Improv With the Tribe

The O’Keeffe tribe attended an improv workshop. Here’s what we learned.

Last week, the O’Keeffe team nervously trudged over to Rebel Pilgrim for an improv workshop hosted by Joe Boyd himself. Most of the group went in blind save for our fearless leader, Dan O’Keeffe (who is both a PR mastermind and an actor), and myself (a former theater kid hailing from California, land of mime workshops and bad productions of Othello set in space). Lisa also professes some theater background, and we bonded over our introduction to the National Thespian Society back in high school. Which is to say that about half the team had some idea of what was about to happen and the other half was willing to trust me on all of this.

I say nervously because I actually hate improv. It’s a personal thing. It’s like jumping off a cliff, and the only way to not die is to shut off your brain and fervently ignore anything past the fourth wall. I also desperately seek approval which means that I was willing to volunteer as long as someone patted me on the head afterward (It me, amirite?).

Thanks to the kind tutelage of Joe, the tribe was soon off and running on a series of energy exercises and mind reading. We had a fantastic time, and Rebel Pilgrim is the kind of relaxed, nonchalant but utterly genius company that you can’t help but love.

Like the marketing nerd that I am, I begged the team for lessons learned for a blog. This blog. Because content. Here’s what we learned.

Lessons from Improv

– We learned how to think and step outside of our comfort zones, which of course fuels our creativity. Our clients depend on us to be more creative than they are or think they are.
– We learned how to spark creativity in others. Of course, that’s a benefit in collaborating amongst ourselves and within our client teams.
– We learned how to work as a team, especially when under pressure and without much or any direction. To work efficiently and effectively, we must know how to read each other’s actions and intentions.
– Dan O’Keeffe

I anticipated the improv session would involve comedy, and many interactions between teammates were hilarious. However, the exercises Joe guided had much deeper motives. We were guided to interact and work together in ways none had ever experienced before. Working together in very unfamiliar situations forced us to define individual roles quickly.

The exercises demanded collaboration. What I learned was that our objective performance (achieving the immediate goal) improved, but also our subjective performance (our view of our personal performance in helping to achieve the goal). As we gained empathy for one another, we gained self-confidence as individuals.

One particular exercise was to answer any opening interaction with the word ‘Yes,’ to be open to new experiences, dialogues, and situations. We were guided to build new interactions spontaneously. Rather than individuals focusing on their performance only, success demanded empathy, collaboration, spontaneity, and interaction with others. We built trust among ourselves and had a lot of fun in the process. I highly recommend Joe’s program.
– Dale Justice

The improv class taught me a lot about client relationships and teamwork.

It’s about entering into a situation, about which you have very little control or previous knowledge, and going with the flow. By surrendering to it and affirming external suggestions (“yes, and…”), you can steer the situation toward your desired conclusion.

Also, being thrown into an improvisational situation with my team members was a huge trust builder. Think boot camp for non-verbal and other communication skill nuances, giving your teammates permission to take a chance on things and helping them to succeed with your own creativity.
– Rob Dietrich

– We were encouraged to “play.” This perspective helped lighten the mood and encouraged us to keep the conversation or idea moving, even if we made a mistake.
– The random scenarios put us in situations where we had limited information or context. We had to think on our feet and rely on each other to tell a story that made sense.
– In PR we often work within our team and with clients to tell a story. Using the phrase “yes, and” to build on ideas with clients will help creative solution to fit their unique needs.
– Jocelyn Summers

Experience:
– The space was open and bright and allowed for freedom in creativity.
– Joe was thoughtful and relaxed and encouraged a “safe space” to express.

Take Aways:
– Be mindful when listening and let the other person know that you hear what they’re saying and together you will find a solution. Take their thoughts and build on them.
– Slow down and focus on the goal – together.
– Three in a row of anything is funny, after that it’s overkill.
– Lisa Dyson

Love working with collaborative folks who can do a mean improv scene? Reach out so we can tell your story together.

More Than a Brand

Have you ever thought of a brand as not just representing a product, but an entire industry?

I grew up in the Midwest, where asking for a “coke” meant more than just a Coca-Cola. In Dayton, Ohio, a coke, at least in the 70s and 80s before the onslaught of alternative sodas, energy drinks and flavored waters, could have been any one of the half dozen soft drinks that existed in my sugared-water world. The Coca-Cola brand had risen far above its productized state. To my family, friends and me, it “was” soft drinks. When asked for a “coke,” the salesperson would ask, “Which do you want? We have Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, Mountain Dew and Dr. Pepper.” That reality, for Coca-Cola at least, must have given new meaning to the tagline, “Have a Coke and a smile.”

Driven to Succeed

What brought this bit of nostalgia to mind for me was a recent article I read about The Michelin Man. The article explained how Michelin first came up with The Michelin Man in 1894. One of the Michelin brothers noticed that the pile of bicycle tires displayed on the Michelin stand at the Lyon Universal Exposition in France looked like a man made of tires. (By the way, tires then were a pale white color, prior to the black die being added to make them the color more familiar to us today.) The company adopted the likeness, and in 1898 featured The Michelin Man in his first poster. Over the years, The Michelin Man evolved as tastes changed, and of course became synonymous with automobile tires, rather than bicycles. Believe it or not, initially, The Michelin Man drank and smoked cigars—two traits that would never pass muster today. But that’s the thing about a strong brand…it’s not afraid of change, and it knows when and how to remain relevant. Thanks to that self-awareness, along with the company’s ability to expand into a global supplier of quality tires, Michelin largely defined the tire industry, and later the automotive industry. The proudly plump mascot even transcended automotive to represent travel, fine dining and all things top quality for consumers around the world. Michelin accomplished this by understanding their industry and their customers (“Hey! People like to get in their cars and go out for a nice dinner. So, let’s create a list of the world’s finest dining establishments. And we’ll call it the Michelin Guide!), which drove them to not only innovate, but to build a personality around a character that began as a simple pile of tires thrown together for an industry trade show.

The Search is Over

Of course, we can’t discuss brands that outshine their competitors without acknowledging the brightest bulb in the room—Google. When we need to find a product, need a quick answer to our Tuesday night trivia (while the other teams aren’t looking, of course) or just have to know what people are saying about us, we google it. We’ve become so used to using Google for our searches that we’ve turned the monstrous noun into a verb. My computer’s spell check feature doesn’t even bother to point out that I’m spelling “google” with a lower-case “g.” After all, when’s the last time you heard someone say, “I’m going to search on Yahoo!” or “I’ll Bing it?” Just doesn’t happen anymore. Did it ever, really?

More Than Just a Noun

Perhaps that’s the key…to defy the rules and norms of grammar. Choose a brand name that functions equally well as both noun and verb, and could even get by as an adjective on occasion. Then, within your content marketing strategy, position your brand name to fill in for a commonly used and more generic-sounding word or colloquialism. When’s the last time you sneezed, and someone said, “Here, have a Kleenex,” and handed you a box of tissues that could have been any one of a number of alternatively branded facial tissues?

If You’re Not First, You’re Last

Please excuse the Ricky Bobby quote, but it’s true. Or, at least, it used to be true. Those brands that were first to market in their industries, or at least made a better first impression within their markets, became the default generic brands for their industries. (Kimberly-Clark invented facial tissues in 1924 and brought them to market as Kleenex. But Ginger ale, Root beer, and Dr. Pepper all preceded Coca-Cola as soft drinks. And Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839 but died 40 years before his name would be attached to the famous tire. It wasn’t until 1888 that John Boyd Dunlap became the “second” inventor of the pneumatic tire.)

Today, as marketers, we continually hear how times are different, and to succeed we must think differently, act more quickly, find new ways to attract and speak to our customers, and leverage technology to help us differentiate ourselves. That all is true, but it’s not so different from how our predecessors did it a century or more ago. They identified opportunities, and they embraced them. As times changed, their brands evolved with it, making sure to make all the relevant changes while retaining those key traits that continue to position them as leaders in their respective industry.

While luck always plays a role to some degree, we must keep our eyes and ears open for opportunity, and grasp that opportunity to define not just ourselves to our customers, but define ourselves as the brand in our market.

Feminism & Advertising

We’ve all seen “femvertising” first-hand. It’s when marketers sprinkle a feminist narrative into their client’s advertising to flavor what they’re hoping you’ll consume. It’s selling #empowerment to women and minorities as individuals when they long for systemic, political change.

A great example is the Dove “Real Beauty” campaign. Starting in 2004, this campaign was designed to inspire confidence in women of all shapes, sizes, and colors…and to sell a lot of soap. And they aren’t alone! Big brands like H&M, Secret, Nike, and more are seizing the opportunity for niche marketing through feminism and are creating their own campaigns.

On the surface, increased exposure to the feminist movement through media is exciting. We’re seeing more equal representation in the media than ever before. But here’s the question we marketers need to ask ourselves: does feminism benefit from themed marketing campaigns or are we capitalizing on feminism?

Niche marketing is highly profitable but generally isn’t successful if the brand isn’t a genuine part of the niche. There is a difference between telling a feminist story and appropriating feminist ideals for capital gain. (Fun fact: many feminists openly reject the structure of a capitalist society, but that’s a whole other blog for another time.)

When I first saw this commercial for H&M, I loved every second of it. I was ready to share it on my social feeds and caption it #GirlPower. But then it hit me, I was their exact target audience, and H&M was not the feminist company I was waiting for. Merriam Webster defines feminism as “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” So, here’s the problem: fast fashion companies like H&M employ economically vulnerable women, and children overseas to work for little money in unsafe factories to create their clothing. The collapse of H&M’s Bangladesh factory in 2013 is considered the deadliest structural failure of modern history with a death toll of over 1,100 people. That doesn’t sound very feminist in my book.

Going back to Dove, their “Real Beauty” campaign means nothing when you remember their parent company (Unilever) also makes the sexist Axe ads. Yeah, feel like you got punched in the gut? Me too. Using current trends in marketing campaigns is smart, but it’s also risky for this exact reason.

As a marketer myself, I know we take pride in promoting wholesome ideas, and we generally hope to make a difference. However, we need to consider whether the story we’re telling is genuinely aligned with that of our client and not just what’s #trending. If your message isn’t genuine, it simply won’t work.

Four Commitments to Create a Great Content Loyalty Strategy

A great Content Strategy is not a sprint to the finish line; it’s a marathon. You cannot turn it on and off as you redirect resources to other company initiatives.

A great Content Strategy is not a sprint to the finish line; it’s a marathon. You cannot turn it on and off as you redirect resources to other company initiatives. It is a continuous dialogue between your brand and your customers. Think of it as a relationship that must be continuously nurtured. To be successful, you must commit your organization.

Commitment #1

Every content strategy professes to build brand loyalty with existing customers. So why are the majority of companies engaged in content marketing focused on top-of-funnel goals like demand gen and brand awareness? According to Accenture Research, 66% of consumers spend more on brands to which they feel loyal. Commit to the goals of your content strategy and stay focused. Do not become distracted by requests from sales for leads. A lead gen strategy is not a loyalty strategy.

Commitment #2

Truly commit to the loyalty strategy. Reports show that marketers committed to using a long-term content strategy were 63% more likely to reach their goal of building customer loyalty. Your best new business opportunity is with your existing loyal customers and the word-of-mouth (WOM) they with generate on social platforms.

Commitment #3

Get comfortable using metrics to improve your work. Access to campaign metrics through platforms like Supermetrics, Google Data studio, and others will provide the data. However, it’s up to you to slice and dice the data for your application. To improve the effectiveness of your content strategy with metrics, be clear on your big picture goals. Make sure you are measuring things that indicated you are reaching your goals. Track performance against these KPIs every month. Create a spreadsheet that tracks marketing goals and KPIs. Regularly review your plan for gathering performance information and who will be responsible for collecting and reporting this data.

Commitment #4

Focus on loyalty. Educate your customers to nurture loyalty. Fill the informational needs of your audience with entertaining content. Use social media stories, video and blogs to create your brand voice. By focusing on your customer, their wants and needs, your brand will become clear with your customers.

Today’s Snowstorms Could Launch Tomorrow’s Best Marketers

My little part of the country recently received our second major snowfall of the winter season. Not so little, actually. Millions of people were impacted by the storm that raced across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and New England portions of the United States in mid- and late January. Thousands were left without power and stranded on snow-swept roads. And more is undoubtedly on its way.

As I peered out my living room window to admire the beauty of that snowfall and to take inventory of any challenges it might present to my neighbors and me as we prepared to start our days, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing from that picturesque scene…. My buddies and me, maybe 12, 13 or 14, marching valiantly through the freshly fallen snow, shovels in hand, ready to save the days of those stranded in their driveways or on the roads.

Where were those hardy young entrepreneurs, layered in their winter gear with determination in their steps and dollar signs in their eyes?

Yep! I was lost in a moment of nostalgia. The sad truth is that the scene I longed to see is nothing more than a fond memory. I’ll wager a guess that, instead of knocking on doors or racing to their phones to call their friends and organize their crew of winter snow removal warriors, the kids on the particular Sunday morning I have in mind raced to their tablets and game consoles to wage war in pixelated worlds free from the frigid air and wet roads of that day’s reality.

“What a shame,” I thought to myself. Yes, I was mourning the loss of youthful drive and work ethic that seems to have been a 20^th-century phenomenon. However, more so, I found myself shaking my head as a marketer. In that same moment, it dawned on me just how much opportunity today’s kids were missing to make some honest bucks. Because in today’s world, they wouldn’t have to patrol their neighborhoods looking for cars to dig out and sidewalks to clear. From their same tablets and smartphones, they and their parents could put the word out via their social media channels, email lists, text groups and instant messengers that they were available for hire. Man, the money my buddies and I could have made during those January blizzards if only we had had Facebook Live, Snapchat or Nextdoor!

Nextdoor bills itself as “the world’s largest and fastest growing social network for neighborhoods.” (I could have said that about the evening-long sessions of Red Light, Green Light my friends and I played up and down our street growing up.) However, times have changed. According to its website, Nextdoor is now active in nine countries, four of which (France, Italy, Spain and Australia) joined its ranks just in 2018.

I’ve been a member of Nextdoor for more than five years. I didn’t use the app very often in my previous neighborhood, primarily because I already knew many of my neighbors and knew where and how to reach the local services I needed. However, when my wife and I moved to our current neighborhood two and a half years ago, I was the new kid on the block and had to start from scratch. Our first full summer, I needed help in ridding our lawn of moles. I went to Nextdoor for help. I posted my need, and within minutes received recommendations. I hired a service based in my general area, and he delivered. By delivered, I mean he caught six moles on my property in three months and advised me on how to keep them away. Moments ago, I went to Nextdoor again to search on snow removal for my neighborhood and found about a half-dozen options, mostly private citizens simply offering up their shovels and snow blowers, either free of charge or to make some walking around money (for when the snow is removed). Of course, my page also filled immediately with roughly a dozen ads for landscaping and snow removal companies.

For safe measure, I visited Facebook and searched on “snow removal services near me.” I received more results than I had time to review, some as recent as just hours earlier and some as old as 2012. Those listings also included videos showing snow removal capabilities.

I even tried Craigslist for my geographic location. I was more amazed by what I found here than on Nextdoor. I saw 10 listings for snow removal of some kind posted within just three days of our impending storm, many of which appeared to be no more sophisticated than individuals offering their services and plows. A few featured photos of a tractor or cleared parking lots.

I’ll take this moment to revisit my childhood. Before I accepted my first “real” job as a teenager, I spent a summer walking my neighborhood asking if I could mow lawns for any of my neighbors. Within a couple of weeks, I had a half dozen or more clients…enough to the point that I had to buy an appointment book to track my customers and my billings. I was in business. I should add that by this time, I was now living in Florida, where the lawn-mowing business lasted nearly all year. I made enough money to keep me in movies, fast food, gas, and car washes.

My point is that if I had had today’s technology, I would have saved time knocking on doors, and instead would have had customers coming to me, especially when they compared my “neighborhood teen with his dad’s lawnmower” rates to those of established landscaping companies.

One last thing: every day, we see or hear stories about young kids who are making millions on YouTube playing with toys or video games because they’re viewed by millions of other kids their age and younger who then know what “stuff” they want their parents to buy them. These child “influencers” are reaping the rewards of the technology the rest of us take for granted. I’m not recommending that each of us launch a YouTube channel or Instagram page for our children so they can start paying for their college and our retirement before they’re out of training wheels. I’m merely suggesting that we leverage the technology they already love to help them learn the value of hard work…also, targeted marketing.

We should do what we can to instill in our kids the notion that using technology can put real dollars in their piggy banks, rather than racking up Fortnite V-Bucks or World of Warcraft tokens. And the bonus for parents might be shoveled driveways…without a visit to the chiropractor.

Online Influencer or Joe Camel?

The parallels of cringe advertising and bad influencer marketing.

One of the best ways to promote a product or service is through emotional appeal. Emotional appeal can come from a personality or advocate of a brand in the form of a mascot, an influencer or customer review. We, as marketers, know that having a personality serve as an endorsement for a brand elevates brand messaging by making it more interesting and believable to customers.

Okay, my Marketing 101 spiel is over.

In the past, there have been cringe personality endorsement tactics, namely Joe Camel. We all know Old Joe, the cool cartoon camel from R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Camel cigarettes, which served as the face of the brand from 1988 until 1997

Joe wore hip wayfarer sunglasses with a sleek blazer, and drove a sporty car with a hot babe in the passenger seat. Essentially, Joe Camel was the James Bond of the cartoon animal kingdom – a real Smooth Character.

It kind of hit the fan for Joe Camel when a study was released in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study showed that 91.3% of the 6-year-old children observed were able to connect Joe Camel to a photo of a cigarette.

For good reason, these findings were worrisome to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). So they jumped in, too, bringing a complaint against R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for, “unfair practice under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act.”

Ultimately, the pressure from these players caused Joe Camel to be replaced with a featureless and less-cool camel.

Hindsight is 20/20, so it is easy to look back on Joe Camel and use it as an example of irresponsible advertising. However, people are not recognizing similar – if not the same – tactics are being used in the digital realm.

Focusing on some recent examples on YouTube for the sake of your time – and for the health of my typing fingers – it’s pretty troubling how close some YouTube influencers’ promotional tactics come to Joe Camel.

Some YouTube influencers portray a fun, relatable and cool vibe to their young audiences, and use that vibe as an emotional appeal advertising tactic to promote sponsors of videos. While the “I’m cool, I’m doing this. Be more like me.” emotional appeal is similar to that of Joe Camel, it’s not inherently bad.

I’m not saying that these YouTubers shouldn’t promote products, or brands should not have partnerships with influencers. Influencers/brands have every right to make and spend money.

The problem comes in when it is not executed responsibly.

YouTube communities have come under fire for not disclosing advertising in their videos. From the beauty community’s biased affiliate codes and perks, which typically lead to blatantly biased and misleading advertisements, to the vlogging community constantly bombarding young audience members to “Buy Dat Merch”… #LinkInBio.

Irresponsible execution of these advertisements can leave a bad taste in the consumer’s mouth, harming both the reputation of the brand and the influencer. Or, in severe cases, misleading advertisements can be seen as an unfair practice under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. The same violation as Joe Camel – we have officially come full circle.

It is important to realize that the internet isn’t the wild west, where anything goes. There is an obligation for brands and influencers to work together to develop a responsible promotional plan and to have everything on the table for the consumer to see.

Take a lesson from 1997: make sure your influencer marketing plan isn’t a Joe Camel.

Happy Holidays 2018

Wishing you warm holiday wishes from the O’Keeffe team! We hope you enjoy these outtakes from our holiday card.

Meet Sarah M. Wagner

Hello! I am O’Keeffe’s new PR and Digital Marketing Intern. I am a 2018 graduate of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University, and excited to pursue a career in communications. Although a journalism major on paper, I was lured by the grandiose idea of writing with creativity into the world of public relations. This is my second internship after graduation, the first being social media focused. I aim to learn as much as possible about PR and digital marketing outside of school to prepare myself for a life-long career.

Why did you choose this industry?

PR is where impartial, journalistic writing meets the creative world of storytelling. When choosing a career, I thought I had to pick between being a broke novelist striving to get published and a no-nonsense (also broke) journalist. I’ve never been happier to be wrong as I can now combine my passion for both forms of writing.

What advice would you give to someone trying to break into the industry?

Don’t just build a portfolio, be passionate about the work you put into it. Whether you show your work to a potential client or an agency you hope to work for, they want to see your best work and drive to do more of it. If you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing, it isn’t worth it.

Tell me your favorite metric to track.

I am fascinated by strategic social media. I completed a social media certificate at my alma mater. When tracking social success as a marketer, I love finding the number of engagements a post receives – particularly shares. Shares mean people liked a client’s content so much they wished to show it to their friends and family. I believe there is no higher compliment to any brand online.

What’s the last book you read?

I am currently reading Dan’s copy of This is Marketing by Seth Godin. The lovely Megan Smale suggested that the entire O’Keeffe tribe read it just before I joined the herd. I should probably get a move-on so Dan can read it too!

Favorite word?

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Least favorite word?

Cramped. Oof, my claustrophobia is kicking in, I feel trapped already. Help!

What profession other than PR would you like to attempt?

A theatrical property and craft maker/manager. I know what you’re thinking, that was wildly specific, but doesn’t it sound awesome?

What’s the best thing about our line of work?

Being able to make a difference. Bringing a client’s story to life can change everything for them. The joy of helping a client/brand you love grow is highly contagious.

Tell me two truths and a lie.

I’ve been hang-gliding. I held the same baseball bat as Joey Votto. I’ve been to Slovenia.

Why Owned Media Matters

In our business, we talk a lot about the intersection between owned, earned, and paid media. I would argue that it’s part of our fundamental perspective and drives most of our work. O’Keeffe was founded on earned media – PR, media relations, and AP style. We added owned (and paid media) later with a particular focus on content. How we define owned content changes, but it always includes things like a blog on your website, white papers, or other deliverables that you wholly own. Sometimes we throw social media in the mix, but that’s a misnomer at this point. The fact is this: social media is no longer owned media.

Before you come after me with pitchforks, let me explain.

Who Owns Social?

If you had asked me five years ago if social media was owned, I would have said yes. Mostly. But these are dark days, my marketing friends. The decline of organic reach, the lack of clarity on metrics, and the changing algorithms all present enormous problems for us. Have you tried to pull historical data on Instagram lately? Try going back further than a week without some help, and you’ll find yourself frustrated beyond measure. And may Providence help you if you didn’t connect that tracking platform yesterday because the tracking will start right now, not when you need it.

The big problem is the lack of clarity regarding those metrics. Say you dug into Facebook and pulled out one of those great CSV files. Beautiful, right? Look at all of those numbers and columns! Columns for days! But what in the world do all of those columns refer to? And once you finally stumble on the metric you need, you better make sure you write down exactly what you did and then pray that platform doesn’t change its UX tomorrow.

Who’s Down with D-A-T-A?

The ability to pull correlational historical data is imperative, and it’s one of the biggest things missing from media that isn’t owned. Take your website, for example. Google Analytics may have some updates, but, generally speaking, I’ve been able to pull the same primary data for a decade. How I use that data may have changed, but as long as my website is connected and online, I can get historical data in a platform that actually helps me get what I need. Your website is 100% owned media. You control that journey, you control how you guide your audience, and you can completely pull the metrics you need with little help from Google. Heck, you can even get immediate, crazy-cool tracking and other marketing goodies if you start linking additional platforms like Pardot. With owned media, you’re not at the mercy of another platform.

Okay, so we know that owned and paid media are different. You might be saying, gosh, Megan, but I don’t use paid social. I’m not paying for Facebook ads, and I’m certainly not boosting posts on LinkedIn. I can’t be paid if I’m not paying, right?

Wrong.

Dollar, Dollar Bills, Y’all

These platforms don’t exist so you can reach your audience. Come on, folks. These platforms exist to make money. There’s a reason why they make their metrics so annoying to pull (I’m looking at you, Facebook), and why their organic reach is declining. Instagram didn’t update how it displays posts so you would have better experience. It updated its algorithm so that you wouldn’t be guaranteed even to be seen, so you feel compelled to sponsor posts. Even Twitter, which I would agree has the most consistent analytics tracking experience, updated its feed, so it wasn’t chronological.

The big four don’t want to make it easy for you to engage with your audience unless you spend money. It’s that simple. You may not be sponsoring posts, but the platforms are now designed to be a paid experience. Social media is not owned. Social media is paid, whether you’re paying them directly or not.

Beyond the Default

We used to talk about the difficulty of building a brand on social media, but it was always in support in creating your website or app and not ignoring the channels that you own. We always cautioned about spending all of your time on Facebook when the platform may disappear and take all of your branding with it. We’re now in a time where social is a default part of any marketing strategy, despite the declining engagement and reach. Don’t get me wrong – paid social is still a comparatively cheap way to reach your audience. But don’t kid yourself and think that posting semi-regularly is enough.

This brings us to another point. Metrics and analysis. Remember that sweet, sweet historical data I mentioned earlier? It’s getting harder and harder to pull. I used to be able to grab an apples-to-apples comparison and industry benchmarks easily. We all used to know where we stand. More is better. More engagement, more impressions, more clicks. These days I can’t promise that. I can apply all of the best practices in the book. I can build creative campaigns. I track everything to the heavens and back. But without that paid budget, your campaign is entirely at the mercy of the platform itself.

But Wendy’s!

Now, I fully realize some brands have found massive success on social platforms. And you may be saying, Megan, this isn’t optional. I need to be one of those brands. Most agencies will promise you the world and deliver an island. We’re not like that. We value honesty and an authentic relationship with our clients. I’m not going to set you up for failure. But I am going to do everything in my power to make you one of those success stories, and I’m going to use all of the analytics at my disposal to create strategies to guide you.

Now here’s the flip side.

You’ve heard the digital space is crowded. Floral for spring. Groundbreaking. And now I’ve told you that social is a wasteland without a lot of time and some spending money. What’s a company to do? Maybe your budget is tiny, and you can’t afford to boost anything. Maybe your budget is massive, but you’d rather not burn piles of cash.

Clean Your House

Your first step is to make sure that your house is in order. When is the last time you updated your website? Are you ready for voice search? Please tell me that you’re optimized for mobile. Review your copy. Does all of this content speak to who you are? Are you answering your prospect’s questions? Is your sales team aligned? Do you have a documented content marketing strategy? If any of these things aren’t there, focus on these first. Your main priority should always be owned media. Paid and earned can layer into this, but you have to be clear about who you are and why you matter.

Your driving mission should be authenticity. We’re beyond a manufactured; white bread easily approved content strategy. Don’t produce white papers because you’re supposed to. Don’t post on Twitter because you have to. Pull together your owned, earned, and paid media into one voice and get strategic about how you spend your time. Know which stories are great for PR and which stories are better as sales content. Research to discover where your audience is and what they want to know.

#Latergram

Social media was one of my first loves in the marketing world. The ability to create instant conversations was pure magic, and I loved finding ways to drive engagement. The days of live-tweeting a conference and expecting a huge return are over. Focus on your owned media and the rest will follow.

Chasing Confidence and 4 Tips to Catch It

Breaking Through Imposter Syndrome

I remember my first agency job and the butterflies that never really seemed to go away. I remember thinking, “I’m too inexperienced for this” and “don’t they know I have no clue what I am talking about?” I marveled at the fact that super-sharp professionals were asking for my thoughts and feedback. I had an overwhelming case of Imposter Syndrome. For those of you who have abounding confidence, you may not be familiar with this condition. Wikipedia defines Imposter Syndrome as:

…a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud.” Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon remain convinced that they are frauds, and do not deserve all they have achieved. Individuals with impostorism incorrectly attribute their success to luck, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent than they perceive themselves to be.

Yikes! No wonder the butterflies were in a constant flutter. While I’d like to say that it eventually went away and I got into a rhythm and everything fell into place, that’s not quite how it happened. I had a few rough years and some not-so-great work experiences. I was told on more than one occasion that I needed to speak up and talk more in meetings. I was also told there was no place in the agency world for wallflowers. I was also once told that I needed to laugh more in the office, but that’s another blog post entirely #amIright?

I’m happy to report this is no longer an issue for me. Work confidence isn’t a problem; I can lead a meeting and a client with ease and yes, I can now laugh freely in the office. So, if you’re currently in the position that I was many moons ago, and you’re wondering how I did it; I’m going to let you in on four small tips that worked for me.

Watch/ Learn from Those In Your Agency You Admire

This is obvious, but I studied people. I watched how they approached each client, I paid attention to their body language in meetings, and I observed how they would walk into a room. I would note how they took notes, leaned in, twirled their pen and shook hands. I WATCHED EVERYTHING. And after this creepy phase, little by little, I imitated them (this still may have been part of the creep phase…). I would incorporate some of the same behaviors in my work style. When a situation or a meeting came up, I would think to myself, “What Would ‘Work-Idol’ do.” Eventually, this roleplay became a way of life, and the line between my “act” and my actions became blurred.

Prepare

Know your stuff. When you do your homework and know your client and their business backward and forwards, you can rest easy in your expertise. Your client hired your agency because you can provide a service that they cannot do for themselves. They’re great at producing widgets, and you’re great at telling the widget story. Rest easy in that, but also make sure that you do indeed know what you’re talking about. Don’t be afraid to ask questions but also be sure you’re proactive, too.

Dress the Part

Ok, this isn’t going to win me any new fans. I know one of the perks of working at an agency is the option to look like you’re an unaware college freshman who bought into the myth that people wear their pajamas to class. (Side note, if you’re a high school senior, THIS IS NOT A THING, get dressed before you leave your dorm room.) For those of us who are in the agency world, it may be easy to fall into the trap of sporting “loungewear” if we do not have a client meeting. I would caution you against this. Whether we like it or not, how we present ourselves outwardly says something about us to the rest of the world. Unconsciously, it may be difficult for our coworkers and counterparts to take us and our work seriously if we look like we got dressed in the dark. And even beyond others, think about how dressing “smart” makes you feel about yourself. If you know you look like you should be there, you’ll work like you should be there. So, unless your Mark Zuckerberg (and even then, it’s questionable) leave the hoodie on your futon, freshman.

Fake Confidence Until You’re Confident

This may seem silly or easier said than done, but it is true and actionable. Early on in your career, or if you find yourself in a new job or a new company, it’s okay to be nervous. New things can be scary. Rest easy that you are smart, thoughtful and have the brainpower needed to do the job. As noted above, if you need more information to prepare, ask questions and then make notes of what you are told. Speak up and let others know your thoughts and ideas. The more you throw out there, the more those around you will see and know that you have insights to offer. Even if you don’t always knock it out of the park, you have demonstrated thought leadership.

Chasing confidence takes time. Some of us exude it from the get-go, and some of us need to practice. For me, it didn’t come naturally, but I kept speaking up, kept learning more about my clients and their industry, kept preparing each day both internally and outwardly, and I found something amazing happened. I forgot I felt like an imposter, the butterflies packed up and move elsewhere, and I realized I was a valued member of my team who had the talent to be there. I hope that you’re able to evict your fluttering friends, too.

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Author: Dan O’Keeffe