Here’s the intro to a piece I wrote 10 years ago (!) for a management publication:
Several years ago there was a television commercial that featured a woman bragging about how great her hair dye was. She then said that she told a friend about it — and the screen split to show two of her now — and they each told two friends (and the screen split again) and then she said “And so on and so on and so on” until the screen split into what seemed infinity, all filled up with users of Clairol.
Welcome to the world of Clairol marketing. Others may call it “viral marketing,” but that sounds far too sinister for what is actually a pass-along marketing effort that asks friends to recommend to friends.
Clairol marketing has a high degree of success because, as every marketing study shows, people act upon the advice they receive from trusted friends. In the theatre world we call it “word of mouth.” If you’ve got bad word of mouth, no amount of advertising, publicity or snake oil is going to save your show. If you’ve got good word of mouth, these efforts build upon each other.
When it comes to Clairol marketing, there’s no more exciting method than the Internet. That’s because the Internet is fast, cheap, and, if used sensitively, friendly.
OK, so I got nowhere in trying to call it “Clairol marketing” (and perhaps the makers of Clairol would have had something to say about that as well). But the point was dead-on, and predates what we now call Social Media Marketing. What is Social Media Marketing? It’s word-of-mouth writ large.
A big part of generating word of mouth for business: referrals. It’s important to ask for referrals, and to give them. This is the perfect week to jump into that, because this week is Make a Referral Week 2010 — and it’s free. Here’s how to jump on board.
Color is a major factor in design. The color decision-making for your branding, products or website are very important. Choosing the wrong color can mislead the buyer or reader. Every color has a meaning, symbolism and psychology behind it. Counterintuity’s logo uses two expressive colors: blue and orange.
Meaning of the color BLUE:
The color blue is the most favored color. It means strong, important and intelligent. It is seen in our everyday lives, in the sky and the ocean. This is why researchers have found that people are more productive in blue rooms. Seeing the color blue actually causes the body to give off chemicals of calming and direct.
Meaning of the color ORANGE:
Orange is the combination of red and yellow. Red gives off energy while yellow represents happiness. Together creating orange symbolizing enlightenment, energy and warmth. Seeing the color orange draws the viewer’s attention (i.e. traffic signs). The color orange is always in-style and is associated with new creations.
As you can see, colors have a lot of meaning and can really impact. Counterintuity’s colors are counterintuitive. One represents calm while the other is nothing even remotely calm. So these two colors define the Counterintuity team: we are creative, exciting, trustworthy and we think and work from both extremes.
1. Reading the job posting carefully. The interviewer obviously put thought into crafting the job posting. Please do the same in applying. While it’s tempting to send off your resume ASAP so you can get that job NOW, take a moment to read the full job description and…
2. Assessing your compatibility with that job– don’t waste the interviewers time by applying for a job that you are over/under qualified for. Remember: the interviewer is looking for the RIGHT person for the job. Usually the RIGHT person is attentive, and present… not half-dashing off to some other job interview– Though, don’t we wish we had them lined up like that? This leads into…
3. Submitting YOU as it applies towards the job you’re applying for. This means actually taking the time to customize your resume AND cover letter. What is the job asking for? List what you have that qualifies you. This will save the interviewer time and convince the interviewer that yes: you are perfect for this job!
4. Do not trick yourself into doing what everyone else is doing: changing a few words on your resume/cover letter and assume you are customizing it. I’ve done it. Don’t do it. Having done it, I know the difference between being really serious about a job, or pretending to be serious about it so you get hired.
5. Relaxing. Resumes and cover letters that try too hard are exhausting to read. Give us The Best Of You. Highlight You. Of course this is my personal preference, but one that might serve you in the future. A relaxed attitude presents a confident applicant.
6. Make it just right. Longer is not better and the opposite also applies– short can sometimes be wanting. We’re like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: make it juuuuust right.
6. Being professional. Yes, we are professionals and (am I really admitting this? Yes I am!) we also use spell check if we need to. We like to have fun, we like to relax, but we also like to work hard. We also like being resourceful so we don’t have to work unnecessarily hard. Please use all your resources and make our job easier.
As a publicist and crisis communications coordinator, I have to give Tiger Woods an “A’ for his speech today. Sure, it would have been better had he come out with a public mea culpa a few months ago. And yes, he probably shouldn’t have chastised the media for stalking his kids– that came across as angry and self-serving. But overall, he took ownership of his mistakes, answered most of the questions the public had (or had a right to know), and acknowledged that due to his power and fame, he felt above the rules. Did you ever hear Barry Bonds admit that? Bill Clinton?
Yes, Tiger is a dirty rotten cheater and no longer a role model for his kids or mine, to be sure. But Tiger the husband, father and friend is trying making amends. Deserved or not, owning up to misdeeds in public–which is an important part of any 12-step program– helps a person grows and find inner strength. The difference is, public for the rest of us means a room full of other addicts, not millions of viewers worldwide.
Many bloggers and TV commentators are now calling his press conference ”arrogant” and “self-serving” because he controlled the atmosphere. He’s just trying to woo his sponsors and his income stream back, they say. One claimed this is his best act since Torrey Pines on a fractured leg. Perhaps it is. But did you see his mom sitting cross-armed in the front row giving him “the look”? How could he not be contrite with her stink eye focused sternly on him?
And don’t get me started, but if you want to play the self-serving card, how about Gloria Allred inserting herself into this– yet another public situation she used to attract media attention?
I believe that Tiger believes he is sorry. His words today–spoken to his friends and family, whom he has disappointed the most–seemed heartfelt to me, and I do this for a living. Whether his words translate into action, which definitely speaks louder than words, please stand by. When he walks the walk, I’ll be truly convinced.
I am, by no means, the PR expert at Counterintuity (That’d be our publicist.) BUT I have learned a lot about PR and what it can do for a business. From an inside/outsider’s point of view, here’s what I’ve observed:
PR cannot hurt your business*. Public Relations IS advertising, if you don’t get your name out there, no one knows you exist. Public Relations is a service we offer that has helped many of our clients establish their name, their presence, their product, the services they offer, and get the word out to the community that they exist and are making a difference.
PR can hurt your business. *I know I said it can’t, but PR can hurt your business when you don’t use it OR if you don’t use it effectively. In this month’s issue of Counterintelligence, we have an article which describes exactly that.
Publicity is here to serve you and work for you. If you aren’t using it, you’re passing up a great opportunity to increase people’s awareness about you/your product/what you have to offer.
This morning, I asked the concierge at my hotel where the nearest ATM was. Lucky for me, it was right down the street. Imagine my surprise when I arrived. Is Rab-o-bank inviting trouble, or just ignorant of multi-lingual translations of their name?
We often help clients brainstorm names and branding for their startups. I guarantee this is not one we would have recommended for a US bank!
Here’s an example of how design makes the difference.
The top badge is mine from our Get Connected! social media seminar.
The one on the bottom is from an event Amy and I attended last week. Nice design, huh?
The undesigned badge signals this: “We haven’t given this a lot of thought.” And that’s what the event was like: a little sloppy and a little lazy. When I arrived, this badge wasn’t even ready! Instead, they stuck an orange post-it dot on my lapel and asked me to come back to the registration desk in a few hours.
Every scheduled session started late.
Speakers weren’t introduced.
There were handouts and schwag — but no tote to put them in. (So everyone left it all behind on the floor.)
Counterintuity’s publicity department was honored to handle the PR and social media for the Renal Support Network’s 11th annual Renal Teen Prom. In addition to several local news stations and newspapers covering the event, our wire press release was rated the #2 most viewed multimedia release on BusinessWire on 1/20/10, and received an astounding 8,770 unique impressions and 979 release views! The evening was a home run for hundreds of teens suffering from renal disease, the Renal Support Network and Counterintuity! We were honored to be a part of it.
by Lipaz, Assistant Designer, Counterintuity
