Employee Comms. – Nature Hates a Vacuum

Nature abhors a vacuum.  It always fills the void. 

In your company, if you’re not filling the void – all those formal and informal channels – with timely, accurate and honest information, someone else will.  Chances are, the information will not be helpful and could actually hurt your business.

What’s your most valuable asset?  Your employees, right?  As business owners, we say that all the time.  But, do we live it? 

Do we invest the same resources (time, money, etc.) into establishing and maintaining relationships with employees as we do with customers, suppliers, bankers, etc.?  In many cases, the answer is “no”.

An interesting study was released recently by Quantum Workplace, a market research company that surveys employee engagement.

Here’s the logic tree:

• Employees are core assets of any business;
• Engaged employees are more willing to bust their tails for the benefit of the company;
• Employees “engage” when they feel informed, valued and trusted;
• Employees who feel informed, valued and trusted feel as if the company cares about them as individuals; and,
• A company’s commitment to timely, open and honest communication is the best way to ensure employees are engaged.

Back to the Quantum Workforce study.  In a press release dated June 25, 2009, Quantum concluded that  employee engagement is capable of predicting movements in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) four months in advance.

They measured employee engagement levels for 24 months at more than 6,100 companies to reach this conclusion.

Pretty interesting stuff.  From the perspective of a professional communicator, another good data point for why companies should commit themselves to aggressive employee communications, especially in these uncertain times.

Post by Nick Vehr - 6.29.09

Getting Involved in Social Media

For communications professionals, I wanted to share this really succinct and strategically focused blog post with a great “how to” list for those considering getting involved in social media.

The blog is Blonde 2.0: Socializing Brands, written by Ayleta Noff, a social media expert.  Be sure to check out the details, but here is her 10 point list:

1. Choose Your Networks Wisely

2. Don’t Spread Yourself Too Thin

3. Give Character to your Profiles

4. Be Consistent

5. Birds of a Feather Flock Together

6. Put Your Heart in It

7. Be Active Regularly

8. Submit Quality Content

9. Nobody Likes a Spammer

10. Don’t Stress Yourself Out!

Just this past month, Vehr Communications (yes, our company and, sorry, this is a bit self-promotional!) published an Insights article on the same topic titled, “To Blog or Not To Blog.”  Check it out.

Post by Nick Vehr - 6.19.09

Thanks to Kevin Dugan for forwarding the Blonde 2.0 blog post and to Curtis Rogers for the picture (taken from the Blonde 2.0 post).

Proud Progress for Cincinnati

I’m a professional communicator and this blog is typically on topics of interest to others like me.  In additon to being a husband and father, I am also a Cincinnatian to the core. 

As we head into the weekend, when Cincinnati will host Major League Baseball’s “Civil Rights Game 2009,” I can’t help but share a few thoughts on outstanding and proud progress for Cincinnati.

Hank Aaron will receive MLB's Beacon of Light Award in CIncinnati

This weekend, Bill Cosby, Hank Aaron and Muhammad Ali will be honored.  They will receive MLB’s Beacon Award.  Quite an impressive line-up; three folks with scorecards few others can match.  President Bill Clinton will be here and President Obama has been invited to throw out the first pitch on Saturday night (Reds v. White Sox).

Just this past summer, Cincinnati played host the the NAACP Annual Convention and the Progressive National Baptist Convention, two of the largest, primarily African American conventions in the world. 

Cincinnati was just selected as host for the Gospel Music Workshop annual convention, also a very large event, also of great interest and pride for people of color.

Remarkable progress for a city that, like many American cities, struggles with race relations but, unlike many other cities, has been recognized (perhaps a bit unfairly) equally for how it does that well and not so well. 

While there will always be more to do, and more to do better, I think most Cincinnatians are feeling like our collective glass is more than half full when it comes to race relations.

Competitors in the 2008 World Choir Games (Graz, Austria)

Tomorrow, Cincinnati will be formally announced as the host for the 2012 World Choir Games, the largest gathering of choral musicians in the world with more than 20,000 competitors from as many as 90 countries and up to 250,000 attendees.  Cincinnati is the first American city to ever host this prestigious event.

Just yesterday I met with a young woman – a job seeker. She isn’t originally from Cincinnati, or even Ohio, but she went to school in Ohio.  She shared that she wanted to move to Cincinnati because, of all the Ohio cities and other cities in our broader region, Cincinnati had teh best reputation for being a welcoming and fun place for young professionals.

She then said that she knew she could never afford to live in New York City or Chicago, so Cincinnati was her choice and she was hitting the pavement pretty hard.

So, fellow Cincinnatians, puff your chests out a little bit.  We’re making progress.  We’re getting noticed.  We may just be the next “it” place for young professionals, and our growing reputation for self-awareness and acceptance and global significance may be some of the reasons why.

But, don’t puff your chests out too far.  There is still plenty of work to be done.

Post by Nick Vehr – 6.17.09

Social Networking … Tools, Not Toys

Comes an article in today’s (6.4.09) NYT titled, “Small Businesses Are Taking Tenative Steps Toward Online Networking” (by Mickey Meece), discussing broader acceptance by small businesses of social networking as a marketing tool.

Lots of good stuff here for professional communicators.  The eye-catcher for me was a comment attributed (kind of) to the president of the International Council for Small Business, Charles H. Matthews, regarding social networking sites … “the key was to view the sites as tools, not toys.”

Pardon the self-promotion, but we just published (6.1.09) our monthly newsletter, March Forth, and the topic was “Social Media Strategies … Managing Business Relationships.”  “Tools, not Toys” would have been a perfect title.

Basically, the NYT article and our newsletter say the same thing.   Here’s what we said (in part):

One Size Does Not Fit All

Chances are you don’t need it all – every online gadget or gimmick that some friend is using.  What works for some businesses might not suit yours.  What works now might not work in the future.  This is not a time to play, “keep up with the Joneses.” 

Your social media strategy should be tailored towards the business goals of your company.  If integrated with your traditional marketing activities, social networking can support and enhance your efforts to achieve important business objectives.

It sure feels as if the applications for social networking, initially considered super hot for direct-to-consumer business activities, may be evolving for small businesses and, particularly, for business-to-business use.

Makes sense that this evolution would occur.  Finding the right application for your business is worth the effort.

Post by Nick Vehr - 6.4.09

Place Branding – “Brand America Project”

Place branding has always been something of interest to me and, I am certain, to many other professional communicators.

In essence, it is the application of practiced and proven product and service branding princples and techniques to places – cities, states, regions and countries.

If you realize that a brand is a promise, then the promise of a place must address very basic requirements for people and the businesses they lead. 

A place must enable a business to succeed, enable its employees to address their personal and family needs, enable its residents or visitors to find happiness and fulfillment.  Of course, there’s more.  It’s never that simple.

A friend, Ed Burghard, has started a new venture called the Brand America Project.  Ed is a marketing pro with serious credentials, not the least of which being recognized as one of the premier brand leaders within Procter & Gamble.  In recent years, he has lead the Ohio Business Development Corporation.

He describes the Brand America Project below:

“The Strengthening Brand America Project vision is to generate the insight needed by state level economic development professionals to make better data based decisions on both public policy improvement and infrastructure investment required to ensure the state is competitive for FDI (foreign direct investment). Helping states become even more competitive will help strengthen Brand America. The more investment worthy our states are, the more FDI will be attracted to our country; and, the easier it will be to regain share leadership of global FDI.”

Go to Ed’s site (The Burghard Group) to learn more about the project.  In the process, you’ll see plenty to learn even more about place branding.  Visit Ed on LinkedIn to see a community of discussion on place branding.

Post by Nick Vehr – 5.29.09

Multinational Issues in a Multimedia World

Vehr Communications is Cincinnati’s exclusive member of IPREX, a partnership of 80+ independently owned PR firms from around the world.

We’re headed to New York City later this week for our 2009 global conference. 

Our host is IPREX member Makovsky & Co., Inc., the PR New 2008 Small PR Firm of the Year.  Special thanks to the Makovsky team for all their planning and prep work.

While in NYC, we’ll be discussing social media at Google, the economic crisis at Bloomberg News and how PR professionals are handling some of the toughest PR issues at a meeting at New York University.  We will also have a panel discussion featuring the chief communications officers from seven global companies.

If you have any interest in following our activities, or learning about the questions we are preparing to ask all these experts with whom we are going to meet, go to:

• Meeting Blog (iprex09)
• YouTube (iprex09)
• Twitter (#iprex09)

I probably will not post from the conference, but look forward to sharing insights when I return. 

If you have any particular question you would like me to ask, fire away.  Thanks.

Post by Nick Vehr – 5.11.09

The “Seven Deadly Sins” of Web Site Design

Just wanted to share what I thought was some very insightful and creative guidance for professional communicators who worry on behalf of clients about their Web sites as platforms for communicating to achieve business objectives.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Site Design were shared by Seth Rosenblatt, VP of marketing for Autonomy Interwoven. 

PRIDE: Talking only about yourself/your company; putting the CEO’s picture on your home page;

GREED: Asking customers for so much information to register at your site that they decide it’s not worth their time;

ENVY: Wanting every gadget and feature your competitors have on their site;

WRATH: Making outrageous statements about your company or trying to frighten site visitors into working with you;

LUST:  Emphasizing flashy content over substance;

GLUTTONY: Stuffing too much content onto your home page and other site pages, making the site difficult to read and difficult to connect with emotionally; and,

SLOTH: Being lazy in how you test customer reaction and usage of your site.

Thanks to AMA for sharing these in the 5.15.09 edition of Marketing News.

Post by Nick Vehr – 5.9.09

News Consumption and New Technologies: Change is Good

New technologies have always changed the way people consume news.  Professional communicators and PR folks realize this.

From the printing press (thanks Johanes Gutenberg) to radio to television to cable television to the internet.  And, now, how it gets to us through different devices (desktops, laptops, handhelds, E-readers, etc.) via the internet. 

Technology is again changing the way more and more of us consume news as former newspaper companies become “media” companies who realize that they better adapt, again, or die.

I want to share two experiences this week that emphasize, to me at least , that change is certain and change is good and how we adapt to change is what determines our success or failure.

I had the opportunity to have a brief lunchtime conversation with Margaret Buchanan, Publisher of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  When I commented on how challenging running a newspaper must be, she quickly reminded me that she was running a media company.

Her point? “Enquirer Media” (as she referred to it) is adapting to the different ways people consume news.  She proudly referenced the fact that “Enquirer Media” has more than 50 different “products” to reach consumers, one of which is the newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer.

In addition to Cincinnati.com (the number one portal for this market), “Enquirer Media” has many other online products, and watching the development of the new E-Reader.  (See the stories today in the New York Times  and Wall Street Journal about the release of Amazon’s new Kindle DX.)

Fair enough.

This past week in Cincinnati, Bill Burleigh retired as Chairman of the Board of the E.W. Scripps Co.  Talk about change, he’s seen it all.  Burleigh had been in the news business for 58 years.  He’s 74 (and a young 74 at that).

While I couldn’t find online the print story I read about Burleigh’s retirement (one failing of Cincinnati.com), I recall he was quoted as paraphrasing Mark Twain when he declared that, “the news of print’s death was premature”.  (I did find another, abbreviated, story.)

Burleigh added that he had witnessed changes driven by technology before and everyone claimed that newspapers were through then, just as they claim they are dying now.  He’s not buying it.

First of all, I like Bill Burleigh and his optimism and vision.  I also like Margaret Buchanan’s energy and innovative spirit and the fact that “Enquirer Media” is way more than a newspaper.  I especially like newspapers – the print kind – as an important part of my morning routine. 

These two media leaders are from different generations, and they both think a lot about how to attract consumers from yet different generations. 

One has lead a media company through many changes, and I suspect he feels those changes have been good for news consumption. The other is now leading  a media organization through a period of dramatic and rapid change, and I think she believes it will be good for news consumption.

I think so, too.  But, I just don’t think I’ll enjoy as much drinking my Starbuck’s with an E-reader as I do with a little bit of newsprint on my fingertips.

What do you think?

Post by Nick Vehr – 5.7.09

Domino’s: Let’s Talk Crisis Communications

The point of this post is not to pile on the disgusting Domino’s Pizza video.  It is, though, a great opportunity to reflect on the importance of crisis communications.

From last week’s Advertising Age and last week’s PRWeek (sorry, login required), to this week’s PRNews, there is no end to the chatter about Domino’s, Motrin moms, Taco Bell rats and #amazonfail.

I really like the focus on the several steps that PR professionals recommend for any company, whether direct-to-consumer or B2B:

Ad Age says: Identify your crisis team; plan for nightmare scenarios; track the blogosphere and other social media; and, don’t wait.

PRNews adds: Prevent; manage; recover; repeat.

There is little question that the internet and social media has provided a new and incredibly powerful outlet for the nearly instantaneous spreading of news, good and bad.  It is equally a source for brand nightmares as for reputation management, if you know how to access and use it.

Internet or not, most of the basics of reputation management haven’t changed:

• Have a plan and keep it current – be sure to practice regularly and keep accountabilities current for changing personnel.
• Understand and have a plan for social media and consider your Web site as a platform from which to communicate.
• Be prepared to respond quickly, but be certain to carefully assess what is occuring in the market place for fear of inadvertantly feeding the frenzy.
• Be transparent – always tell the truth.  Listen to your lawyers, always, but make your decisions for the sake of the brand not just for litigation preparation.
• Stick to your message – think your response through carefully and move off of it grudgingly, only when something unexpected happens.
• Debrief and learn, all in the spirit of preparing for the next threat to your brand reputation.

There are many good sources of information for crisis management.  At Vehr Communications, we publish “Insights” and recently posted “Crisis Communications … Staying in Control of Your Message”.

The international PR partnership known as IPREX (we are a member) recently collaborated to publish, “Crisis Communication: Practical PR Strategies for Reputation Management and Company Survival”.

There is really no excuse to be unprepared. 

Post by Nick Vehr – 4.29.09

Online News Consumption – Evolving, But to Where?

I admit it, I’m old school.  I still like the feel of the newspaper and seeing newsprint on my fingertips.  I still think of books as precious collectibles.

My wife and I agreed to cancel our home subscription to our local paper (Cincinnati Enquirer) several months ago to read it online.  It was a bad experience (primarily due to the design and function (or lack thereof) of their online edition).  We’ve just resubscribed.

This morning the Wall Street Journal’s Technology section lead with a story about the e-book (see the Kindle above).  My wife is a Kindle owner and swears by it.  I still have a stack of books to read sitting by my side of the bed.

At lunch today I read PRWeek (4.13.09) and the story about Plastic Logic Readers (see below) and the initiatve of several newspapers to convert to this larger, more newspaper-like and user-friendly e-news format (sorry, no link available except by subscription).

Clearly, these two market segments (print news and books) are evolving due to new technologies.  But, where is this headed?

Will I ever consume all my news from my “phone?”  I can’t imagine that.  But, people probably once said they’d never consumer all their news from a black-and-white TV screen in their living room.

Will I ever read books on an e-reader?  I hope not.  But, Johannes Gutenberg opened up an entire world to people that had been reserved only for the most wealthy and upper class. He changed the world.

Will I ever carry my “phone,” a Kindle and a Plastic Logic Reader.  I doubt it; too much stuff to move around with.

Will something else replace them all?  Maybe.  Or, will I continue to value the feel of newsprint and the smell of books while consuming news online from my “phone.”

These are fascinating times and a great time to be a professional communicator. 

Whatever happens with me (and many millions more just like me) will influence precisely how we advise clients to communicate strategically to achieve their most important business objectives.

Post by Nick Vehr – 4.20.09