Marketing Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Wellons Communications

Why you need to include PR in your marketing plan

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Wellons team

Let’s face it.

When you put pencil to paper in developing your marketing program, the first question usually is “How much do we have to budget for advertising?”

The answer, inevitably leads to spending an inordinate amount of time (and money) on advertising, which, in turn, often leads to results that are inconclusive or, at best, difficult to quantify.

Often overlooked in the marketing equation is public relations. But PR, if properly employed and conducted on a consistent basis can give you the most bang for your buck.

PR doesn’t cost much and can deliver huge payback

Public relations, usually in the form of publicity, has enormous potential. Positive publicity can amplify your brand name, distinguish your service or product from everyone else’s, and validate what you say about yourself.

The good news is that PR costs considerably less than advertising. The challenge is that PR is not totally predictable. Getting your name in the news depends on what is happening in the news and requires that your product or service has information of news value to share.

And in order to remain in the news, your company has to keep making news. That is where having a qualified PR firm can help. Any qualified firm has strong relationships with the media. They know how to reach the right people and find the angle that maximizes the chance of coverage.

That is another way PR professional can make a big difference– by identifying and clarifying what your product or service does for your target audience. It’s a message that needs to be told many different ways and tailored to fit the particular audience that is reached by a specific media (e.g. transportation company execs gravitate toward business and transportation news outlets).

Further, you have to tell your story again and again. PR professionals are experts at finding new ways to tell your story and keep your name in the news.

How much should I be spending on PR?

No two budgets are exactly alike, just as no two companies are exactly alike. A precise budget for PR is difficult to pin down. A review of basic costs, however, will give you some idea of what’s involved and what you pay for when you use a qualified public relations firm.

Generally speaking, there are two primary costs you will incur when hiring a PR firm:

Monthly fee: A modest number of account service hours times an hourly rate that falls within your budget capabilities.

Out-of-pocket expenses (billed at net): Basic costs like travel, mileage, copying, postage, graphic design costs, etc.

So what does that translate to in terms of a monthly budget? Start with something affordable, say, $750-1,000 per month for a combination of fees and out-of-pocket expenses and revise the budget accordingly as your relationship and results develop.

What should you expect in terms of results?

Unless you have a blockbuster story to tell, results usually do not manifest themselves for about 90 days.

It takes that long to get information prepared, distributed, absorbed by media, and followed up upon.

Why 90 days? For print media, it takes that long to get ahead of print deadlines. For online media, the deadline is much shorter, but it requires some time to break through the messy, competitive clutter of information that online news outlets receive and must consider. For broadcast media, results require video or audio that lends itself to TV, radio or online broadcast.

The point is that PR, if given an adequate budget and sufficient time, can serve as a marketing tool that can equal, exceed, or at a minimum, complement your entire marketing program. In terms of cost-effectiveness, PR is often the best bet for ROI.

Call me (407-339-0879) or email me and allow me to pass along some vivid examples of how (and why) PR must be a key element of your marketing mix.

Competing for attention in the Age of Distraction

Posted on January 31, 2018 by Wellons team

Think for a moment about all the distractions that compete for attention in your work life.

Phone calls, texts, emails, meetings. Questions from employees. Questions from clients. Unanticipated interruptions. Add to this your personal life, which has the same ongoing level of activity.

WC#1-18, Jan 25, 2018 The result? Very little time to stop and ask “Where are we, where are we going, how are we going to get there, and what are we going to say about ourselves that will help us achieve our goals?”

Now, put yourself in the mindset of your target audience and your clients. They suffer from the same busy professional and personal challenges you experience.

The point? Offices – and the people who manage and work in them – are enormously busy. In short, offices are centers of multi-tasking that offer little or no time to pause and contemplate the next steps.

Working in the Age of Distraction

Cal Newport, a computer scientist at Georgetown University, is the author of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.

Newport points out that constant distractions that challenge our work life tend to dominate our work life. They take away from what Newport calls Deep Work, which is the ability to focus without distraction on a demanding task.

According to Newport, Shallow Work (the opposite of Deep Work) fragments and pre-empts one’s ability to come up with one of those benchmark “A-ha” solutions that can make your unique selling proposition stand apart.

Apply Deep Work to communications and you get a sense of how important it is to think differently and clearly, without distraction, and how it can transform how you go about your business and what you say about it.

You can get learn more about Deep Work in a fascinating report that recently was broadcast on National Public Radio.

Getting your message past the distractions

So, how does Wellons Communications help you succeed in the Age of Distraction?

We adhere to the notion of keeping it simple. We develop strategies, approaches, and messages aimed at battling through the communications clutter.

When possible, we use simple, declarative sentences. And we project the same message over and over again, using consistency to ensure that once we have captured attention, our message is reinforced until our audience has absorbed and agreed with it.

What does simplicity do for your marketing?

Our “keep it simple” approach delivers three key benefits to your overall marketing approach:

1. Simple messages are easy to understand.

2. Simple messages answer “What’s in it for me?”

3. Simple messages attract attention.

The most visual example of great message-making in its simplest form is a billboard. They are quick to read, present a single thought, and tell you what they think you need to learn.

Let us simplify your public relations and communications.

If you have read this far, you’ve been distracted enough. If our message has worked, we hope you will want to learn more about how Wellons Communications can assist you in marketing your product or service. You can reach me at 407-339-0879 or by email at will@wellonscommunications.com.

Believe me, I will be happy for the distraction.

UCF Knights: Marketing and Football Champions

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Wellons team

While people across the country held their breath watching Alabama’s last-second defeat of Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, some in Orlando slept soundly.

UCF Marketing Champions We can only assume the athletic department staff at the University of Central Florida was among them. Why? They weren’t concerned with who would be named the national champion—because they had already declared themselves the true champions.

The Knights were the only undefeated team in college football this year. They took down the Auburn Tigers (who had previously beaten Alabama and Georgia) in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Without a chance to compete in the playoff, they did everything they could do.

While it’s true many have laughed UCF’s claims off, that’s not the point. Whether UCF deserves the title isn’t the point, either.

The point is that this is one of the best marketing moves of 2018 so far, and someone at UCF knows what they’re doing. With controversy comes discussion. So far, the announcement has given the school free publicity in top national publications, such as The Washington Post, Yahoo Sports, USA Today, and ESPN.

Now, the best season UCF has ever had—and might ever have—will result in obtaining top recruits, national recognition and better fan support.

What UCF does with that depends on what the Knights do next season—but they are certainly setting themselves up to have a better chance by making the most of their momentum now.

Building on momentum is something we do a lot here at Wellons, so if you have marketing questions of your own, let us help you take a page from UCF’s playbook. Don’t hesitate to reach out at 407-339-0879 or at will@wellonscommunications.com.

Five predictions for marketing in 2018

Posted on December 20, 2017 by Wellons team

Now is the time when prognosticators pull out the crystal ball and give their best shot at predicting the future—and we at Wellons Communications are no different. Blog

We enjoy looking ahead, but what’s more, we feel it is our duty to visualize what changes in public relations are coming so our clients can prepare for how these changes may impact their businesses.

Of course, no forecast of the future is ever perfect. Nevertheless, here’s what we see for public relations in 2018:

Content marketing will begin to “shape shift”

Consumers are reeling from the amount of information they are receiving. Because of that, in 2018, marketers will start to make adjustments to both the amount of content they throw at their customers and how they deliver content. Be prepared to see more short videos and billboard-like messages that focus on brand names and benefits.

Simplicity will make a comeback

The avalanche of content aimed at consumers, combined with the onset of new products and services technology is spawning, will be confusing to many consumers, particularly older Americans (i.e. the Baby Boomers and Generation X).

Products and services that clearly and simply explain what they do and how they benefit consumers will succeed. Marketers whose “pitch” is rooted in techno-babble will become lost a fog of uncertainty, creating an opportunity for those who understand the confusion of customers overloaded by a mountain of information that multiplies daily.

The accuracy of content on social media will attract some skepticism

Social media will continue to be a powerful influencer of how people respond to society and how they view what is happening. With the rise of inaccurate information (“fake news”) on social media, however, consumers might think twice about the accuracy of content that floats across their screens.

Generation Z will begin to overtake Millennials as a prime marketing target

Generation Z, those young adults who were 9 years old when Facebook was introduced, are now 22. They will be entering the workforce in significant numbers. Marketers, of course, will flock to Generation Z to influence their brand preferences and buying habits.

This creates another opportunity. Marketers whose products and services remain appropriate for Baby Boomers and Generation X, who may be overlooked in the rush to capture Generation Z, can retain and grow their relationships with these established, less technically savvy cohorts.

Continued economic growth will hit some bumps in the road

The extraordinary rise in the Dow Jones averages during 2017 cannot last forever. But, like past market rises, no one wants to think about a “correction” or even a decline in the market. Some of the steam will eventually run out of the extraordinary market run-up we have all enjoyed, but this leveling out may create an over-reaction in the opposite direction. That means companies need to make hay while the sun shines—and that your reputation is more important than ever.

So why are these predictions important to you?

We visualize what we think is going to happen for two reasons:

To capitalize on opportunities for our customers.
To protect the financial welfare of our clients.

That’s why we try to accurately peer into and predict the future of the industry—so we can put it to work for you.

Let me know what kinds of predictions you have for 2018. Better yet, contact us at 407-339-0879, will@wellonscommunications.com and see how we can help you capitalize on what you believe will be happening.

Happy New Year!

Make a realistic New Year’s resolution for your business

Posted on December 15, 2016 by Wellons team

Around this time of the year, we are bombarded with reminders to prepare New Year’s resolutions.

Many of us dutifully scribble down five or six resolutions, and by Jan. 3, have already buried them among the papers on our desks and totally forgotten about them.

According to British psychologist, Richard Wiseman, more than 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail. Wiseman’s explanation is very practical. He points out that we have considerably more things to worry about than New Year’s resolutions. new-years-resolutions

For 2017, consider keeping it simple. Make only one New Year’s resolution.

While you are at it, redefine how you view your resolution. And stick with it.

If you define your New Year’s resolution as an objective, it takes on an entirely new meaning. All of a sudden, you have a tangible goal that, in the end, is measurable.

Our single New Year’s 2017 resolution is brutally honest

At Wellons Communications, our only resolution is focused on where it counts: our clients. Our resolution is:

Generate measurable results for our clients.

Results are the only reason our clients retain us.

Our clients expect results. It is our job to deliver them.

That meshes with our sincere belief that our clients come first. Without clients, we do not exist. And without results, we do not have clients.

We strive to not only produce results, but quantifiable results. It’s one thing to generate positive noise about products and services. But we want that noise to work. And measurement is how we know that the results are working.

We aim is to generate results to either sell things or create an environment where it easier for our clients to sell things.

Whether it’s widgets or something more abstract, like ideas, notions, and concepts, selling things is, in fact, the only reason any of us are in business.

Best wishes for a successful 2017

With that underlying philosophy, our resolution makes sense (at least to us…and probably you, too).

However, wishing for success or even jotting down a New Year’s resolution is not going to help you sell more.

Successful selling requires recognition of consumer needs and wants, a carefully thought out plan, sufficient budget, and resources that will help you execute your plan.

And when it comes to the right resources, think of Wellons Communications. Because we have the same objective you do: create success through increasing sales.

Now that 2017 is near, find out more about what we can bring to the table. Pick up the phone and call me at 407-339-0879 or email me at will@wellonscommunications.com and ask “How can you help us improve our business in the upcoming year?”

Happy New Year and best wishes for a prosperous 2017.

Communicate your Benefits in “Plain Speak”

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Wellons team

george-bernard-shaw Successful communication is not about doing more. It’s about maximizing what you are already doing.

Here’s an example:

Take a look at your website and your brochure.

Ask yourself “Will readers immediately understand what I do?” and “Does my website clearly state the benefits I deliver?”

If the answers to these questions are unclear, it might be time to rethink what you are telling people.

The three C’s

There are three C’s in communication that can strengthen what you say about your business and your services:

Be clear: Say exactly what you mean. Write like you speak. Avoid jargon.

Be concise: President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to start his Cabinet meetings with “Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” Good advice for wordy politicians and also good advice for business communicators.

Be consistent: You may become bored saying the same thing over and over again, but your audience needs to hear the same message as many as seven times before it registers.

Get to the point

Today’s fast-paced, Internet-based communications allow you only a few seconds to get your point across.

The average person hears between 20,000 and 30,000 words during the course of a 24-hour period. Most people only remember about 17 to 25 percent of the things to which they listen.[1] [2]

According to research conducted by productivity software developer

Boomerang, emails between 50 and 125 words had the best response rates at just above 50 percent. Short and direct emails resonated best with prospects and earned a response. The same study also showed emails written at a third-grade reading level had the highest response rate.

Do those findings strike a familiar chord? Simple. Short. Consistent.

We practice what we preach

At Wellons Communications, we follow the same principles we preach.

We keep our communications simple. We keep messages short enough to easily remember. And we place a premium on maintaining a consistent message.

If your communications are becoming too wordy, too complex, or inconsistent, it may be time to step back and get some help in shaping exactly what you want to say about yourself.

Impartial third-party communications assistance is an important component of our services. In the spirit of what marketing is all about, we help you sell things.

When you are ready to start selling more things, give me a call at 407-339-0879 or email me at will@wellonscommunications.com. We are ready to get to work on helping you be yourself…only better.

[1] Listening Statistics: 23 Facts You Need to Hear, Rebecca Lake, Creditdonkey.com

[2] International Listening Association, www.listen.org

How to get more love out of your social media marketing

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Wellons team

Chances are you’ve seen a celebrity or public figure singing the praises of a certain product, only to be followed by a #sp or #spon. The rise in popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat have changed the way brands market themselves and their products, making sponsored posts all the more common.

But though working with people who have social media pull can have many benefits, it can also pose challenges that marketers are just starting to navigate.

A recent Digiday article goes so far as to call it a “love-hate relationship.”

First, there’s the love. Marketing through influencers can be a great thing for a brand or business. If you have a product related to fitness, for instance, an influencer who has popular fitness-related posts opens the door for your product to be seen by many followers who are into fitness.

But then there’s the hate.

As Digiday points out, because influencers have a lot of power these days, they often charge a lot—and the more followers a person has, the more money they are able to charge. Prices can even reach into six-figures for a campaign across several platforms.

You also might not be sure you’re getting anything for your investment. Linking likes, shares and views to the number of sales they caused is tricky.

Finally, as many marketers have found out recently, brands can’t always control what influencers say or post. This recently came to light with both Scott Disick and Naomi Campbell. Disick accidentally posted part of the instructions for his promoted post for Bootea, and Campbell did nearly the same with her post for Adidas. While both of these gaffes brought in huge attention, such posts take the focus off the product and take away from the authenticity of the influencer and their posts.

So how can you take advantage of the best that influencers offer while avoiding risks? For one, it is extremely important to do research before you reach out to influencers. Find out the demographics of their followers, how many likes and shares their posts receive, and what the influencer will post for the price. While you can never know 100 percent what an influencer will do, doing the legwork and having the information goes a long way to taking advantage of the latest places consumers are going for information.

At Wellons Communications, we deal with influencers on a daily basis. We have the knowledge and resources to properly vet them, and we can help share your product and get results. Call us today at 407-339-0879 to see how we can help you.

Social media lessons from The Bachelorette

Posted on August 1, 2016 by Wellons team

Whether you love it, or love to hate it, The Bachelorette is one of the most successful reality series on TV. But perhaps the only thing more entertaining than the on-screen drama is the social media drama that seems to follow contestants. As season 12 of The Bachelorette winds down, we thought it would be interesting to reflect back on lessons learned. No, not love lessons, but rather lessons you can use to build your social media following.

Promotion is everything

Brands use social media to promote their goods and services. Bachelorette contestants use social media to promote themselves. Robby Hayes is a perfect example. The Florida native has made it to tonight’s finale, in which he will either propose to JoJo or be left heartbroken in Thailand. Robby’s motives have been called into question multiple times this season. Check out his Instagram and you’ll understand why. He broke up with a long-term girlfriend just before learning he’d be a contestant on the show, he has tried his hand at modeling, and he’s constantly working on improving his image. He’s even been rumored to have paid others to promote his brand using #TeamRoJo. And while we certainly don’t recommend being quite as smarmy as Robby, his tactics certainly keep people talking.

Give the people what they want – content

Providing your audience with newsworthy and authentic content is important in today’s social media-crazed world. No Bachelorette contestant has done that better than resident villain Chad Johnson. Despite being kicked off early in the season, Chad’s bad boy persona has grown immensely on his Twitter and Instagram accounts. He has dated his fellow co-stars exes, he’s bought the domain names of other contestants and he’s created hashtags for his ridiculous insights (#Chadisms and #BadChad). His content might be crazy, but it’s exactly what people expect from the memorable contestant, and he provides it often.

Say yes to engagement

No, not the engagement we expect on tonight’s finale—the social media engagement! Responding to and interacting with followers is important to building a brand. Making them feel like part of a community is essential to growing that community. We can think of no two contestants that have been better at interacting with their fans than Wells Adams and James Taylor. Both adorable underdogs of the season utilize their social media to engage their followers. Whether it’s Wells’ drunken Snapchat stories as he watches The Bachelorette on Monday nights, or James Taylor’s hometown concert contest, they reach out to fans like no other. Any brand would do well to borrow from their tactics when connecting with followers.

We know we can’t wait to see who is “the one” for JoJo on tonight’s finale —and we can’t wait to put some of these social media strategies to the test.

Pokémon Go marketing lessons: You gotta catch ‘em all

Posted on July 21, 2016 by Wellons team

Pokémon Go is less than a month old, and there’s almost no chance you haven’t heard about it.

The game became an overnight sensation, quickly topping Twitter’s daily users and grabbing at Facebook’s engagement. Some millennials have been calling it their “second childhood.”

Brands and companies haven’t been far behind, using the game as a point to launch themselves into the conversation. And it’s not surprising. The game is loaded with lessons for the PR and marketing worlds. Here are a few we see:

Don’t underestimate the power of pop culture.

We saw it with the dress. We’re seeing it with Pokémon Go now. We just can’t always predict what will capture the attention of the nation. If brands want to make the most of the opportunity, it’s important to act and act fast.

Many business have been doing just that with Pokémon Go, looking to see if they are a spot gamers will want to visit or taking matters into their own hands and setting up lures to get more Pokémon to come to them. There’s even a startup, LureDeals, dedicated to attracting gamers to businesses. Knowledge on pop culture phenomena is power, and in this case, money.

Have a little fun on social media.

Pokémon Go is a game, after all, and it should be fun. Social media is the perfect place to take advantage of that. Many brands have put up clever posts that tie into the game and promote their services or products.

Even police departments are using Pokémon Go humor to talk about safety issues.

See more examples at PR Week.

Don’t try to force it.

But while social media can be a fun place to tap into the craze, media pitches aren’t always the best way to do it. If your company has news related to the trend, sure. But don’t force it. Grasping at straws can have the opposite effect, angering journalists.

Know that new technology won’t be perfect at first.

You’ve probably already heard some of the concerns about Pokémon Go. Gamers have caused accidents driving while hunting for Pokémon. Girlfriends have broken up with boyfriends. People have targeted and robbed players.

There are probably other issues that will arise, as well. But that doesn’t mean you can’t use the game to help your business. All new technologies have some unexpected bugs. Just keep up to date with the news and use your judgement.

Be ready for more.

Pokémon Go is the first taste of what augmented reality can do in the gaming world, but with its meteoric rise, it won’t be the last. Brands and companies should be ready to use the lessons learned from Pokémon Go in the future. If the game proves anything, it’s that marketing and PR strategies are always evolving.

Using consistency to break through to your target audiences

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Wellons team

When you communicate what you do and how you do it, how consistent is your messaging?

When you describe your business – and the benefits you provide your customers – do you say the same thing every time? Is your message loud and clear? Is what you say understandable at a glance?

The competition for attention

Pause for a moment and think, “What do I really remember from everything I have seen this morning?” megaphone-150254_1280

In all likelihood, what you recall is a jumble of images, headlines, and thoughts.

That’s because from the moment you wake up to the time you go to bed, you (and everyone else) are subjected to a never-ending barrage of emails, telephone calls, tweets, news reports, commercials, ads and face-to-face communications.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of aiming and distributing your message toward your target audience without the context of what surrounds your message.

The fact is that your message – what you say about yourself and your product or service – competes with everything else in the world, not just within a bracketed marketing segment.

The value of staying on message

We encourage simplicity in communications. And one manifestation of simplicity is remaining consistent.

We believe that you need to say the same thing over and over to gain attention and be understood. Simplicity helps to cut through the clutter. And consistency helps to make your message understandable.

What needs to be consistent in communications?

Everything.

What you say. How you say it. How you visualize it. When you time your communications. Where you place your message. How you place your message. What materials you employ to project your message.

Won’t my target audiences get tired of “same old, same old?”

You may get tired of saying the same thing over and over again, but you can bet that your target audiences will not. In a kaleidoscopic world in which communications overload has fragmented attention spans, your message, delivered consistently and in an easy to understand format, will seem like an old friend; comforting, reliable, and approachable.

We subscribe to the notion of establishing a unique “voice.” Once you establish it, keep using the same voice. Your customers will come to expect a consistent voice in every marketing communication piece you deliver. And when you achieve that kind of relationship with your customer, you have successfully crossed that bridge that separates “noise” from effective communications.

So how do I develop a consistent and effective messaging?

That’s where Wellons Communications comes into the picture.

We provide an independent, marketing-minded point of view that examines and analyzes what you are currently communicating and provides candid, forthright feedback that positively identifies opportunities.

Allow Wellons Communications to respond with simple, consistent and affordable solutions that will help you cut through all the noise and positively impact sales.

In the spirit of simplicity and consistency, all you have to do is give me a call at 407-339-0879 or email me at will@wellonscommunications.com.