Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Caution: Two Way Dialogue Ahead

Last week, Rob Martin of MM2spoke to our class about integrated marketing. I just want to start off by saying how much I enjoyed his visit. Mr. Martin was very direct and frank about his message. He didn’t beat around the bush to say what he wanted to. Secondly, his PowerPoint was visually enticing and kept me engaged the entire time. He backed up his argument with lots of research and statistics, which was a plus because some of these statistics blew me away.

Amongst other things, I took away three key points from Martin’s lecture:
1) Marketing is a multi-channel, multi-platform and deeply social phenomenon. 
2) Communication is now a two way street.
3) The 4 P’s of marketing/advertising have evolved with our growing technology.


I feel like the first two points can be grouped together and conclude that the nature of the business is now cyclical rather than horizontal, something that even Ken Fairchild pointed out. The old way of doing things was just advertising and getting your message across via print, radio and television. Your product’s sales were basically the only type of feedback you got. However, now that consumers have a voice – a strong one, that too – the system has completely changed.

Marketers today don’t have any excuse if they aren’t listening to what their consumers are saying. From social media channels to blogs and review boards, stakeholders are speaking anywhere and everywhere they can. It is up to the marketers to find and use this data in order to enhance their brand.

The third point complements this whole cycle as well. Before, the 4 P’s of the marketing mix  were product, place, promotion and price – all of which were controllable by the marketers in the one-way method. However, as Martin pointed out, those days are gone. The new 4 P’s, listed below, reflect the recent connected, two-way nature of the system:


1) Portal/platform
2) Permission
3) Participation
4) Personalization


As Martin said, we are living in the time of a “marketing mashup, where everything is multi-layered with lots of options.” The growth of technology is exponentially increasing these layers and options on a day-to-day basis. Now, how these layers and options are used at their full potential is up to us… 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Expansion of Quantitative PR

Before we left for spring break, we got to hear from Mike Lake, Chair of Burson-Marsteller's Southwest operations and Chair of their U.S. Public Affairs Practice. I’ve been fortunate enough to have known Mike for a few years now, via his involvement with PRSSA as well as the SMU Comm. Studies Advisory Board. I can confidently say that he is one of the most accomplished yet humble people I have ever come across and he is willing to help absolutely anyone who asks for it.

Mike brought a different kind of presentation to our classroom, which I truly enjoyed. He walked us through Burson-Marsteller’s iPoker campaign, teaching us all about BM’s commitment to maintaining an “Evidence-Based Communications.” What is that, you ask? Rolled out in December 2009, the Evidence-Based Communications approach is a type of “methodology for developing, monitoring and measuring communications programs.” As Mike said, it “ends the guess work and brings about the homework.” Yes, he went there and used the “h” word we dread.

Mike’s presentation was full of research and statistics that were relevant to the topic. If someone walked into the classroom midway through his presentation, they would think it was STAT 5301 instead of CCPA 5301. Nonetheless, the homework that Mike talked about brings a quantitative facet to the field of public relations, which is much needed in my opinion.

Often times, I have heard of people writing PR off as a subjective industry where all we do is plan parties and manipulate people. This isn’t just an American problem – it is a global problem. However, I commend agencies such as BM for adopting such approaches and steering public relations to become a combination of art, business and science skills.

Friday, March 4, 2011

It's a Small World, After All

Remember when you were little and your parents would play the song “It’s a Small World?” It indeed is a small world. This week, we had Jennifer Little and Ashley Maddocks from Edelman come to our class. It took me back to my fall semester of my junior year, as I had the privilege of interning with their office back then.
Ashley and Jennifer had great chemistry as co-speakers and did a wonderful job of representing the agency world to us. Often times as graduating seniors, we are told to “fear” the fast pace and the work load of a PR agency. The two ladies, however, reminded us how this actually is a good thing and prepares upcoming PR professionals for a versatile career in the industry. Additionally, they shed a lot of light upon how Edelman helps their employees grow via programs such as Edelman University and Living in Color.
However, the one thing that struck me the most about our conversation with them was our discussion of the PR industry in Dallas. Dallas may be one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States, but everyone knows everyone in the PR world here. This may reflect our locals’ ability to network powerfully or just the fact that our numbers aren’t as considerable as New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Either way, the song’s golden rule of “friendship to everyone” applies here more than anywhere else.
The ladies proved this point by giving us an example of a potential intern who had experience at another agency where he didn’t put his best foot forward. Little did he know, his current supervisor was Ashley’s roommate…  As you may have guessed, he surely didn’t get to be a Trainee at Edelman after that.
While one must always be a positive and hard-working intern regardless of where they are, we must realize that this matters even more in a well-connected community like Dallas. The six degrees of separation are probably cut into three degrees here and I want to thank Jennifer and Ashley of reminding us that it’s a small world, after all.