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May 18, 2010  
Greetings!


Nancy MarshallWe continue our series on social media by NMC Account Executives with this week's feature on Twitter by Sarah Fuller. Sarah manages our work with the Maine Department of Transportation and Skowhegan Savings. Thanks, Sarah! What I love about Twitter is the ability to see in real time what topics are currently being talked about online. In a recent webinar from Constant Contact, I learned that if you publish an e-newsletter and you are wondering what time of day or day of week to publish, you should search in Twitter for your topic and see when people are talking about your topic most. Go to www.search.twitter.com and type in your topic, and you can see all the Tweets related to that topic.
 
I'm proud to debut an article on Marketing to Gen Y based on a presentation my son Craig gave to the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies in West Palm Beach, Florida recently. And congrats to Craig on his upcoming graduation from Carrabassett Valley Academy as Salutatorian of his class!
 
Enjoy this issue and please get back to me with any of your thoughts, additions, deletions or criticisms of the information in this issue. It is only with your feedback that we can strive to make this a better publication for you!

Nancy Marshall


Jay Sig B&W
www.marshallpr.com

Build Your Business in 140 Characters (or Fewer!)

By Sarah Fuller, Account Executive at Nancy Marshall Communications


Sarah FullerTwitter has become social media's equivalent of the classic elevator pitch. It's a well-known technique - if you had a prospective client, CEO or other prospect in an elevator for 30 seconds, how would you describe what your company does in an interesting and to-the-point manner? Twitter is the modern, online and mobile version of this.

A social media tool, Twitter is a free micro blogging site that allows users to post information, links and commentary to a news feed. Twitter users follow people and companies they are interested in and in turn, are followed by those interested in them.

You may be thinking, "Isn't Twitter where people are needlessly boring us with tales of their latest breakfast entrée or trip to the dentist? How could that possibly help MY business?"

Actually, Twitter, when used appropriately, can give people an instant connection to your brand and help build relationships with your customers.

The critical detail on Twitter is that any post cannot exceed 140 characters. In that small space, you have to engage followers and offer something of value - information, a special deal or entertainment - usually humor. Twitter may not be for every company, but it can help grow your business in three key ways:

1)     Drive traffic to related web-based outlets to review in-depth content.

Twitter is an ideal way to let people know that you've got a new blog post, coupon promotion or special event going on at your website or brick-and-mortar location. Good links are critical components of many Twitter posts.

2)     Build relationships with writers and editors, and follow industry trends.

If you want to get your product or service in front of a larger audience or track what the competition is doing, you can follow writers, editors and business leaders from around Maine and elsewhere to collect information, ask questions and share details about your company.   

3)     Respond directly and immediately to consumer inquiries and concerns.
Twitter is a real-time tool to track what people are saying about your brand. If you've got customers with a question or raving about a new product - they'll Tweet about it and you can respond - building relationships 140 characters at a time.

Airlines, banks, retail stores, nonprofits and individuals all have Twitter accounts and are using them to build their brands with great success. You can sign up and start following people and companies that interest you to get a good sense of what works and what doesn't. NMC can help determine if Twitter would fit into your social media and marketing mix and work with you to maximize its business benefits.


Marketing to Generation Y


Craig MarshallRecently my 17 year old son Craig attended a meeting of the Alliance of Marketing Communications Agencies with me and presented to the group of advertising and PR agency owners from across the country about marketing to Generation Y. Since marketers need to start focusing on this generation, I thought I would share some of his points with you.

First, some facts about his generation:
  1. Born from 1982 to 2001
  2. Grew up in a technological revolution
  3. To reach them, new creative strategies will be required
  4. With more technology, they will be able to easily avoid advertisements
  5. With new media comes new ways to advertise
  6. They get information from each other, not from traditional sources
  7. They are addicted to cell phones, smart phones, or whatever type of mobile devices they can get their hands on
Craig's Thoughts on Traditional Advertising and Marketing:
  1. Television commercials are no longer effective
  2. Advertisements on websites need to be flashy to get their attention, yet convincing to be believable
  3. With all the new news sources, it will be tougher than ever to cut through the clutter with press releases
  4. Lies will be detected easier than ever and won't be ignored
New Ways to Reach Gen Y:
  1. Identify your market and search them out by interest: there are more niche groups of Gen Y'ers than any generation before as their interests are splintered and diverse
  2. Find a way to make sure your press releases are being seen
  3. Be active with social media but don't be annoying
  4. Crack the market with street teams, focus groups, and work from the inside
  5. Turn your advertising into programming: example of Bank of America's sponsorship of the History Channel's "Story of Us"
  6. Hide your product in the media: example of Lady Gaga using an iPhone 4 with a Virgin Atlantic logo on the screen in one of her music videos
  7. Find the ways we are avoiding older advertisements and use them (DVR, TiVo, Drudge Report)
  8. Make advertisements interactive and fun
  9. Text Alerts are effective
Other Examples:
  1. Facebook News Feeds: Craig showed a news feed from his cousin Whitney saying she was excited about going to a film at a theater in Boston. Craig said he would be likely to go to that film too if he were in Boston that night. He views his cousin as a reliable and trustworthy source of information.
  2. Progressive Commercials featuring Flo: although Craig said he finds Flo to be irritating, he does pay attention to them because he is curious what she is going to say each time she comes on the air.
Craig did a fantastic job, although he just scratched the surface about Gen Y. Other research has found that Gen Y influences 81% of their families' apparel purchases and 52% of car choices. This is the most influential generation for retailers because it is bigger than the baby boomers and its members have spending power and strong opinions at an earlier age (USA Today: "Gen Y sits on top of consumer food chain by Kathleen Greeson" 10/11/06). Banks are also scrambling to upgrade their technology to capture Gen Y customers since they use technology to manage their finances and they are still on their way to reaching their peak earning potential (www.firstdata.com:  "Tapping into Generation Y: Nine Ways Community Financial Institutions Can Use Technology to Capture Young Customers," April 2010).


Social Media: How to Apply the Latest and Greatest Social Networks to your PR Program - and How to Measure the Impact!

www.meprcouncil.org/events

May 27, 2010 - 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Holiday Inn West - 81 Riverside Street - Portland

Nancy Marshall, aka "The Maine PR Maven," and Ross Lasley, aka "The Internet Educator" will present this lively session on how to strategically integrate social media into your overall public relations program. Known for her agency's "Marshall Plan," which is a strategic marketing communications planning process, Marshall knows how important it is to be at once strategic and tactical to achieve results for your client or organization. Lasley is known for his Web strategy plans that are like business plans for the Web. He believes that all your time and money should be aimed toward achieving your goals on the Web.


During this session, Nancy and Ross will discuss:
  • How to choose the appropriate social networks for your target audience
  • The difference between pushing your message and engaging in a social community
  • The new influencers: how a social community is the best way to build your brand
  • How to use 'message mapping' to create a framework around your messages
  • What to do if things feel like they are spiraling out of control when people say bad things
  • How to justify spending time on it
  • How to establish goals and how to measure and report on them

More about the presenters:

Jay Sig B&WNancy Marshall has practiced public relations in Maine for over half her
lifetime. Starting in public television right out of Colby College, she was part of the production crew that went to Sugarloaf to create a 13-part series on skiing. She moved to the mountain and hasn't left since. She worked as Director of Communications for Sugarloaf for seven years while earning an MBA at Thomas College, before starting Nancy Marshall Communications in 1991. Today her agency has 15 employees in two locations handling public relations, marketing services, website development and Internet marketing. Clients include the Maine Office of Tourism, Maine Office of Business Development, Saddleback Maine, Skowhegan Savings and many others.


Craig Marshall
Ross Lasley was interested in technology as a young child and got his hardware certifications at the age of 12. A serial entrepreneur, Ross was involved with a multitude of businesses before founding the web development company KISS Computing in 1997.

Started from a home office, this company grew to be the area's number one website firm garnering a SCORE "Build a Better Mousetrap" Award, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor's Entrepreneurial Spirit Award, and a Webby Award in the process.



Members: $20   Non-members: $35

8:00-8:30 am Registration 
8:30-10:00 am Program

Includes continental breakfast. No-shows will be billed.

Registration:  Call 761-4477 or e-mail
 
info@meprcouncil.org