Research is Meaningless Without...

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a good marketing or public relations plan be put into place and fail miserably despite countless hours of research put into it. 

I've been part of teams that have spent days studying, planning, listening and digesting pages and pages of information regarding a target public, only to develop a strategy or campaign that fell short of expectations or paled in comparison to the competition.

We researched. We listened. We learned. We knew our audience, but we still didn't identify the ingredient that would capture our audience's attention. Why is that? Think on this.

If research was enough, every competing strategy would reach a stalemate. After all, if doing the work and knowing the audience was enough, how would your conclusions based on that research differ from someone else's? It seems obvious, but we often fall into the trap of believing that information begets a good strategy.

Our conclusions make all the difference. So, we've learned that baby boomers are the most prosperous generation yet but are the most prone to depression. What does that mean? Often, we skip a step when determining what our insight into a group of people means. As jaded strategists who make quick decisions every day, we often lose our acute sense of empathy that made us want to be in the business we're in, whether you're a PR rep, creative director, or even an entrepreneur.

You can know everything about your target. What they eat. Where they eat. How they eat. Where they shop at. How much money they have to spend there. That's just information that leads to guesswork. While there will never be a concrete science to perfect branding, we have something infinitely better: empathy. 

Why do they eat there? How is it different from anywhere else? Why do they shop there? The other brand has lower prices, but our brand has this and this. 

Instead, we focus on gimmicks and toys we find on social media channels that we just "know" will make our target listen...but they don't. They ignore us because they don't feel known. They feel like someone is talking at them, or worse, stalking them for a sale. 

The next time your team comes up with a strategy based on a ton of research and development, ask yourselves: why will this make them listen? If it is something as simple as: because our research shows that they like--Stop there. 

Jon Negroni is the Director of Public Relations, Promotion, and Marketing at Richter10.2 Media Group. For more information regarding Richter10.2, check out our introduction video here.

 

 

U.S. Economy Slowing Down-How to Keep Your Business Moving Forward

Reuter's came out with a study today with some bad news for the U.S. economy. U.S. companies are finding it more difficult to grow their revenue now than at just about any time since the financial crisis.

For some, this is just baffling. We've been told by our government that the private sector is doing just fine. Since 2012 started, many companies have been nothing but optimistic about the recovery and starting off the year with impressive numbers. What we've seen, however, is a sharp downturn to start off the summer, with growth almost half of what it was last year. 

This slowdown is discouraging, but should serve as a warning more than anything else. Just like pain is our body telling us to stop what we are doing, this news is a similar wake-up call for businesses trying to grow like it's 2002. 

The problem typically comes down to sales. Getting people to buy your product or use your business is always a challenge. It seems like we are trying harder and harder to make profitable connections but are coming up shorter and shorter as the quarters go by. Well, what works? What can companies do to change what they're doing and finally see some manageable growth that isn't just a fluke?

I submit a new strategy for businesses to try out. PRIME Strategy. Conceptualized by the Richter10.2 Media Group founders, Robert Cornish and Wil Seabrook, PRIME is built to create the relationships that businesses are trying to make with their customers and vested interests but aren't able to do on their own.

It's not exactly public relations, marketing or advertising. Instead, it's strategic relations: identifying exactly what audience you want and crafting a message designed specifically for that audience, making the deal an inevitable close. 

How do I know this works? We use it for our company, Richter10.2 Media Group. We use PRIME to find clients for our video company, R102 Video. We're seeing constant growth with no sign of slowdown, even during these trying times. 

5 weeks ago, I had no idea what Richter10.2 Media Group was about. After, a month of being introduced to their mission, purpose, and history of growth, I have an irresistible urge to share their methods that are working for more and more businesses every day. 

Jon Negroni is the Director of Public Relations at Richter10.2 Media Group. For more information regarding Richter10.2 and PRIME, check out our introduction video here.

The War Against Facebook Pt. 2

As a recap, Facebook is in the midst of a true sink or swim year as they are experiencing the climax of bad press that has been building up over the years surrounding privacy issues, viruses, and people getting tired of the service. 

One important thing to note is that Facebook is a behemoth. They will hit 1 billion members absent deus ex machina. All I'm pointing out is that the service is poised for a fall now that it has hit a high peak. Could they overcome? Sure, but at this rate, it is more likely that Facebook has trying times ahead of them, and they should be prepared for the worst.

What would I do if I was their head of public relations? While I am no expert, I have observed that the most successful businesses that have achieved a high level of popularity always find unique and interesting ways to solve their problems. 

Facebook has to seriously deal with their problem of their servers not being able to accommodate so many users, causing a lot of bugs and slowdowns to ensue. Expanding their servers is a legitimate problem for Facebook, but it must be done in order for the site to keep its users happy. They need to acknowledge the problem in the press and own up to it, showing everyone that they are making steps to improve the service.

When it comes to Facebook's privacy issues, it would be counterproductive for them to diminish the issue as they have been. They've taken great steps already to making their privacy settings easy for people to understand and apply to their profiles, but people still blame the site for not being transparent. Instead of ignoring these complaints or just addressing the issue through a press release, Facebook needs to find a way to turn this weakness into a strength.

The same goes with the site recently buying Instagram and offering its own Instagram clone. The problem is perception. People see Facebook trying to be "everything to everyone" through moves like this, and all it does is drive away users. It wasn't a bad move for Facebook to buy Instagram. Far from it. The real problem is that Facebook is allowing itself to be seen as a lackluster site that is buying up the competition. Both are essentially untrue, but that is what the conversation is becoming, and when enough people are saying something, enough people are believing it. 

Facebook can't control the conversation, but they can guide it. Their current strategy has been to distract its users from its drawbacks by constantly delivering new content that matches their rivals. That isn't enough anymore. The site needs to win back its loyal users that people like me join Facebook to connect with. As soon as my friends aren't on Facebook, I won't be on Facebook, and that rings true for many other people. 

Jon Negroni is the Director of Public Relations, Promotion, and Marketing at Richter10.2 Media Group. For more information regarding Richter10.2, check out our introduction video here.

Image Credit: http://cdn.ientry.com/sites/webpronews/pictures/facebook_IPO_Mark_616.jpg

 

We Really "Digg" The New Look!

Recently, we saw Digg reinvent itself and become more streamlined and user-friendly with a major facelift. The changes are really great and it is excellent news for the social community to have this feature back in our bag of tricks.

So, if you're not Diggin' yet, we recommend that you get out there are add yourself into this growing online community!

 Spencer Barnes
Creative Director
Richter10.2 Media Group

Richter10.2 Media Group Elevator Pitch

Are You In Communication?

Over and over I notice many people and companies are out of communication, or at least have lethargic communication systems. What I mean by that is that they are slow to the draw, slow to reply, slow to take action or don’t take any action at all.

Communication is the very essence of business as well as the economy. The more you can create and the faster you can get it going, the more revenue flows.

Currently it seems there is quite a problem with communication. As a business owner myself, I find the importance of communication to be extremely high. I demand from my staff that a lot of communication go out to the world and more specifically, to our target audience. I also demand that we handle communication rapidly, as fast as we can, and keep our flows moving fast.

If I get an email related to someone interested in our company, we instantly reply to move the cycle forward. Phone calls are returned the same day and everyone in the company has a mobile device that allows for immediate response via email at any given time. Additionally, we developed the Social Media Press Kit (http://whywebpr.com/smpk) for the purpose of making ourselves more accessible in every imaginable way, be it text message, email, Skype, Facebook, Linkedin or to download our communication details through a vCard.

We rate communication highly. However I have noticed that not everyone operates this way. People delay in getting back via email or phone. They are slow to communicate many times, if at all. This type of operating procedure hurts them and their company. Procrastination has no place in the business world. Slowness is not a strength and being out of communication is damaging.

Take a look at your communication systems this week and test them. Do you immediately respond to emails? Phone calls? How much communication are you sending out to the world daily? Your company? Is that enough?

If handled, your revenue will skyrocket. Get yourself and your company into communication with the world. Send communication out, even if you simply start by sending out 6 hand-written letters per week or 10 emails to introduce yourself to people you would want to do business with. Get communication flowing and fast.

Robert Cornish
CEO
Richter10.2 Media Group