A Guest Post By Jim Joseph

Last week I had the distinct privilege of being a guest host on #prstudchat.  At first I was excited to be invited, thinking that someone out there thought I was a stud.  But when I realized it was going to be full of students … well as a professor at NYU I jumped at the chance!

I am a big believer in the overall brand experience as a way to think about marketing a product.  But the truth is there are lots of people who have theories about marketing.  For me, it’s less about theory and more about practicing and observing and learning and reapplying.  Marketing is a spectator sport, and we can all learn from the marketplace and from each other.  Twitter chats are one great way of getting together and sharing.  And when it’s quick and 140 characters, all the better!  I so enjoyed the “experience!”

QUESTION ONE:   How does PR contribute to a customer experience that builds loyalty?

We are the lucky ones!  I believe that public relations is actually the closest to the consumer.  Especially with social media, we are the part of the marketing mix that is talking directly to consumers as they live their lives.  We have been trained to talk WITH our consumers, not AT them (as in advertising).  We seek out the influencers who they trust, even when it’s just their other girlfriends!  In that way, our efforts seek to build relationships that lead to loyalty and ultimately create a lasting brand experience.  That puts us in charge of building the brand experience and ultimately for me, the brand.

QUESTION TWO:  What are favorite examples of companies with strong and consistent branding?

In my books, I discuss a number of examples where a brand has created a consistent and relevant experience that has created long-lasting loyalty.  J.Crew is one of my favorites because they’ve been able to tailor their experience, yet keep it consistent across all of their venues be it retail, web, social media, or catalog.  Every interaction is uniquely J.Crew, yet specific to the touchpoint.

Lady Gaga also comes to mind.  She’s not just a marketer, but also a brand.  Perhaps one of the best at having a strong mission for the “underdog”, consistent messaging about her fans, and a compelling experience that evolves and evolves.

I would say that brand Paula Deen fell off the wagon this month.  She had a very consistent experience (like it or not) but she took a very sharp turn and it is jarring for her fans.  Let’s leave it at that!

Can’t talk about the brand experience without talking about the magic of Disney – across all of their theme parks, movies, tv shows, merchandise – it’s all about the magic of childhood and recapturing it with your family.  They own it!

QUESTION THREE:  What communications touchpoints engage customers the most?

The answer to this one depends on the consumer and how they live their lives.  But in general, I would say that the most effective touchpoints are the ones that seemingly naturally pop up when the consumer is in the right mindset for your brand.  I’ve seen touchpoints in gyms that are more relevant than mass advertising or PR!

The best touchpoint is the one that bumps into your consumer at the time they might consider you. The other day I was at the gym and saw a poster in the men’s locker room for athlete’s foot.  Now that’s a touchpoint and a brand message that is “right place, right time!”  And you know what, they had samples at the front desk as well.

The best way to pick touchpoints is to know your consumer and how she specifically lives her life.  Figure out ways to get in front of her when she needs you.  That’s how she’ll jump onto your brand experience and then hopefully share it with others.

QUESTION FOUR:  What advice would you give to PR students & pros about creating a better brand experience?

We could write volumes about this, and in fact I have!  But to keep it simple, the first step is to know your consumer and to know her better than your competition does.   To know her is to know how to market with her.  The second step is to know what you, as a brand, are capable of offering her. You can’t give your consumer something that is outside of your brand’s skill sets and abilities.  So the key is to match what she wants and needs with what you are uniquely able to offer to her.  Then build the experience on her terms – when and how she needs you.

QUESTION FIVE:  What are the secrets to finding success at a New York PR firm? 

I think you need to be willing to do anything to learn.  My best advice is to start out working on a smaller brand where you can play a bigger role.  There’s not as much staffing on the small brands so you can become more of a leader and do more strategic activities sooner.

Make yourself indispensable to your clients and to your teammates.  Be the “go to” person for the brand’s information and you’ll find yourself in the middle of all the meetings where decisions are being made.  You’ll be in the middle of the action, not on the sidelines waiting to hear what’s going on.

Don’t expect anything to be handed to you.  Use some sweat equity to build your own brand.  Others will start to figure out that you are a future leader and they will gravitate towards you.

Think about what you want your own brand experience to be for the people you work with and for – make yourself valuable for them and you will rise!

Jim Joseph is the President of Lippe Taylor, the Author of “The Experience Effect” series and a professor at NYU

www.lippetaylor.com

www.jimjosephexp.com

As a follow up to my post on PR and Cyberbranding post, I wanted to touch on the personal brand as it will be a part of my presentation at the University of Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico.

It used to be the thirty 30 second elevator pitch that would tell someone everything they needed to know about a brand in a quick conscise statement.  With social media….how many characters do we have? Is it 140 on Twitter?  Or, is it a set number of words?  I remember reading that you should be able to say what your brand stands for in 4 words or less.  Maybe that’s true.  I also believe that you should be able to look at someone’s Twitter profile or an individual’s facebook profile and fan page, and identify in less then a minute the following: a person’s interests, what he/she likes to talk about, and something that stands out with respect to his/her personality.

I conducted an experiment with the head of our accounting office the other day.  She is a part of my company, but not involved in the communications, or social media programs or any type branding efforts that we create.  I asked her to look at my Twitter page and in less than 30 seconds, give me the first four words that popped into her head.  She said:

• PR
• Books
• Communications
• Education

It didn’t take her long at all.  I asked her to do the same thing with my Facebook fan page and the first four words out of her mouth (in the same amount of time) were:

• Author
• PR
• Communications
• Professor

Now, you may say that she is a member of my company and knows who I am. So, I’m going to try the same test with individuals who are unrelated to me and not members of my company (to see if they come up with similar are different answers).  To sum up my brand, although the words social media and business weren’t mentioned in my little experiment, I would say that my accounting person did a good job.

Try this little exercise on your own and it may prove a few things.  First, it could reveal that you are headed in the right direction; building the brand that you want to be.  However, it could let you know that what you talk about and how you visually represent yourself is not the brand you want to create.  But, hurry, because social media travels quickly and once a brand is embedded in the minds of an audience, it’s difficult to get them to change how they see you, and how they want to interact with you.  Let me know how you do!

I’m preparing for my trip to Puerto Rico to speak at the University of Sacred Heart and then at the Puerto Rico Public Relations Association.  I was pleasantly surprised when my friends at the University asked me to discuss the topic of Cyberbranding at their 25^th Anniversary celebration.  I wrote my book, Cyberbranding: Brand Building in the Digital Economy, almost 10 years ago. Today, the principles of branding on the Internet or in the social sphere are still very important to communications professional worldwide.

Back in 2001, I was concentrating on topics that included the myths of Cyberbranding and the best principles of branding on the Internet to build relationships.  Today, the brand is paramount, yet the brand voice has changed to meet the demanding needs of today’s social consumer.  Below is a chart that I put together to show a comparison between what consumers expected in 2000 vs. what they want in 2010.

Source: Deirdre Breakenridge, Cyberbranding and the Social Consumer, September 2010

If you notice, all of the consumer requirements are similar.  In early 2000, I was writing about how consumers wanted to drive and control information and how they wanted to be in charge of their relationships.  Years ago, they required personalization and customization, as well as the feeling that there were humans behind the brand moniker.   Increased interaction, direct answers and easy access were a must.  And, just like today, they wanted to trust the people behind the brand.  However, the major difference is that today’s consumers are able to create and participate in socialized media, which further empowers them to demand their information a certain way, and from only the media sources that they choose.

What’s interesting to note is that as you review the requirements in the chart, it appears that the shift in consumer behavior from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 hasn’t altered that much. Yet, it feels like an incredible shift in the market.  Perhaps, for those brands that were paying attention to their consumer base back in 2000, the shift to social media was a little easier as they were already complying with the demanding consumer.  For those brands that didn’t pay attention to the needs back then, it’s a monumental shift and very difficult to play catch up with the 21^st century empowered consumer.

In public relations, part of our responsibility is to make sure that our brands are listening to the public and being responsive to their needs. How have you helped your brand(s) to move forward to accommodate the needs of the social consumer?  Was the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 a gradual evolution for your brand or does it feel more like a revolution?

I think one of the biggest issues that organizations face today, as they navigate the social media landscape, is how they view the consumer disruption as a result of Social Media.  Brands, in my opinion, could be helping to alleviate the chaos by lessening the noise that comes out of their own organizations.  They need to learn how to become valuable resources to their stakeholders in the market.  Of course, it takes time, effort, resources and commitment to develop a Social Media program and to participate in the social economy the right way.

How many brands do you know of that are not taking full advantage of the social economy, social capital and true community building?  Many organizations are focusing on Social Media and the needs of the MEdia generation (as discussed in Brian Solis‘ blog post, “Significant“) as a huge change that will impact their overall business with respect to resources, responsibilities, process, infrastructure, and technology, as well as communications.  Rather, they are simply seeing the shift in consumer behavior and media consumption as a communications challenge in their PR and marketing departments.

That’s not enough! Viewed this way, companies start to implement Social Media programs for the sake of keeping up with competitors, who got a head start in social networking, or because of the “cool” factor.  Being an effective part of the social media landscape goes beyond a company’s communications department.  However, not many professionals understand why it’s important to step back and rethink process, infrastructure and technology; by doing so they will get so much more out of participating with customers in web communities.  At this stage, I believe there are many companies that don’t even know where to begin.

Companies need to start focusing on change management so that their organizations are better equipped to navigate the social landscape.  Throughout the organization, employees should learn and embrace the new media vision, strategy, technology, and cultural shift taking place as a result of Social Media.  I think that chaos can be managed first internally through education, understanding, commitment, and participation.  But, if every brand continues to jump into the Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube without everyone internally ever understanding why they are there or how their consumer wants to interact with them in these platforms, then the chaos escalates.  It has the potential to turn into mayhem and brands will eventually lose equity, mindshare and profit.

The approach and the journey to achieve goal of relationship status and subsequent rewards are often overlooked at the company’s peril.  For brands, it should start with a deep internal understanding (through their employees) and then it can be successfully launched externally to reach the company’s business goals.  After all, our employees are our evangelists, and they can help or hurt us when it comes to the social Darwinism and survival of the fittest.  They are a huge part of how brands navigate the social economy and can engage in community building and aide in the content management for their companies.

Bottom line:  In order to build better relationships with the MEdia generation and to navigate the social economy, companies need to learn their role in minimizing the chaos, lessening the noise and diminishing the confusion.  They shouldn’t be adding to it! This starts with an internal focus.  Have you focused on any internal efforts before launching your Social Media program?

I wanted to share my recent interview that appeared in a new book, Perspectives on Branding, part of Cengage/Thompson Learning’s, Perspectives Series.” I participated in this interview for a few reasons.  First, if you know me, I can’t say no to the opportunity to educate professionals and to discuss PR 2.0.  I was also happy to participate in this interview because my business partner at PFS Marketwyse, Jason Miletsky, is the series editor.

But, there’s another outstanding reason, different than any other interview in my career.  The series is based on various perspectives on a number of diverse topics (delivered in the form of questions).  Perspectives on Branding gives two very different points of view for each question; one from a marketing/branding agency expert who answers a question and the other from a branding expert, on the client/customer, side answering the same question.

Here’s a taste of my interview answering the question: What’s the role of PR in establishing and promoting a brand?

PR serves many functions for brands that want to increase awareness, manage reputations and build relationships with key stakeholders.  Although companies have valued PR for years, they do more so today because PR is one of the strongest tools in their interactive marketing arsenals.  Communication professionals have learned that the new PR 2.0 landscape allows a brand to interact one-on-one through social media tools including RSS, podcasting, streaming video, blogging and social networking, to name a few.  These 2.0 resources enable brands to talk directly with customers, prospects, media, and of course, new influencers or bloggers.

PR 2.0 is not a new principle.  As a matter of fact it’s been around for over a decade.  It’s only recently that a tremendous focus on enhanced Web 2.0 collaborative applications allow professionals to fully take advantage of the communications resources available in web communities.  Pre-Web 2.0, brands were using PR to go through the media and other important groups as credible third party endorsers.  Today, not only are professionals able to develop those relationships (for example, using 2.0 sharing tools to help journalists build their stories with social media releases – the SMR), but they are also able to interact with new influencers or bloggers in ways that were never possible and with more reach and impact.

However, bloggers, like other influencers, have expectations too.  Similar to media relations and a PR person’s approach to media outreach, there are rules of engagement with new influencers.  Brands can engage with bloggers to increase brand awareness and build relationships that lead to endorsements, however, you can’t just jump right into their conversations.  It’s very important to listen first, to hear what your influencers are talking about and what interests them, and then provide meaningful information or communication that they can then share with their followers or members of their communities.  In many cases, these very influencers are the people who buy a brand’s products/services. Because social media allows sharing in communities, brands are reaching people directly and can listen, learn, interact or engage in new ways to build awareness and brand loyalty through a great experience.

There’s more to the interview, so if you want to read the rest of my answer or to find out the other perspective from the client/customer side, then you will have to read the Perspectives on Branding book!

Using your expert branding perspective how would you answer the question, “What role does PR play in establishing and promoting a brand? And, is your perspective on the agency or the client/customer side?