perfectly.

But this is nothing new.  It’s something old, tried and true.  Give the media what they want, and they will respond accordingly – just like any customer.  The media, too, are customers of your story.  So give them something they want directly, something new(s).