I recently picked up a book called “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.” It’s a fascinating read about how and why the brain develops habits, how they affect our lives and how to change habits you don’t like.

One of the most interesting portions of the book is how an advertising man – Claude C. Hopkins – turned America from a nation of people with rotting teeth (dental hygiene was so bad during World War I that the government declared it a national security threat) and only 7 percent of people owned a tube of toothpaste to the point that 65 percent had a tube just a decade later.

How did one man bring about such change?

According to Hopkins, he:

1. Found a simple and obvious problem (even though the majority didn’t recognize it as a problem at the time)
2. Clearly defined the benefit of the product to address the problem

Easy, right?

Unfortunately, while this same basic approach should be taken with every communication endeavor, I find that many message tracks lack these key elements. Instead, messages will convey the features of a product and end there. For early adopters of new products or technology or services, features may be enough. But the earliest adopters represent only about 15 percent of a potential sales target. People who are likely to sit on the fence about a purchasing decision need to hear the benefits they get from the product – the problem it solves.

The problem a product solves is particularly important because it forces companies to consider and address the pain points of their customers.

Of course, this messaging model wasn’t the only reason that Americans revolutionized their dental habits. After all, by the time Hopkins started hawking toothpaste, several other competitors had tried and failed to bring about the same change. The last ingredient in Hopkins’ success was that the product – Pepsodent – was also remarkable. It was – at the time – like seeing a Purple Cow in a field of brown cows.

But that’s a different topic. For a different post.

For now, it’s enough to remember that the fastest way to help people “get” your product or service or technology is to talk about problems and the benefits you and your products can provide to solve these problems.

Connect with Julie:

Email: julie@blisspr.com
Twitter: @julieajohnson1
LinkedIn: Julie A. Johnson

Do you hear it?

That rumbling, dark rush of water? Wait, it’s changed. Now it sounds like the sweep of a hummingbird wing, rapid and delicate. But, in seconds, the noise evolves again, this time emerging as the steady, pounding whine of a buzz saw.

Where are we? We’re in a business meeting.

Make no mistake, those noises exist just underneath the surface of almost every meeting.  That rush of water could be an eager project leader, the hummingbird could be a quietly smart junior professional and the buzz saw (you guessed it) might be the company’s resident cynic.

The problem is, most professionals don’t seem to want to actively listen anymore. We want to prove that we’re smartest folks in the room, so we talk, talk and talk.  And when we’re not talking, we’re just “on hold,” waiting for the next chance to talk.

But that’s incredibly short-sighted behavior.  Do you know what the main goal of any business meeting or discussion is?  It’s to build a relationship among individuals.  Deliberate, intentional “listening” allows you to create a foundation of empathy and trust with your peers, clients and new business targets.

Here are ten questions to help you diagnose if you are a good business listener. Hint: if you honestly squirm over more than three of the below questions, it may be worth “zipping your lips” during that next conference call:

1.  Do you typically talk more than others during a meeting? Thinking back, can you quantify your typical share of a dialogue? Is it 15%? 30%? 50%?
2. When you prepare for a networking event, do you focus by researching your target’s goals? Or on developing your own messages?
3. Think about the last external meeting that you led. Did you “drown out” the junior people you are supposed to be positioning for success? Or did you “spend” your words to help them become more successful in front of others?
4. When presenting a speech, do you obsess over every word?  Or do you try to develop a flexible, “back and forth” format for audience participation?
5. Have you ever been invited to act as a facilitator to help opposing internal or external parties? Or does that opportunity naturally default to others in your company?
6. Consider your last big meeting. Can you quickly recall the biggest unsaid concerns in the room?  Were you able to read between the lines to identify what really mattered to the group?
7. When giving feedback to a colleague, do you lead with your thoughts or routinely allow your colleague to share their concerns first?
8. Have you ever been complimented for your ability to capture and illustrate another person’s point of view in “real time?”
9. When you have an important business objective, do you always share that at the beginning of the meeting?  Have you ever tried leading up to the objective with a series of shrewd questions instead?  Trust your audience to guide the discussion.
10. Have you ever forced yourself to stay silent, recognizing that it might actually be your best weapon?

If you set out to become a better listener, you’ll actually become a better listener almost immediately. Why? Simply put, people love to talk…and they always welcome an audience.  Leverage their need to help yourself become a more thoughtful, insightful professional.

Now, share the best advice you’ve heard in the comments section below…I’ll be listening!

Connect with Elizabeth:

Phone: 212.840.0017
Email: elizabeth@blisspr.com
Twitter: @elizabethsosnow
LinkedIn: Elizabeth Sosnow

Last week, Michael de la Merced wrote a column in The New York Times about Goldman Sachs’ reputational wake-up call. The article, “Once Remote, Goldman Sachs Puts on a Friendly Public Face,” discusses  how chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, is trying to repair Goldman’s image by speaking publically about the company’s focus on clients and commitment to gay rights. “Goldman appears to embarking on a subtle campaign to repair its reputation,” de la Merced writes. “The bank’s message is simple: Goldman cares about its clients and its community.”

While words alone are unlikely to change public perception, they’re a start. To reboot its image, Goldman Sachs needs to do two things consistently well: (1) tell a new story and (2) back that story up with visible proof.

After the financial crisis, Blankfein underestimated the importance of both imperatives. He made few public statements and ignored the media. “While other banking chiefs vocally defended their companies, Mr. Blankfein largely remained quiet,” de la Merced notes.

With a new communication chief in place (former Clinton press secretary, Richard Siewert, Jr.), Goldman Sachs appears to be rethinking this approach. Silence can be a viable strategy for two groups of companies:  (1) those that are unknown and want to stay under-the-radar and (2) those whose positive reputation precedes them. It’s rarely an effective way to repair a battered reputation.

Think about how you respond in your own life when you have a falling-out with a colleague or significant other. What’s the best way to repair the relationship? Silence? Denial? For most of us, the answer is to listen, apologize (where appropriate), fix the situation and commit to a new set of actions or behaviors.  Then, we need to make good on our promises.

To rebuild trust among customers and opinion leaders, Goldman Sachs needs to follow a similar course of action. They need to commit to a new, customer-centric story. They need to tell it over and over again to win back former supporters and seed new relationships. They need to communicate internally to generate buy-in. And they need to demonstrate their buy-in through actions and business practices.

Only time will tell if Goldman Sachs is up to the challenge. At the very least, they now seem to consider reputation an important asset to manage.

What is your advice for Goldman Sachs?

Connect with Meg:

Phone:  212.840.0095
Email: meg@blisspr.com
Twitter: @megwildrick
LinkedIn: Meg Wildrick

The future isn’t social media. The future is all media. Yes, that means you too, Wall Street.

The channel agnosticism conversation is happening now and in 2012 it will reshape communications strategies in the financial world. The thrust of the concept is simple. Dispense a message using all vehicles at our disposal to reach key constituents. Whether the impetus is to garner loyalty, draw new customers or create brand awareness, the approach remains the same.

Let’s look at two real examples that worked in 2011:

Traditional Media:

On Saturday morning, a sophisticated investor reads Barron’s for breakfast and sees an in-depth profile of a winning money manager. On Monday, he calls his financial planner and they discuss parking some cash with that manager.

Social Media:

A financial planner tweets a link to his white paper about what the 2012 presidential election means for a retirement portfolio. A retiree reads the piece and starts rethinking her retirement strategy. What did we accomplish here? In effect, we took incremental and studied steps to build a financial business and a leading voice in the community. We did it the old-fashioned way (newspaper) and the new-age way (social) with sensitivity to the rules that many investment experts believe keep their hands tied. In most cases, it’s important to employ these tactics and others.

Some financial firms already employ these tactics. The largest brands were first to this party. Yet, many players are reticent to take the leap. Here’s how to formulate the game plan for the next 12 months:

Plan and Attack.

Establish a core message that is palatable across all mediums. Some language may have to be adjusted accordingly, but the overarching theme is constant. What’s the reasoning behind attacking on all media fronts? This is not PR for PR’s sake. Identify what will help build your business and then fish where the fish are.

“When” is as Important as “Where.”

Data collection and management are at the foundation of any successful plan. When is the best time for the business to host a blog, tweet or appear on TV? When are your key constituents paying the most attention? Afford the business time to experiment with diverse tactics to establish the ideal approach as it pertains to timing and where those messages are placed, be it on Twitter, television or in the newspaper.

Stick With What Works.

Have respect for and experiment with all channels, but use only those necessary to meet the business’ marketing and communications goals. No one ever said a Google+ page and a Twitter handle were essential (and they never will). Manage the approach as carefully and closely as the dissemination to avoid unwieldy communication across multiple channels. So, to those of you in the world of high finance, bulls and bears alike, this is the basis for your marketing and communications plan of tomorrow. Bear in mind, the process is constantly evolving – which is as exciting as it can be challenging, because this is how your business will remain relevant. Finally, know above all else that this business relevance will require an understanding not just of social media, but of all media.

This story is a part of Worldcom PR Group’s “PR in 2012″ e-book, available now as a free download at: http://bit.ly/HeGTqc. BlissPR is one of the most active partners of Worldcom, the largest global partnership of 94 independently owned public relations firms, with 104 offices in 92 cities on six continents. BlissPR’s Elizabeth Sosnow currently serves as the Digital Chair of the Global board.

To Connect with Matthew:

Email: matthew@blisspr.com
Twitter: @kirdahy
LinkedIn: Matthew Kirdahy

While recently thumbing through one of my favorite magazines, The Week, my eye was drawn to an advertisement for Ally Bank that read “Remember When the Word “Bank” Didn’t Make You Angry.” I was struck that this bank was highlighting the industry’s woes. It got me thinking.

More than three years after the financial crisis that spawned the Great Recession, financial firms are still struggling to restore their reputations and regain their footing — among consumers, regulators, policymakers and the global investment community. Despite Congressional actions to pass massive legislation aimed at regulating the financial services industry and decisions to increase bank capital requirements, the public is still less than sanguine about the industry.

The financial crisis was one huge debacle, but it seems that the industry keeps knocking its head against a wall to get rid of a headache. From Greg Smith’s very public resignation and maligning of Goldman Sachs in a New York Times Op Ed and Bank of America’s misstep in their announcement to begin charging fees for debit card usage to this week’s Wall Street Journal opinion piece, ”How Big Banks Threaten Our Economy,” by Warren A. Stephens, head of the boutique investment bank Stephens Inc., it is clear the industry needs a reputational reset.

So what exactly do financial firms need to do to rebuild trust? Is better risk management the next critical step? What can and should the government do? Is increased regulation designed, in part, to improve public trust in the financial industry?

Never ones to sit idly by to let others answers these questions for us, BlissPR decided to seek out our own understanding of the problem—and solution. By convening a panel and conducting an interactive roundtable of financial services leaders, we want to answer the question of what this industry must do to repair the damage and rebuild trust among consumers, stakeholders and investors.

So on May 21^st, BlissPR will host a Financial Symposium at the Princeton Club to explore what financial executives are doing to rebuild trust. Our panelists include Teresa Ressel, former Assistant Secretary for Management & CFO of the U.S. Treasury, David Reavis, SVP, External Communications Director for KeyCorp, Michael Campbell, president and CEO of boutique brokerage house Dominick and Dominick, Mary Jane Hoene, Counsel to Ledyard & Millburn LLP, and former SEC regulator and Stormy Byorum, EVP and co-head International Group at Stephens Inc. I am sure it will be a provocative discussion among these industry peers and thought leaders. While we expect panelists to be up-front about challenges, the focus will be on successes, best practices and opportunities-to-watch.

BlissPR is excited to be creating our own thought leadership and will share with you what we learn at our Financial Services Symposium.

Connect with Toddi:

Phone: 212.840.1661
Email: toddi@blisspr.com
Twitter: @toddigutner
LinkedIn: Toddi Gutner

It’s not clothes that make the man (or woman), it’s words … and how they’re used.

Now I may be biased because I’ve been in the word business for 40+ years.  But I maintain that people who are sloppy with word usage will be equally sloppy in discharging managerial duties or being good team players.

What do I mean by “sloppy?”  I’m glad you asked.  Here are some of my pet bugaboos:

Compliment vs. Complement:  The former means, of course, to praise or laud someone, while the latter means to add a positive element to something.  There is no way these two words should be confused with one another, but they often are … and it makes me cringe.

Okay, that’s an example of using the wrong words.  Equally bad are gross mispronunciations.  Here are three:

Realtor vs. Relator: Guess what, world, only one of these is an actual word.  It’s “realtor” because this is a person who deals in “real” estate.  Yet I bet you will hear the word pronounced the wrong way within a week if you listen closely.

Nuclear vs. Nuculer: Are people so lazy that they can’t get their arms (or tongues) around the “cl” sound and must opt for the simpler “cu” version?  For some reason, this mispronunciation seems to pop up more in the South.

Fiefdom vs. Fifedom: Feudal lords held fiefs, hence the correct pronunciation.  Why some people want to put a Colonial musical instrument into their utterances is beyond me.

There are people who prefer to use polysyllabic words that they think makes them sound like management consultants, even though shorter words communicate better.  Think of poseurs that like to “utilize” things rather than “use” them.

Cheap vs. Inexpensive: These words have very different meanings, but most folks don’t think that through.  Simply put, “cheap” is both a price judgment and a value judgment.  “Inexpensive” is only a price judgment.  Therefore, if something is good but doesn’t cost a lot of money, it’s inexpensive, not cheap!   

What are the verbal miscues that tell you someone is sloppy?  And please don’t give me “aks” vs. “ask.”  Even sloppy people know that’s wrong.

To Connect with John:

Phone:  212.840.0444
Email: john@blisspr.com
LinkedIn:  John Bliss

There is a (seemingly) hole in the wall pizza place in Brooklyn , Di Fara, that makes the best pizza in NYC. Trust me – visit the restaurant. It earns the title.

What makes the pizzas here so good? Sure, they have top-notch ingredients and a great oven. But I think what makes their pizzas a cut above the rest is care factor.

All of Di Fara’s pizzas are made by one man, Domenico DeMarco, who has been operating Di Fara since 1964. Each time you visit the restaurant, DeMarco is on display in their open kitchen, carefully making each pie. It’s legendary – there are articles describing his incredibly detailed, careful and personalized approach to making each pizza. He methodically places all of the ingredients on the pie, ensuring an even spreading, places into the oven, checks several times to make sure that each pizza is cooked perfectly, and then finishes off with chopped basil, parmesan, and olive oil. The process is entirely transparent – DeMarco must know that part of the draw of DiFara is watching his careful preparation of each pie, so he’s sure to “perform” in front of his audience of hungry customers. By the time you get your pizza, you are primed to love it (and you do).

So why does this matter in the world of public relations? Something we talk about regularly here at Bliss is care factor – i.e. showing our clients, the media, digital influencers, our clients’ clients and our coworkers that we truly care about the work that we do. It’s embedded into our culture.

But we are at a disadvantage from DeMarco – except in rare cases, our clients don’t watch us work. They have to take us at our word that we have a strong care factor, and we have to prove it by our end product. The other tool that we have in our arsenal is regular communication, lifting the veil of our process to clients, detailing steps taken, our thinking, challenges and ideas. Unfortunately, nothing matches Demarco’s “performance.”

What are other ways to show your care factor?

To Connect with Katherine:

Phone: 212.840.1661
Email: katherine@blisspr.com
Twitter: @kilpatrickk
Linked In: Katherine Kilpatrick

At our company retreat in January, we did a groupthink exercise using Seth Godin’s post on “optimistic enthusiasm as a form of realism” and Mark Schaefer’s post on “The best creativity technique known to mankind” as our inspiration.  Everyone wrote their “big idea” about how we can grow our business in 2012 on a piece of easel paper taped to the wall. We then traveled around the room, building upon each other’s ideas. We also got creative juices flowing by asking an off-the-wall question about what would happen if the idea had to be executed underwater. At the end of the exercise, the original idea generator got back to his/her paper and circled the “best” idea.

Approximately 40% of the ideas circled were the underwater idea, proving that when people think out of the box, it can spark interesting new approaches. It also supported the theory that creativity happens when people work alone but as part of a larger group where they know ideas will be shared.

This exercise was focused on BlissPR internally, but we do the same thing when we are groupthinking for a client. The account team gets together to brainstorm and often invites a few folks who don’t work on the client to bring fresh perspective. Ideally those people receive a brief in advance so they can think about the account on their own and come to the meeting armed with some good ideas that aren’t limited by the team that knows the client inside and out. Spontaneous brainstorms can yield good ideas but we have found that scheduled sessions, when people have time to think on their own first, produce better results. This is productive for generating both external and internal communications ideas. It is also important to keep these meetings as small as possible.

While our company culture cherishes initiative, inspiration and ideas shared by all, we may not always be practicing the most effective brainstorming techniques. There have been numerous studies on the topic that show the most ideas come from people who brainstorm alone and later pool their ideas.  Further, when ideas are debated, and dare I say “criticized,” in groupthink exercises, it elicits by far the most creative ideas. After brainstorming in a group that fosters a healthy debate, those individuals produce more ideas than other groups. According to a New Yorker article citing Charlan Nemeth, a UCal Berkeley psych professor, it seems “even when alternative views are clearly wrong, being exposed to them expands creative potential, causing people to come up with more original and thoughtful ideas.”

Other thought leaders, like organizational psychologist Adrian Furnham, think companies are insane to use brainstorming groups since research shows individuals almost always perform better than groups in both quantity and quality, as a recent New York Times article reminded us. One exception to the research is electronic brainstorming because it is a place we can be “alone together.”

How will your company capture the next great marketing idea?

Connect with Cortney:

Phone: 212.840.1661
Email: cortney@blisspr.com
Twitter: @cortneyr
LinkedIn: Cortney Rhoads Stapleton

A couple weeks ago, I attended the Publicity Club of New York’s luncheon on infographics, which featured a panel of creative minds from Huffington Post, CNNMoney, Associated Press and Mashable. All of the speakers were phenomenal and offered valuable advice on infographic development; however, one of the biggest themes discussed was the thought process before the actual creation of an infographic. That said, below are some key considerations before you even begin down the infographic road:

To Draw or Not to Draw

An infographic should tell a story. If you are going through your data and you don’t see a story, then it might be time to call it quits on the infographic front. Doing an infographic for the sake of doing an infographic is not a good idea. Ask yourself if you would be interested in an infographic like that for yourself. If the answer is no, don’t waste your resources.

(Not) Sharing is Caring

Exclusivity is extremely important to large, national publications when it comes to publishing infographics. Once you pitch them an infographic, all they have to do is Google it to see where it else it landed. If they see it on a lot of smaller sites, they have no incentive to post it. A better practice would be to look at your data, find your story and offer them the exclusive – if they like the concept, they can work with you to develop the infographic.

Keeping it in the Family

Many national publications like to design their infographics in house, so that they have complete creative control. Keep this in mind BEFORE you devote time and money to the process. Your infographic may be good, but the publication may not think the style or tone of it is right for their purposes. Just because you made it, doesn’t mean it will get published. Make sure you have the resources to spend before you spend them.

Short and Sweet

Cleverness counts for a lot, but so do simple and clean designs. Don’t feel like you have to crowd the image with elaborate pictures. As a matter of fact, the days of the lengthy, vertical infographic are numbered. These types don’t translate with Pinterest very well, and with the rise of this sharing site, we may see a decline in its numbers. Infographics should be short and simple and sweet, particularly those relating to financial, professional and healthcare services. Additionally, be sure it can talk around the data you’re using – if it sounds like a pure product push, it probably won’t get picked up.

For your viewing pleasure, above is an infographic about infographics by designer Ivan Cash http://ivancash.com/.

Connect with Megan:

Phone:  212.840.1661
Email: megan@blisspr.com
Twitter: @MeganTuckPR

A few weeks ago, a college senior asked me a familiar question: “What’s the biggest challenge facing PR professionals today?”  I started to give my usual answer – i.e., the blurring of boundaries between traditional marketing disciplines (PR, branding, advertising, digital, interactive, customer service).  Mid-sentence, I realized I had it all wrong. Integration isn’t the challenge; it’s the opportunity – an opportunity to increase impact, save money and focus directly on the customer. The challenge is making integration work by staying on-message across channels, disciplines, audiences and media.

In some areas of communication (e.g., branding), organizations invest significant time and money on upfront strategy.  They do research, agree on messaging and select an identity (name, logo, color, tagline) to reflect their brand promise. Since names and logos tell a “visual story,” communicators are careful to use them consistently, whether in ads, signage, collateral or digital content.

In public relations, consistency is equally important. But, too often, PR professionals prioritize tactics over campaign messages and calls-to-action.  Tactics – e.g., videos, articles, events, microsites, infographics, games, QR codes – can be engaging.  They play a critical role in bringing hard-to-understand messages to life.  But without a clear story and call-to-action, they are distracting.  A brand story is the glue that holds integrated programs together.

To deliver on the promise of integrated communication, all disciplines (PR, advertising, digital, interactive, customer service) need to work together, agree on a brand story and identify tactics to bring that story to life.  The best way to achieve this goal varies by organization.  But five basic steps include:

1. Host a cross-functional meeting of marketing, sales, communication and customer service  professionals.  Prioritize audiences and goalsfor the year ahead.

a. If basic market/sales data isn’t available, conduct research on:  customer needs; customer behavior (keywords, online analytics, purchase patterns and criteria, switching patterns); sales influencers and intermediaries.

b. Conduct basic competitor research:  marketing messages; share-of-voice; sales process.

2. Based on the above, identify an over-arching brand story as well as core messages for priority audiences.  As a rule-of-thumb, narrow your list to no more than three messages.

3. For both the over-arching story and core messages, brainstorm ways to make your storyline sticky and memorable.  Identify a broad mix of activities – i.e., visual and text; online and offline; paid and earned; interactive and controlled.

4. Identify calls to action and metrics for each tactic.  How will we know if we’re successful?

5. Assign prices, priorities and timelines to each tactic.  Roll up into an integrated campaign.

What is your organization doing to integrate communication?  What tips do you have to make integrated programs meaningful and measureable?

Connect with Meg:

Phone:  212.840.0095
Email: meg@blisspr.com
Twitter: @megwildrick
LinkedIn: Meg Wildrick