The Byline: PR and Marketing Insights from Eiler Communications

“Nerd” has attained positive new popularity across Michigan in the past few weeks since Rick Snyder, well known entrepreneur and strong advocate of building new businesses, began his “nerd” television campaign. As a former head of Gateway Computer and an investor in numerous technology businesses through his investment businesses, Snyder proclaims himself a nerd in the positive and meaningful sense — someone who passionately pursues intellectual activities and is familiar with all of the emerging technologies and businesses that are succeeding across the state.

Nerd is what many people may be emulating as we move inexorably toward Internet 2.0 — the latest iteration of technologies that are compelling all of us to learn anew — and to learn to use new media and technologies to our advantage. Internet 2.0 is commonly associated with web applications that allow interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design and collaboration.

An Eiler intern from 2009 has an interesting blog post on Web 2.0 and its place in the college classroom. Case Ernsting interned for Eiler last year, learning the ins and outs of public relations and the developing field of social media marketing. Case continues to explore digital marketing in his new role as Marketing Representative at MetaSpring Web Design in Ann Arbor. In a recent post for MetaSpring’s blog, Case outlined some key issues with Web 2.0 as it relates to job preparation for today’s college graduates.

Web 2.0 for Your Career
We’ve speculated on the job market in a few posts on this blog. It seems like college grads have the deck stacked against them in many ways. Whether it’s the economy, or skill set, many job seekers are having trouble.

Web 2.0 is a valuable asset to any college grad’s resume. More and more companies are looking to expand their digital presence. As a result, they expect entry-level employees to have the ability to implement web-based strategies. As Casey’s post points out, many recent college graduates are unequipped for these roles.
Here is a clip of the Casey’s post entitled, “Career Development 101: Teaching Web 2.0 Tools in the Classroom”.

“Colleges need to step it up. As a recent college grad, I see academia’s sluggish embrace of technological innovation and Web 2.0 as a disservice to my fellow students. Today’s job market has suffered in these tough economic times, but employers still seek workers who can gather information, assess it and act. Those in the workforce already rely on the web-based information-gathering tools daily, but if you’re currently enrolled in undergraduate college classes, you probably don’t even know they exist.”

For the rest of the post, jump over to MetaSpring’s blog: “Piece of Our Mind”.

The continued boom of various social media sites gives me some reason for concern. As an employer I question if employees become so addicted to using the sites that the main function of their jobs suffers. I’d be interested in others comments. Expectations in our business is that employees are 80-90% billable. How does that happen if a lot of time is spent on Facebook, Twitter etc.

Sandy

Are you a thought leader? Thought leaders are credible, insightful industry professionals (often heads of companies) with the expertise to comment on industry trends and issues…basically, the leaders of thoughts. This is highly desirable brand position requiring a focused public relations (PR) effort and a commitment to hard work.

Thought leaders provide insight and vision and therefore, are “go to” sources for members of the media often providing quotes and commentary for news coverage. Highly visible examples include Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Larry Page of Google, Richard Branson of Virgin Megastores, or Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook. These leaders provide insight of global scale due to their product’s popularity around the world. It is also possible to carve out a niche for your company’s product or service locally or wherever you define your target market.

A few thought-leadership tips from www.skmarketing.com, a Minneapolis based business-to-business marketing agency:

1. Availability: Respect the hectic schedule of the journalists and other members of the press and return all calls ASAP.
2. Preparedness: As a thought leader, you are expected to possess wisdom and a familiarity with a wide variety of topics in your field. It is advised that you prepare talking points prior to any media engagement/interview.
3. Be Opinionated: Donald Trump might be the best example of this type of thought leadership. Thought leaders are expected to bring something new to the conversation without sitting on the fence. Be bold, compelling and dramatic.
4. Persistence: Create your own fortune through thought leadership tools. Examples include determined press releases, knowledgeable speaking engagements, effective social media, white papers, by-lined articles, and/or case studies.

Eiler Communications has practiced these skills for over twenty years, establishing brand messages and thought leadership strategies for local and national businesses. David Mielke, Dean of Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business, is an example of a local thought leader Eiler Communications works with consistently. Mielke has established a voice in the business community writing articles in the Ann Arbor Business Review and on www.MLive.com, often times commenting on the current state of business ethics. Mielke also serves on a number of economic and business boards.

So, are you ready to be a thought leader?

Case Ernsting

Social Media is the big thing these days. Although I have been using it for a couple years now, I don’t think I quite realized the extent of how beneficial it is until I started interning at Eiler Communications.

Social Media is Internet and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information with other people. There are many different forms of this; Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, MySpace and Blogging.

Lets talk about blogging. A benefit of your company writing blogs about various topics is to get your name out. It’s like a form of marketing that you don’t have to pay for. If you write about a topic and someone searches for that topic on Google, your blog is going to come up and direct that person to your website.

How is Facebook beneficial? Almost everyone I know has a page on Facebook. Companies can do the same thing. An organization can create a page saying what they do, where they are located etc. You can also link your website to your page to generate more traffic to your site.

I think Social Media is one of the best ways to get your name today and best of all, it’s free! Now isn’t that something good to hear in today’s economy?

Amanda Deluca

Why would anyone want to brand him or her self? It seems quite self-serving. It implies arrogance to believe anyone would care.

Branding yourself is the way to become known.

Given the fact that we all now can be commentators, “journalists” if you will, because of the Internet, and especially blogs, it is simple logic to be able to create a “name” of your name. This new movement in PR has helped to establish a bunch of names – people in their 20s to 90s and all between. It is a movement not just for companies doing PR in Michigan and the Midwest, but the world. Not just for techies doing PR, but for business people and executives.

If you can make a “name” for yourself through your commentary, you get more audience for your blogs or other writings. You make a name for yourself, your business through an article or book you author, organizations to are involved with, teaching speaking to various groups.

It is wise and prudent in this situation to create your own brand, build and promote your own name by branding yourself.

Paul Gillin is one of the pre-eminent brands in the blogosphere. As a former editor of Computerworld, once the core computer trade pub, Paul got into speaking, writing books, blogging and becoming an expert commentator on new media over the past decade. He does it right, authoring books and blogs at these sites:

Paul Gillin Communications

New Influencers book

Secrets of Social Media Marketing book

Innovations (Ziff-Davis Enterprise)

Mediablather weekly podcast

Geocaching Secrets (my next book)

Newspaper Death Watch

Paul and Dana’s Blog

He also speaks across the nation and here are a few current examples.

PRSA Teleseminar: Secrets of Social Media Marketing – Dec 2
New Marketing Summit, San Francisco, April 28-29, 2009
Getting Started with Social Media – Lessons from the Frontlines - Dec. 11, 2008
Secrets of Social Media Marketing Webcast with Paul Gillin - Listrak
How Businesses View Social Media - Gilbane Boston 2008, Dec. 4, 2008

I’ll write lots more about “the magic of branding yourself” — including tips from speeches I’ve given — in coming blogs.

Larry Eiler



It is increasingly difficult nowadays to be recognized for ones expertise in Michigan public relations, hi tech companies, and communication world with the amount of information that is out there. However, there is hope, and it has been around for a while: blogging. Interactive market positioning is oftentimes key to giving people the needed information they seek. The importance of blogging rests on six principles:

First, blogs are easy to publish on the web. The ability to upload thoughts, ideas, or general information is just a few clicks away, allowing for a mass flow of information across a wide spectrum.

Second, blogs are inexpensive. Especially in today’s economy, Michigan PR companies don’t have to spend vast sums of money getting their names out.

Third, it is quick and efficient. There is not wait time. The information is “published” fast and allows for instant reactions. This works especially well with a public relations organization like Eiler Communications to respond to industry and client needs.

Fourth, similar to my third point, blogging grabs the attention of search engines. The more the company blogs the more hits they might get and the more attention it receives via non-paid publicity, a huge bonus for the organization.

My last two points are tied together in that it both positions the company in a favorable light in the eyes of client, industry, and public to treat them as an expert and as a result, hopefully, increases its profits and notability.

Regardless of the reason a PR organization uses blogging, it can be an extremely important tool in the sphere of high tech communicating. And what better way to prove that the company knows media and the field of communications than actually communicating!

Christian

A few weeks ago on our blog, the question was asked why is public relations important, especially in our poor economy today? Jenny was dead on when she rhetorically asked how are you supposed to attract new business if you get rid of the people that are in charge of bringing it in? Her first point in having a public relations company was to target in on the marketing position. Agreed, no doubt. Unpaid advertising and marketing is extremely important to companies nowadays. Many cannot afford to spend the money when it is needed elsewhere to make a successful business run smoothly. That is where the PR firm plays its role.

I think there is something else however that it can do to enable its market positioning strategy further for success and that is position the company to be an expert in its respective field. Eiler Communications is a case in point. It specializes in high tech PR and has the experience and track record to prove that.

Proving to an audience that the company is an expert in hi tech is a type of brand equity. An organization with strong brand equity will enjoy visibility and a reputation that makes them stand out from their competitors. It also becomes relevant when people believe the organization, or its services, add value to their life. Therefore, by strategically placing the company through a public relations agency that specializes in market positioning (especially in high tech areas), they can relax knowing that clients will become interested based on their expert services with little money spent on paid advertising.

Christian

Public relations is the art and science of establishing relationships between an organization and its key audiences. In today’s business world and economy who doesn’t need to establish long lasting loyal relationships?

It is always amazing to me that in times of hardship in a company or small business the first thing to get “cut” is public relations and marketing. When business is slow, isn’t the objective to attract more business? The pieces don’t seem to fit in the logic of cutting what drives consumers to your business.

There are many different forms of marketing to reach your audience, but the first thing that should come to mind is positioning your company. Marketing positioning strategy is when marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. In other words, try to say something that is so profound or shocking (but true) that you clear enough space in the brain of your consumer to make them forget about all of the other competition.
Sounds pretty simple right?

In most cases, it is not that simple.

That is why it is so important to use a mix of marketing methods, one of them being public relations. PR reaches your audience in a much different way because it is not a paid advertisement. It also helps you to reach an audience that you might not have been able to reach or afford to reach with traditional marketing methods. Public relations also uses diverse techniques such as opinion polling and focus groups to evaluate public opinion, combined with a variety of high-tech techniques for distributing information on behalf of their clients to the target audience.

What if you wanted to reach the audience that reads the Wall Street Journal, but your marketing budget wouldn’t allow you to spend 40k on a small black and white ad? PR will help you to reach an editor at the WSJ with a compelling story and get it published. Wouldn’t you be much more likely to read an article written by a third party rather than a paid advertisement and find more value in that?

Think about the different forms of social media these days! Blogging, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook! If you are not staying with the changes in technology then you will be left behind. All of these groups of social media are forms of PR and a good way to reach your audience or at the very least, hear what they are saying about your product directly.

Here is one more thing to think about. What if you had a major public relations crisis in your company and no one on your staff knew how to talk to the media? Wouldn’t you regret not having a PR firm?

Jenny

When I first started with Eiler communications as a Senior Account Manager I had most of my marketing/pr experience in high-end real estate, sales and restaurants. Since my tenure with the company I have been exposed to clients such as; VPSI, Inc, Genetics Squared, NSF International, Google, Silver Anti-Bac, Linux Box and many more in various fields. It has been an incredible experience for me to learn about so many diverse corporations and how they are contributing to the health and well being of our country.

For instance, Genetics Squared is in the process of developing a test that can help doctors determine how to treat certain types of cancers. By using personalized medicine we can possibly save the health care economy over 200,000 million dollars by being able to target the right procedures and treatments for different cancers. Imagine that?

VPSI, Inc is another client of ours that is helping all of us reduce our carbon footprint by providing alternate forms of sustainable transportation in the form of Vanpooling. To find out more about Vanpooling and VPSI go to http://www.pooling-resources.com, which is a blog that Eiler writes and maintains on behalf of VPSI, Inc.

NSF International helps protect all of us from the recent food scare(s) we have been trying to overcome the past six months. Recently, NSF provided a $1 million grant to a Virginia Tech professor of weed science to study the pathogen that causes bacterial speck disease of tomatoes. NSF is another example of a Michigan-based international business that is in the center of international issues. NSF International is an independent, not-for-profit organization.

Not only are the companies that we represent making a difference in the health and
well being of our nation, but I feel as if I can help make a difference by using the resources of a PR agency to spread the word. By using the correct forms of a market positioning strategy, we have found that we are able to get great marketing and public relations results for our clients and I am proud of that!

Picture this; your mother is urging the boy next door to ask you out on a date. She is trying to convince him what a pretty and special child you are… Hmm..This might be true, but the information source seems to be a little biased, and after all, she is your mother. But, if your other neighbor approaches the boy next door and hails you as that sweet and pretty darling your mother has claimed you to be, you have just been backed with third party credibility, and that is a fundamental strategy of public relations.

In applying this scenario to business, you are the product, your mother is the business that is advertising you, the boy next door is a customer, and your neighbor is the third party credibility (newspaper journalist, magazine reviewer, health reporter, etc.). The boy next door can’t trust alone in your mother’s advertisement, she would never advertise anything negative about her own creation. With another opinion, the boy next door would be more willing to take you out on a date. It’s an easy concept to understand, that is why companies need public relations firms to help find third party/editorial credibility through releasing news and advances to the right media and objective journalists who then carry out message to the target customers. Public Relations help find that neighbor to give you the credibility that you need.

What customers want from any business is to be able to trust that what they are buying is credible. People are much more likely to believe a media source rather than a paid advertisement. This is why PR is so crucial to any successful business.

Connie Chung