Category: Spending Budgets Wisely

PR 101: “Spin” is free…6,000 red capes are not.

April 27, 2011
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Media Relations, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 8:31 am

And did we mention the graphic design fees?

I would love to have been in the room (with a gong) when Workforce Central Florida decided that creating the cartoon character “Dr. Evil Unemployment” — and spending $14,000 on red satin superhero capes to hand out to the unemployed — was a fabulous idea.  True, hindsight is always 20/20, but how on earth could they have not forseen the misery this PR stunt was going to unleash upon them?

Unemployment is a serious issue that does not lend itself well to frivolity.   Sure, some people who collect unemployment are just lazy slackers abusing the system.  But for those people truly desperate to get a job…you’re looking at folks who are stressed out, struggling to feed their families, plagued by feeling unworthy, and seeking avenues to earn back their self respect.  Are these people likely to don a red cape in the hopes of “vanquishing” Dr. Evil Unemployment and take a picture thusly attired for the website photo gallery?  I think not.

Other elements of this $75,000 program include a Facebook contest and quiz (no joke:  “What Superhero Are You?”), photo opps for the unemployed with life size foam cutouts of Dr. Evil himself, billboards, and more.  Is it any wonder the campaign faced such criticism that they had to cancel it after the first week?  (For more details, here’s the original Orlando Sentinel story from April 15, and the Orlando Sentinel blog post from April 20th announcing the cancellation.)

The PR lesson to be learned here?  Do not use goofy, comical PR stunts to draw attention to grave issues…even when you’re the good guy who’s trying to solve them.  Now…if you’re a hotel company trying to showcase your fun side, and want to offer programs like, say…dogs cutting a record at a famous music studio in Nashville or learning to surf in San Diego…well, THAT’S ok.  Even the Today Show would approve of that (click here to see the clip…and yes, Redpoint masterminded this crazy – but successful – program).

But this doesn’t mean that serious issues like unemployment are off limits to PR people.   They just need to be treated with respect.  Take McDonald’s, for instance.  They made headlines in early April by announcing their intention to hire 50,000 people in the U.S. on April 19th.  Sounds amazing right?  Well, guess what?  They hire that many people every April anyway.  But some enterprising PR person in the McD’s food chain looked at that statistic and said, “Hey!  If we link this annual hiring spree to a specific day in April, we could probably get some positive press out of doing our part to reduce the unemployment rate!”  And voila:  they did.

Brilliant.  No cost, confessing to a little spin in their campaign (preventing the media from “exposing” it), and repackaging something they’re already doing to make it sound fresh and unique.  I love it.  Way to go, Mickey D’s.  You’ve done my profession proud.

Want a laugh?  Check out more examples of crazy but successful PR campaigns – including the Instant Gourmet Kitchen, the launch of the Department of Romance, and Playing Dirty During Mud Season – at redpointspeaks.com/results/case-studies/.

What potato chips taught me about marketing.

November 19, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Observations From the Field, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 8:03 am

My Great Aunt Pauline taught me a saying as a child that has served me well as a marketing counselor.

Enough is as good as a feast.

It simply means that as long as you have “enough” of whatever it is…you don’t need more than that. 

Now, while I believe she imparted these words of wisdom in response to my plea for the ENTIRE bag of potato chips instead of the – to my mind – miniscule bowl she was offering…it’s handy as a guideline when designing marketing programs.

There comes a point when fleshing out an idea or concept that there are “enough” elements to make it successful…and anything added after that just becomes:

  1. More logistics to manage without adding to the ROI
  2. A distraction of resources from the core focus and objectives
  3. An added cost burden
  4. Too confusing for your audience to effectively “get it”

So, whenever you are tempted to just add that one more thing to whatever program or concept you are developing…think of my Aunt Pauline and ask yourself “yes, this idea might be COOL…but will it be helpful or harmful to the overall objectives?”  Use that checklist above to evaluate each new idea, and if it puts the desired results at risk, either table it, swap it out to replace a less effective element, or toss it.

As to the potato chip debate, however, I still stand by my original retort:  You just can NEVER have enough…so bring on the feast!

Dude, no one is going to make you tweet.

November 17, 2010
Filed under: Marketing Strategies, Social Media, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 12:15 pm

“I hate Twitter.  I don’t get it.  It’s useless and a waste of time.”

This provocative comment from the floor at the start of a recent social media workshop at Redpoint’s Marketing Boot Camp sparked an utter frenzy of debate from the rest of the audience.  To tweet, or not to tweet?…that was DEFINITELY the question on everyone’s mind.

The incident gave me a perfect opportunity to pull the group up to 30,000 feet and acknowledge Redpoint’s Three Undeniable Truths about spending your social media marketing dollars wisely.  Resources are at risk of being wasted if…

  1. The person doing the job doesn’t get it, doesn’t like it, or doesn’t want to do it.
  2. Influential senior executives in the company are publicly skeptical about the benefits of social media.
  3. You’re waiting to pounce if it’s not a home run 24/7.

We’ve seen it time and again:  positive energy adds an intangible magic to social media marketing that simply cannot be replicated any other way. 

My advice to this passionate gentleman?  Don’t stress out about it.  If you hate Twitter, don’t use it.  Leverage a different social media tool that better suits your personality, and your brand’s.  Or…don’t.  How you choose to spend your marketing resources is entirely up to you, and there’s absolutely no point in wasting your time on something whose value you question.

Footnote:  while you shouldn’t expect to see this guy on Twitter any time soon, we DID at least get him to uncross his arms and laugh a bunch by the end of the workshop.  (And I tweeted about that.)

Er, no…the CPA is NOT your tax guy.

August 13, 2010
Filed under: Observations From the Field, Spending Budgets Wisely — @ 1:33 pm

Ever feel like you need a Rosetta Stone course in “online marketing speak?”

I’ve sat in meetings with internet marketing strategists on behalf of Redpoint clients, watching some of the acronyms and terms whiz by me (and everyone else) in conversation.  But then I see clients proceed to make desicions about how to spend their online marketing dollars…while not fully understanding how things like title tags or geo-targeting really work.

Happily, our friends at Search Engine Strategies magazine recently created a handy “cheat sheet” of terms and acronyms used by online marketers.  It’s attached here for your reference.  SES Glossary

Print it out.  Study up.  And make smarter decisions…or at the very least, ask better questions.

Feel free to scribble a few on the inside of your forearm before your next online marketing meeting.  I won’t tell.