Morningstar Communications Luminary Blog

I was blown away by the quality of education and powerful speakers brought in for last year’s KC IABC Business Communicators Summit and I was pleased to see that Chris Brogan, one of the important national voices in social media, will be the keynote speaker at the next summit in February (registration information coming soon at KC-IABC).

I saw an interview with Chris at whatever the “Blog World” du jour conference in California was this week and he encouraged me because, like Brian Solis who we heard here in town recently, he begins with the message that “it’s not about the tools…it’s about enabling the right connections.”  The tools are the means to that end.

Chris talks about how, in the PR 2.0 world, strategic communicators need to see themselves as being “at the elbow of communications."  We all have two substantial parts of our arms but, without the elbow, they don’t work together.  The elbow provides the connection that makes everything work.

When I look at how we’ve served clients recently, I see so many great examples of using relationships to connect people toward common win-win’s:

•    For our client Youth Entrepreneurs Kansas we used social networking tools to create a “virtual class reunion” which has resulted in dozens of new fans signing up to hear more;
•    The recent visit by our MS&L public affairs head in Washington has resulted in getting an important meeting between one of our clients and a senior Obama administration official;
•    We just showed one of our favorite non-profits how it can build its database and drive event attendance through the use of social networking tools (the target audience is suburban parents and teachers … how much of a stretch is that!)

It’s a great time to be in our business because we’re in the midst of a transformation – we’re using new tools to allow us to facilitate even deeper connections than ever before.  Keep your elbows bent!
 

You are probably thinking, another posting about the flu, really? Why is there a post about the flu on a communications blog? I will tell you why.

As communicators, we counsel our clients on how to deal with many issues. With social media playing a larger role in how we receive our information, we need to develop message platforms that cover all areas of communication. The Public Relations Society of America published the following article to use as a resource: Pandemic Flu Communications: How to Prepare for a Crisis in a Web 2.0 World. We need to be prepared.

From an operations viewpoint, does your business have a policy regarding staying home when you are sick? Most do, but employees go to work when they are ill anyway. They use excuses like they have a project that has to get done, or I am out of sick days, or I have to save my sick days for when my kids are ill and I have to stay home with them. Maybe an employee comes in for a little while to finish something up. They are doing nobody a favor by coming to the office. It only takes one to start an office pandemic. We have lived through one here and it was not something we care to repeat.

The CDC has easy to follow guidelines and many helpful tips. Be smart. Stay home and don't come back until you have been fever free for 24 hours without help from medicines. Your co-workers will be happier to help with your workload than share in your misery.

Our world is in trouble. Economically, environmentally and emotionally. All we have to do is read the news, and we see a very troubling situation. But instead of just sitting around, discussing it and getting depressed, what should we do?

We should all work even harder to make the world a better place. In the long-run it’s good for the world and for business.

Ok, so if that sounds a little preachy, so be it…this is our blog, after all. Not only is this my opinion; it’s how we run our business. In addition to helping our clients grow and strengthen their businesses, at Morningstar Communications, we are committed to helping to repair the world:

1. We choose one outstanding not-for-profit organization each year to provide pro bono services. For 2009, we’re extremely proud of our friends at Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas (YEK), who teach business and entrepreneurial skills in high school classrooms, and offer hands-on experience to help students succeed as business owners or employers. We help YEK communicate with its key constituents, including donors and volunteers, as well as gain awareness across Kansas and the Kansas City area.
2. We encourage our employees to help our industry and community, and we fully support those efforts. Our employees have held leadership positions with Greater Kansas City PRSA, Alphapointe Association for the Blind, Kansas City International Association of Business Communicators, The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Reach Out and Read, The Jewish Federation, Shawnee Mission Education Foundation, The Counselors Academy, Business Marketing Association, American Marketing Association, and many, many others.
3. We invest time as a team to help repair the world. In the past, we’ve entertained youth at Spofford Home, served lunch to the homeless at Grace and Holy, sorted cans at Harvesters, built a garage as part of Habitat for Humanity.
4. And perhaps most important of all, we provide three days each year of paid time-off to encourage all of our employees to help a charity of their personal choice. We don’t approve their request; nor do they have to report what they accomplished. But most of our team members want us to know about the great work they do. In the past, our team has volunteered at shelters (both human and animal), hosted visitors to our community, provided teacher assistance at our schools, and cleaned up our environment, among others.
   

Charity – generosity and helpfulness toward the needy or suffering – is a core responsibility of each and every one of us. Doing acts of charity simply can’t be outsourced…we all must do our own part personally.

Not all acts of charity are equal. And to better understand this notion, I suggest that we all consider that great biblical scholar, Maimonides, who created this hierarchy for the giving of charity, each level more ideal than the other:

1. One who gives grudgingly, reluctantly, or with regret.
2. One who gives less than he should, but gives graciously.
3. One who gives what he should, but only after he is asked.
4. One who gives before he is asked.
5. One who gives without knowing to whom he gives, although the recipient knows the identity of the donor.
6. One who gives without making known his identity.
7. One who gives without knowing to whom he gives, neither does the recipient know from whom he receives.
8. One who helps another to support himself by a gift, or a loan, or by finding employment for him, thus helping him to become self-supporting.

We’re especially proud that our help this year with YEK focuses on the highest ideal.

So, as you turn off all the negative news and consider all of the good news and blessings in your own life, my challenge to you is simple: What else can you do to help repair the world?

Onward and upward.

I’ve been fortunate lately to work with several clients who are going through the full-fledged branding process. One of the most important and exciting aspects of defining a brand is creating personas so you can envision exactly who you are talking to. But as time goes on, it becomes more difficult to pinpoint an exact person, with one mindset, you can always count on reaching.

A relatively new client of ours, Ryan Bennett, founder and CEO of Liv, sent me an article today called “Personifying the People Who Will Buy From You,” by Brian Massey, who has 15 years of online marketing experience. The main point of his post is that you have to constantly be testing your touch-points for effectiveness.

If you meant to reach one person, and instead reached someone else, as a marketer you have to not only recognize that fact, but ask yourself, “Why did I get that outcome?” Even beyond than that, you now need to evaluate if your unintended outcome might be a better target in the first place.

It sounds nearly impossible to catch the right person, using the right touch-point, in the right mind-set in order to give them exactly what they want – but in fact it is very do-able. That’s why we invest in research, constantly assess and revise our approaches, and develop personas in the first place.

Overall, here is my favorite insight from Brian’s blog:

“Touch-point personas help you target your messages and offers, changing the way you present information. They keep you from being the victim of the shifting image in your mind, and get your entire team on the same page.”
 

That’s what the sign said, held by a young girl from her driveway on a cul-de-sac, in our very quiet neighborhood. As you would expect, there’s not much drive-by traffic.

Eric is an absolute pushover for a kid selling anything. He loves to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit. Knowing that we really don’t need any more stuff, he said, “I’m going to give her a dollar for her effort.”

As we pulled up next to the driveway, she ran to our car. That’s when we noticed her older brother arranging the merchandise on the card table. (There was truth in labeling…the table was covered in “stuff” you know, action figures, small games, etc…) Mom waved to us from inside the garage as our conversation began.

Eric said to her, “We really don’t want anything, but here’s a dollar for your effort.” She turned and ran to her Mom and shrieked, “We got a dollar!”

“You’re our first sale!” chirped in big brother. And capitalizing on the moment, he added, “We’re open every Friday.”

By now, Mom had joined the conversation next to our car and said, “You can’t just give my kids a buck,” and made her son bring us an unopened bottle of water.

As we drove off we were left with three key observations, all of which apply to Morningstar Communications and any other business:

• Hang a sign – let people know that you’re open for business. Who knows, the next person to come by might be your first – or biggest – new client. It’s not enough to just build a better mousetrap; you have to let your key audiences know about your business.
• Respond to the market – If Friday is the best day for a sale, then use this market feedback to drive your business. Successful businesses must continually adapt their product offering to market conditions.
• Give something unexpected – We really didn’t want a bottle of water, and we certainly didn’t expect anything for our dollar, but it honestly felt good to get something a little extra.
  

Are your signs out? Do you respond to market conditions? Are you giving more than expected?

Now that I think about it, we did get some pretty good stuff.

Heck of a value for a buck.
 

Websites, press releases, social networking sites. We know businesses can design and write content through these channels that help boost its search engine rankings. But what about an individual’s name? Can you Search Engine Optimize (SEO) a name?

Yes, you can. According to a blog post by Derek Edmond, there are several ways to boost your name’s visibility in search engines, including:

•    Create “Vanity” URLs for social networking profiles. For example, the URL for my LinkedIn profile is http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jessica-spencer-gardner/6/6b8/a84. When my full name is searched for in Google (Jessica Spencer-Gardner), my LinkedIn profile is the first search result.
•    Write guest columns for online news sources. If you contribute an article to an online news site, most of the time they will link to your company bio or website. These articles should show up in a Google search for your name.
•    Use a service that allows for cross-linking. Social news aggregators, like FriendFeed, allow for cross-linking to all your online social media profiles. This is one I definitely need to implement for myself!

Got any more tips? I'd love to hear them!

In her last post, my colleague Sheri discussed how every company has a legislative issue. So how can you make government work for you?

During our September Illumination Session, Neil Dhillon discussed many ways for companies to get involved in public policy. Last week, I blogged about sharing your perspective on legislative issues with the media. This week I’ll cover Neil’s second suggestion – taking your voice to Capitol Hill.  

From talking with your state representatives to lobbying on the hill, you can make your company’s voice heard to those government officials who can make a difference.

One timely topic is stimulus money. Only around 11 percent of stimulus funds have been executed to-date and the government only has a year to distribute these funds. That means they have a lot of catching up to do. If you think your company may qualify for stimulus funds, let it be known.

Neil also stated that we shouldn’t be shy about talking to our government leaders. They are in office to be our advocates. Ask them to represent your interests and if they don’t listen the first time ask again. If needed, bring experienced professionals with existing relationships into the picture.

Every day our colleagues in our MS&L Washington D.C. office are working on Capitol Hill to affect legislation that is important to our clients. The next time your company faces a legislative issue remember that you can affect policy and consider calling us if you need help making it happen.

Programs including CNN and CNBC can be a good way to gauge the temperature on issues circulating in D.C. But you may have watched these channels and felt left out.

It seems like there's hardly ever an expert who isn't from the east coast. This dynamic actually creates an excellent opportunity for those of us from the Midwest. Our perspective is not often represented, making it more attractive to the folks who book experts on these shows.

No matter your industry, you probably have someone at your company who can fulfill this role and provide perspective on how legislative issues affect people in the Midwest. This type of commentary plays well not only in the national media, but also in local media. For instance, a guest column written for the opinion and editorial page of The Kansas City Star can be a great way to share your company's position on the issue.

So, as you're looking for additional opportunities to share your perspective with constituents, don't discount national political talk shows or local media.