A Little Perspective

I had lunch with a friend, and fellow PR practitioner yesterday and learned he was in a very serious accident just the day before.

Very serious in that he was driving down the freeway when he was clipped from behind, causing his car (a minivan) to flip on to the hood and careen down the freeway across all lanes of traffic, staying on the hood the whole time. All the windows were smashed out.

His kids were also in the car with him. One in the seat directly behind him (his 18 month-old), and the other all the way in the back (his 3 year-old). They all emerged uninjured except for a minor cut on his eldest child’s hand.

As he described the crash and the ensuing events where he found himself staring down traffic fast approaching his upside-down car, I could not help but think about what is really important in life.

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Blogs Proving Their Mettle in Marketing and on Wall Street

As regular readers of the Betty Factor know, we’ve been involved in a grand experiment since mid-November 2007: an effort to see if “eating our own dog food” worked for us.

Specifically, if we truly believe that simple, direct, to-the-point and uncomplicated marketing communications efforts for our clients will be successful, then shouldn’t we undertake similar efforts for the various POLITIS LLC companies? Ya’d think so, right?

So . . . we officially launched TheBettyFactor.com on 11-11-07 with no fanfare whatsoever. And as reported here on February 18th, I think we’ve made pretty good progress (so far) with this blogging/marketing effort with the Betty Factor. (We have a ways to go yet, but so far, so good.)

Now comes an interesting video report from Yahoo!’s Tech-Ticker about “Media’s MVBs: Most Valuable Blogs.” Driven by a recent article from 24/7 Wall Street that ranked the 25 most valuable blogs or blog media networks, I think Henry Blodgett (the face behind No. 12-ranked Silicon Alley Insider) provides some good insights into the initial transformation of some blogs/blog-networks into professional media companies, companies with real valuations.

Here’s the Blodgett interview:

TIP: 

What does all of this mean for the average marketer considering blogging as a marketing communications tool? In two words: Do it!

I know that it will take lots of time and it will involve real effort, but in the end, blogging is only going to become more and more critical as a vehicle for companies, brands and people to create and sustain a two-way dialogue with current and prospective customers, partners, investors and more.Besides, if you don’t blog, you risk becoming irrelevant, particularly in our hyper-connected, always-on, on-the-go Web 2.0 world.

So what are you waiting for? Get blogging!!!!!

Want Better Media Coverage? Remember the Betty Factor!

One of the biggest challenges facing scientists, engineers, programmers, developers, doctors, investment bankers, etc., etc., etc. is the fact that each of these professionals have developed their own languages — languages that are typically beyond the understanding of the average consumer.

Within these different industries, participants old and new sling about words, terms and phrases that convey deep meaning to those in the know as a verbal or written shorthand. Unfortunately, when found outside of the respective guilds, such words, terms and phrases often cause feelings of discomfort, stupidity and helplessness among the uninitiated.

These offending words, terms, phrases and acronyms are many and are found in virtually all professions. For example, consider

• eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML for short), or
• Myocardial Infarction, or
• PIPEs, or
• Buckyballs.

Huh?!?! My point exactly.

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The Three-Month Report Card for TheBettyFactor.com

It’s hard to imagine that it’s already been three months since we at POLITIS LLC officially launched our corporate blog about all things marketing related — The Betty Factor. But it is.

As such, I thought it would be appropriate (as the effective publisher) if I, David Politis, took a few moments to

• Review our progress thus far,
• Analyze the pluses and minuses of our efforts, and
• Assign a letter grade to our initial accomplishments.

So here goes.

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First off, it may be helpful to re-examine what it is we’re trying to accomplish with this blog (www.TheBettyFactor.com), as well as what it’s all about.

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The Consumer Evangelist

Almost always, the end result of any marketing communications campaign is some form of action, whether it be purchasing a product, volunteering, attending an event or visiting a Web site. But there is another outcome that is perhaps most desirous to the hungry communications professional. It is the ideal outcome for any PR or marketing campaign. The outcome I am referring too is what we at Politis Communications (AKA: Betty Factor headquarters) call the consumer evangelist.

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What NASCAR Drivers Can Teach PR Pros

Professional race car drivers know that if they can edge their cars right behind the car in front of them on the race track they can take lower their fuel consumption significantly.

In essence, a car cutting through the air creates a miniature vacuum behind it as the air swirls to the back of the vehicle. If another car enters this swirling vortex it is (in essence) partially pulled along by the lead vehicle, hence lowering the fuel usage by the following car. This lowered fuel consumption occurs because of the principle of drafting.

PR professionals can also use the principle of drafting (or slipstreaming), and there’s an excellent example of this on Business Wire today.

Creek Park Pictures today announced in a news release that it’s going to hold a special pre-screening in Salt Lake City tomorrow evening, December 12, of its forthcoming film, “A Mormon President,” with a panel discussion on “Anti-Mormonism in America” following immediately after. (By the way, what an attention-grabbing headline for the release: ‘Anti-Mormon feeling is alive and well in America–and I know why,” says documentary Producer/Director, of Creek Park Pictures.” Very powerful headline.)

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From Time to Time…A Healthy Debate

As has been stated, we want to raise the bar in marketing communications and PR. As part of that effort, we, the writers of this blog, will engage in online debates with one another from time to time, discussing different sides of a topic to encourage individuals to open their minds to many different possibilities and come to their own conclusions. Topics will include, but not be limited to:

• Is there such a thing as bad press?
• Are journalists our friends?
• Is PR more effective than advertising?
• What are the benefits of credibility vs. control?
• What is the best approach to crisis management?

You get the idea.

The positions we take will not necessarily be the policies or practices of Politis LLC, Politis Communications, SOAR Communications or Mad Jolt Media, but are intended to be insightful and engaging. Our desire is to have fun and be educational while bringing to light difficult topics to help others become better communicators.

We encourage public participation, and value comments from our readers. We, by no means, claim to bring an end to the discussion on these topics; we are learning as we go as well.

Please join in our conversation.

What is Public Relations?

The point of this blog, as stated, is to simplify complex communications topics so people like ‘Betty’ can understand them. Therefore, I believe it would be appropriate to start off my participation on the blog by simplifying what public relations actually is.

The public relations (PR) profession has been around for a long time. But even with its vast history, which can be traced back to at least the 18^th century, the profession is still an enigma for many people. One of the major reasons is that PR is still being defined.

But it should help explain what PR is by defining it: Public relations is the art of fostering two-way communication between an organization and its target audience(s) to determine the best, mutually beneficial course of action.

It goes without saying that the purpose of PR would be to uphold the mission and values of the organization, but it is properly done through understanding what’s important to the target public and taking steps to achieve those goals through meeting those demands.

In other words, companies have goals, but without the proper support from the right people, it will either be necessary to change course or fail.

What PR practitioners do, therefore, is three fold:

• Determine what people want and what their attitudes are
• Strategize how to meet their demands while upholding the values of the organization
• Implement a communications campaign to generate understanding and agreement to move the company toward meeting those goals

Simply put, PR is managing expectations and bringing into alignment the company’s offerings with the audience’s demands.

The “why” behind TheBettyFactor.com

November 11, 2007

Dear Reader:

According to industry reports, there are now more than one million blogs on the Web, with more being launched every day.

So what are we trying to accomplish by launching a new blog about the best and worst marketing communications efforts with the improbable name of The Betty Factor Dot Com?

Simply put, we the employees and owners of POLITIS LLC and its various agencies/companies are sick and tired of the dreck being foisted upon the public and prospective customers each and every day by supposed marketing communications experts.

Unfortunately, most of the advertising, marketing, publicity and general marketing communications “work” at play in the world today is simply bad.

By “bad” we mean that these ads, news releases, direct mail pieces, Web sites, brochures, presentations and more do not sell, inform, inspire, educate or communicate.

In fact, these “bad” campaigns and tactics often tend to create the opposite effect of the desired results as targeted customers shift their focus elsewhere for information that will directly benefit them and make sense at the same time.

The Betty Factor takes its inspiration from Betty Mann, the now 80-something-year-old mother-in-law of David Politis, the author of this post and a strategic marketing communications expert with 20-plus years of agency experience under his belt. And the core concept of the Betty Factor is simplify, simplify, simplify.

In other words, regardless of how technical a product, service, company or idea may be, we “experts” should always look for the simplest way to explain the who, what, where, when, why and how. And when doing so, we “experts” should always bring the most important piece of information to the forefront in that news release, ad or email campaign. (Or as my journalism instructors said, “Don’t bury the lead of your story.”)

So at the risk of being seen as being marketing know-it-alls, today marks the official launch of TheBettyFactor.com.

Our intent is to use this platform as a vehicle for applauding the very best efforts of marketing communications professionals to simply and succinctly spread their message through any media and effort they can muster.

At the same time, we will also be looking for some of the very worst examples of marketing communications tactics and campaigns that we can find — brochures, ads, PR campaigns and more that break the rules of The Betty Factor. In other words, communications pieces that are not easily understood unless one has a Ph.D. in Economics or can program in PHP or is a cardiovascular surgeon.

In addition, we’ll also be looking for the marketing efforts and programs that best utilize or exemplify what we feel are the “rules” of marketing communications. (We’ll also make note of those efforts that break such rules as well.)

In doing this, I recognize that not everyone will be happy with this undertaking. In fact, we might make some people angry, and if so, let me apologize in advance for that is not our intent.

All we are trying to do is to improve the quality of the marketing communications work being done, to educate and inform, to raise the discussion level. And in the process, hopefully we will get people to ask, “Is there a better way to shoot/write/explain/communicate this?”

Over time, I also plan to invite experts outside of the “Politis” fold to share their thoughts, ideas and examples.

But for now, the posts, ideas and examples will be “our” own. That said, comments are welcome, encouraged in fact.

And if you think we’re off-base, please tell us so through the comment links found at the bottom of each posted entry.

Naturally, profanities, vulgarity and personal attacks will be edited, as will any other comment or post that is inappropriate for this forum. But in general, if a comment is related to the post at hand or to some aspect of marketing communications, it will be appreciated.

So . . . welcome to TheBettyFactor.com. And thanks for your time, interest and consideration.

Sincerely,

David (”Poppa P”) Politis,

POLITIS, LLC

Politis Communications

SOAR Communications

Mad Jolt Media