← Older posts

The Top Five Reasons we like Top Five Lists

Posted in Best Practices, Online Marketing, Social Media, Tips and Tricks

I can’t help it. I always find myself reading articles that incorporate a numbered list. “5o best iPhone apps!” “15 practical tips for creating a simpler, happier life.” “10 awesome beaches around the world!” I recently looked through my bookmark list to find twenty articles with numbered lists, and wondered: WHY? I know I’m not the only one magnetized by the power of lists.

The top five reasons we like top five lists:

1. Scan-ability. Let’s face it, we have the attention span of squirrels. If we open an email and see long, text-heavy paragraphs, our eyes go cross-eyed. When material is condensed, numbered, bolded or bulleted, our eyes sigh with relief.

2. Curiosity. We like to try to predict what is on the list. Curiosity is what made me click on the recent Kansas City Star article 50 things every Kansas Citian should know. We want to know how our thoughts match up with the writer’s thoughts.

3. Easy action steps. Lots of list articles include self-help tips, teaching readers how to better their lives or solve a problem. There’s something comfortable about scrolling through the familiar numbered list format, and seeing action items clearly listed like punchlines. The list style fosters quick learning and makes action items seem achievable.

4. Organization for our messy lives. As Herbert Simon put it, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” With so much information at our fingertips, it is refreshing to see content organized into simple bite-sized pieces.

5. Personal and engaging content. Lists can be targeted to a specific audience or  universally appealing. Either way, the list format makes people want to chime in and add their two cents. In fact, check out this snarky NPR article “The 20 unhappiest people you meet in the comments sections of year-end lists.”

A numbered list may immediately spark our interest, but it is the content in the list that ultimately holds our attention. Consider incorporating numbered lists with compelling content into your communications. Your readers will thank you for it.

Tagged Holly Eckold, Morningstar Communications, reasons we like lists | Leave a comment Posted on April 26, 2012 by Holly Eckold

One Billion Dollars

Posted in Executive Insights, Social Media

In Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Dr. Evil threatened to hold the world ransom for… $1 million. Because Dr. Evil was thinking in terms of 1960s economics, he thought he was asking for a huge amount of money.

Today, it’s not $1 million, it’s one billion. Yesterday, there were three large transactions in the communications field — each worth about $1 billion. Cerberus bought a majority stake in AT&T’s Yellow Pages business, Microsoft bought 800 patents from AOL, and Facebook purchased Instagram.

On the surface it appears as if each of these transactions was over-valued, especially to those of us who weathered the 2001 Telecom crisis. However, if you dig deeper you can see the logic behind each deal. Daniel Gross with the Contrary Indicator wrote a great analysis about why these deals made sense.

Cerberus is a private equity firm. Their primary focus is on making cash now, not for the long-term. And as hard as it is to believe in today’s world, there are still people who rely on the Yellow Pages as their primary source of information when they are considering making a purchase. In 2011 AT&T’s Yellow Pages had EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of about $ 1 billion.

Microsoft has accumulated quite a bit of cash from its legacy business – to the tune of $19 billion dollars, and more is flowing into the company on a daily basis. Most likely the move to buy the patents is defensive. Microsoft may use the patents to further its own business, but their primary value is keeping the patents out of their competitors hands.

Daniel Gross called Facebook’s purchase of Instagram a “bolt of youthful exhuberance.” In Barbara Ortutay’s article she quoted Webush analyst Michael Pachter. He said buying Instagram, not only eliminates a rival but gives Facebook technology that is gaining traction. Facebook believes that it can turn the 30 million users of Instagram into revenues and profits. In fact, it’s not quite right to say that Facebook paid $1 billion for Instagram, because a significant portion of the transaction is in Facebook stock, which doesn’t even trade yet.

So are these deals overvalued? To me it feels a lot like it did in 2001, just before the first technology bubble broke, but I’d like to think that we have learned from our mistakes the last 11 years. Perhaps, in the not-too-distant future we will all laugh about how small $1 billion dollars is.

Tagged AOL, AT&T, Barbara Ortutay, Daniel Gross, Facebook, Instagram, Michael Pachter, Microsoft, Morningstar Communications, Shanny Morgenstern, Yellow Pages | Leave a comment Posted on April 10, 2012 by Shanny Morgenstern

KONY 2012: How to make a campaign go viral

Posted in Social Media

If you haven’t seen the viral and somewhat controversial KONY 2012 video, you may be living under a social media-deprived rock.

After being released by the non-profit organization Invisible Children on March 5, the 30-minute short film has taken social media by storm – landing nearly 80 million views to-date.

The social media marketing campaign aims to indict Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, the man responsible for abducting Ugandan children to use as soldiers in his Lord’s Resistance Army. While there has been some backlash claiming the creators of the film oversimplified a complex issue and “manipulated facts for strategic purposes,” the initiative accomplished a tremendous feat: it grabbed the attention of, shared its message with and gained support from millions of people, including influential national media outlets, celebrities and politicians. And it did so in a remarkably short period of time.

A recent New York Times article discusses how the video leverages the untapped power of the viewer, and it paves the way for marketing gurus everywhere.

A Forbes’ article entitled, “12 Lessons from KONY 2012 from Social Media Power Users,” further explains how the video achieved such a high level of success. Here are a the five lessons I found most important for marketing professionals to consider when launching a social media campaign:

Be positive. Quite frankly, the topic of children being abducted, raped and used as soldiers is incredibly depressing. However, the video begins and ends on a positive note – Kony doesn’t even appear until 8:46. This video proves sending a positive message can be powerful.

Make it personal. Filmmaker Jason Russell connects to the audience through his young son. Always remember who your audience is and construct a message that will resonate with them. Why should they care? How does this influence them?

Invoke the mainstream media. Media have a powerful position to help share your message.

Make it simple. While this is part of the reason the film received so much criticism (oversimplifying the issues in Uganda), it makes it easy for the audience to understand. Kony=bad guy. No one would have taken time to watch a 30-minute political debriefing.

Make it easy.  The call to action is clear. The organization wants you to:

Tagged KONY 2012, Michelle Boyd, Morningstar Communications, social media, viral | Leave a comment Posted on March 16, 2012 by Michelle Boyd

Social Business and Giraffe Bread

Posted in Best Practices, Social Media, Uncategorized

As I was reading an article on Sainsbury’s Tiger Bread (turned Giraffe Bread), I started to wonder what it truly means to be a social business. Many businesses grapple with this concept. Some believe simply setting up and maintaining social media accounts is enough, but it’s much more than that. Creating a social business starts with your employees and your company culture. Watch this Coffman Organization video on company culture to get a better feel for what I mean.

Take a step back for a second. Realize that social businesses are part of the social revolution. Granted, social networks like Myspace, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter helped spawn the movement, but those networks are just tools. The movement is centered around widespread human-to-human interaction. Humans are connecting with each other all over the world more than ever before, and they are building relationships with the people who matter most to them.

Wikipedia says, “[Social] always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.” The social revolution is a voluntary movement to reinforce the positive interaction of humans with other humans and to their collective co-existence.

IBM’s Sandy Carter phrases it this way, “A Social Business is a business that embeds ‘social’ in all of its processes, connecting people to people, people to information, and data to insight.” I agree. I also believe a social business creates two-way dialogue with those who matter most using social tools, creating transparency and “sharing expertise beyond [a businesses'] four walls.”

How do you create a social business? Social starts with human-to-human interaction. Your employees are what make you a social business. Their culture and your company culture are what shape and define that interaction. Create a positive company culture and empower your employees to embrace and act on the values of your company culture.

When Morningstar Communication hosted “Sharing a Century of Knowledge,” all six century-old businesses agreed that the secret to their success is company culture. CEO of Saint Luke’s Hospital Julie Quirin said, “We believe culture eats strategy for lunch.”  Senior V.P. of Public Affairs & Communications at Hallmark Steve Doyal said, “In any company, it’s about the people and the passion that they bring to their work.” In a Fast Company article, Shawn Parr wrote about the important role company culture plays in a business’s success.

A social business has employees that are in line with the company culture and who act on its behalf, creating real human-to-human interaction between the company and those who matter most. Chris King, of Sainsbury’s customer service team, and his interaction with three-and-a-half-year-old Lily Robinson is a great example of what it means to be a social business. It’s not strategy. It’s not marketing. It’s not simply using social tools. It’s having an amazing company culture and employees that build relationships. The basis of social business is positive human interaction. It’s not about a product – it’s about connecting with people.

Tagged CRM, Matthew Barnett, Morningstar Comm, social media | Leave a comment Posted on January 31, 2012 by Matthew Barnett

A PR Pro’s Guide to Smart Phone Apps

Posted in Social Media

Late last year I purchased my first iPhone and my world was forever changed.  Ok that may be a little dramatic, but seriously the iPhone 4s has allowed me to do more than ever before. I’m always on the look out for new apps to increase my user experience.

My colleague, Michelle Boyd, sent me a post listing 23 of the most loved apps by PR pros.  While I already use several, there are many unfamiliar apps on the list. For those of you also on a quest for the best in apps, I thought I’d share Ronnie Manning’s post.

http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10662.aspx

Apps I’ll be trying, Teuxdeux and Springpad.

What apps do you plan to check out?

Tagged Morningstar Communications, smart phone apps, Tricia Jaworski | Leave a comment Posted on January 27, 2012 by Tricia Jaworski

Making the Most of LinkedIn

Posted in Social Media

LinkedIn is an excellent business tool. It may not get as much of our attention as some other social media platforms (yes, I’m looking at you Facebook and Twitter), but it definitely is a valuable resource, especially in the workplace.

According to a Forbes article from last summer, the top activity on LinkedIn is industry networking. Being able to network in new ways is an amazing benefit to the social media revolution.

Here are a few tips on how to keep your LinkedIn presence in tip-top shape so your virtual networking experience is as valuable as your in-person networking.

Don’t cut and paste your resume

LinkedIn hooks you into a network. You wouldn’t hand out your resume before introducing yourself, so don’t do it here. Instead, describe your experience and abilities as you would to someone you just met.

Write a personal tagline

That line of text under your name is the first thing people see in your Profile. It follows your name in search hit lists. It’s your brand. (Note: your email address is not a brand!) You might need to refine your professional personality into a more eye-catching phrase that describes who you are at a glance.

Put your elevator pitch to work

That 30-second description, the essence of who you are and what you do, is a personal elevator pitch. Use it in the ‘Summary’ section to engage readers. You’ve got 5-10 seconds to capture their attention. The more meaningful your summary is, the more time you’ll get from readers.

Point out your skills

Think of the ‘Specialties’ field as your personal search engine optimizer. This searchable section is where that list of industry buzzwords from your resume belongs (but don’t use jargon or over-used business phrases). This is also the place to display particular abilities and interests, the personal values you bring to your professional performance, or even a note of humor or passion.

Distinguish yourself from the crowd

Use the ‘Additional Information’ section to round out your Profile with a few key interests. Add websites that showcase your abilities or passions. Then edit the default ‘My Website’ label to encourage click-throughs (you get Google page rankings for those, raising your visibility). Maybe you belong to a trade association or an interest group; help other members find you by naming those groups. If you’re an award winner recognized by peers, customers or employers, add prestige without bragging by listing them here.

Taking a few minutes to develop your LinkedIn profile and revisiting it regularly will be time well spent. It’s a valued resource in the business community and has a very real place in social media alongside Facebook and Twitter.

Tagged LinkedIn, Morningstar Communications, Networking, Rachel Spear, social media | Leave a comment Posted on January 19, 2012 by Rachel Spear

Something Worth Tweeting About

Posted in Social Media

I have always felt fortunate to be a part of the close-knit community that is Shawnee Mission West High School. A 2007 graduate, I have seen students and their families ban together many times to help others in their moment of need. So when my younger brother told me of a 17-year-old student at West that was battling a rare form of cancer I wasn’t surprised to see the school rally. Two years ago students shaved their heads to show support when he began chemotherapy. And when Ashton Brunmeier lost his battle with cancer at the age of 17 on Sunday December 4, I knew the West community would handle this tragedy with their incredible resolve. However, I would have never predicted the viral trending of Ashton’s initials, #ATB, across the Twitterverse following his death.

Fellow students took to Twitter to honor Ashton and quickly launched #ATB to the number one trend in Kansas City and later to the number three trend nationally. Students were tweeted and re-tweeted by celebrities, raising awareness for cancer research and gaining widespread media attention.

From a public relations perspective, I couldn’t help but be amazed at the comprehensive grassroots campaign these students launched. #ATB appeared on t-shirts, cars, signs at the University of Kansas basketball game, on the front windows of local businesses and spread rapidly across Facebook and Twitter. Students even researched the algorithm that identifies trends on Twitter and organized mass tweets.

Keep in mind, these are not communications professionals, or even college students majoring in integrated marketing, they are high school students. This type of communication is innate to Generation Z. They use every communication tool at their disposal and are extremely effective at sharing their message. My key take-away for companies trying to connect with Generation Z is two-fold:

They are super-connected multi-taskers. Whether on their phone, laptop or iPad, this generation is in a constant state of communication. To reach Generation Z you need to be plugged in and communicating the same way they do, across multiple platforms. In order to keep #ATB trending, students were accessing Twitter constantly throughout the day, which for a high school student means during classes, extracurricular activities and after school jobs.

They don’t just consume information; they share information – with everyone. And social media is a powerful tool for doing this. If your organization leaves a positive impression, this generation will share that experience with their extended network. As in the case with #ATB, students were appreciative of public figures that tweeted for their cause, resulting in a surge of new Twitter followers for that person, tweets about that person and quite possibly many new, loyal fans. Unfortunately this also means a bad impression could have devastating consequences for a company’s image.

The virality of #ATB is just one reminder of the impact a unified group of people can make in the age of social media. Businesses have more ways than ever before to connect with consumers and should take full advantage of these communication tools, while keeping in mind associated risks. While Generation Z may not have much spending power now, they will. And for companies to reach this generation, they have to learn to communicate like them.

Tagged #ATB, Generation Z, Michelle Boyd, Morningstar Communications, Twitter | 1 Comment Posted on December 15, 2011 by Michelle Boyd

Consumer Trends for 2012

Posted in Best Practices, Executive Insights, Integrated Marketing (IMC), Online Marketing, Social Media

A few months ago a friend asked me what business title I would like, if I could have any title. Some people would say President or CEO, but for me, the perfect title would be Chief Knowledge Officer. I would love to spend my days reading the news and researching trends and then determining how to make that knowledge a competitive advantage for our company.

I may not ever be able to devote myself just to gaining knowledge, but exploring trendwatching.com is a small step in the right direction. trendwatching.com scans the globe for emerging consumer trends, insights and innovations. They recently published their 12 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2012. Here is their list:

1. Red Carpet – businesses around the world will shower Chinese customers and visitors with even more tailored services and perks, and in general, lavish attention and respect.
2. DIY Health – DIY goes ‘good for you’ in 2012: novel apps and devices will increasingly let consumers discreetly track and manage their health by themselves.
3. Dealer-chic – For consumers, securing the best deals is fast becoming a way of life, if not a source of pride and status.
4. Eco-cycology – Next for recycling? Brands taking back all of their products (and recycling them responsibly and innovatively).
5. Cash-less – Why a cashless future is (almost) here, and why it will be about convenience and an entire new eco-system of payments, rewards and offers.
6. Bottom of the Urban Pyramid – In 2012, the opportunities to cater to hundreds of millions of low-income urban consumers will be unprecedented.
7. Idle Sourcing – Expect crowd-based problem solving to fuel endless innovations in 2012, especially as for consumers, contributing will be more effortless than ever.
8. Flawsome – Brands that behave more humanly, including showing their flaws, will be awesome.
9. Screen Culture – In 2012, ‘life’ will take place via ever more pervasive, personal, immersive and interactive screens.
10. Recommerce – For smart consumers, ‘trading in’ is the new buying in 2012.
11. Emerging Maturialism – Why in 2012, experienced, open-minded consumers in traditionally ‘conservative’ emerging markets will embrace campaigns and products that are frank if not risqué.
12. Point & Know – 2012 will be about instant visual information gratification.

 

There are many fabulous examples of how these trends are manifesting themselves on the trendwatching.com site; I’d like to share two here.

A great example of Eco-cycology is Patagonia’s Common Threads Initiative. The initiative encourages people to return items that have reached the end of their life to be recycled into new fiber or fabric. So far Patagonia has reclaimed 45 tons of clothing.

One of the examples of the Cash-less trend is about the company called Square. Square is an electronic payment service that enables users to accept credit card payments using their smart phones. I happened to hear Jim McKelvey, one of the founders of Square, speak at a recent conference for women entrepreneurs. His best advice, “Don’t look for opportunities, look for disruptions.”

Source: www.trendwatching.com. One of the world’s leading trend firms, trendwatching.com sends out its free, monthly Trend Briefings to more than 160,000 subscribers worldwide.

Tagged Global Women's Summit, Morningstar Communications, Patagonia, Shanny Morgenstern, Square, trendwatching.com | Leave a comment Posted on December 6, 2011 by Shanny Morgenstern

Creative Messaging: Food for thought

Posted in Integrated Marketing (IMC), Online Marketing, Social Media

Thanksgiving is only two days away. In a matter of hours, relatives will collectively gather in homes across the country for holiday festivities. While Morningstar Communications won’t be hosting an office turkey feast this Thursday, we would still like the opportunity to entertain and give our blog guests some food for thought.

Many businesses and custumers anxiously await holiday season sales, but before these big sales take place, all of the businesses spend money in advertising to draw customers in. These ads all have one thing in common – a message for the consumer.

Here is my personal favorite holiday advertisement I’ve seen this season: Gotta Go to Kohl’s on Black Friday.

Messaging is key for any business. But how are they crafted? In what tone? In what voice? Who is the intended audience? In what creative way are these messages delivered? These are all good questions, but the final product should be made of what Eric Morgenstern calls the anatomy of great messaging.

Within thirty seconds, the Kohl’s ad touches on each of the six elements of great messaging. And it does it in a creative, memorable, entertaining way. Not only do I know who they are, when the sale is, how it benefits me to go (christmas shopping done early, Kohl’s cash, etc.), but it is also simple, recipient-oriented, AND they brought it to us via parody of a notorious, viral song, which is stuck in my head on loop again. You too? You’re welcome. Bottom line – it works.

What else works? How about Ford’s unique approach to releasing the 2013 Escape? Or, how about the creative 404 pages found in this Business Insider article? I love creative messaging. Do you? What creative messages that exemplify the anatomy of great messaging did I miss? Let us know what you think!

Stay Digital.

Tagged holidays, Matthew Barnett, Messaging, Morningstar Communications, social media | Leave a comment Posted on November 22, 2011 by Matthew Barnett

Remembering Steve Jobs: If today were the last day of my life…

Posted in Best Practices, Social Media

My last blog, on September 29, dealt with effectively communicating your message through public speaking. I reviewed dozens of YouTube speeches, from inspiring presidential addresses to heartfelt Oscar acceptance speeches.  One speech that stood out in particular was Steve Jobs’ 2005 commencement address at Stanford University, which I posted as a great speech example in my blog. It’s strange to me that I choose that sample since Jobs died a mere six days later. At the time of my last post, Jobs’ speech had been viewed more than 5 million times on YouTube. That number is now 12 million, in this link alone, and continues to increase every day. 

Steve Jobs’ death on October 5, 2011, caused an outpouring of news and emotion around the world, especially online. The Internet became an outlet for people to react and reflect. This Social Fresh article is a great example of how blogs and social media reacted to Jobs passing. This overwhelming cyber response to Jobs’ life is a fitting reaction to his tragic premature passing.

After hearing of his death, I took to my MacBook to re-watch his Stanford commencement speech, as well as other articles featuring his life, and one Jobs’ quote in particular really resonated with me:

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…

Steve Jobs found what he loved to do and perfected it everyday. In Jobs’ pursuit for perfection in his life and work, it is evident that he never settled and, in turn, left a mark in history. However, the majority of us are not like Steve Jobs and chances are we won’t create the next iPhone or even come close. In fact, most of us will read a quote like that and be inspired for a day, but then move on and not change a thing.

Even though most of us won’t change the world, we can change ourselves in a small way everyday and work to change our personal circumstances for the better. I agree with Jobs that your life should not just be a daily routine to get you by; life is far too short to live that way. So no matter what your circumstances may be, if you’re not satisfied then make a little change everyday to get to where you want to be. Every day should be a different challenge, discovery, or celebration … even if the challenge or discovery seems small on its own, each little accomplishment adds up in the end.

In my work for Morningstar Communications, I challenge myself to learn more about my clients’ industries, discover avenues of communication that are changing everyday, and celebrate the agency’s successes.  We may all not be the next Steve Jobs, but we can all leave a mark in our own way.

Tagged Meg Schulte, Morningstar Communications, Professional Development, Steve Jobs, Web | Leave a comment Posted on October 27, 2011 by Meg Schulte ← Older posts