The Selling Power of a Story

As part of my resolution I’m eating healthier this year, and inspired by my last post have noticed more and more stories inspired by food products. These just aren’t any stories, they tell a personal account of the food’s purpose, a bit about the creator and leave me feeling like I want to contribute to the story by buying and consuming the product.

Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath discuss a strategy to make any idea stick  in their book “Made to Stick”, and conclude that the main contributor in making an idea stick is a genuine story. Here is another food product that tells a compelling story.

Dave started making Dave’s Killer Bread after he completed his 15-year jail sentence for burglary and assault, which stemmed from his drug addiction. When he got out of jail he felt like he had been given a second chance and started making the bread that his father taught him to make as a boy. The bread became a hit in his home-state of Oregon, where organic and local food reigns.  Dave puts a simple message on each bag of bread “Just Say No to Bread on Drugs”, which ties in his story with the bread’s mission. If you are interested to hear more about Dave’s story then watch this video.

Simple Ingredients for a Simple Message

I’m bombarded by thousands of messages a day, most of which I don’t notice or end up forgetting. However, an unforgettable message caught my attention this morning as I was eating my yogurt; in fact, the message was on my yogurt. Siggi’s Icelandic yogurt called Skry contains simple ingredients and tells a simple, yet compelling message. The message is Siggi moved from Iceland to the states and began missing the healthy food from Iceland (haven’t you noticed all Icelanders are thin?). More specifically, Siggi longed to eat the simple yogurt of Skry – a product that’s made from non-fat milk into a creamy, thick yogurt. After finding the right dairy farm and the correct temperature to create Skry, Siggi began making and selling Sigg’s Skry.

This yogurt is now sold at most major grocery chains nationwide. I believe Siggi’s success came from his realization that he could share his simple story on the back of his yogurts to create a connection with consumers, which in turn can build brand loyalty and hopefully increase WOM (what I’m doing now!). It sure worked on me – I know I will continue eating Siggi’s Skry.

Also, since I’m on an Icelandic health kick I thought I would share this song that could inspire anyone to start running….

Recruitment via Social Media: 101

Recently I helped a Real Estate company recruit some top-performing candidates for it’s offices. In the past, they had used traditional methods, such as online advertising and cold calling, but it became my job to use the tools that social media offers in order to recruit real estate agents. Here are some insights to what I learned.

• • • • • Know Your Audience. Sometimes the most difficult aspect of a campaign is narrowing down an audience. Fortunately, I understood the qualities of the potential candidates that the the Real Estate company wanted to recruit. The next step was to understand how to approach and converse with the candidates. I viewed it as: “How Would I Want to be Approached If a Company Wanted to Hire Me?”. Also I applied some basic etiquette that I learned from pitching to journalists.
• Research, Research, Research. Before jumping on the social media bandwagon, it’s important to know what platforms your audience uses and for what reasons. For instance, I found that most real estate agents in the area were not actively using Twitter, but on LinkedIn instead to network with other agents. From there, I could devote my time and energy to LinkedIn and some other social media sites that they primarily used.
• Try it out. I monitored conversations circulating on LinkedIn to find key candidates then respectfully approached them about opportunities. Just like any good pitch, make sure to let them know what you can offer them, how you differ from other companies in that sector, and also why their qualities stood out to you.
• Evaluate. After a month of using social media as a part of the real estate company’s recruiting efforts, we took a step back and analyzed the results. Interestingly, there wasn’t a huge difference in the amount of real estate agent applicants. This occurred for several reasons, a few being the state of economy and the nature of a career in real estate. Also, most of the top-performing candidates were of the age demographic 40-55, so were not active online participants. However, the social media activity in the past month greatly increased the company’s SEO – especially in the area they are located, which means they can better beat their rivals on a Google search.
• Lesson learned. Even though their main audience wasn’t actively using social media, it’s important to have an online presence to gain credibility and heighten visibility. This solidified the company’s need to maintain their social media profiles. In the end, we turned the project around to helping train their current agents to use social media in order to promote their business and sell their homes. I hope by doing so, other agents will be attracted to this forward-thinking company who now has the resources to train employees on social media use.

Let me know about your experience being recruited or recruiting through social media.

 

Landing a Job in a New City

I secured a 6-month job with Mulberry Marketing Communications in London after graduating in March 2010. I recently returned from my adventure over the pond, and I now possess  thicker skin, a broader knowledge of public relations, and a better understanding of  International business. I consider finding and landing a job in a different city challenging but not impossible.  Click here to read my full guest post on the blog Culpwrit. Stay tuned for more information on what I learned from working in a b2b PR firm.

5 Tips to Prevent Information Overload

Recently I have felt inundated with information from my Googlereader, Twitter lists, RSS feeds and unread inbox (sorry Mom). I’ve began to gravitate toward articles that explain how to eliminate information from your life – which  is a bit ironic I guess. Through this process though I’ve discovered some great tips to prevent information overload, which will simplify your life, subsequently increasing productivity.

1. Seek the information! I used to firmly believe in RSS feeds and alerts, but the more I subscribe to the more I neglect to read. Also, when I subscribe to blogs and information I become lazy about searching for new information, which leads to a lack of variety.
2. Set aside time. Instead of skimming the headlines, I save a chunk of the day to sift through blogs and news to read some in-depth articles about anything that catches my eye. I find that by doing this I’m able to retain more information and save the grief of scanning multiple headlines.
3. Save it. If the article is worth saving or I don’t have enough time to read the piece then I save it for later on my Delicious page, which neatly organizes the info into various tags.  So save yourself the headache by storing articles on a social bookmarking site.
4. Limit your social media use. So how much has changed on Facebook during the last five minutes? Probably not a whole lot! Living away from most of my friends and family, I use Facebook as a way to stay connected. If I don’t set a time limit on my social networking time then I will get lost in the abyss. I’m wary that social media addiction exists, but I think setting a time limit is a healthy approach.
5. Turn it off. Finally turn off all the news and gadgets. I give myself time each day to reflect and process the information I’ve received, whether that be through running, writing or chatting about the day with a friend.

Any other tips on modifying your information diet?

London Blogger Meetup

Last week I attended the London Bloggers Meetup where a panelist of bloggers and PR practitioners took the stage to duel it out. The ‘debate’ seemed to develop more into a one-sided argument where both sides agreed that quality content remains the key to engagement. Although another point emerged: Never neglect clear communication – as it remains the key component to both a blogger’s job and us PR lot.

Clear communication seemed the obvious answer to one of the questions discussed: Should PR people e-mail bloggers? Matt Churchill of Edelman Digital brought up a good point when he said that whether the blogger shares its contact details or not, they exist somewhere on the web. The point is, if you are active on the web, don’t act surprised when someone contacts you, which highlights the importance of communication again. Bloggers should inform their readership of how they would like to be reached, the best way to contact them and what they do or do not accept. In the same way, PR practioners should understand their exceptions from the blogger interaction.

Stephen Waddington of Speed Communication said, “Bloggers can help PRs by clearly signposting their likes and dislikes on their blog. If you don’t want unsolicited pitches say so.” This eliminates any ambiguous expectations for PR practitioners.

On the ‘opposing’ side, Chris Osburn voiced that even though people suggest a restaurant doesn’t mean he will write rave reviews about it. Most bloggers – just like journalists – want the freedom to write without restrictions or contracts. Overall, keep the communication and expectations clear between both parties, and as Cate Sevilla from BitchBuzz said, “The approach isn’t black and white – everyone is human – just treat them that way.”

Reader’s Recap

My recent bedridden state gave me the opportunity to sift through my overstuffed GoogleReader and read some conversations circulating around public relations, in which I found some rather interesting pieces that are worth sharing.

• The Future of Public Relations and Social Media: This article by Mashable’s Erica Swallow discusses the evolution from traditional PR practices to social media. For instance, the web provides more options than traditional formats to distribute press releases, such as Pitchengine. One of the most interesting points she brought up is changing dynamic in the push-pull relationship between PR practitioners and journalists. Instead of pushing information, platforms like Help a Reporter Out enable journalists to request an industry expert for an article  - allowing PR reps to respond to the inquiry.
• My Top 5 Shortcuts: #1 Use a Feedreader: My former Public Relations professor from the University of Oregon maintains a blog that offers practical social media tips as well as various best practice examples. I really like this post that highlights an organized reading routine – hence the GoogleReader kick that initiated this post. Kelli makes the point that while it’s important to skim through your reader daily, it’s more efficient to let the content come to you by subscribing to RSS feeds with filters and using notification alerts.
• New Red Cross Study Finds Web Users Would Turn To Social Media In Emergencies & Expect 1st Responders To Be Listening: This post by crisis communications blogger John Solomon highlights the importance of government bodies being prepared through all channels, including social media in the case of an emergency. The survey by the Red Cross reveals that most web users go online during an emergency and that 74% of those users expect a response less than an hour after their Tweet or Facebook post: Proof that the government needs a new level of crisis management and emergency preparedness.
• PR’s Use of Digital Media: Valeria Maltoni creates a clever progress chart outlining the level of social media that businesses conduct. The four stages of social media readiness explains different phases in social media implementation ranging from the “Crawling Stage” to the “Running Stage.” All in all, good report that stresses the only way you can measure results is if you establish clear guidelines and expectations of your social media use based on the different levels of engagement.