Meet Michael Loch

Happy first week on the job! Now let’s envision a thunderous drum roll as I take this time to introduce myself.

I’m a marketing and communications enthusiast who nerds out over the latest technology trends. I like to think that my left and right sides of the brain are in harmony with each other. I discovered O’Keeffe PR through mutual connections (hurray for networking!), and was immediately impressed by the culture that values collaborative creativity, openness, and delivering awesome value to our clients.

What did you do in your previous life?
I worked in the higher education and nonprofit fields before venturing to O’Keeffe PR. I wore many hats including PR, media relations, marketing, special event planning, fundraising, sales, and volunteer management… phew!

If you could tell our clients one thing, what would it be?
We are your partner, and we obsess over your success. To help us achieve your goals, the more information the better. Knowledge and communication are key elements to success. We’re here for you, so we’re just a phone call or email away!

What’s your best piece of advice for a marketer?
Be a go-getter and say yes. Say yes to that networking opportunity, workshop, and project or job opportunity that you may think is over your head. As marketers, we need to stay on top of the latest trends in this rapidly evolving field. It’s not enough to just read about what’s going on in the marketing world, you must practice it. With data and technology becoming increasingly crucial factors in marketing strategy, it’s important to not lose the human side of the story. You still need to create content that connects.

What’s the last book you read?
I’m currently in my last semester in the Master of Business Informatics program at Northern Kentucky University. I’m reading two textbooks for my classes – E-Commerce and IT Strategy. I have a long list of leisure reading I need to catch up on after I graduate this May!

What’s your secret marketing weapon?
My curiosity and willingness to get experience in trying new things. I fully believe that marketers need to be curious, look outside of the box, be open minded, and have the drive to learn new skills. I’ve been fortunate enough to explore all the different facets of marketing throughout my career, by volunteering, and with the American Marketing Association.

Tell me your favorite metric to track.
I’m a ROI type of guy. I like to see what the cost per conversion is. Knowing how much we’re spending for conversions is a key indicator in figuring out whether the campaign is working in our favor or if some tweaking needs to be done. On a separate note, since I like attention, I satisfy that craving with engagement metrics.

Favorite word?
Rad. Can you tell where I’m from?

Least favorite word?
Deserve. We don’t deserve clients, customers, sales, press attention, and reputation. We earn them. We must keep earning that trust by being great partners with our clients and diligently working to help them succeed.

What profession other than marketing would you like to attempt?
It’s going to seem like I’m cheating off Megan’s blog post, but being an astrophysicist or astronaut would be my career choice in another life. I’m a huge space nerd and have always found physics to be extremely interesting. Astronomy and physics are my favorite branches of science. Not going to lie, I’m kind of jealous of SpaceX’s “Starman” who is cruising around the cosmos in a Tesla Roadster.

What’s the best thing about our line of work?
No day is dull or the same. I’m stoked to be working alongside an awesome team of dedicated, creative, smart, and hilarious people. I love working with a diverse array of clients and helping them achieve their marketing and PR goals.

Tell me two truths and a lie.
I’m ambidextrous. I only need to travel to Africa and Antarctica to visit all continents by age 30. I’m from California.

Learn more about me! Check out my full bio here or take a look at my LinkedIn profile here. And if you have any guesses about which statement is my lie, send us a tweet.

Meet Semhar Tsegay

Beginning something new is one of my favorite things to do. Especially, right after I ring in the new year. Everyone is energized, enthusiastic, and ready to start something, anything.

That exactly how I felt when I commenced my final semester at the University of Cincinnati and my new position at O’Keeffe. For the foreseeable future I will be here soaking up all things public relations and content marketing. This isn’t my first internship, but hopefully it will be my last before I graduate this spring. Here’s what you should know about me…

Why did I choose this industry?
Technically, I didn’t. It choose me (corny, I know). I study Communication, Economics and Public Relations because I love learning about people, their behaviors and why they make certain choices. When I landed a great co-op in 2016 working as a marketing intern under Megan Smale, I found that Marketing allowed me to do all those things and more. So, I haven’t looked back since.

Favorite marketing tool?
Hootsuite, because not all millennials like to be on social media twenty-four seven. Being able to schedule out social media content for weeks or even months ahead of time is organization at its finest. My favorite thing about this is being able to sit back and watch my social media plan unfold, mwahaha.

Favorite thing to read?
Right now, it’s Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students. It’s given me a new appreciation for how words are presented and made me even more detailed orientated. What the point of writing something beautiful if no one can read it clearly?

My spirit animal?
It’s gregarious, colorful, and likes to dance, can you guess what it is?

You can learn a little more about me here. Know what my spirit animal is? Send us a tweet!

Time to Plan The Perfect Plan

I love year-end holidays. It starts around Thanksgiving when everyone tries to squeeze in their remaining vacation days, and continues through New Year’s Day. Offices are virtually deserted. Yesterday morning, while manning my post in the office like a good soldier, I received two emails, both from co-workers informing me they were going to work from home. Perfect. Continue reading “Time to Plan The Perfect Plan”

Leadership Skills for a Millennial Team

There is much discussion about how Millennials challenge many of today’s traditional business practices, so it’s not surprising that they are also challenging traditional, autocratic leadership. Challenging autocratic leadership is not new, and is not the private reserve of the Millennial generation. Read any ancient Roman manuscript, and you will quickly learn every established leadership hierarchy has been challenged by a younger generation.

The year was 1974. My first day on a new job as a brand new graphic designer fresh out of the DAA Program at the University of Cincinnati. DAA because the ‘Planning” part of DAAP had yet to be added.

My coworkers and I gathered in the Art Department at a mid-sized ad agency, and awaited the appearance of our leader. The Art Director was a grizzled veteran of the agency business, one who could show us the ropes. Finally, I was in, ready to re-design the world. I will never forget his inspiring words that day:

“Gentlemen, consider today a race, and the winner keeps his job.”

What? No welcome to the team, here’s Bob who you can shadow for a couple days to get squared away, not even directions to the rest rooms.

Despite this warm welcome, I did manage to carve out a career, eventually founding and owning a 16-person Marketing and PR firm for 26 years. I also learned how to be an effective leader, not by emulating others, but by observing what worked, and what did not.

There are no rules to follow to become a good leader. Instead, there are principles that can guide you.

Inspire, don’t command

What are we trying to accomplish as a team, a tribe, or a business, and why is it important to each of us as individuals and the community? Your team will be comprised of individuals, each with different aspirations, ambitions, experiences and ideas. Embrace this synergy. Mentor collaboration.

Teach financial literacy

The millennial generation isn’t attracted to the money or recognition associated with leadership positions. Rather, they want to make a difference in the world and be a part of companies that care about more than the bottom line by supporting worthy causes in the community. This can only be accomplished if the company’s bottom line is firmly in the black.

Business decisions are made from necessity, not based on dreams. Educating your team on the financial aspects of business will help them understand why their participation is important. If you want to save the world, help earn the money that will enable it.

Teach your team to be resilient

The skills I learned earning a five-year degree stood me in good stead for the first twenty years of my career. Then, almost overnight, they became obsolete. Technology changed the world. Today, the speed of technology transforming business has accelerated to the point, the skills a student entering a four-year degree program will learn will be obsolete by the time they graduate. Whole industries will disappear, and others will emerge. It is as exciting as it is terrifying. The ability to handle the curve ball, embrace rapid change and thrive will depend upon a resilient mindset.

Embrace work-life balance in practice

Recently, we adopted a policy of unlimited vacation for all team members. I know, it sounds crazy. In point of fact, it empowers our team to self-govern themselves. I’m not following people around to see that they arrived ten minutes late or left ten minutes early. I’m not tracking who took off two hours to see a doctor, or who worked from home today. I am likewise not concerned with who worked until the wee hours of the night to meet a client deadline. I am demonstrating my confidence in the team to accomplish their work responsibly, and perform at the highest level. In so doing, it will also reveal those who do not.

Copying someone else’s leadership style doesn’t work. Being an effective leader requires both soft skills to inspire people, and hard skills to manage the business. Both require frequent examination.

Meet Megan Smale

As I write this, I’ve officially been with O’Keeffe for five months. Which is about the most appropriate time to write your own new hire blog, right? We’ll just skip over the awkwardness of writing your own digital introduction, and get to the good stuff.

I’m a digital marketing nerd with a background in sociology. I was introduced to the agency by a mutual friend and fell head over heels for the collaborative culture, opportunities for creativity, and the awesome clients. (Seriously – we have the best clients.)

What did you do in your previous life?
I’ve spent most of my career in the B2B world as a team of one. Most recently, I led marketing for a small startup based in Toronto. I also have a random Master’s degree in Sociology (shout out to BGSU!).

If you could tell our clients one thing, what would it be?
The more you tell us, the better our work together. It’s easy to ask for quick strategy and solutions, but better results come from that initial and ongoing discovery process.

What’s your best piece of advice for a marketer?
Be hungry. We can teach skills, but I can’t teach you how to be creative, ambitious, and proactive. There are a million marketers, especially in Cincinnati. Show me your passion, enthusiasm, and creativity. And don’t be afraid to ask for things. I love coffee with marketing nerds, especially with recent grads. You’ll find that people are surprisingly open to that kind of thing.

What’s the last book you read?
When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. He’s absolutely my favorite writer, and he’s the reason I started seriously writing in high school. I met him in Irvine back in the day, and he was so supportive and friendly. Sedaris is the reason I pursued copywriting after graduate school. Hands down, the funniest, most human writer out there. I adore him.

What’s your secret marketing weapon?
The American Marketing Association in Cincinnati. I connected with the board a few years ago, and have been involved off and on since then. Making friends with a bunch of marketers means that I have people to call when I break WordPress, when my lead gen strategies aren’t converting, and when I found a cool new platform and want to nerd out. That team pushes me, and has given me opportunities to hone skills long before I was able to use them in my day job.

Tell me your favorite metric to track.
I’ll cheat and say two. Cost per lead and cost per conversion. I love analyzing success metrics for paid campaigns against their goals. Engagement is great and conversion is great, but if you’re spending more than a new customer is worth, it doesn’t work long-term. Too many people throw a bunch of money at an untested strategy and get frustrated when they’re not seeing the return they want. You have to know your tolerance for spend and what kind of conversion rates you need to get there.

Favorite word?
Coffee is rather lovely.

Least favorite word?
Leverage. I use it and hate myself for it. Really any $2 word when a $.10 word will do.

What profession other than marketing would you like to attempt?
I wish I knew enough math to be an astrophysicist. I love space and I’ve always been fascinated by the stars. Quantum mechanics fascinates me, even if I have trouble following the equations.

What’s the best thing about our line of work?
We get to have fun every day at work. It’s never boring, and it’s usually challenging. Also, the benefits. Work flexibility, beer on tap, and a good team.

Tell me two truths and a lie.
I grew up sailing. I used to play volleyball. I know sign language.

You can read my full bio here or check out my LinkedIn profile here. And if you have any guesses about which statement is my lie, send us a tweet.

Why Companies Need B2B Content

Businesses in every industry have valuable stories to tell about their products and services. However, many are not utilizing the power of content, and their stories aren’t being heard. I believe it is important that companies incorporate content marketing into their lead generation and sales processes to give customers the information they really want. So, why is content important for B2B businesses? I’ve put together a list of my top reasons.

Quality content builds credibility and authority

Consistent, quality content can help establish your company as a leader in your industry. By writing thought leadership pieces, you are proving your expertise to those who might need your services. Gaining that credibility and authority is important when it comes to strengthening your relationship with current customers, as well as attracting the attention of new ones. The more you write and publish, the simpler it will be for you to convince your target audience that you are an expert in the business subject you’re promoting and selling. Your thought leadership de-risks their buying process.

Buyers are always looking for helpful content

According to LinkedIn, 79 percent of small businesses say that industry specific news and articles are the most valuable pieces of content they look for on social media. 79 percent! This illustrates that companies are out there reading and looking for answers. It’s important that your company is part of the conversation.

The B2B buying journey can take some time

The buying journey for B2B companies can often take much longer than it does for B2C companies. This is because you are building a relationship with your potential customers, rather than asking for a simple transaction. Because the process can often take some time, it is important to stay in touch with prospects throughout their journey. Helpful and relevant content acts as a great touchpoint and provides a way to initiate discussions and ensure loyal follow-up. It also doesn’t hurt that 74% of B2B buyers choose a vendor that’s first to help them with useful content, according to LinkedIn.

Google recognizes quality content

A high SEO ranking is the cherry on top of producing quality material. Marketing is a great way to promote your brand and reach new customers, as well as get recognized by Google, who will award your efforts with a good ranking. You just have to make sure you are publishing quality content consistently. However, while it can be tempting to write purely for SEO purposes, always be sure to focus on writing compelling content about the things your target audience would be most interested in. There is no downside to optimizing your content for SEO, but don’t lose sight of your primary goals when you create and deliver content.

Every B2B company has a story to tell and an audience to share it with, whether it is current clients, prospective clients or industry colleagues. Providing and publishing relevant content can make a major difference in creating a rewarding customer relationship. B2B businesses are embracing the benefits of content each day and are seeing direct results. Make sure your company doesn’t miss out on opportunities that content marketing can provide.

Why your business needs visual content

Regardless of the industry you work in, you’ve probably already heard that visual content is an effective form of communication. Actually, in my opinion it’s becoming the most effective form of communication.

Whether you’re in B2B or B2C, it’s still H2H (human to human). Humans are visual beings, and in today’s world of information-overload, visuals can help your message rise above the clutter. If you aren’t focusing on visual content for your marketing, social media or email campaigns, it’s probably time to start.

Visuals grab our attention.

There are 1.5 billion units of content generated each day. With so much information floating around online, businesses need to find ways to grab the attention of their target audiences. Using visuals, rather than text, is a much more effective way to accomplish this.

We remember visuals.

Did you know that people retain 80 percent of what they see? This is compared to 20 percent of what they read and ten percent of what they hear. Big difference. If you want your audience to remember what you are communicating, show them using visuals.

Visual content gets more views.

Content featuring compelling images averages 94 percent more total views than those without. It’s also 40 times more likely to be shared on social media than posts with only text. By including an image, you can drastically increase people’s willingness to read, listen or see what you have to say.

Visual content can influence human emotion.

Images, videos, infographics, and other forms of visual content include color that can appeal to your target audience’s senses and influence their emotions. Studies show that colors not only affect emotions, but also influence how people will take action. Additionally, visual content acts as a universal language and can appeal to all audiences and emotions.

To practice what I preach, I’ve included an infographic that brings this message to life.

Is Your Brand Utilizing Facebook Live?

As of June, 2016 Facebook reported over 1.71 billion monthly active users. As you can imagine, when the company launched Facebook Live, it peaked the interest of marketers everywhere. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, these real-time video posts can create real opportunities for your brand to engage with your audience. If your company hasn’t tried using Facebook Live yet, it might be a good time to start.

What is Facebook Live?

Facebook Live videos are real-time video posts that show up in your followers’ Facebook news feeds. Your page can broadcast in real time for up to 90 minutes. While broadcasting, your company can keep track of how many people are viewing the video, read and monitor comments and respond to them directly. Your fans can even subscribe and get notified the next time you start a live broadcast.

Facebook Live can help your brand:

Reach a wide audience.

Video is King, and there are plenty of statistics to prove it. And, Facebook has recently tweaked its news feed algorithm to prioritize live video because of research that shows users spend three times longer watching a live video compared to a pre-recorded video. This means that your brand’s video will show up on more news feeds than a typical Facebook post, and your organic reach will be much higher.

Target the right audience.

Facebook allows you to target who your live stream will reach. You can target by age, gender, language or location, so your video will reach those who are relevant.

Be more human.

Facebook Live is just another tool for you to showcase your brand’s personality. Your audience will get to know your brand better and feel better connected with live video, which will make them more likely to come back to your pages for more.

Understand your audience.

By listening to their real-time reactions and comments, your brand can test new ideas and get immediate feedback. You are also able to see the total number of people who watched at least a portion of the video, along with how many viewers you had at different points in time during the video. This information is helpful to determine when your audience is on Facebook and what they want to see.

Should my company use Facebook Live?

Facebook live can offer plenty of benefits for both B2B and B2C companies. But, with all social networks, it is important to think about where your audience lives. If you have customers, potential customers or industry peers who are active on Facebook, then Facebook Live is a great tool to use to answer questions, hear what’s on their mind and share new information with them.

For example, if your company offers business classes or workshops, you can broadcast interviews with attendees about the best tips they received during the session. As a construction company, you might broadcast a drywall installation or a walk-through of a completed project or building. If you are a restaurant, you can broadcast a “how-to” video of your chef cooking a quick and easy dish.

Live streaming is all about connecting and engaging with your audience in real time. Facebook Live breaks down barriers and creates a connection that traditional marketing cannot. So, go ahead and give it a try!

Why Media Training Matters

If you work in the PR industry, booking an interview for a client is only half the battle. What happens when you send that person into the interview without any media training? Often times, it can resemble an on-air or in-print implosion if they haven’t been adequately prepared for what to expect. Media training is a necessary asset in our trade, but one thing many don’t talk about is how media training can go terribly wrong.

Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte recently lost four massive endorsement deals after his scandal in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. Many might look back unsurprised, but how many people would have been able to predict this before it happened…and during his pre-scandal press interviews, no less? Well, seasoned PR professionals could have smelled something fishy, and it wasn’t new doting-dad, Olympic fish Michael Phelps.

As I watched interview after interview with Ryan Lochte before the scandal took place, there was a sneaking suspicion I just couldn’t shake. His responses seemed entirely canned; they were so utterly repetitive that it became very clear to me that he was media trained in the same way that a parent forces memorization on a child with flash cards in the 4th grade. Broken record responses such as, “I felt like a big fish in a small pond,” and “I guess I just matured” swirled about when he was asked how he emerged from his scandalous party-boy reputation from Olympic eras past. I wasn’t buying it.

I get it; even the finest PR professionals in the world can only do so much when it comes to media training someone who’s not grasping it. However, here are just a couple quick tips that come to my mind when working with someone like Lochte.

Spin your talking points throughout various interviews; it offers the audiences of different media outlets new glimpses into who you are, and builds more credibility. You don’t want to risk being perceived as a talking head. (Unless you’re David Byrne, that is.)
If you make a claim, do everything in your absolute power to back it up. Lochte lost all credibility by painting one picture in his media interviews, and behaving the exact opposite less than a week later.
Believe what you’re saying. If your PR person tells you to say something that you don’t feel accurately represents you, find a way to massage that statement into something that is at least 2/3 accurate. We don’t recommend lying, but saying you’ve matured when you’re still a platinum-blonde-bleached party boy in Rio is the worst kind of oxymoron.
Realize that once you’ve said it on the record, there’s no going back. Although, here’s one silver lining in the news world: you (and Lochte) can take comfort in an interesting quote from Jack Warner of Warner Bros. fame: “Today’s headlines – tomorrow’s toilet paper.”

I recently watched Florence Foster Jenkins. Working in PR, one scene particularly amused me. Spoiler Alert: a New York Post critic decimated affluent, yet terrible operatic singer Florence after her volunteer performance at the Carnegie Hall. Her (somewhat) dedicated husband bought every New York Post paper within a mile radius the following day to prevent her from reading it. That was 1944. This is 2016. We live in a highly digitalized world where negative media is transmitted like the common cold. So just remember, next time you have a date with the media, consult a good PR expert for some effective media training first.

Is your website working for you?

I think of a website as a digital employee for an organization. It’s probably the hardest working employee in your company. It works 24/7 to introduce your brand to new people and continue building relationships with them. Its primary role is to clearly deliver the right information, at the right time, to your prospective customers and clients.

Given the heavy load that it carries, why is it that many companies pay their website so little attention? I often find myself visiting a website to find that the information I need is well hidden in a place that doesn’t make sense. Or, it’s like a digital brochure that makes me feel like I’m dealing with a pushy salesperson. Sometimes the homepage is filled with too much content and it’s like being on a first date with someone who tells you their entire life story in the first hour. In each of these cases, I end up moving on to find what I need.

As with the people you hire, you want your website to represent you well, authentically engage your audience and help you build long-lasting relationships with the people you serve.

Here are three things you can do to make your website “Employee Of The Year”.

Think about the people you serve.

Schedule some time with your team to discuss your target audience. Who are you trying to reach? What are their needs and challenges? How can you help them? How will they find you? Sometimes it helps to create personas and give them a name. This keeps them top of mind as you create content and design the website experience.

Create the right content for the right time.

After you identify know who you want to meet and attract, it’s time to think about how to best engage them. Think of it as starting a new relationship. What information do they need from you as they are beginning to search for an answer or solution? You’ll want that content front and center on the homepage and it needs to be clear, concise and compelling. But that’s just the start because there are many other companies who can also help them. In order for you to stand out, they will need to easily find information that establishes your expertise and credibility. This can be answered through blog posts, case studies or customer reviews. At this point they may be ready to take the next step. You’ll want to be sure they can easily contact you or know where to find you.

Design an intuitive experience.

Once you have your content structure, you’ll want to think about the design of your website. First and foremost, you want it to be easy to read and navigate on a mobile phone, desktop or tablet. Go for a clean design with visuals that enhance your copy and bring it to life. Give careful thought to the titles you use in your navigation. Go back to your personas. What information are they expecting to find? Your titles should reflect this content and appear in order of importance from left to right. Anticipate their next steps in the decision process as you determine your subpages and their location. If your website is well organized and easy to navigate, your visitors feel as though you understand them and are more likely to reach out to you.

In the end, you want to make sure that your “digital employee” has everything it needs to be successful. Taking the time to create a website with an engaging visitor experience is a great first step to building relationships with your clients and customers.

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Author: Dan O’Keeffe