Walt Denny Inc. Blog

Winning with a True Green Marketing Message

Green marketing is nearly ubiquitous as an integral tool for many marketing teams. The best way to promote sustainable products, processes and initiatives is to pursue sustainability's triple bottom line - people, planet and profit.

There is also a wrong way to market green. Even in the early 1990's 'greenwashing' was a recognized term being used to decry false green merits that companies were promoting. Simply put, greenwashing is a misleading, can't-be-backed claim - and at its unfortunate worst, a plain lie.

With green marketing's maturation and sustainable construction's unlimited growth potential, deliver authentic messages targeting the head and heart for compelling attraction to your green brand.

The Burning Question for Business Leaders: Who Should Lead Social Media Efforts?

It's a heavy question considering social media's growing implacations for business, its lead-generation capability and the titanic fact that Facebook had more traffic than Google in 2010 (Hitwise). Employing solid tactics is a must for energizing your web presence and accelerating your brand's digital effectiveness. 

Primarily, a company should turn to its marketing agency to take the social media lead. While this is the case for most, it is also critical for a business to have a number of people from the organization directly involved with the social media effort. To be clear, the social media campaign must be a partnership.

For example, much depends on your familiarity with and knowledge of social media. Like all marketing functions, a company's social media strategy should be goal-driven. Do you want more website traffic? More interaction with prospects? Do you want to bolster or expand relationships with existing customers? 

Negative Feedback, Positive Experience

Being a part of an online community through social networking and blogging can be an extremely positive opportunity for your company to address your audience and facilitate communication. However, when negative feedback strikes, the news travels fast. That's why it's important to pay close attention to your online forums such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. In addition, have a proper plan of action in place so you can turn the negatives into positives quickly and effectively. Taking this proactive approach demonstrates that your company is responsive and wants to do the right thing for your customers.

There are several types of negative feedback which may appear in your online social forums or on your social media accounts. It can take the form of constructive criticism or problems your customers are having with a product or service. These comments can actually be positive by helping you better serve clients. Customers, however, may also leave complaints to voice general dissatisfaction. Having a large amount of spam comments can also be considered negative. Spam comments are posted by automated computer systems, usually used to repeatedly post unwanted links to other websites. It can be a detrimental distraction from useful and more important aspects of your business online.

Why Social Media Followers and Fans 'like' You

Social media users are “liking” and “following” businesses and brands online at astounding rates.  To nurture your social media following, you need to know what your fan base wants and why they ‘like’ or ‘follow’ you.  With the answers to these questions, you can develop an effective social media strategy. Then you can motivate your online devotees to help you launch products, foster brand loyalty, and spread positive word-of-mouth conversations about your business.

Innovative companies use social media as a PR tool to create buzz around a new product launch.  According to reports, nearly 40% of social media users follow brands online for updates on future products and new product developments.  To quench their thirst for product updates, supplement your news releases with a tweet, Facebook and LinkedIn post or a video release.  The more engaging your content is, the more followers will spread the word about your latest innovations. You could also ask them to fill out an online survey to get to know more about their needs, and why they like your company.

Social Networks: The Media's New Resource

Members of the media are monitoring social media like never before.  Journalists, editors and reporters harness social networks to discover and report news, find sources and monitor trends.  With the correct strategy, your business can establish a direct and immediate connection to top influencers in your industry and position yourself as a thought leader.

Two thirds of journalists utilize Facebook and LinkedIn in their research and over half utilize information found on Twitter.  Social networks can help your business build meaningful relationships with the media.

Newsrooms are reducing staffs.  Reporters and editors are called to do more with fewer resources.  Social media sites offer a tremendous amount of information in real time.  In a recent survey, 65% of journalists indicated they use social networks and 89% use blogs to research story ideas and sources.  In late 2009, USA Today conducted bi-weekly training sessions to inform and train its journalists on how to use Twitter for reporting.

It’s beneficial to study the way journalists use social media.  Many will post requests for sources, photos or ask for story ideas across various social networks.  Engaging in a friendly and appropriate manner is paramount to effective and fruitful online interactions with the media. Without social media in your marketing mix, you miss out on many important opportunities to build relationships with prospects, customers and the media. 

The Power of Positive: What PR can do for CEOs

The Power of Positive: What PR can do for CEOs

When CEOs want to build enduring company value, PR is a toolkit stocked with strategic solutions. The use of strategic public relations enables a chief executive to lead the way with a brighter light, sound the message with a louder voice and expose a wider public to the good things that come from the whole organization.

CEOs who use PR effectively gain a thought leadership role, corporate credibility and an enhanced positive connection with customers, prospects, the media, employees and the consuming public.  

PR is a channel for highlighting leadership, positioning the CEO as an insightful individual at the helm of a forward-thinking company. Strategically-developed public relations can advance ideas, connect with customers and powerful government agencies, and even influence industry standards or regulation.

For CEOs, PR also humanizes the company, putting a face with its innovation, positive economic results and good deeds in the community. Through interviews, photos, analysis and more, a chief executive’s positive exposure provides corporate credibility. And there are ever more numerous ways for executives to use PR: a video message to investors, a speech to a local chamber of commerce or civic group, a podcast, an appearance on a broadcast program, or a series of blog posts or tweets.