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Revealing Flaws is Smart Marketing in Undercover Boss

February 8, 2010 2 Comments

Saying “yes” to the  TV producer who wanted the CEO to anonymously work on the company’s front lines was a risky marketing move for Waste Management (WM).

Especially since reality TV is all about drama…and the company was given no control and no say in what would air. So you can be sure they’ll choose the worst issues and problems you find.

But it was a smart risk to take.

Because people crave authenticity these days. And whether you do it via copywriting or more visual media,  showing that you don’t pretend to be perfect helps demonstrate that.

In fact, exposing flaws can help build that all-important Know, Like and Trust factor that leads to more clients and more loyal clients in two key ways:

  • When you pretend your business, product or service is perfect, most people can’t help thinking, “Okay, what are they hiding?” So acknowledging flaws helps quell the fear that it’s too good to be true.
  • Have you ever heard someone gripe, “She’s just so perfect I can’t stand it!”?  It may be a catty comment but the reality is we tend to like (and like to buy from) people who are “like us.” So acknowledging flaws makes it easier for a prospect to connect with you.

Of course, what those flaws are is important. If the flaws could prevent your customer from achieving the results they’re looking for, you may need to rethink what you’re offering. And it also helps if you can show how you’re addressing or compensating for those flaws.

A Risky Marketing Move Pays Off

On the first episode of CBS’ new reality TV show Undercover Boss, WM CEO Larry O’Donnell  learns what life is like for the hourly folks at the bottom of the corporate ladder as he goes about working in recycling centers, cleaning porta-potties and picking-up trash.

While the venue of reality TV itself isn’t very authentic, the problems he discovers along the way are. Fortunately for the company, the issues involved unfair management policies that make the company look a little bad, but they’re certainly not PR nightmares.

(Of course, it would have been a whole different story if he’d found, say, employees rummaging through trash to steal identities or a big safety issue that was jeopardizing workers’ lives.)

But the appearance has certainly paid off publicity-wise…

  • Last night’s debut had about 38.6 million viewers–the 3rd largest post-SuperBowl audience ever
  • O’Donnell and 2 of the employees appeared on Oprah last week to promote the show
  • And numerous stories featuring O’Donnell’s appearance have run in business and lifestyle media over the past week

I won’t even try to calculate the value of the media coverage the company has received, which has been overwhelmingly positive.

WM was savvy enough to try to capitalize on the publicity by adding a special feature front and center on their home page that speaks directly to show’s viewers about the company’s sustainability initiatives. (Although I think they could have done a much better job with that.)

For the record, Undercover Boss producers say none of the companies paid to be on the show and none of the employees including O’Donnell were compensated by the show.

Photo from CBS.com

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Pull the Trigger on New Clients

November 4, 2009 2 Comments

Zeroing in on events that prompt prospects to realize it’s time for a new solution (aka “trigger events”) are a great way to find new prospects because it focuses your efforts on a market of ready or nearly ready buyers.

Whether you love or hate him, the election of President Bill Clinton was a HUGE trigger event for the D.C. area. It had been 12 years since Democrats had been in the White House, plus he was not a Washington insider. So it brought a tsunami of new people to town to work for the new administration and Congress.

Realtors got a lift from people needing to buy and sell homes. Savvy restaurateurs opened new eateries designed to satisfy the influx of southern palates. And the list goes on and on.

Some professions and industries are masters at trigger-event marketing…

–Recruiters often reach out to companies who have announced expansion plans in the local paper.

–Financial planners have long sought out job changers because helping them transfer a retirement account is a foot-in-the-door to future business.

But every small business should be looking at the events going on around us today to figure out which ones they can leverage to bring in new business.

Identifying Trigger Events for Your Business

Ask yourself:

  • What causes someone to seek you out? And what usually prompts this? Who else is dealing with a similar issue right now?
  • When are your busiest times of the year? What else is happening around that time that could be tied to this?

With all the changes going on in the economy and otherwise right now, there’s a ton of trigger events taking place. Here are a few timely examples:

Job Changes. A new manager is usually looking to take things in a fresh direction–which often means bringing on new contractors and consultants. Keeping track of new hires at a company you want to work with can give you a heads-up to new opportunities.

How to Do It: Use Google alerts for the name of the person currently in the position or the title of the position such as:

“Joe Tech” +Glaxo

“Information Technology Director” +pharmaceutical

(The + before the word means that the search results MUST contain that word)

Job Openings. Job openings can be another good opportunity if you can help fill the gap while they’re shorthanded. Of course, it can possibly lead to ongoing contract work after a new person is hired too.

How to Do It: Set up a job alert on sites like Careerbuilder with both a keyword relevant to what you do plus the name of the company or industry you’re targeting. For example:

“employee benefits” +manufacturing

For one that’s more consumer-oriented…

Back to School. Preschool wasn’t going well for my nephew and he’s always been hypersensitive to loud noises, so my sister recently took him to a sensory specialist for evaluation. And surprise! The waiting room was packed with other parents and kids with similar concerns.

That’s not surprising when you think about it–the start of the school year brings all kinds of issues to the forefront.

And even if the teacher notices something the first, day, she’ll often wait a week or two to see if the child “adjusts” before mentioning it to the parents.

How to Do It: For a regular trigger event like this, it’s best to prepare early by publishing an article in the local parents’ magazine or even sending out a press release on your topic shortly after the start of the school year.

In short, there’s a world full of people and businesses on the hunt for new solutions and new opportunities–figure out what’s driving them to make a change, and could find the key to connecting with a market of eager clients who are just waiting for your help.

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PR Tools to Start Spreading the News

April 17, 2009 Leave a Comment

Think about a CD and DVD. Both are for storing files and blank ones look pretty much alike. But using a DVD to save a couple Word documents would be overkill, and using a CD to save any kind of video file wouldn’t get the job done.

So you need to use the one that best fits the results you’re looking for.

It’s the same with press releases. While the goal is to spread the word about your company, there are two distinct outcomes to shoot for–

  • Real press coverage and media interviews or
  • Driving traffic back to your website

So HOW you should distribute your press release depends on which one you most want.

“Real” Press Coverage

If you’ve really got a hot, newsworthy topic, then PRNewswire is top choice because it’s the first stop for most journalists and your release will go out over the Associated Press newswire to media around the country. But with a high per-release fee and an annual fee (though small businesses can often get that waived) it’s not for the faint of wallet.

A more affordable alternative is PRWeb.com. It starts at $80 a pop and goes up to $360 for their service featuring AP wire distribution. They also tend to crush PRNewswire in getting valuable backlinks to your website.

Search Engine Rankings & Web Traffic

Most of the time though, you won’t have a newsworthy story. Don’t be offended, but the Wall Street Journal just won’t care about your new ebook. So save your money and focus on the lower-cost sites that can drive some quality traffic.

PR.com
Cost: Free (with ads) or starting at $29.99

PR.com has a relatively professional appearance and their releases rank fairly well. Their $29.99 releases are often included in Google News–unlike most of the low cost/free sites. That level also provides an active link within the release back to your website.

24-7 Press Release
Cost: Free (with ads)

If you need free distribution, 24-7 Press Release tends to get you better links than most free sites. Their free option does NOT include a link within the release, but although they will include one in the contact information box on the page.

PitchEngine.com
Cost: Free to use

Pitch Engine lets you create snazzy-looking social media releases and share them via the social networks. It’s not a distribution or newswire site per se, but journalists and bloggers can subscribe to RSS feeds. And Google News will usually pick up the release within in a few hours.

Good for Both

Any time you can send your release directly to a relevant journalist or blogger, you’ll have a better chance of getting coverage. Here are two services to help.

MatchPoint and MyPRGenie

Cost: Free trials or $65/month and $49/session

Enter your topic and brand new MatchPoint will search more than 3 million articles  then list and rank writers based on relevance of articles they’ve written in the last six months. You can either download the list or contact them through the service. It’s $65 a month for the basic service after the free trial.

MyPRGenie will create a list of 25 names for you for $49 ($2 a name for more) and track any release you send them so you’ll know who actually read it. You will have to pay $49 each time you want to use that list though–downloads are not available. But you can also upload your own list of media contacts free of charge and get real-time tracking as well.

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Celebrate Be Heard Day Today!

March 6, 2009 Leave a Comment

Tomorrow is National Be Heard Day, created by publicist Shannon Cherry to help entrepreneurs, small business owners and solo professionals find their voice, tell their story and be heard. But since tomorrow is a Saturday, she’s thrown the doors open today!

She’s gathered some of her business associates to offer free special gifts to help you build your business and achieve success–16 gifts in all, valued at more than $5,500. (including gifts from yours truly!).

Check it out at www.BeHeardDay.com.

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How NOT to Enter the Conversation in Your Customer’s Mind

January 14, 2009 Leave a Comment

There’s an old copywriting saw that you should “enter the conversation going on in the customer’s mind.” It essentially means if you lead off with something they’re already thinking about, you’ll be more likely to get their attention and keep it because the message will be more interesting and relevant to them.  And this isn’t just true about copy–it can be a powerful public relations strategy as well.

But there are good ways and bad ways to actually do this.

Right now Americans are still very focused on the economy and the ongoing announcements about various industry bailouts. Several companies have sought to leverage this, with various degrees of success. Since the bad are always more fun, let’s start there.

Tasteless PR Stunt. The ever so-classy Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild) and Larry Flynt (Hustler) issued a press release earlier this month announcing their intention to appeal to Congress for a $5 billion bailout of their industry. (Which I can’t mention because of the dreaded sp@m filters.)  They’re getting some press coverage, but it’s mostly mocking them. And I’m doubtful it will have any impact on sales.

Advertising Gone Wrong. After receiving a $4 billion bailout from the federal government, Chrysler took out full-page “thank you” ads in USA Today, the Wall Street Journal …with the ad space itself probably costing about $500 million. So they were roundly criticized for the wastefulness.
Even worse, their marketing folks must live on Pluto because the ad thanked Americans for “investing” in the company with the bailout. Many Americans were quick to respond in colorful language that they certainly would not have bailed out the company if they’d had any say in the matter and were mad as hornets that their tax dollars were going toward it.

Note to Chyrsler: It’s really NOT a good idea to remind people that they’re paying for your mistakes.

And Now the Oscar Goes to…Overstock.com, who announced a Family Bailout contest in November where the company would pay off $50,000 worth of debt for one lucky winner. Any purchases between the contest dates automatically entered you (of course, an alternative entry method that didn’t require a purchase was offered as well). On January 5, a winner was announced…as well as a new monthly Family Bailout contest providing $10,000 of debt repayment to the winner.

The contest has gotten plenty of play in the press because they’re always looking for a new angle about the bailouts.  Plus $50,000 is a significant chunk of money– it wouldn’t have worked as well with $1,000, in the national press at least.

But it also got a ton of word-of-mouth publicity on blogs and forums because it tied in directly with what people were thinking about…the bailouts, the economy, saving money. Plus, some of the press mentioned CEO Patrick Byrne’s crusade for Wall Street reform–further underscoring his thought leadership in this area and spreading his message to a wider audience.

While it’s too early to see if the company’s sales benefited as well, the contest certainly helped increase top-of-mind awareness for the company during the crucial Christmas buying season.

So what are your clients and prospects talking about? And how can you tie into that?

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New Book Spotlights a More Conscious Way of Doing Business

October 1, 2008 Leave a Comment

(Raleigh, NC–October 1, 2008) While the U.S. government works to bail out and investigate financial giants driven to earn profits at any price, a movement to create a new, more holistic model of business success is gaining steam. One that pursues money and morals—and does well by doing good.

Tracy Needham, founder of Raleigh-based copywriting and marketing strategy firm Compelling Communications, LLC, is one of the 47 contributing authors to the recently released Conscious Entrepreneurs: A Radical New Approach to Purpose, Passion and Profit (Love Your Life Publishing, Dallastown, PA). In the book, these entrepreneurs share their personal stories, strategies and successes for finding a new, more conscious way of doing business. And they’re not alone. In fact, prominent trend-tracker Patricia Aburdene calls the rise of conscious capitalism a megatrend for both businesses and customers.

Rave reviews include James Twyman, author and director of The Moses Code, who said “Conscious Entrepreneurs brilliantly outlines the spiritual journey of entrepreneurship. Nowhere else have I seen such a powerful book written about what should be the only way to be in business.”

Ms. Needham’s chapter, “Good For Profit—Your Social Conscience is an Asset to Your Business” gives entrepreneurs a four-point plan for more strategically incorporating their charitable and environmental efforts into their business.

“While big companies spend billions to create a caring image, many small businesses are already donating time and money and adopting green practices simply because it’s the right thing to do. Unfortunately, they treat these things as irrelevant to their “real” business instead of realizing what a valuable business asset they can be,” she said.

Ms. Needham is donating 10% of book sales made at www.compellingcomm.com/ce.html to Donors Choose, which provides school supplies to classrooms across America.

About Tracy Needham

Tracy Needham founded Compelling Communications, LLC, to pursue her passion for helping entrepreneurs build a thriving business with results-driven copywriting as well as marketing strategies that make the most of their time and money.

Contact Info:

Tracy Needham
Compelling Communications, LLC

Phone: 919.829.1539
Email: tracy@compellingcomm.com
Web: www.compellingcomm.com

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5 Tips for Creating a Press Release That Gets Attention

April 18, 2008 Leave a Comment

With recession clouds looming overhead, many entrepreneurs will be celebrating National Small Business Week next week by looking for ways to trim their marketing costs. Stepping up your PR program is a great strategy, as long as you aren’t sending out snore-inducing press releases that have no hopes of getting covered. So here are five tips to creating a press release that’s worthy of being called news:

· Piggyback on stories that are already in the news.References to the economy, election, blockbuster movies, recent surveys, and latest celebrity antics can make your topic timely and up the interest factor.

· Tie your news to an upcoming holiday or event. Again, timeliness helps. The Boston Marathon and Earth Day both happen next week. You also have National Jellybean Day, Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day, and William Shakespeare’s birthday. Can your news relate to any of those? [Read more...]

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Who Decides Newsworthiness?

March 17, 2008 Leave a Comment

As you groan at the latest Britney news clip, you’ve got to sometimes wonder, “Who the heck decided that this is news?”

The answer is us–the people who watch, read or listen.

Quite simply, the more viewers, readers or listeners they have, the more the station or publication makes from advertising. So they spend a lot of time analyzing their audience and figuring out what they (we) want. They look at the numbers to see when their audiences go up and down, but they also look at what people take the time to write, call, or email about–good and bad.

[Read more...]

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They’re Bringing Sexy Back

March 2, 2008 Leave a Comment

Our first Get a Clue! posting goes to Victoria’s Secret, who made news this week when a stock analyst asked CEO Sharon Jester Turney whether the company will be hurt by Abercrombie & Fitch’s new, more wholesole lingerie store since VS has gained more of a “tawdry image and a somewhat bordello feeling in store.” Turney essentially replied that their parent company (Limited Brands) has taken notice and wants to return VS to “a higher taste level.” She also said that she feels restoring some of the feminity and “sophistication” would help them become “more relevant to their customers” and bolster falling sales.

You think? What took them so long? I’ll admit I’ve never been a big VS fan because a few purchases I made back in college didn’t seem to be well made and certainly weren’t comfortable to wear. But I knew plenty of people who shopped there. [Read more...]

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