The Credibility Branding Blog

Influencers Really do Enhance your Brand

The following is a case study in a) thinking out of the box and b) leveraging credibility to guaranteed success. This illustrates in spades the benefits of having influencers on board to enhance the perception of the brand. Congratulations Steve. Steve Kayser is with Cincom PR

Being Thrown Out Was a Good Start

One of Cincom's product-line divisions was spending about $60,000 per year to produce a quarterly print newsletter. But any proof that it was anything but printed, recycled wood was non-existent. However, there were abundant reasons to believe it was never being seen nor used. The evidence? Huge stacks of the routinely thrown-out newsletter in the supply closet.

The Product Marketing Manager at the time, Steve Kayser, had been hearing about e-mail newsletters in the business marketing press, so he got a quick pricing quote from an e-mail vendor and popped his head into his treasurer's office to get permission to move ahead.

Uh-Oh, Now What?

Kayser explains, "He liked the concept so much, that he said, 'Great; do it for the whole company.'" Suddenly Kayser, who'd been planning a short newsletter to interest the clients of a single product line, had to come up with a newsletter that would please the entire array of Cincom client executives – over 5,000 corporate clients in 93 countries, representing just about every industry you can imagine, from aerospace to utilities.

How do you create a single newsletter that will please top executives and corporate managers with a zillion different interests?

Quick! Get on the Way to Average

A couple thoughts occurred. What does every company have in common? Every company has customer issues, business-process issues, and content issues. Why not come up with a newsletter or e-zine that covers those common issues, throw in a featured story and a few spotlights, and be well on the way to, well … average.

Something else was needed to make it educational, engaging, and, more importantly, credible. How do you do that?

Well, perhaps ask some world-class business experts and published authors to participate. And to make it unique, why not use the power of interactivity to allow readers to ask the experts questions, and make sure they get answers?

Kayser found it fairly easy to line up experts to participate. The pitch was simple – no one would have to work very hard, and they'd get a lot of glory.

Win-Win-Win

"Experts wanted to know how many questions they'd have to answer. I said, 'Your answers can be 200, 500, or 750 words and link back to something you published or to your website. I'll only publish two questions a month. How bad can that workload be, shared between all of the experts? You're not going to get blown away with writing work, and in every issue, you’ll get exposure to our subscribers. It’s a win for the experts. It’s a win for our readers. And it’s a win for Cincom  - building credibility and awareness with each issue. Win–win-win.

So, the newsletter was named “Expert Access.” Each issue prominently features an “Ask the Experts” section near the top with a reader's question answered, and a big, fat submit button that readers click on to submit more questions. Plus, there are links to a whole panel of additional experts along the newsletter's left navigation column.  This gives all contributing experts exposure in every issue, whether or not they answered a question or contributed.

Some of the experts and contributors have included:

·        Al Ries, author of “The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR”

·        Dr. David Abshire, Center for the Presidency, author of “Saving the Reagan Presidency”

·        Dave Stein, best-selling business author of “How Winners Sell” and CEO and founder of ES Research Group, The Sales Training Authority

·        Tom Nies, who according to former President Ronald Reagan, is "the epitome of the entrepreneurial spirit of American business"

·        Bo Burlingham, author of “Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big”

·        Sam Horn, author of ”POP! How to Stand Out in any Crowd”

·        Stephanie Palmer, author of “Good in a Room”

·        Nettie Hartsock, author of “Start the Press!”

·        Marc Seifer, author of ”Wizard; the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla”

·        Elliot McGucken, author, poet, artistic entrepreneur, and founder of the “Jolly Roger,” a web portal hailed as the “Flagship of the Renaissance”

·        Dr. Paul Pearsall, international best-selling author of "The Beethoven Factor"

·        Jeff Thull, author of "Mastering the Complex Sale" and CEO of Prime Resource 

·        JoAnna Brandi, customer loyalty expert and customer retention maven

·        Ken Sutherland, creative impresario and the music behind the film "Savannah Smiles"

A Funny Thing Happened …

Along the way.  As the expert contributors increased – the quality of Cincom’s internal expert’s writing also grew and kept pace. The credibility of the publication blossomed. Readers benefited and responded. Cincom Expert Access grew tremendously. From 2005 at 55,000 subscribers to December 2006 at over 135,000 subscribers.

   

How to Build a Creditable Platform That Will Attract All Key Contacts (Customers, Partners, and Influencers)

Use a little humor; help readers do their jobs better; become aware of new ideas, products, and services; and occasionally, have a B2B laugh.

Kayser started a series of articles called “Shoot the Donkey” that uses a little irreverent humor to poke fun at the complexities of business today. 

How Are We Doing?

Ask. Do surveys. Ask for suggestions and comments all the time.

For example, in a recent, six-month survey, Expert Access readers were asked to rate story selection, usefulness to their daily jobs, content categories, graphic look, responsiveness, professionalism, and overall impression.

The survey received responses from all over the world including: China, the UK, Latvia, Brazil, Belgium, Scotland, India, the Philippines, France, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Zambia, the Middle East, Finland, Colombia, Eastern Europe, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the United States.

·        93% of readers rated Expert Access as “excellent” or “good.”

·        7% rated the newsletter as “average.”

·        There was an “opt-out” rate of less than 4/10 of 1%. (A true measure of a newsletter’s popularity is how many recipients opt out.)

·        Over 500 readers respond to a call-to-action or visit Cincom's website to learn more about its products and services with each issue.

Results

Since its launch, the Expert Access subscriber list has grown to more than 135,000 readers and is distributed in 49 countries. This is despite the fact that approximately 3% to 5% of e-mail addresses go bad each month due to job changers and other names that need to be removed.

In 2006, Cincom’s Expert Access was named one of the best B2B e-mail newsletters by Marketingsherpa.  The newsletter has also received a stack of happy reader testimonials that would make other newsletter marketers intensely jealous. For example, one reader stated, "The subjects are not common stuff, and the content is just excellent. The value? Priceless." Another reader says, "I like the stories with motivational content, the interactive nature, the humorous writing style of the editor, and the varied selection of content from diverse sources. Ask the Expert is a great idea! I intend on using that more often."

Link to a sample of Cincom’s Expert Access: http://www.internetviz-newsletters.com/cincom

Market Research – Moving Beyond the Calculator (and a case for Credibility Branding)

Several of you have been asking me what credibility branding is. The “definition” is; creating and leveraging the point of credibility within and outside the company to accelerate the speed of sales. Credibility branding is really charged with changing the bottom line culture of a company and part of that is a different way of thinking. Part of what credibility branding does, is offer tools and models to adjust the perspective of your organization. It simply allows you to think about things in a different way. Credibility Branding services also offers new research models, one simple example of this is examining editorial content.

Do you know how many companies do not research what the editorial community is saying? Companies do great research on the financial aspects of the marketplace, which is really important and has to be done; on the feature set of their product and comparison to their competition, which is really important and has to be done; and they completely forget positioning. The positioning piece is perception, and perception is reality. If you are not creating a perception that matches the market opportunity, you are not going to win anyone over, including the editorial community.

Publications, bloggers, broadcasting outlets; the content generated by these companies and individuals is a goldmine in perspective and perception. Publications only make money if there is circulation and a readership. Why you should care about that? Well, they are delivering content that readers care about. They are the barometer regarding what is important to your customer. So by reading and reviewing this content you can shortcut a lot of high end market research, it is right in front of your nose.  Talking to editors and analyst is another way to glean this info. They speak with your competitors and your customers, they have a unique understanding. Have a conversation with them; you might not have to reinvent the positioning wheel.

Research beyond the features and finances might also include examining competitor's positioning clues. Review the web site, press releases, sales materials, editorial coverage, speaking opps, awards etc.  By reviewing these materials in the public domain you will gain unique insights regarding your competitors positioning. Here are some other questions to ask while reviewing this material:

·        How are your competitors positioning themselves in press releases?

o       How is the editorial community embracing that positioning?

·        Are they getting influencers on board?

o       Who are these influencers?

o       What are they saying about them and the market?

·        What are their speeches about and where are they speaking?

o       How does that differ from what you are doing?

·        What are their key benefit statements?

·        Who do they appear to be directing their message to?

o       Is it middle management, is it end user customers, is it C-Level executives, is it the channel?

Doing this kind of research beyond the traditional linear approach, and looking at the messaging and positioning opportunities available is an important process that is often missed. Consultancies like mine can take on this type of project. It is one of those things that is difficult to enforce internally; while it is very important it often takes a back burn to what appears to be more immediate. The credibility branding system would take this research to the next level and perform a perception audit. Researching the content is just one piece of it, interviewing key constituents directly gleans the most relevant information about your company, its business practices, the market opportunities, as well as positioning.

Understanding the messaging and positioning opportunities allow companies to focus on the influencers that are going to match that. Leveraging these influencers, who already have established market credibility, ensures instant recognition and your own improved credibility in the marketplace. Improved credibility empowers your customers to get on board faster.

Public Relations: Pitching the Big Guys – How to Get Their Attention

The key to pitching the pundits and high profile editors at large renowned publications (and small but targeted industry trade publications) is to engage with them beyond just a pitch. Have a conversation with them, ask them their opinions on the topic and not just sell them. They get sold to by what they call “PR Minions” all the time and a real conversation is refreshing for them. You can be honest and tell them you have a story idea you want to pass by them but don’t just focus on your client, focus on the broader trends story; that is where the editors will be focusing. Here are a few additional tips:

·        Understand what they write about and ensure that you have read at least the last five articles they have published.

·        Remind them of the last time you worked together

·        Keep contacting them until they say no and give a reason (not in a rude way but discover it through conversation)

·        Offer your client as an expert to explain the industry landscape and "shortcut it" for the editor

·        Ensure the story has a human interest angle.

In late 2005 I interviewed several business editors, and here is what they had to say:

•         Forbe’s Dennis Kneale: he is looking for a strong central character, a protagonist, to tell the story of the company and their struggle.

•         BusinessWeek’s Steve Hamm: Conflict, good guys and bad guys, and he loves stories where the bad guys win. “If a story dramatically shifts the competitive landscape, or if it defies conventional wisdom, that’s the kind of story we want at BusinessWeek.”

•         Benn Elgin of BusinessWeek: he appreciates anecdotes that can lead to real storytelling, like “There he was on the 4th floor conference room on a crisp November morning…”

When working with these pundits, it is important to understand the industry landscape and recent trends. Working within a specific industry, you have an insider perspective that adds value to the editor’s perspective. They want it and need it. However because they are inundated with so many PR folks who have not done their homework editors often will not give you the benefit of the doubt. If you have done your homework, understand the BENEFITS of your product and can intelligently discuss the industry trends then have the confidence to ask the editor questions until they are engaged into a conversation.

Here are a few ways to get that insider perspective that the editors will see as valuable:

·        You have all kinds of people in the company that have opinions and great insights, use them:

o       Talk to your sales guys find out what their customers are saying.

o       Speak with product managers about their perspective of the market competitors and customers.

·        Talk to customers when you can

·        Read, read and read some more… (or scan as the case may be) understand what the broader landscape is so you can have an intelligent conversation with editors and analysts

·        Customize your email pitch to editors (see qualification below)

There are some caveats with the list above.

1)      Use common sense when sharing with editors, every bit of a conversation with you is fair game for printing… there is no such thing as off the record!

2)      Most of you likely rolled your eyes at the suggestion of reading… “when do I have time” is usually the mantra. Here are some suggestion to overcome this:

a.       Don’t pile it up or you wont; ever get to it. Do it in the moment. As you are about to call several high profile editors read their content.

b.      Do a quick Google news search on the topic and scan the material until you get some good info and have a better understanding. Cut and paste the nuggets into a page of talking points that you can have in front of you when speaking with editors.

c.       Ask them questions about what you’ve read. Asking questions of a high profile editor will not only engage them but you will likely learn something really interesting about the sector.

d.      Use what you learn from editors in your next conversation, you will likely learn another nugget of information you might not have known

3)      You will have better luck with engineers and product managers by catching them in the hall and in the lunch room… they will be more open and casual and you will likely get better info than a formal meeting (which they probably won’t take any way)

4)      It would be physically impossible on today’s PR budgets to customize each email. Customize the top 10 – 20 publications; the high end or very targeted ones. Then divide your list into several spreadsheets based on specific pitches. Customize the pitch to each list (for example focus the healthcare pitch to the healthcare list, the enterprise story to the enterprise focused publications etc.). Then use a service or Outlook/Word mail merge to ensure the email is customized with each editor’s name (and maybe include a field with their publication in the body of the email).

Bottom line is do your homework, read the editors recent articles, figure out the style and tone and engage them in a conversation. You likely won’t get a placement the first time but by the third try you have started to build a relationship, and that trust will put you at the top of the list the next time there is a story the editor is developing about your topic.

A Business Case for Credibility Branding

Several communications executives have contributed articles about credibility branding practices applied, these will be published weekly for as long as I receive contributions (I will accept more so send them my way!). The following is from Dusty Rhodes Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for PlatformOne, a leading HR outsourcing services provider.

The focus of his article is “customer as influencer;” this is a key marketing strategy; to treat your customers as potential word-of-mouth marketers. Thanks Dusty for the unique insights.

Article by: By Dusty Rhodes, PlatformOne

Still today, marketing just might be the most misunderstood profession around. When you try once again to explain what you do to your family or friends over dinner, you get pleasant yet blank expressions. You learn to live with that. But then you deal with a lot of the same misunderstanding on the job too. Comes with the territory, you surmise.

So, to put a stake in the ground, let’s first define marketing. According to the late Professor Theodore Levitt, legendary Marketing Scholar and former Harvard Business Review Editor, marketing is "All the exhilarating big things and all the troublesome little things that must be done in every nook and cranny of the entire corporate organization in order to achieve the purpose of attracting and holding a customer."

That pretty much sums it up. Our challenge at PlatformOne was just that – attracting and holding our initial customers, while competing against a few of the most financially strong, customer rich and market dominant companies of the 20th century. And we were a startup, three short years ago.

Today, according to independent industry analyst Nelson Hall, PlatformOne is one of the top providers of HRO technology and services to the mid-market, companies with from 500 to 15,000 employees. We deliver HR outsourcing administrative services, such as payroll processing and benefits administration, through HR professionals who utilize the best technology available in the market. Our staff consists of HR professionals whom have all made the shift from working for companies in industry to working for PlatformOne, an HR outsourcing services provider.

Three years ago we had one client, a management team in transition and a half-baked marketing strategy for an emerging market space called HR-BPO (business process outsourcing). The distinguishing difference between HR-BPO and the more traditional piecemeal outsourcing services like payroll processing provided by the national firms is that with HR-BPO the provider takes full responsibility for the success of the process.

The good news then was there was no dominating company that had identified and targeted the HR-BPO market like we had, yet. The bad news was that we knew of at least two powerful, nationally recognized companies in similar yet different HR outsourcing businesses that would be capable of duplicating our approach and making our market their own, virtually overnight. To make matters worse, there were 30 or so nationally recognized firms who were competing for HR outsourcing clients among the Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, and their marketing efforts were muddying the waters and slowing decisions in our mid-market space. To make matters doubly worse, dozens of HR outsourcers who traditionally serviced the low-end market (companies with 50 employees and fewer) were announcing intensions or ill-conceived solutions for HR-BPO into our market as well.

Simply put, our number one challenge was marketing. We needed to figure out the “what” and the “how” of marketing, and we needed to execute fast. We knew the “who” (the mid-market space and some other specific trade secrets we won’t mention here) and we knew the “when” (yesterday). The “why” is always obvious in business (gain market share and the resulting profits).

With numerous players in and around our target market, the “what” became pretty obvious fairly quick too. We had to specifically differentiate PlatformOne and our solution from all the rest. We remembered one of Levitt’s key marketing themes - “Differentiation is the essence of everything; everything can be and is differentiable.”

Thankfully we really did have some key differentiators. Unlike those other two national firms that were both potentially major competitors then (and are today), PlatformOne utilized a fully integrated HR information system as a technology platform upon which we delivered all our administrative services. All our HR professionals were well trained on the inner workings of our HR system, and they utilized the technology platform to deliver better, more personalized service to our clients. We assigned dedicated implementation and services teams to each client, resulting in better service. Those dedicated teams also answered calls from their assigned client’s employees through “branded”, client specific 800 numbers routed directly to them in PlatformOne service centers, resulting again in better service. While the national providers charged “extra” for each additional service, such as a new report, PlatformOne services were all included in one competitive fee.   

So, the “what” was the strength of our differentiation (superior technology, personalized service, and the best value in the marketplace). That was the relatively easy part of the marketing strategy to determine.

The “how” of the marketing strategy was the real challenge. How was a startup with no marketing budget going to get its differentiating message to a massive, emerging market (with over 50 other marketing messages competing for the same mindshare), and do so quickly and effectively and impact positively our near-term sales results? 

Not all marketing strategies, onto themselves, are equally effective. The most effective marketing strategy has to fit hand-and-glove with the specific marketing challenge. Just throwing money at marketing campaigns and advertising our differentiators wasn’t smart. It was also counter to our management’s philosophy of “spend after you earn” and wasn’t within our current financial capabilities anyway. This was a bigger challenge than we could execute on our own. We needed help.

If we couldn’t do this ourselves, whom could we turn to for assistance? Then it hit us.

The “how” was to establish a TRUST factor in the marketplace, which some call The Credibility Factor.

We had to embark on the "credibility branding" of PlatformOne.

Simply put, Credibility Branding is a proven communication technique and marketing process that best convinces the key decision makers in your target market to objectively consider the value of your products and services. But unlike most marketing campaigns these days, the convincing of the businessperson / decision makers is not done by a super salesperson, a catchy advertising slogan, a technically slick website or a self-proclaimed image of superiority through a power point presentation.  Credibility Branding gains favor with key decision makers not through what you say about yourself, but what others say about you, your company and your business value to them. In our case at PlatformOne, the “others” are those third parties that we strive to develop as key influencers on our behalf. First are the publications, analysts, and other experts that cover our market space. Second, are our partners – companies with whom we co-market that can influence the same decision makers we seek to win over, because they have favor and pre-existing relationships with those decision makers. Third, and most importantly, are our customers.

Today, we exploit "credibility branding” techniques in virtually 100% of our company’s efforts. These third party influencers are the basis for all we do to promote our company and its products and services. We use every technique available to us, from our industry’s associations, media, pundits, consultants, publications, and the like to customer testimonials, case studies, white papers, strategic partnerships, and word-of-mouth campaigns. In the end, what your customers and other relevant influencers say about you and your services is the single most important factor in any sales success.

PlatformOne promotes this philosophy in all that we do. We demand near perfect performance from our implementations and services teams. We believe strongly in customer testimonials published through relevant yet independent media periodicals. Everyday we seek out freelance writers who are working on assignments in our market space. We coordinate customer and freelance writer interviews so our customers are telling their own stories about the success of HR outsourcing (and gaining them press for their businesses as they do). We gain credibility by helping third party writers complete assignments (and then quote us and our customers) on the important articles around HR outsourcing. Then we re-publish the coverage we get on our own website, on the home page. Also we publish our own press releases, not about our successes, but about our clients’ successes, in the form of "successful launches" and "benefits achieved testimonials".

Sure, we want each prospect of our services to come see our operations and meet our HR services team professionals. But, more than that, we want them to talk one-on-one to our customers. We gain a prospect’s trust when they hear directly from a client how PlatformOne helped a national retailer launch their new HR department following business-restructuring decisions relating to the 911 terrorist attacks. Or how PlatformOne systems, procedures and staffing support helped a professional services firm save their business from losing their customers in a mass exodus. Or how PlatformOne helped another services firm move nearly 40,000 employee records from 4 disparate HR systems to one integrated HR technology platform from which they could run their business more efficiently and profitably. These are the testimonials that bring the "credibility branding" campaign all together.

And, as a result, PlatformOne has grown our business, in a relatively new market since 2002 or so, to one of the top HR-BPO providers in the mid-market space. Thanks to credibility earned with our customers and credibility gained from our customers.

About PlatformOne: PlatformOne is a leading HR outsourcing services provider to the mid-market, specializing in integrated technology and administrative services for the HR functions, including payroll, benefits and numerous other human resources functions. For more information, visit www.platformone.com.

About the author: Dusty Rhodes is the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for PlatformOne. He joined PlatformOne in 2003 to launch the market strategies and partnership development initiatives of the company’s HR-BPO practice.

Mr. Rhodes has over 25 years of experience creating the strategies and managing the execution of various revenue generation functions for technology companies. He is often credited with identifying market trends at early stages. His career includes roles at consulting services and application software industry leaders such as Accenture, MSA, and Manhattan Associates. He holds a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Computer Science and a Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Georgia.

Business To Business Viral Marketing – It Can Work

Social media is about conversations, and you don't have to go to MySpace and the like to have those conversations. Cisco proves this, and by being authentic and initiating conversations with bloggers they become thought leaders and influencers engaging other industry influencers. All of it adds up to more user generated content and messaging that comes from the audiences and customers themselves (not an ad guy). Smart credibility branding!

Here is an amazing article from ZDNet and guest blogger Chas Edwards of Federated Media that talk about Cisco’s viral campaign…

Conversational marketing, viral success & your product

Every marketer these days wants the kids at My Space befriending their corporate mascots, producing fun-yet-favorable YouTube videos that feature their products and writing blog posts on that fresh, revitalized feeling that comes from using their brand of soap.

But here’s the catch.  Most of us – the My Space kids included – don’t want to talk about most companies’ products.  We want to talk about ourselves!  So what’s an aspiring “conversational marketer” to do? Read the rest of it…

Premier Payment Services – Succinct Messaging, Excellent Solution

So you have a new product/service/company and it is time to crank up the awareness, drive new customers and further educate current customers and partners? One of the most important strategies is to have concise, succinct messaging with clear benefit statements. I recently spoke with a company that is delivering niche services to wealth managers and financial advisors. The clear benefit? Improving client retention for wealth managers and managing complexities for their clients. The messaging is clear and easily understandable.

I have a particular interest in companies and entrepreneurs who are targeting what I call “the 20% niche benefits.” They offer solutions that take a market segment that is humming along just fine at about 80% capacity and success (the ultimate achievement for just about anything) yet see the need for a value added service or product that can take it to 100%. Premier Payment Services is just that kind of company.

What They Do:

Most wealth management companies outsource bookkeeping for their wealthy clients. Those bookkeeping services are generally done by an individual who manages the ledger and makes sure bills are paid and the ledger balances. It is amazing that in a world of Quicken and online bill paying there are still individual bookkeepers (apparently a lot of them!) that write checks and mail bills. Premier Payment Services is allowing the sophistication and speed of technology to help take over this task and in the process allowing wealth managers to add value to their customer interactions ensuring better retention.

With added wealth come new toys, vacation homes, and a whole raft of additional bills. Some clients have as many as 200 or more bills they have to manage for multiple houses and the ancillary services and products needed for each home. “Individuals who own multiple homes will dispense money to the pool guy and cleaning services, why not to a bill payer? While there are some great financial management packages out there, that include bill paying, most users don’t want to have to figure out how to use them (and the learning curve can be high). “Our service removes the complexity of managing the financial obligations for multiple properties,” said Devin Miller, vice president of business development, Premier Payment Services.

Here is a excellent example of a messaging tree the communications representative from Premier Payment supplied me with:

·        What's the service: Concierge bill pay.

·        Target audience: Wealth managers

·        What does the service include: Outsourced, automated bill payment for high networth clients.

·        Why is this service better than a bookkeeper: They offer business grade bookkeeping plus online tracking and reporting.

·        Why would wealth managers wan it: Retention and insight into client’s finances.

·        Who do they want to be: HR Block for bill pay

·        What would they be compared to: you can now have a personal accountant much like a celebrity would have.

Great solution, great message.

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Is Marketing Strategy a Lost Art?

Strategy is the only thing that separates a big successful company from one that sits in the middle of the pack. Strategy is the system that ensures that higher thinking is applied to each business opportunity and decision. However, because of the speed of business, it appears that very few have the time for it.

I don’t think you need to “make time” for strategy… it is a way of thinking that can be applied on the go. You don’t have to stop to be strategic… but it helps to have an initial plan. If many took time, even a couple of hours, and established a roadmap or plan or even a business “style book” at the beginning of each fiscal year then the strategy could be applied in each moment as you went about your daily tasks. A one sheet with the strategy emblazoned and posted by your computer would be all the reminder you needed to make better decisions based on an pre-approved plan of action. Ok here is the shameless plug… credibility branding has several of these templates that act to keep you on strategic track! Check out www.credibilitybranding.com for more info.

Following is another article from Media Post that further illustrates how strategy gets put on the back burner:

Do Agencies and Marketers Walk-the-Talk?

According to a new strategic leadership study conducted by Louws Management Corporation, while 80% of 711 advertising and marketing professionals surveyed said they are strongly aware of their company's brand positioning, only one fourth of them "...can clearly articulate (their) company's brand position to... clients, customers or prospective clients." This includes 30 percent of senior management, notes the report. The study makes several critical observations regarding the use of advertising tools that would lead to strategic solutions for clients.

One conclusion of the study report is that with companies placing more emphasis on establishing superior business strategy, strategic planning skills are still not a priority, and strategic, media and creative briefs are not generating measurable or innovative outcomes.

Other dichotomies observed in the responses include such findings as:

·        41.5% of respondents agree that strategic thinking is a lost art, but 89% feel that their agency provides proactive strategic brand and marketing leadership.

·        85% of respondents report that they have a strategic brief/process for their marketing assignments, but 50% stated that they sometimes or never use the brief/process.

·        Almost 90% of respondents indicated they have a creative brief for assignments. but 37% felt that they were used with "sometimes, rarely and never."

·        40% of respondents do not have a media brief for media buying and planning assignment, but of those who do have one, 66% said that they "sometimes, rarely or never use it."

·        80% of respondents said that their agency does not offer formal training on how to write a media brief, and when asked if, and 45% said their company has no formal strategic planning and development training for employees. For those who do, 50% train once a year and 25% train occasionally or sporadically.

·        41% of all respondents felt that strategic thinking is a lost art, but 89% strongly agree that they provide strategic brand and marketing leadership.

·        85% of all respondents say that they have a strategic process, but half say they sometimes or never use it. And, 75% agree that there strategic process does not result in measurable results.

The author feels that these findings are particularly significant because of the high level of top agencies and senior management responding, noting these response demographics:

·        33 agency respondents in the top 50

·        13 agency respondents in the top 150

·        29 agencies were over $1B

·        5 agencies were between $400 - $999

·        22 agencies were between $100 - $399

·        80% of all respondents identified themselves as Senior Management.

To obtain the full study, please visit Louws Management Corporation here.

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